Renowned ceramicist Mary Fox, who started potting at the age of 13, has spent decades developing her craft, but her newest project is her way of giving back to the next generation.

Fox, 60, has started a legacy fund with the idea of preserving her home in Ladysmith, B.C. — which houses her gallery and studio space — as an artist space for future potters.

"My concept with the legacy project would be a young potter, under the age of 30, can apply for a two-year residency," she told host Kathryn Marlow on CBC's All Points West.

All the equipment is supplied, and there will be a caretaker for the property and the gardens. The taxes and other living expenses will be covered.

"Their only cost will be their raw materials and the utilities that they use," she said.

Mary Fox, a self-taught exploratory potter, has been practising her work for over 40 years. (Kathryn Marlow/CBC)

Fox, a self-taught ceramicist, has exhibited her work around the world. She makes both everyday tableware and art pieces, some of which have sold for thousands of dollars.

The idea was inspired by her late wife, Heather Vaughan, who died in 2007.

"We were having a conversation one night about what would have helped me as a young artist," she said.

Having a studio with all the necessary equipment and working kiln, along with somewhere to live, would have been a godsend, Fox says.

"When you're first starting [pottery], it takes a couple of years of throwing obsessively to even begin to grasp the wheel," she said.

"You need that time period where you're just like literally pumping out the work to get the skill in your hands — as they say these days, the muscle memory."

Fox, with her house being lifted during the construction phase between 2008 and 2010; and Fox today with her completed home, gallery, and studio space. (Mary Fox Pottery, Kathryn Marlow/CBC)

Fox ended up lifting her home and, with an architect's help, designing the studio and gallery space as it exists today, all with the intention of the legacy project in mind. That was completed in 2010.

She says there's been a promising response to the idea, but there's still lots of work still to be done, including raising $1 million for the endowment fund in collaboration with Vancouver Foundation and the Craft Council of B.C..

And she'll still be working on her own pottery, writing an upcoming book, and teaching skills to her student assistant.

"Potters over in Vancouver are really excited about it. Tell them not to get too excited about it — I'm still alive!" she said, laughing.

Ultimately, she hopes her legacy project will allow the next generation of potters to build their own legacies.

"Life is changing at a rather rapid pace and I think those small grounding things we have in our day to day… [is] what really makes a day sweet," Fox said.

"I feel like the tableware does that. It brings beautiful simplicity into something that we do everyday, which is eating."

Mary Fox is a potter based in Ladysmith, B.C. (Kathryn Marlow/CBC)

Listen to the segment from All Points West: