About

Justine Stiina Lustig with her head propped in her hands, adorned with a vine henna design. She is looking into the camera with a neutral but pleasant expression. There are green leaves and blue sky behind her.

Born and raised in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, Justine “Stiina” Lustig uses her creativity and prairie spirit to explore new mediums and styles. She has a New York Times bestselling colouring book, “ZenDoodle Coloring: Uplifting Inspirations” and loves channeling her creativity through her varied interests. Currently focusing on henna body art and handbuilt pottery, you can find Justine at her mountain studio near Princeton, BC. She also participates in the Princeton Community Market on Saturdays during the summer, offering henna + pottery at her booth in the downtown square (across from the post office).

Artist Musings:

Henna speaks to me in so many ways: I love the alchemy of creating the paste and connecting with the person I am adorning, and seeing the way the stain blooms and fades is such a beautifully ephemeral process. I started practicing henna in 2015 and when I discovered the concept of sliptrailing (drawing designs with liquid clay on pottery) in 2018, I just had to try it! Now I do both and I love the way my skills have been refined through both of these art forms.

My pottery is made with high-quality, durable stoneware clay sourced from the Canadian Prairies, and glazed with food-safe materials that I mix myself. Each piece is lovingly decorated with henna-inspired designs and fired to vitrification in my electric kiln. All my pottery pieces start as hand-rolled slabs of soft clay and I shape them with the use of simple tools and sponges. I like to leave the joining seam visible, signaling that the pieces were not formed on the pottery wheel and have a unique relationship with my hands. Each one is decorated freehand with liquid clay, so every design is individually different.

My inspiration is to make items for “everyday luxury” - useful pots that are a pleasure to use and look at. My experience as a henna artist helps me draw designs with exquisite detail, and my hope is that the raised texture of the pottery designs brings you joy. I also mix all my own glazes using food-safe ingredients and all of my pottery is microwave, oven, and dishwasher safe.

I’ve also been exploring my connection to the prairies using clay that was dug from my ranch in Saskatchewan. When my husband was creating a dugout water source for our cows in 2020, he found some yellow clay and brought it home for me. It has been an exciting challenge to learn how to work with this wild clay, and I’m excited to make useful pots from this clay from a place that means so much to me.