Wade Scheel Pottery

What is the value of Art and why Pottery? 

 Quite simply, wherever we go that has been touched by humankind art surrounds us.  Each and every thing in our modern life has been touched either literally, or in its infancy as a design concept, by an Artist. From a McLaren to a kitchen faucet, our shoes to our thermostat, an Artist's voice had some input.

As a younger person, I had a thought, “everybody makes SOMETHING,” later refined to “We as humans are object makers…” which I used as the introduction to my Thesis so long ago and this notion has stuck with me over the ensuing decades. We can observe this notion taking hold witnessing toddlers at play in a sandbox or pile of mud.  Building and creating is intuitive in all of us. We are wired to create, build, make.  As we develop and age out of those primitive impulses our notions become refined and focused.  Some people turn them into art, music, design. For some, it's science, math, language, for others perhaps it’s pure guru-like awareness or philosophy that is then shared and builds or creates awareness. We are all making, creating, and gaining understanding.

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the making of a pot.  To children, it is a magical feat to behold. And really what’s not magical about the entire process? Is this form of “making” similar to alchemy, turning something essentially worthless into something beautiful, precious, and worthy of a special place in our lives? I sat at a potter’s wheel for the first time in the 8th grade and knew, somewhere in the reptile portion of my brain, that it was my destiny.

 We hang Art on our walls where it is seen every time we pass, not always to be contemplated or even considered but by being there, available even if only for passing consideration means something. Pottery is the same for me only it’s a piece of art that is made to be used, held, touched, conversed with.  I have quite a collection of pots in my home that have come from friends, colleagues, as well as people I’ve never met.  When I use those pots I’m having a silent conversation with their creator, gaining understanding, recalling our past, and anticipating our future.

-Wade