"The Fire
Within" with Dick Lehman
ABOUT DICK LEHMAN:
Utility and
function that grace and
bless:
The story of my art:
I was,
perhaps, a 'late-bloomer' with respect to my interest in clay:
my
first whiff of "passion" for this media did not reach my senses
until
midway through my sophomore year at Goshen
College. But
what started
as a single "elective" in my academic schedule,
grew into a "mild interest"
as I orchestrated three more clay
classes into my already-full academic
schedule, over the course
of my final two years of college study. 
After college, I began a
"regular job" (in administration), but maintained
a haunting
attraction to clay—pursuing it only as a hobby in a 10' x 16'
c
hicken house that I had remodeled into a tiny ceramic studio.
My kiln was
a wood-fired cross-draft kiln—not because I had any
real comprehension
of a wood-fired aesthetic, but because I had
a free source of wood fuel,
and was too poor to afford even the
down-payment on a propane tank.
Five years of this
hobbiest approach to clay continued as I pursued my career in
administration, and spent
three years in graduate school (in a
field quite apart from clay pursuits).
In 1981, it finally
became clear to me that what I most needed to do with my life,
was to pursue this passion with clay which had first infected my
life back in 1974. My
full-time work in clay, since 1981, has
always included a comprehensive retail studio
that has been open
to the public six days each week. I have loved the idea of making
pots of utility and function that grace and bless the lives of
users, making common
moments special and memorable. I continue to
make works of utility: the functional
production items in my
catalog number nearly 100. And the studio now employs at
least
three other potters who assist in the production of these studio
'repeat-ware'
items, while at the same time providing an
opportunity for them to mature in their
own careers and
professionalism.
But during all these
years, I have always made time for the pursuit of works
that
explore new ways of working with clay—always working and
discovering within the
context of my peculiar set of limitations.
I have consistently structured-in time for
experimentation,
sabbatical refreshment, and education. The outcome of these years of
exploration and development has resulted in the saggar-fired,
side-fired and wood-fired approaches that constitute
the
exhibition works that I produce. Not having abandoned my commitments
to utility, these exhibition works
explore ways of working which
are more risky, less predictable, and perhaps more inventive than my
regular
production works. These works, too, are sold primarily
through my retail studio.  
During the last twenty
years my life has been graced by the support,
nurture, and
mentoring of many potters. Over the last ten years I have
had
the opportunity to travel internationally, to offer more than 35
work-
shops, to work as visiting artist in academic settings, and
to author nearly
30 articles for international ceramics
publications. And as always, these
remain my best hopes: that as
I continue to nurture my own development,
and attempt to be
generative with my sharing, that others will find some merit and
some benefit in these offerings.
To learn more about Dick Lehman, his work and
inspiration
I invite you to :
Download Dick
Lehman's abbreviated resume & publications list
 
   | 
