Wesleyan Potters at 75

Interviewed in the episode: longtime Pottery people Gary O’Neil (shown here with his daughter Kyle) and Melissa Schilke

Potters at their wheels in the 1970s. The instructor is master potter Adele Firshein. Photo courtesy of Russell Library’s Middletown collection.

Today, clay. Seventy-five years ago, a small but mighty group of Wesleyan faculty wives thought they’d like to unearth the mysteries of ceramics. Thus was born what would later become Wesleyan Potters, a world-renowned craft school – a hive of not just ceramic activity but of jewelry making and weaving — in Middletown, Connecticut. If you’ve been to the pottery’s popular holiday show and sale, among other events, you know what a wide array of beautiful handicrafts is produced. If, like me, you’ve taken classes at the pottery, then you have firsthand knowledge of how friendly and helpful the teachers and students are. I feel so lucky that this treasure is right here in my town, but if it wasn’t, I would drive a long way to get there. It’s become my spiritual home.

This episode is a celebration of the pottery’s 75^th birthday, and so it feels only right to name those listed in a history of the organization – Helene Spurrier, Ruth Peoples, Emily Pendletown, and Dagmar Mathews. In 1947, they took a course in pottery taught by Sybil Gavin at Vinal Tech Regional High School. With support from Wesleyan, membership quickly swelled to 18, and the group named a treasurer whose report would occasionally read, charmingly, “nine dollars – or so.”

Over the years, the pottery has had different homes: at Wesleyan University; on Knowles avenue; and Pease Avenue; before finally landing on South Main Street. This interview, with two of those who’ve been involved the longest, Gary O’Neil and Melissa Schilke, was conducted in the pottery’s gallery shop, which will host an exhibition, “Wesleyan Potters Celebrating 75 Years of Craft,” featuring all the pottery’s members, teachers, and staff. The theme of the show is new work that breaks the boundaries of their usual method, style, color, shape, function, or size. The show will run from Sept 20^th to Oct. 21^st, with an opening – always a good time – on Sept 22 from 4 to 7 pm. See you there?

Meanwhile, enjoy these reminiscences by longtime pottery people Melissa Schilke and Gary O’Neil!