Made With a Bailey Interview Featuring Anthony Schaller

Made With A Bailey Interview featuring Anthony Schaller of Schaller Gallery

Website: www.schallergallery.com

Instagram: @anthonykschaller / @schallergallery

Tell us about yourself, how did you get started working in clay?

My first round of education was a wide scope of business: marketing, management, finance, and investment. I spent quite a few years working for companies in diverse sectors, doing things I really didn’t like. In my late twenties my whole life shifted, everything was wide open and I made the decision to go back to school for art education. At that point, I thought my previous life endeavors were all a waste of time. I was so very wrong.

While fulfilling my recommendations for art ed, I had to take a class in 3D, pottery or something else I can’t remember. Obviously, pottery won out. The class spent a few weeks handbuilding, at that point it just didn’t click for me. Then came the first throwing demo, it was exciting and terrifying. As I was watching I quickly decided there was no way I was going to be able to do that. You see, I was born with a small underdeveloped left hand. I had never used it much or developed any skills with little lefty. Mostly, my left hand was in my pocket, always in my pocket. Throwing, for the most part, requires skillful motions from both hands. Within a few minutes, I was thinking about dropping and taking that other class, the one I can’t remember.

We all paired up with an advanced student and went off to learn how to throw. I was paired up with an awkward and intriguing woman, obviously I stayed and gave it a whirl. I quickly found that I could throw, granted, really badly, but I caught on immediately. Little lefty turned out to be an advantage instead of a hindrance, and the awkward and intriguing woman is still helping me.

About 6 months into clay, Linda Christianson came for a workshop. Listening to her was enough to seal the deal, I was hooked for life. She’s been a treasure of a friend since that day.

What inspires your work?

Material science, right now I’m exploring iron bearing rocks; chalcedony, chert, granite and others I find here in SW Michigan and while traveling. I grind and mill them to see what they will do when mixed with clay and glazes. So far, it has been magical and horrifying, sometimes both at the same time.… but always educational.

Historical pots, and objects made with a specific use or function in mind. When I come across these things from the past, I’m always asking why. Why did the people of the past make these specific forms, and in these ways, out of these materials? Why is it decorated with these patterns, what does it mean? What were their lives like? Did they make the choice to do what they did or were there rules to be followed. Did they break those rules, change the forms, explore new ideas in decoration. Questions of why never cease. It leads me to ask the same questions of myself and my work, not just in the studio, but in everything, especially the rules.

How to make pieces that will be perceived as special. I don’t get much time to make work, so making pieces that can enrich someone's life, strengthen a ritual, or create a new one, are important to me.

Can you tell us about your Bailey equipment and how it helps you create your work?

I have quite a few things from Bailey, a heavy duty electric kiln, 2 wheels, then years of orders worth of tools, sieves, banding wheels, and kiln furniture.

I’ll focus on the wheels. Everything about the design works; the pedal response is so smooth, the power is always more than enough, and the open tub splash pan with a drain allows me to recycle all my mistakes, cut offs, and extra bits. Then there’s the quality and longevity. One is a few years old and the other is well over 10 years old. With my eyes closed I really can’t tell the difference. I should probably give a nod to consistency too. Well done.

What are you currently working on in the studio?

I’m working with a new black clay body that is loaded up with various grogs, some as large as 6 mesh, plus the rocks I’ve ground up wedged in. With this body I’m using a limited number of glazes as most just go black. I have a few glazes that show up fairly well on this body. My favorite is nuka and shino looks great too.

As for what I’m making, the influences are derived from a combination of obsessions. Whiskey and the pieces that go along with consuming it, as well as repetition, geometric patterns, and small things, small pots. So, mix those things up and you get tasting sets. A tasting set could be comprised of a simple tray to present everything together, depending on the tasting objective: one or a few small bottles for the whiskey, little sipping cups, a small water container, a large water container, water cups, a few small bowls for salts, hot peppers, chocolate, fruit and other things that will influence the taste of the whiskey at hand.

Aside from the aforementioned, I make little cups that I’ll only give away. Before the clay is in my hands the decision has been made: they’re gifts and I absolutely love giving them away. If you happen by the gallery, ask me about it, I’ll tell you and show you more.

What led you to open Schaller Gallery? What was that process like?

Let’s start off with a comment my highschool teacher made to me 25 years after highschool, “I always knew you’d have a gallery.”

At some point in my early twenties I thought it would be nice to be able to work for myself when I turned forty. A decision was made, okay, it was closer to being a promise.

I was the curator for ARC Exhibitions for the School of Architecture at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. It was a role I created for myself with the generous help of a few people there. At first I didn’t know where it would go. As it caught on and people started showing up, I shifted the shows to functional ceramics and started to invite well known makers. At the same time I started to make as much noise as possible. I hoped someone would notice and offer me a job. It took a few years, then one of the makers was moving and didn’t have enough work, so he asked a friend of his to send work to fill out the space. The issue became an opportunity, as I talked to the friend, he told me what he was doing. He was opening a clay center with a gallery and classes and a gallery and residencies and did I mention a gallery too! We talked quite a bit about his plans, his timeframe, and what he wanted to do. Before long he asked my wife and I to come and check it out. It was the middle of February and I had never been to Red Lodge, Montana. Red Lodge was beautiful, and the opportunity was incredible. We moved, the gallery was planted, and time marched on. I learned so much. When I was 38-39 the recession of the late aughts hit and I thought working for myself by the time I was forty was out of the question. I talked to a lot of people, my wife included, but it was Lana Wilson who convinced me to just leap. So, I leaped as hard as I could. I resigned from my position at the clay center, found a small space to work out of, and contracted a design firm to build a website for the new gallery. Schaller Gallery launched on the 9th of December in 2009 with two online shows. One was a fundraiser for the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, I was on the board at the time, so it was easy to connect the dots. The other was a solo show for one of my biggest supporters, Warren MacKenzie. It was insane, busy, exciting, and so much work. I still remember the day we launched, my wife and I sitting at our dining room table with phones in hand. We spent the next two entire days taking orders. The new gallery was planted and already growing in the first week. I was lucky and tired. I still feel lucky and tired, but so excited to keep developing and keep working.

I feel like I need to say two things, well maybe a few thousand things, but I‘ll keep it to two. First, my time working in business paid off like the lotto. Second, when I was starting Schaller Gallery, it was a different time, there were only a handful of online galleries then, all things e-commerce were booming, and America was coming out of a recession. Everything about what happened just felt like the definition of Outlier.

Shortly after launching, the gallery moved to SW Michigan. It was a going home moment, that’s where I grew up and that’s where I and my wife have a lot of family.

What’s next for Schaller Gallery?

Lots! We have a new website under development. The new site will have platforms for each of our entities: Schaller Gallery will be able to rein back a little and focus on functional ceramics; ONE will continue to develop by offering more higher end shows and begin to reach into sculpture. REFIND, our secondary market entity, will continue to develop. We’re excited to be working with Ferrin Contemporary, Peter Held Appraisals & Associates and a few other galleries and lots of collectors. FOUND will launch soon after we have the new site launched and zooming along. This entity will offer textiles, objects and oddities. There are a few more things, we’ll let everyone know when they are close to launching.

Covid threw a wrench in our construction plans, we’re back on track and should be able to break ground early this fall.

When you're not working in clay or at the gallery, what else do you enjoy doing?

Spending time with my wife, full stop. That may be as simple as being in the same room staring at the walls, or traveling to places with interesting geography and geology. Seeing the passage of eons of time through geology, right in front of us is pretty incredible and addictive. Also, we have two amazing cats, Oscar and Addie, they are a joy to talk too and play with. They don’t go on trips with us, so we never leave for very long. We miss them and need to get back home. My wife is an eccentric gardener. Our house has recently become a museum of carnivorous plants, thousands of them. I do worry about waking up missing a finger or toe, but so far, I’m intact. Seriously, I find it all amazing and thrilling to be able to live with. BTW, we don’t have ANY bugs in our house.

Personally, I'm a voracious collector of small things: my most recent interest is Chinese Hongshan Jades. They captivate me, they’re mysterious, there are so many unanswered questions, and I can’t stop looking for the next one. Ever since I was a child I collected boxes made out of any and every material; then I put together mini collections to go in the boxes. Almost anything will do, redwood seeds, cassida shells, beach pebbles, found grocery lists, cat whiskers, meteorites, old dice, keys that have no purpose, tiny pieces of buildings and places I’ve been, nothing more than little collections of curious things.

Do you use Bailey equipment to create your work? When posting your work on social media, remember to tag your post with #madewithabailey so we can continue to grow our Bailey clay community!