Dennis Schmit is a retired hairdresser who has kept the flow of creative energy going by channeling it into writing and playing his own music and working with clay.
He is a Viet Nam combat veteran and found that working with clay was the best defense against intrusive memories. After 20 years away from the “ceramics scene” he found his way back, both hand building and throwing on the potter’s wheel.
“I like the plasticity of clay. Watching a non-descript lump of clay become a bowl, a vase or cup through my hands is remarkable to me every time I sit at the wheel.”
He lives locally and fashioned a pit in his yard with lava rock where he also does pit firing; one of the oldest methods of firing clay dating back thousands of years.