From House To Home

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Before retirement, Bill Bauer taught others a thing or two about pottery and sculpture. Now that he’s retired, he is still teaching pottery. The major differences are where the teaching occurs and the time he has to work on his own creations.

He developed the pottery program at Memorial High School, teaching it and sculpture for 34 years. When he first started, the school was called Victoria High School.

About the time Bauer retired, he also joined Victoria’s art league. “When they found out that I was a potter, they asked me to build a pottery program for the community,” he says.

Over the past four years, he has developed and implemented such a program. He has also spearheaded the remodeling of an area for the pottery studio at the center. When he first arrived at the league’s center, he says it held a wheel, a kiln, and a storage room.

“So it’s kind of grown from scratch,” says Bauer. “And now we have full facilities for doing the work—facilities for teaching and everything necessary to do the basic pottery and to try a lot of other things, too.”

The league has plans to add a gas kiln and a raku kiln in the back, he says. “We have a very progressive art league. They have done a lot of wonderful things to this old building.”

The building is located at 905 Bridge in the historic part of town. According to Bauer it was built in 1898.

“It was the farmers’ coop, but really started as a bordello. That’s what I read in the book by Harold Nichols,” says Bauer. Nichols renovated the building before selling it to the art league.

“It’s the facility we need for the community, and we teach classes in a variety of media throughout the year,” Bauer says, “And that’s what we’re trying to do as an art league. Help the community develop art in the community.”

Bauer has also been busy developing his own style as a potter. His most popular pieces are what he calls the Praise the Lord Pots. These are wheel-thrown bowls and vases that have scripture embedded in them. He is particularly fond of bowls with the fruits of the Spirit—peace, love, and joy—on them.

He also makes hand-built pottery using the slab technique. Many of these he does by raku, a glaze firing technique in which the hot pottery is taken from the kiln and placed in a metal container with combustible items such as leaves, grass, paper, or sawdust. The combination results in a fire, “and you get interesting effects,” explains Bauer.

“It has a lot of character and lends itself to more organic types of pieces, almost like primitive art,” he says. He takes much of his inspiration from nature.

As his art continues to evolve, he says he finds he is “moving toward designs that are asymmetrical.” His work is featured in the Victoria Art League’s gallery, the Rockport Center for the Arts, and at Coastal Creations Gallery.

Satisfaction is what keeps Bauer teaching and creating.

“I feel good about being able to develop the pottery classes in the school and now in the community,” says Bauer. “It’s giving others an opportunity to discover what they can do with clay, and people are excited about creating things. It keeps me busy.”