Artist of the Day: Melissa Schooley Raging Bowl Pottery
As a kid growing up on an apple orchard in Southwestern Ontario, mom’s homemade play dough was my favorite thing to play with. I loved the stuff. My poor mother sacrificed her dining room table for years so that I had somewhere to create. I was always a pretty creative kid and enjoyed art classes in school.
Until high school, that is. In high school we were given the opportunity to take either art or music. I chose music. Not because I didn’t want to take art, but rather, because I was horrible at drawing and couldn’t paint to save my life. For some reason, I had always just assumed that art class in high school was all about painting and drawing, and so I avoided it like the plague. I suffered all through high school taking music classes and focusing on science, all the while wishing I could take pottery classes. Once graduation rolled around, I was off to university to persue sciences but pottery was always a lingering thought. I didn’t last long in sciences. I was horribly unhappy and knew that something had to change. I made the switch to social sciences for all of one semester but there was still something missing. I decided that if I was going to be
happy, I needed to go to school for something I always wanted to do. Pottery.
Much to the horror of my parents, I dropped out, moved back home and put together a portfolio to apply to art school. Within 6 months I was on my way to Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver where I completed a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, Visual Arts Degree in 2002.
I have never looked back. I have been a full time potter since 2005 and am currently working in functional porcelain. I have absolutely no regrets about the path I have chosen – though really, it feels more like the path chose me.
www.ragingbowlpottery.com
www.ragingbowl.etsy.com
www.ragingbowl.blogspot.com
