BETHEL — This is not just a tale of a pottery store in the mountains in Maine. It is tale of what it means to really love what you do, the sacrifices you must make, and above all else, it is tale of love.

Back when they were children, Garret and Melody went to church together. They began dating while in school, and Garret says Melody broke-up with him to go to art school. Don’t worry, though. They end up married.

The art school Melody went to was Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. During Garret’s senior year at Bates, the two got married. Garret left Bates and went to Northeastern while Melody worked. She took classes at the Y in pottery, and that’s where she fell in love with it.

“I remember walking back, I think it was from the subway stop; I said to myself, I’ll give this five years,” Melody says.

That was in 1969. At the time they were living in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, and had a tiny home together. Melody’s parents had a bigger home, and her father was a shop smith and made a wheel for her.

“Then we bought a little kiln, and that’s how it started,” Garret says.

In 1972 they started doing pottery for a living in Pennsylvania. In 1974, they moved up to Bethel and opened up shop. They chose Bethel because back when Garret had gone to Bates, he had loved visiting in his free time.

Garret prefers to do the throwing, while Melody prefers to do the glazing. She’s created samples for 30 or more of their paints, showing what happens when you mix one color with each of the colors.

The process is as follows: Garret gets a clump of clay, measuring it to usually be a pound, before putting it on the wheel. Next to him there is always a water bucket. He moves his hand to and from the bucket and on the clay. He holds it steady, stepping on pedal like it is a sewing machine. As it forms a shape, Garret says, “If I don’t do anything, it doesn’t do anything. You start by actually making the bottom. You work backwards.”

Melody has been making pottery for 51 years, and Garret has been making pottery for 49 years.

“So I’ve formed it as big as I want it, and to get the wrinkle out,” says Garret. “There’s a little extra water on the side, get that out with a sponge. With the tools I sort cut it off, trim it. Then I take a wire or a string or something to get it off the wheel…Then after it dries I put a handle on it.
“I’ve literally made 10s of 1,000s of mugs in my career if not 100s of 1,000s,” Garret continues. “I like making mugs and people like buying them…we opened this studio to the public for three days and we sold 110 mugs, sold out.”

“But it did affect his body some,” adds Melody.

“Well, I have chronic tendinitis,” says Garrett quietly. “For any small motor movement that you’re going to do over and over again, you’d get carpal tunnel or tendinitis. It’s not as bad as it was. I used to throw a 100 marks as a time, now I throw no more than 40. You learn from your mistakes.”

Garret continues that his favorite part of the process if throwing. He loves making bowls, something like the size of a Japanese tea bowl.

“It’s very fulfilling to just throw those and shape them,” he says. “It’s just the shape. And I know people love them, and I love them. Like these little ones we call sauce bowls, you know somebody has a dip or something hot.”

Their store has been open for 47 years. However, the two are retiring.

“We figure 100 years is long enough—,” laughs Garret.

“His 50 and my 50,” Melody laughs.

“We will continue to make pottery but in another way,” Garrett says.

“And also at a different scale,” Melody finishes.

The two finish the other’s sentences and trains of thoughts easily.

When leaving the studio and showcase room, you pass by prints on the way toward the front door. They are Melody’s glazed tiles scanned by their friend onto watercolor paper.

“Once it’s sold its gone, so this way we can extend the life of the tile,” finishes Garret, smiling at his wife.

The two move like clockwork towards the front door, when Melody makes a movement, Garret counters it. When she starts a sentence, he finishes it. The two artists are so in tune with another, they need not talk to communicate…and they communicate through their art as well.

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