SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Gallery at the VAULT is pleased to welcome Brooks Heley to the gallery with his distinctive pottery.
Heley grew up on a North Dakota farm making fun designs in the sandbox, and as a teenager got into big trouble for doing the same thing on a much larger scale while disking/tilling a field. “When I took my first ceramics class in college, I failed world literature because I was spending so much time in the clay studio. I started teaching art in 1967, and retired in 2018 – you do the math. All the while I worked in clay.”
In the 90s he started teaching internationally, working and traveling to five continents. He was able to observe several cultures and their approaches to working with clay. Heley is now “retired.”
“After teaching internationally, I could land anywhere; Vermont chose me. Now I get to spend most of my time with my childhood dream of making mud pies with clay.”
His mugs are sturdy, well balanced, and generous in size. His dog dishes will not skid across the floor, and his planters and bowls are a work of art.
For more information, and to see Heley’s work, please visit Gallery at the VAULT, 68 Main Street, Springfield. The gallery is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; and Friday, from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. For more information, call 802-885-7111, email galleryvault@vermontel.net, or visit www.galleryvault.org or Facebook/Instagram. The gallery is handicap accessible.