To Scott Semple, bigger is better.

“I never thought of pottery as glamorous and never wanted to be a potter,” says Semple, who hones his craft in a Buellton studio. “But when I saw large-scale pieces, it hooked me.”

Not that works of art in the 3- to 4-feet range come easily: One must fire the clay, move 200 to 300 pounds around the studio and on a pottery wheel.

“It’s difficult, but I imagine the challenge is a part of the fascination because you have to translate proportions,” the artist explains. “The relationship of parts to a whole — that is what art’s all about.”

The sheer scale of pottery projects grabbed his attention, but Semple asserts there’s more to his livelihood than meets the eyes. It isn’t merely size that matters.

“Anybody can throw a big pot,” he says. “What you do with the surface of the piece is what makes it uniquely yours.”

The ceramic artist, who resides in Lompoc with his girlfriend, Cindy Henning, and their 1-year-old son, Logan, has been “throwing” clay since graduating high school circa 1980 in Orange County.

 

Although Semple’s aunt Janine was a functional potter during the early 1970s, much of his inspiration stemmed from great instructors, one of whom served double-duty as pottery and surfing teacher.

“We’d paddle out in the mornings, then go to pottery class,” says Semple, recalling his childhood as typical of California: sports, surfing and skateboarding.

After high school, Semple was off to Northern Arizona University — “because of its kilns” — where his interest in earthenware sharpened. The artist’s subsequent excursions around the world afforded him the opportunity to observe ceramists from Greece to Thailand, whereupon he found inspiration through cross-cultural influence.

Back in the states — Hawaii of all places — Semple shared his knowledge by teaching at an art institute in Maui, but the locale wasn’t exactly viable for all artists and distributors seeking a profit.

“Shipping big pieces off the island to California was the same as shipping to Tokyo,” Semple says.

He moved to Santa Ynez Valley two years ago because he wanted a place with a stronger economy and because of the state’s Spanish-Colonial architectural theme, including a history and tradition of pottery.

 

Two websites have helped facilitate Semple’s cause: PacificCeramicDesign.com and TierraPercussion.etsy.com, the latter of which specifically pertains to his ceramic drums that reflect his ongoing fascination with the acoustic properties of clay.

In addition, he continues displaying his creations every Sunday near the Santa Barbara wharf as part of the weekly Art Walk. (In fact, the artists’ work will be included as part of a commercial being shot there this weekend.)

Semple says he developed a distinctive feeling about his livelihood years ago.

“I started getting good at what I was doing,” he says. “The better you get at something, the more you’re aware of who’s doing it around you. But I started seeing less people doing this. Again, the height and scale of these pieces led me to believe they’re viable.”

To that end, Semple is energized about the prospect of integrating his ceramics into wine country, based on the notion that grapes and clay have an ancient connection. He wants to offer his studios to ideas stemming from primal themes, dating back to man’s quest for fire.

“It harmonizes your community — everybody loves fire and getting around it,” says Semple, noting that he consciously chose working with clay over metal or wood. “You can build pieces, but still have to fire ’em. You must have a distinct give-and-take relationship with fire.”

What’s more, he points out, ceramic art actually features human parts: “It’s no coincidence we talk about a vase in terms of the lip, the shoulder and the foot — human components.”

 

There also exist ingrained time-stamps and economic elements in works of clay, according to Semple, who has signed, dated and numbered each of his drums. Push your thumb in clay, he says, and it remains there as a record.

“Fired clay tablets were the original receipts,” he explains.

Back to the future, ceramics is all part of what Semple refers to as mystic participation. Sometimes he walks into his studio and finds it hard to believe that he created such large pieces.

“They don’t really belong to me; they’re going to outlast me by thousands of years, so I put extra effort into making them more presentable,” he says.

Semple views himself as an artist who has stood up to the responsibility of being an artist in this day and age. Given the unsteady economy, he says, one must be truly creative.

He expressly believes the elimination of ceramic and music courses in U.S. schools is weakening art’s “connective tissues” to civilization.

“I’ve seen arts programs get whacked across the country — I think it’s criminal,” he says in no uncertain terms. “The arts are directly related to how we measure a successful society. We can all band together and turn the tide a little.”

Given that mindset, it makes sense that Semple is an early riser who accomplishes ample work before his young son wakes up. (“There’s that whole ‘provider’ instinct we all have as men.”)

It also comes as no surprise Semple’s all-consuming pottery path doesn’t lend itself to other pursuits.

“There’s no time for hobbies when you’re building dreams,” he says.

 

jluksic@syvjournal.com