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 Raku Pottery artist Amy Mealey was born and raised in Moab. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Amy returned to Moab and bought her first potter’s wheel and kiln. She began making pottery which she sold in local stores. After several years she moved back to Salt Lake City and began an apprenticeship with Stan Roberts, where she learned the process of Raku firing.
Raku is the process of removing ceramic pieces from a hot kiln (1800 F`) and placing them into a metal container, then placing combustibles, which can be any organic material, (I use shredded news paper) on top of them, and sealing the lid. The newspaper burns up all of the oxygen. The copper in the glaze reacts to this, resulting in beautiful color flashes. These color flashes are what makes the beads and the pots unique. No two beads are exactly alike, making the jewelry pieces truly one of a kind!
After living in the big city for five years, Amy decided to move to the middle of nowhere, Carlin, Nevada. Here she set up another studio to again pursue her love of wheel thrown  pottery. While living in Carlin she taught Ceramics at Great Basin College of Nevada, in Elko, 20 miles west of Carlin. She also joined the Elko County Art Club. She became a very active member working on many of the committees including, the Scholarship committee, the annual Spring Art show committee, Art in the Park, an annual Arts Festival, and volunteered at the Art Club Art Gallery. Eventually, she became the president of the Art Club and remained that until she moved back to Moab.
Happy to be back in her home town, yet another studio has been set up and she is making pottery, beads, and jewelry as her full time job. Now she is living the dream of being her own boss, doing the work she loves, working with clay and being an artist! She spends her days making beads, jewelry and pottery and traveling the country selling her work at trade shows.
Amy will be the featured artist at Savage Spirit! for the Moab Art Walk on May 11th and her work is always available in Moab at Savage Spirit!, 87 N Main. www.facebook.com/savagespirit.moab
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The Moab Pastel Guild will be featured at the Bighorn Gallery at Dead Horse Point State Park from May 2nd to June 29th. The guild is a group of like-minded artists who meet weekly to paint. They all share a deep love of the surrounding landscape and it’s ever changing light and colors.
