Culture has been defined as what we make of the world. Functional pottery is Paul Eshelman’s cultural attempt, through the material of clay, to bring order and human dignity to the merely physical act of consuming food and drink. As his pots are used daily, Paul’s hope is that they carry measures of quiet and nourishment for body and spirit. He imagines people at a dinner table, workspace, or office cubicle where food and drink are served and humanized by hospitable, well-ordered pots.
Eshelman received a B.A. in art from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and an M.F.A. in ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. He is grateful to have maintained a clay studio for over 30 years in Elizabeth, Illinois. The pots have gone out to enhance the lives of people across the country and are in service at the Alinea group in Chicago and at Teaism in Washington, DC. The work has appeared in numerous books and magazines and is held in permanent museum collections.