Bill Sax

I first met Bill in the spring of 1972 when he was teaching for a semester at Mt. Holyoke. I quickly learned that his days flowed seamlessly, from making pottery to gardening to custom wood- working to entirely remodeling his barn into a home, to cooking, philosphizing and generously enjoying having company over for dinner. Although I was a double art and cultural anthropology major, I thought of art as divided into disciplines, such as painting and sculpture, or mediums such as ink or clay.

But as I watched Bill artistically attend to every detail of his life with an aesthetic intent, I realized that how one lived life itself could be a work of art. I had never really thought of that.

Bill, Karen Karnes and Ron Probst pioneered making flameware pottery, but Bill is the one who devoted a lifetime to making beautiful flameware. He has lived and worked in a constantly evolving remodelled barn in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Ever modest, and not one to do many workshops, Bill is not as well recognized as he deserves. His work has a direct quality — expressive of the very nature of clay. When I began doing research on making flameware myself, Bill gave me very some valuable help. And throe years he has been extremely generous with knowledge, glazes and thoughts. 

For more than 40 years, we’ve remained fond colleagues and friends. He and his wife provided a home-away-from-home when my son Quin attended Hampshire College. By quiet example, Bill has been a major influence in my life, inspiring me to construct my life in as creative a manner as possible. ugh th