If you learn how to learn you can do anything.” These were the introductory words by Dick Lehman, ceramics Goshen College alumni, as he began a conversation based on the learning process as an artist who is driven by passion and experimentation. Lehman got his start in pottery as a student at GC learning how to throw from a fellow alumni, Bob Smoker who is now a part of the Northern Indiana Clay Alliance with Lehman. “We both harbored dreams of becoming potters,” Lehman said. As his curiosity in ceramics grew he had begun taking classes as an elective during his time at GC.
After graduating with a Religion degree, Lehman began working in pottery as a hobbyist out of a chicken house while working other full time jobs, however those jobs went out the window after a few years. “I was living in the expectation of others and it wasn’t a very happy place to be,” said Lehman when he decided at age 28 to do ceramics full time.
Starting a business meant that Lehman had to quickly learn how to properly budget and finance his career. Len Geiser, a retired GC business professor of business, had instructed Lehman on the process of making, selling and profiting off of his work. After gaining this new skill, the optimism of creating had fostered a lifestyle that led Lehman to work about 90 hours a week producing pottery. He eventually developed a proper work-life balance but Lehman said, “Had I not been willing to spend that much time, it wouldn’t have succeeded.”
After discovering the Old Bag Factory a few years later, Lehman and a fellow furniture maker had flipped the building into a hub for people interested in the arts. “The Bag Factory became a destination point for artists and craftsmen,” said Lehman. He had spent time with his employees training them to run a business, sharing the skills he had learned years before them. Everything that had to do with the business Lehman was happy to share with his employees, “My idea was that we all had some opportunities to grow, not just me,” Lehman shared.
After years of work Lehman decided to incorporate sabbaticals into the course of his work. These sabbaticals encouraged him to teach, learn and travel. “It’s the thing that kind of spun my approach to things,” Lehman said. These sabbaticals had led to a plethora of experimentation in his art, “My central voice is experimentation,” he added.
After a 2 month trip to Japan during one of these sabbaticals, Japanese pottery had led Lehman to experiment with a process called oni-glazing. The word oni can be translated to “demon” with another definition used to describe something extreme, which when looking at Lehman’s art for the first time, can definitely be applicable. However, enough is never enough for the potter when it comes to form and color and as he hides landscapes and dancers in his work, you may easily point out a Dick Lehman piece from a mile away.
Lehman has since moved out of the Old Bag Factory after a diagnosis of lymphoma and the studio in the building is now taken over by Mark Goertzen, a mentee of Lehman’s who is now a professional potter. Lehman is still producing art out of his home studio located in Goshen and sells his work on his website Dick Lehman Clay Art. He participates in the Michiana Pottery Tour every year with the next one being dated for September 27th and 28th of 2025. Another smaller pottery tour is to precede it this May.
