Honey Creek, Iowa

Stoneware Pottery

Herm’s interest in pottery making began a number of years ago while working toward a degree in education at Kearney State College [now know as UNK] located at Kearney, Nebraska. The process of shaping nondescript plastic clay into an infinite variety of shapes to give visual and tactile pleasure to the viewer became an irresistible challenge. An industrial technology background contributed to his interest in the step-by-step process of shaping objects and joining attachments to create the artistically finished form. Pulling handles, forming shapes by joining sections, adding decorations and fitting lids to wheel thrown shapes presented a challenge to move beyond the basic functional pottery form toward a rhythmical three dimensional expression. These processes as well as the firing of objects into vitreous creative products continue to hold him captive in this medium. Herm wants the viewer’s artistic sensibilities to be enhanced through experiencing his work tactilely, visually and/or functionally. At present, the potter fires his work to cone 6 in electric kilns.

Herm’s educational preparation at UNK includes an undergraduate Industrial Technology major and an M.S. in Education with emphasis in the visual arts. Herm’s Creative Thesis study and show consisted of wheel-thrown stoneware pottery which was fired in a 30-cubic foot catinary arch fuel-oil-fired kiln built by the potter as part of his studies.

The artist’s 35-year career as an educator in Nebraska schools was concluded with retirement in the year 2000. He and his wife Jenene, also a retired career educator and school counselor, live in the beautiful Loess Hills about 16 miles north of Council Bluffs, Iowa.