Four Lifetimes in Ceramics

Two couples to receive Lifetime Achievement awards from the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.

Both Ed (1911-2008) and Mary (1908-2007) Scheier and Otto (1915- ) and Vivica (1910-1995) Heino spent a lifetime in ceramics and a great deal of that time teaching. Vivica was invited from New York City to teach for the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen after the Scheiers resigned. She traveled on behalf of the League, setting up ceramic studios for classes at several locations in this state. One of her eager students was Otto. He had just received money for schooling from the G.I. Bill after spending much of WWII as a waist gunner in a B-17.

Otto and Vivica married in the ’50s, and Vivica was invited to teach at USC in California. Otto gained more experience as her apprentice there and the couple, now both active artists, came back to the state for a period in the mid-’70s. They returned to their Henniker studio and set up a ceramics program for New England College nearby.

But the mild climate of California called and they returned to the Golden State, where Otto still lives and produces in Ojai. Their lifetime achievements include international recognition, commissions and awards. Their travels offered them the opportunity to meet the leading ceramic artists of the day and their instruction helped lay the ground floor of the burgeoning American crafts movement.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards Exhibition will be hosted at Gallery 205 in Concord from May 15 to August 12. Otto Heino, now 94, will be on hand for the opening reception on May 15, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A large selection of Otto’s work is available at the League shop at 36 N. Main St. in Concord.

Studio artists continue to supplement their incomes with teaching at League shops in Meredith, Hanover, Center Sandwich and most recently Littleton.