Taking the Wheel

Oct. 26, 2014

Former Football Coach Transitions to Full-Time Artist

When compared to many other artists, Corey Bechler got a late start. "I didn’t take my fi rst art class until my senior year of college at Hillsdale," says Bechler.

"It was a photography class. I liked it so much, the next semester I took 18 credits of art."

After graduation, Bechler landed a job teaching art in Onsted, Michigan before moving to Benzie County in 2000, where he now teaches art at Benzie Central Middle School. During his non-teaching hours, Bechler and his wife Stacey team up to create colorful, creative clay pieces. He does the clay work and Stacey is in charge of the glazing and painting. Some are serious landscapes; others are whimsical critters, fish or birds.

The Bechlers do much of their business at art fairs. "I did 17 shows this summer all over Michigan," says Bechler. "Saugatuck, Royal Oak, Charlevoix, Leland, Harbor Springs, all over."

They have a cadre of collectors who follow them to the fairs, looking for their latest works.

"We have collectors who have 20 or more of our birds of different sizes and colors," he says. "And one of our fans in East Jordan has one of our works in every room in their house. I guess it’s a good sign that I’ve never seen one of our pieces in a garage sale or resale shop."

HOW I GOT STARTED

I got started with clay by making a set of "collages" for my wife for Christmas one year. Her girlfriends ended up loving them so much that I had to make a set for each of them and then sets for their friends"¦that is when I knew I had a good thing going. It has slowly become a husband and wife collaboration with each of us adding new ideas to the mix each and every day.

THE STORY BEHIND MY ART, MY INSPIRATION

There are so many inspirations here in northern Michigan, from views of the sand dunes, to textures, to just everyday interactions with people traveling through the region. Every day is filled with a new idea.

WORK I’M MOST PROUD OF

I love our rendition of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We have created several "paintings" of the sand dunes where we sketch out the image, mix up chunks of glass with our glaze, brush it on so that chunks of glass are exposed, and then outline the image with a black slip. We fire the "painting" in a kiln to just under 2,000 degrees and, when it cools down, the glass chunks really add a sense of texture and depth to the landscape.

YOU WON’T BELIEVE

I coached football for 14 years and would spend my evening "unwinding" by having my clay therapy, making a unique creation, throwing on the pottery wheel, painting an image with glaze and then firing it to 2,000 degrees. Our art has gotten so popular that I needed to find time in my schedule and, unfortunately, I had to give up a very successful run of coaching football to devote more time to our art creations.

MY FAVORITE ARTIST

We are big fans of Amedeo Modigliani.

He was best known for his elongated, almost tribal-looking faces and portraits. We are also heavily influenced by Picasso and Van Gogh.

ADVICE FOR ASPIRING ARTISTS

Practice! They say you need to throw 1,000 pounds of clay before you really become good at using a pottery wheel. The more you practice and create, the better you become at trial and error and learning your craft. Talk to others and visit their studios. Artists have already tried many different techniques; they can help you with a lot of the technical aspects that go into a piece of art.

MY WORK CAN BE SEEN/PURCHASED

Bechler Pottery in Honor, Painted Bird Gallery in Suttons Bay, Elements in Charlevoix, and Hanni Gallery in Harbor Springs.