Kodiak man pursues pottery dream in Wasilla

WASILLA — It took a few years and a long trip abroad for Matthew Van Atta to realize he didn’t really want to be an engineer.

At least, not in the typical sense of the word.

A graduate of Kodiak High School, Van Atta grew up on the island with his parents and two brothers. Each member of the family has some kind of artistic talent, he said, but have pursued other career fields, such as medicine. One brother got a degree in physics, and is also an avid photographer, he said.

Van Atta himself got his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and went on to start a master’s program in the field. During that time, his desire to make pottery, as he had casually done in high school, was rekindled.

“Pretty soon, I was doing more ceramics than engineering,” he said.

So he decided to take a break from school and travel to a place he’d never been: New Zealand.

Van Atta couldn’t say why he chose the country, but he obtained a working holiday visa to get there. He found New Zealand was rich with potters, and sought employment so he could support his hobby and “not starve,” he said.

He eventually got a job fire-testing building materials in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital. Then he found the Wellington Potters Association, and with it, practically a second home.

With his membership fee, Van Atta was given a key to the studio and permitted to come in virtually whenever he wanted. While that sometimes meant he was there alone, more often than not, he worked and learned with a community of potters, gaining “street knowledge” of the art, he said.

“In Wellington I learned how to do everything I had been taught (in school),” Van Atta said.

Van Atta spent two and a half years in the country — longer than he had intended — and in that time discovered what he wanted to do: come home and start his own pottery association.

In November of 2015, Van Atta acquired 1,000 square feet of studio space for rent next to Arctic Fox Taxidermy on Greenstreet Circle in Wasilla. He had saved enough money to keep the place open for several months if traffic to the studio was slow (which he expected, given the low visibility of the area), and built all manner of shelving, cabinets and cubbies needed to store supplies and works in progress. He bought four potters’ wheels and a kiln with eight cubic feet of space for his pieces and that of future members, the biggest that the studio’s electrical circuit can sustain.

His engineering education has not gone to waste. From making glazes to knowing how a material will respond to the heat of a kiln, to creating a sound structural design, the similarities between pottery and engineering are clear.

“If (a piece) has a bad foundation, it’s gonna collapse. That’s still true (in engineering),” Van Atta said.

Perhaps more important than applying his degree to his potential career, however, is applying what he learned in Wellington — to make art in company.

As a student, Van Atta had been shy about working in front of others, going so far as to bring most of his high school projects home to work away from the eyes of his teachers and peers. He said this sort of isolation seems to be common among potters in Alaska, but that the Wellington Potters encouraged socializing, and helped dispel the fear of rejection young or new artists often harbor.

“Sometimes they don’t actually get anything done pottery wise, but they’re social and they’re having a good time,” Van Atta said.

That friendly, laid-back atmosphere is exactly what he hopes to create with Valley Pottery Association.

Van Atta plans to begin hosting introductory hand building and wheel throwing classes on Jan. 18, and will offer 3-month, 6-month and full year memberships starting on Jan. 15. Membership fees will include storage space and use of studio equipment whenever Van Atta or a volunteer is present. Firing costs and materials such as clay and glazes are not included.

Van Atta said he chose the multi-month membership model to ease production pressure for members.

“You don’t have to make 10 pots to feel like you got your money’s worth out of an hour,” he said.

For rates and class dates, visit akpottery.com or facebook.com/valleypotteryassociation. For additional information, contact Matthew Van Atta at 907-521-4640 or matthew@akpottery.com.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.