Celebrating Being Part Of A Handcrafted ‘Renaissance’

Eve Behar is not precious about the handling of the unique, one-of-a-kind ceramic vases, mugs and other housewares she creates. In fact, she encourages people to put their hands on them.

“When people say, ‘Can I touch it?’ I say, of course you can,” she said. “That’s what they’re for. I want them to be used, I want them to be handled. You’re not going to know how it feels unless you pick it up.”

It would be understandable if an artisan of Behar’s status felt uncomfortable about people casually handling the beautiful — and breakable — pieces she makes. These are not mass-produced items; they’re handcrafted works of art that require a serious investment of time at the potter’s wheel and in the studio located in the backyard of her Sag Harbor home.

But over time — three decades, to be precise — Behar’s approach to what she does has evolved, along with her sense of what she wants the items she creates to be for the people who buy them.

“My goal is to infuse contemporary life with this traditional art in a contemporary way,” she said in an interview in July, pointing out that handmade ceramic objects can be “functional works of art.”

“People think it’s old fashioned, or they want an industrial look that only machines can make, but there’s a whole world of makers out there, from ceramics to glassblowers and more,” she added.

Behar is one of the more experienced members of a group of like-minded artisans who, together, form the Clay Art Guild. The Guild, which was formed in 2000, began with just a gallery, located on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, where local artisans could showcase their work. But in 2013, it expanded to include a learning studio, for people interested in taking up pottery and learning how to make handcrafted ceramics for the first time, or those with some experience who wanted to hone their skills.

It became so popular that the Guild opened a second space, and now has two studios in Water Mill. They no longer have the gallery.

Behar was president of the Guild for three years during that time of expansion, and said the studios continue to be “jam-packed” with people of all ability levels taking classes. Behar teaches there once a week, while other longtime Guild members, such as Mary Jaffey, current President Phyllis Spiegel and Donna Denin, also are on hand to help guide those who come in.

The Guild is and always has been a nonprofit entity. Instructors are paid a nominal rate for their time, but Behar said the idea is “to make enough money to keep it running.”

And while she has the title of teacher, using her 30 years of experience to impart what she knows, Behar said she’s also always learning as well.

“I really learn a lot from the students,” she said, pointing out that many of the people who come in for classes, mostly women, are accomplished in various careers they hold or have held. “They’re all former designers of some kind, whether they were in graphic design, interior design, maybe a shoe designer, and they all have a really keen eye,” she said.

Of course, a keen eye is not the only necessity for becoming accomplished at making ceramic art. Mastering the technical skills needed to create the kind of eye-catching pieces that Behar sells takes a lot of time and patience.

“The 10,000 hours thing is real,” Behar said with a laugh, referring to Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling novel about how long it takes to master a skill.

Behar has been working with clay “on and off,” she said, since 1992, and has been a professional potter since 2004. She went back to school at age 30 to get a formal education in the field, and since then has been creating everything from napkin rings to mugs, teapots, soap dishes and more.

When teaching, Behar said she tries to emphasize a “quantity over quality” approach with her students.

“You’re not going to get to the quality unless you make a lot of stuff,” she said. It goes along with her approach to encouraging potential buyers to handle her items. “Nothing is precious. I don’t get attached to it. There are so many points where it can go wrong on you and crash and burn. Even when something is done and in the cabinet, it can fall out. It’s just a cup — it’s not you. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t handle it with care.”

A peek inside Behar’s Sag Harbor studio — a converted garage at the back end of the picturesque property behind her home — makes it clear that she has certainly produced a high volume of ceramic goods. She still holds on to items she made earlier in her career as a potter, a reminder of how far she has come and how her style has evolved.

Like everything else, it’s been a process, she said.

“I’ve been trying for a long time to really zero in on a style and I think I really got it the last two years,” she said.

Using a lot of color has always been a theme for Behar, but she said in recent years, she’s put an emphasis on more neutral tones — and, if color is present, it’s usually in blue or earthy tones — as well as using a lot of lines, dots and circles, with more of a focus on geometric design.

Behar has not ever made an entire matching set of plates or dishes, and said when she’s setting a table in her own home, she isn’t opposed to straying from a “matchy-matchy” approach.

“I have a whole plate collection of individual plates, so I’ll set a table with eight different plates from all different makers,” she said. “I’m not a hoarder, but I’m a collector, and I appreciate the handmade plate. A lot of ceramic people collect other people’s stuff.”

A small set of matching pitchers or mugs are in her wheelhouse, and Behar likes to make standout items as well, such as an olive tray or berry bowl with a series of tiny holes in the bottom and a small dish to set it on, which can elevate the presentation of a bowl of strawberries, rather than leaving it in a traditional plastic or metal colander.

She’s even made items for children, such as a ceramic two-handed toddler cup, or a kid-sized chip dip bowl, which her son used when he was a preschooler.

In recent years, Behar has witnessed what she calls “a renaissance in appreciating handmade objects,” and said she thinks people now realize that they can have the best of both worlds: a collection of unique, handmade but functional ceramic housewares like the ones she makes, and use them alongside more industrially designed pieces. “They can both live together,” she said.

Of course, handmade items come at a premium and certainly cost more than a set of plates sold at Pottery Barn or HomeGoods. But Behar said that makes logical sense.

“When people talk about good clothing, they’re willing to spend more money on fewer items, and it’s sort of the same idea here,” she said. “If someone who’s not in the world of handmade crafts comes upon a $60 mug, they’ll say, whoa, that’s a lot. But you’re buying a functional work of art, so in the scheme of things, it’s not that much.” (Behar’s mugs currently sell for $46.)

While quantity is an important theme for Behar to drive home when she’s teaching, the idea of quality is never far from her consciousness, relating not only to the pieces of art she’s creating, but what making them for a living has meant to her.

“I can’t tell you how lucky I feel,” she said. “It’s like, wow, I get to do something that I love. It’s not the biggest money-maker, but I used to hate going to work when I worked in television. I didn’t understand what the big deal was — everyone was always running around with their heads cut off. I have a very privileged life now. I have a beautiful family, everyone is healthy, and I get to live in paradise.”

For more information on Eve Behar and to view her work, find her on Instagram at evebeharceramics. Her work is also displayed and sold at Fishers Home Furnishings in Sag Harbor.