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The formation of clay into functioning vessels dates back thousands of years. Add a present-day artist’s interest in fossils and an archaic collaboration is created. For Kaci Schacht, the 23 year-old artist/owner of Mug Schacht’s, inspiration is found close to home.

“Dinosaurs have always fascinated me and maybe growing up near Ashfall (Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, located near Royal) had something to do with that,” reflected Schacht, “and having a mom who loves art.”

Her mom, Teri Schacht, art instructor at Niobrara Public Schools, encouraged a creative childhood for Schacht and her three siblings.

She also draws inspiration from her rural upbringing on the family farm north of Orchard.

A 2015 graduate of Clearwater-Orchard Public Schools, Schacht excelled in art during her high school years, but it was in college where her passion for pottery ignited. While majoring in art education at Wayne State College, Schacht enrolled in a basic pottery class. Her instructor, Leroy von Glan, fueled her interest and soon she was taking more pottery classes and refining her skill. Schacht and von Glan had conversions about dinosaurs and “how to make them and what makes each one its own.”

“He was willing to answer my million questions that I’d throw at him,” relayed Schacht.

Originally Schacht started selling her pottery to reduce the inventory from her college projects. She now makes custom pieces, including bowls, vases, pitchers and cookie jars. Her favorite are the mugs. “Maybe it’s because mom and I are coffee snobs,” Schacht said with a smile. Mug Schacht’s are available in various glazes, shapes, sizes and are microwave and dishwasher safe.

Mug Schacht’s are sold online and at Corner Hardware and More, located in Orchard. This spring, the hardware’s store new owners, Glen and Tammy Cheatum, were expanding inventory to include gift items and asked Schacht to bring in her pottery. “It’s a good fit,” she related.

Currently, Schacht is the art teacher at Verdigre Public School. “I hope to provide my students with a creative outlet and to help them look at everyday life in a different light. So they can find the beauty in life,” affirmed Schacht. She follows this directive in her own life as well.

This past April, Schacht won a high honor in the Norfolk Art Center Juried Show. Her piece, titled “Fossilized,” placed second. The vase is embossed with a wooly mammoth fossil and is fired using the raku technique. The special firing revealed fine lines within the bones of the skeletal depiction and a texturized background was created with glaze.

Raku, an ancient Japanese form of glaze firing, is a technique that Schacht would like to do more of in the future. “I will need to build a special kiln,” stated Schacht. She recently purchased an electric pottery wheel and would like to have her own studio and teach private classes.

Potter’s clay is composed of extremely small particles of minerals, metal oxides and organic matter. Imagine the possibility that one of these tiny particles was once a dinosaur fossil that was sent along a path by erosion, finding its way into a Schacht mug that now bears its image. Are you looking at everyday life in a different light?

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

Romans 9:21 (NIV)

What is Raku pottery?

Raku pottery is fired at lower temperatures and uses oxygen deprivation to manipulate the environment surrounding the piece. The pottery is removed from the kiln while still glowing hot, then placed in material that ignites easily, including dried leaves, sawdust or paper, and then enclosed in a container. The secondary fire removes the oxygen surrounding the piece. Glazes and natural components, such as feathers and horse hair can also be “burned” into the surface. The resulting thermal shock creates crackling and intense natural coloring of unglazed areas. According to Schacht it is the “most physical tasking technique.” It is also exciting due to the unpredictable variations of the rapid burnishment and firing. Raku literally translates as “happiness in the accident.”