Featured Artists » » SPRING STREET STUDIO
Decorative and Functional Porcelain by
Spring Street Studio Potters
Gary Eagan and Steve Beacham
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SPRING STREET STUDIO
In 1970, after receiving his M.A. from the University of Missouri, Gary Eagan came to Eureka Springs to participate in the Annual Sidewalk Art Show and had his "Eureka" experience - this was the place he wanted live! A month later he rented the "bombed out basement" at 65 Spring St. and began the work of building his studio, Spring Street Pottery, and his kiln. The first firing was Thanksgiving weekend of that year.
The next year Gary began an apprentice program and had more than twenty aspiring potters working in the studio during the first decade, several have moved on to careers in clay. The sales area was expanded upstairs into the space that is now Zarks Gallery and Eagan operated both the production and the sales of the work.
Steve Beacham was the last apprentice to join the studio. He came to Eureka Springs in 1979 and began his career forming simple shapes and creating functional pieces. As his knowledge and skills increased, so did the sophistication of his designs which now include intricate teapots and fountains, figural sculptures, and his elegant “Celtic Ware”.
The two potters work together in their shared space and have produced tens of thousands of original works of art. Most recently the studio has begun to produce pieces honoring the styles and glazes of the artists of the Arts and Crafts Period.