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Otto Heino (b. 1915) is well known as part of a team of studio potters that included, until 1995, his wife Vivika Heino (1910-55).When Otto and Vivika began working with clay in the 1940’s, ceramics was still largely an unformed discipline in the United States.In the beginning, they gained their expertise through research and hard work, and sought out the insights of established potters when they could.Vivika worked with early American potters Glen Lukens and Charles Harder.Together the couple followed the work of European masters such as Gertrud and Otto Natzler and Bernard Leach and Japanese mingei potters like Shoji Hamada.In this way, they developed a wide repertoire of knowledge.What they gained, they shared, traveling and teaching and always willing to provide instruction and wisdom about their craft.Their dedication to functional ceramics is reknowned and their many students and collectors praise the special vision and ability they possessed.
Otto, the 5th of 12 children raised on a farm in New Hampshire, became interested in ceramics while on military duty in Europe.He had the opportunity to visit the Leach studios in England during one of his 30 day leave periods, where he saw Leach throwing on the wheel.Leach’s work intrigued him, but it was Vivika who was his first teacher.In 1948, when Otto had returned to New Hampshire, he settled near Concord, where Vivika was teaching pottery at the Sharon Art Center.He enrolled in her class, and quickly fell for both the medium and his teacher.Soon the two were making pottery together and selling their work straight out of the studio.They married two years later, and over the next 50 years alternated between running a full time commercial studio, teaching, giving workshops, and even making pieces for the movie sets of Hollywood.As a team they were extremely productive and successful, making a living for themselves as commercial potters while also consistently receiving awards and honors for their work.
Since Vivika’s death in 1995, Otto has continued working with the same consistency and dedication, producing his finely constructed pots from the home and studio he shared with Vivika in Ojai, California.He is known for his skill at the wheel and his fine eye for the form of a pot.When he goes to the wheel, he lets the clay decide his course, working with it to reach the final form of the vessel.His surface design is then informed by the shape and character of the pot, resulting in unified pieces that exemplify the finest of the studio pottery tradition.