If you ever look at a piece of pottery by Joseph Frye, look closely and don’t rush—you will never see the same piece twice.
Frye’s ceramic bowls, vases and wall hangings are as distinctive as the people who browse and buy his clay-based creations at shows, in shops and on his website.
But money is not at the core of Frye’s motivation to fire up his kiln day after day, year after year. Just read his business card, and you’ll soon figure out why.
Each card is emblazoned with the acronym “OBTS,” which stands for “Only by the Spirit.”
OBTS is the title Frye of Clanton chose for his work as a potter and ceramicist.
“I always have to give credit to the Lord,” Frye said. “It’s not hard when you keep Christ first and you pray and you realize he’s the Creator, and he can give you ideas. There’s unlimited ideas that he can give you.”
One of Frye’s fastest-growing collections is called “Living Water,” so named because the pockets of melted glass in the curves of the clay look like pools of water.
“Living Water” also stems from a Bible verse that came to Frye as he worked with the bits of bluish-green glass for the first time.
“I started making these vessels, and then I would make it where the glass wouldn’t go out. I just wanted the glass to stay in a certain area,” he said. “I liked them, and people really liked them, too. I think it was really divinely inspired at that time. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘This is living water.’ That’s how it started.”
Frye said he has probably made thousands of pieces over the years, and he prays each time before his fingers even touch the clay.
“It’s a part of what I do. It is a creative process, and I think the Holy Spirit can lead you in what you do,” he said. “It’s therapeutic for me. When I start making pieces, I could stay there for hours.”
He often does spend hours on his pieces, not simply molding the clay and applying glazes, but also firing the pieces in his kilns, which can reach internal temperatures of 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
The firing process alone can last 18 to 20 hours if done properly with two separate firings and a cool-down period in between.
“You could speed it up. You can condense it and go a little faster, but you have to be careful when you’re doing that because you don’t want to stress the piece.”
Frye sells many of his bowls, plates, vases and wall décor, but he also gives pieces away occasionally as a way of sharing his faith.
“I sell my art, but sometimes as the Spirit of God directs me, I’ll give someone something that is more of a ministry to them,” he said. “I always keep that in my focus, that even though I sell my art, I’m always open to whatever the Spirit of God wants to do to minister to someone. We’ve seen people come to the Lord, too.”
Frye said he became a Christian when he was 9 years old, and he and several men in his family are ministers.
He grew up in Michigan and attended Eastern Michigan University, but Frye and Iota, his wife of 35 years, migrated to Chilton County about six years ago to look after her mother.
The couple has three children, Tyrone, Timothy and Christiana. Frye said Christiana helped him photograph his pieces and manage his website before she started law school at the University of Alabama.
“My daughter, she likes more being behind the scenes,” he said. “My middle son, he’s done some things. None of them have taken it on … like I do.”
Frye’s passion for pottery and ceramics began with his first class in high school. In college, he went on to major in art with a concentration in ceramics.
“I think I had a desire to teach because I like working with kids,” he said, “But when I first got involved, I was simply more experimenting with it and just, like, making things. A lot of times, I would give them away.
“The idea was that I did feel like I could do this and make a living out of it.”
In 2009, he began a two-year stint of teaching ceramics at Jefferson State’s Shelby-Hoover campus.
“That was a good experience, too, working with college students,” he said. “They did both hand-building and (work) on the wheel.”
In 2009, Frye taught classes at an art studio he opened in Clanton for a short time.
He is an active member of the Chilton County Arts Council, and he has taught classes at the Chilton County YMCA.
When he isn’t teaching classes locally or creating new pieces at home, Frye is usually traveling to art shows across the state.
“I go all over Alabama. I enjoy when people come by. They look at the work and they just ask, ‘Where do you get all these ideas?’ I say I pray a lot.”
Only when asked does Frye humbly mention the awards he has won at shows and festivals.
His pieces have earned First Place in 3D in Montevallo, Best in Show at Athens’ “Art on the Square,” Best in Show at Orange Beach, Best in Show at Jasper’s “Art in the Park,” Best in Show at Destin, Fla., Best in Show at Pell City and an Award of Distinction, the first award Frye ever won, in Halifax, Fla.
Frye has had pieces for sale in the Blue Phrog Gallery in Montevallo and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn.
He said he hopes to open a shop of his own someday, as well as another studio where people of all ages can take art classes.
“I think part of my mission is to encourage artists that maybe haven’t had a chance, or maybe they are busy doing other things and they have a desire to do art, but they just haven’t had the time,” he said. “One of my desires is seeing kids that don’t have opportunities to do art have an avenue in this area. I think it’s therapy for them, too.”