Marvin Bartel is a Kansas native, professor of art at Goshen College and a full-time potter-sculptor in this sabbatical year. In 1972 he built his family’s home near Goshen out of handhewn beams, old barn boards, and wood siding. Inside he constructed a fireplace from a propane tank, and made the clay tile on floors, counters, and splash areas. Much of the furniture is his own creation including ceramic chairs, magazine racks, lighting fixtures, and both decorative and useful pots.
I found that some of the most creative moments occurred under pressure when a decision had to be made quickly. I have long been impressed by the creativity people express with their mailboxes. Their humanness in the face of standardization is to be supported. Couldn’t we try to put aside pretense and let our plastic be plastic, our clay be clay, and wood be wood? If we live without conscience in the midst of these small dishonesties, who is to say at what point honesty begins to be essential? To me, honesty is part of my aesthetic. I like spaces which are like sculpture; they are compositions which invite exploration and contemplation. Man is the only one of God’s creatures that builds his nest in the shape of a cube, or by the dictates of machines and tools rather than the needs of the inhabitants. If my personal “garden of Eden” happens to be wooded, I believe it is wrong for me to bulldoze it down so that I can have a lawn to mow every Friday evening. Ironically our chimney was formerly used as a gas pipeline. I found it in the junkyard. Who knows, the stuff of our civilization may yet find the proper use in a post-industrial age.