Recently Dee Schaad has concentrated on earthenware. The pieces are all one-of-a-kind, tongue in cheek, figurative pieces based on history, myth and current events. Many have a story to go with the piece. They are made of white earthenware, stained and detailed with colored englobes and glazes. They are then fired to 1850 F. They are again fired with metallic lusters. All are fired multiple times and some are fired as many as five times. These pieces take many hours to complete. Most of the individual figures are designed and ready to hang on the wall. Others are vessel formatted and may be functional, but most are decorative and not very practical. He thinks of them as reliquaries for personal relics.
Dee Schaad’s work is included in numerous private, corporate and public collections. His ceramics have been shown in exhibitions regionally and nationally. Thirty of his ceramic figures from the series “Pilgrims on the Way to Canterbury”, were recently on display as part of the Art at the Indianapolis International Airport. His ceramics have also won numerous merit and purchase awards and have appeared in a variety of publications. Articles written by him have appeared in “Pottery Making Illustrated” and in Ceramic Sculpture and Studio Ceramics, both books, publications of the American Ceramic Society.