Many Scheier vessels are decorated with a repeat pattern of human-like figures and faces, sometimes mixed with plant or animal forms.

Many of the patterns on the Scheier vessels incorporate curved lines as outlines of shapes, as suggestions of hair or water, ...

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1990, vessel, stoneware, 10 1/2” by 9”,
gift of Stéphane Janssen, Arizona State University Art Museum

... or as repeat patterns within the negative space.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1966, vessel, ceramic, 14 1/2” by 11”, Arizona State University Art Museum

In some Scheier vessels, heads, eyes, noses, mouths, breasts, hands, and feet protrude outward from the vessel walls.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, vessel, ceramic, 13 1/4” by 7 1/2”, purchased with funds from Stéphane Janssen Art Foundation, Arizona State University Art Museum

The patterns decorating the Scheiers’ vessels are organized in a variety of ways, some simple, some quite complex. The vessel below is encircled by female figures alternatively standing or upside down. The modules of the pattern are joined where hands and feet meet.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1988, vessel, earthenware, 6 1/4” by 7 1/2” d, gift of Stéphane Janssen, Arizona State University Art Museum

The pattern on the vessel below is more complex. The two blue figures share one head. The joined blue figures, alternate standing and upside down. The shared head of the blue figures becomes the belly of a bronze vertical figure.

The vertical figures alternate standing on their hands and on their feet.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1966, vessel, ceramic, 14 1/2” by 11”, Arizona State University Art Museum

The patterns on many Scheier vessels combine human and fish forms. The tops of heads of the figures below suggest sharks with open mouths, fins, and eyes.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, United States, vessel, 1988, ceramic, 13 1/2 x 9 1/2”, purchased with funds of the Stéphane Janssen Art Foundation, Arizona State University Art Museum

A number of their vessels are decorated with human figures within the bodies of large fish, as on the right two vessels displayed in the Schiers’ home.

The person-in-fish pattern module is easy to see in this close up of the center vessel.

The person-in-fish module appears again among the jade plant leaves on the vessel that stands outside Ed Scheier’s studio today.

The person-and-fish pattern is turned in on itself on another vessel in the Scheiers’ home.

Below in this close up we can see the familiar person-in-fish module.

However, in this pattern, the person-in-fish module alternates with an inside-out fish-in-person module.

The Scheiers combine people with a tree in the pattern on the covered vessel below. A tree links together modules in this pattern.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1988, vessel, ceramic, 17 1/2” by 11 1/2”, gift of Stéphane Janssen, Arizona State University Art Museum

A female figure hangs from a bent tree limb. The belly of the woman contains the head of another figure.

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1988, vessel, ceramic,
17 1/2” by 11 1/2”, gift of Stéphane Janssen, Arizona State University Art Museum

What do these remarkable patterns mean?
A psychiatrist who collects the Scheiers’ work, sees themes of birth, protection, and love in their work. Others characterize their work as mysterious storytelling. Some see a theme of “entrapment” (Browne, 2001).
Ed Scheier says he was fascinated with the Bible but didn’t get very far. Some of his works interpret the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the vessel above could the arching tree be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Can the interconnectedness of the two figures represent the joining of Adam and Eve?

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, 1988, vessel, ceramic, 17 1/2” by 11 1/2”, gift of Stéphane Janssen, Arizona State University Art Museum

Could the humans inside fish on so many of the Scheiers’ vessels suggest Jonah and the whale?

How do profiles of the Scheiers’ vessels contribute to their expression? Many of Ed Scheier’s prints, weavings, and sculptures continue the theme of envelopment (surrounding, encircling) and several show figures inside huge, gaping mouths. A great many of the Scheiers’ vessels also have wide mouths (top openings).

Edwin and Mary Scheier, American, vessel, ceramic, 11” by 10 1/2”, purchased with funds of the Stéphane Janssen Art Foundation, Arizona State University Art Museum

Vessels such as these can literally contain or “swallow up” a great deal.

What do the interconnected patterns on these wide-mouthed vessels mean?
One creature shares a head with another. The head of one figure becomes the belly of another. When one creature encircles or surrounds another, is the interior creature protected or trapped? Is it eaten or about to be born? Perhaps these interconnected patterns celebrate the nearly 70 years of happy interdependence of Mary and Edwin Scheier.

Continue