Milissa & Eric Beale

I am Milissa Beale, and my husband is Eric. We are ceramic artists. Our story starts nearly twenty years ago when we met over the potters wheel in a dusty basement studio situated in downtown Valparaiso, Indiana, USA. Our creative energies intertwined right away. In the blink of an eye we found ourselves renovating an old brick building down the street, and operating an art academy and gallery with a team of artists coming from many different backgrounds - jewelry casting, figure drawing, oil painting, sculpting, glass blowing, etc… We taught all the pottery classes, and cherished every minute of it. Being involved with that group of makers was an inspiring experience, and one that we continue to carry with us today. We were married just a few short years later, and left the collective to continue our family.

We moved a bit North to my hometown. It happens to be the gateway to the Indiana Dunes National Park at the Southern most tip of Lake Michigan, and home to the steel mill where Eric used to work his day job as a union Carpenter. There are many diverse ecosystems found within the area. We’ve spent a lot of time exploring, and identifying plant life - especially native wildflowers in this industrious and natural landscape. This particular area, and now our travels to other preserved wild areas have come to greatly influence our artistic journey.

Once our children were all settled into school we started devising ways to spend more time together making pottery - back to our roots. We set up a small space in our basement for a potters wheel, set up a kiln in our garage, and started making gifts for friends and family. By 2016, we had decided to get serious, and Beale Pottery was established.

As our business grew we found ourselves needing a bigger area to work in, and started setting our sights on finding a place that would better suit our needs within the Great Lakes area. We found the perfect location in Westville, IN, and moved in July 2022. Renovations started right away on the 1500 sqft pole barn that sits on our property. We were put together enough to start back on our production work by mid September, and then finally able to start offering classes in March of 2023. Creating a space where we could work with one another full time, build a community with likeminded makers, and share our love of pottery has always been the ultimate goal, and here we are making it happen.

Today, we’re happy to be working alongside our children in the studio, and a handful of talented women. Our team helps with everything from prep, creation and design, shipping, and so much more. We are also very lucky to share our space with two incredible potters who teach various classes + workshops to ages 7 and up.

Thanks for being here and on this creative journey with us, it truly means the world to all of us.