GALT, CA (MPG) - A Galt couple on July 13 and 14 held a showcase of their ceramic creations, offering sculpture and household items featuring their distinct artistic visions.

Sonya and Bob Schumacher said it was just a few years ago that they began hosting a summer show at their home studio on Marengo Road. The other major show for their studio, Schumacher Ceramics, is around Christmas.

Pieces by the two artists were arranged on tables around the studio, with selections of decorative pieces, as well as functional items like mugs, plates and teapots.

Bob Schumacher said his work often focuses on visual puns: A skillet with Xs for eyes is a “Dead Pan,” and a container shaped like a door means that “The Door is Ajar.”

He has also done a series of urns with snaking patterns incised into the surface.

“Some are figurative, and some of them are just abstractions. I just kind of start with an idea, a basic idea, and then I fill it in,” he said.

Sonya Schumacher draws her ideas from nature. In recent years, the Cosumnes River Preserve and its birds have been a big influence.

“I like to go to the preserve and watch the birds and the cranes come in,” she said. Sandhill cranes appeared in several of her pieces, including sculptures of cranes flapping their wings. “That is kind of creating a dialogue about nature and how we can just spread that love of nature in functional pieces and sculpture.”

Asked about how she navigates the decorative and practical sides of ceramics, Sonya Schumacher said she sometimes walks “a thin line.”

“The reason I still throw functional pieces is I enjoy throwing and it helps me explore just form, and then as I’m doing that, I get the ideas for the more complicated sculpture,” she said.

Bob Schumacher started Schumacher Ceramics in 1985, initially making sinks, tiles and architectural ceramics.

The Schumachers’ decades-long partnership began when Sonya was working for a pottery business in Folsom. The business commissioned Bob Schumacher to make some sinks, the two met, and “the rest is history,” as Bob Schumacher put it. Sonya Schumacher joined the business in 1995.

Originally based in Rancho Cordova, Schumacher Ceramics moved to a studio in Clarksburg. In 2017, the business moved to a gallery on Lincoln Way in Galt, and in 2018 it shifted into a home-based business.

The Schumachers both have a history in education. Sonya Schumacher recently retired from teaching ceramics at Lodi High School, and Bob Schumacher teaches ceramics at Sacramento City College and San Joaquin Delta College.

Bob Schumacher said he “always wanted to teach,” a passion cemented when he taught ceramics during graduate school at Indiana University.

The couple said they build up relationships with repeat customers. Bob Schumacher was working on a special order of sinks for a client who he first worked with in the 1990s. New visitors are “excited” to learn about the couple’s work, Sonya Schumacher said, and often become regular customers.

Since Schumacher Ceramics is a home-based business, studio visits between shows are by appointment only. For more information, upcoming events and items for sale, visit the business’s website, schumacherceramics.com. For additional sales, visit etsy.com/shop/SchumacherCeramicsUS.