Hands of Clay: USU Mourns the Passing of Renowned Potter, Teacher, Innovator

Artist, teacher, researcher, role model, ceramist, professor, mentor, colleague, friend: These are some of the many roles John Neely played over his 41 years as a faculty member in the Department of Art + Design at Utah State University.

He molded experiences, memories and clay as he taught and created.

“Clay is ubiquitous,” said Neely in a 2013 lecture.

It was a long stretch of time, he said, before humans picked up earth and began to mold it into utensils leading, eventually, to iconic domestic ceramics we use each day: a toilet, a coffee cup, a breakfast bowl.

“It seems very natural to me,” said Neely, who reveled in pondering how people use art and technology to achieve functional ends and beauty.

Internationally renowned for his innovations in the ceramic arts, Neely died June 1, 2025, at his home in Logan, Utah. He was 71.

Utah State will honor the Kansas native with A Toast to John Neely, 5 p.m. Sept. 13 in the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall, followed by a reception at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art on the USU campus.

Neely’s work is exhibited in “Plumbing & Lunch” in USU’s Tippetts & Eccles Galleries Sept. 2-13 and is available for purchase. Select works will be featured in a silent auction from noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 13. All proceeds will benefit the John Neely Ceramics Scholarship Endowment, established by family and friends to honor his enduring commitment to teaching, research and mentorship.

“Throughout his career, John has contributed a body of physical work and knowledge that has made a significant impact on the world of ceramic art,” said former USU President Stan Albrecht at a 2013 ceremony honoring the professor with the university’s D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, USU’s highest research honor. “As he’s poured history, chemistry and engineering into his art, John has put USU on the map as a place of innovation and exploration.”

A beloved and revered teacher and mentor, Neely, who joined Utah State in 1984, guided his students in the study of ceramics practices, integrating geology, chemistry, physics, material science and combustion engineering with design, art history and material culture. Renowned for his development of atmospheric firing methods, innovations in functional tableware design and tool-making, Neely made significant contributions to kiln technology, most notably with his development of the “train kiln,” so called for its resemblance to a steam locomotive. Praised for its simplicity and environmental efficiency, the train kiln design has been adopted by ceramic artists throughout the world.

“John’s approach to his craft was straightforward, his pottery simple, direct and had a unique and recognizable style, the Neely touch,” says Dan Murphy, professor in USU’s Department of Art + Design and a longtime colleague and friend of Neely. “Creating simple form is extremely difficult to master and he has a masterful elegance.”

Neely spent many of his early academic years in Japan, where he admired the culture, art and history of the Asian nation and gleaned knowledge and inspiration from its distinctive pottery traditions and technology. There, he met Atsuko Ohno, whom he married in 1980 and who joined him as a faculty member at Utah State.

Along with Atsuko, Neely brought from Japan to Utah State his experience with the senpai-kohai relationship — a mentoring paradigm based on mutual respect and support between master craftsman and student. His practice of this principle has led to scores of USU ceramics graduates becoming leaders in the field across the nation. Neely’s example and efforts continue to inspire the next generation of ceramic artists through the work of his students.

“John made a real impact on the lives of our students,” Murphy says. “He was always thinking about how to provide them with new opportunities as they completed their degrees.”

Neely is survived by his wife, Atsuko Neely, a senior lecturer in USU’s Department of World Languages and Cultures. He is also survived by his daughter, Erika Neely, among other family members. His obituary appears online.

A thoughtful retrospective, Ceramicist John Neely: Generous of Mind, Heart and Stature, detailing the scholar’s art, accomplishments and life, appears in the June 22, 2025, issue of 15bytes, Utah’s art magazine.

Writer Brandi Chase contributed to this story.