Robert Sperry was born in Bushnell, Illinois, on March 12, 1927. Soon after his birth, Bob’s parents homesteaded to Saskatchewan, and it was there that Bob received his education, graduating with a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1950. He then spent three years at the Art Institute of Chicago, and also worked with artists Rudy Autio and Peter Voulkos at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. Bob was awarded his M.F.A. in 1955 from the University of Washington. After that, he joined the faculty of the university's School of Art, where he remained until taking professor emeritus status in 1982.

I met Bob when I was doing my apprenticeship with Regnor Reinholdtsen between 1975 and 1978. Regnor had done an apprenticeship with Bob in the 1960s after Bob returned from Japan, where he had made the award-winning documentary film “Potters Of Onda.”

Bob touched my life in many ways, and knowing him changed me forever. He made me a better man, better father, and better husband.

I always knew if that there was anything in ceramics I needed help with – from building my wood kiln to making glazes – I could turn to Bob for help and answers. When I look back, though, I realize that my friendship with Bob was more about a love of life and adventure than it was about ceramics. He and I spent a great deal of time together traveling the world, and what a trip it was. That next adventure we would share is what I always looked forward to – even if the “adventure” involved just sitting around eating, drinking, and laughing, which we did a lot of. And these are the things I miss the most.

I keep a photo of Bob on the beam above my workplace. Each day when I start to work in my studio – especially if I need a little push to get going – I look up at Bob’s picture and can hear his words: “Michael, if you’re not working, what are you doing?”

I am very grateful to Bob’s wife Patti for putting up with me all those years, and to his son Van and his daughters Gretchen and Lisa for sharing their father with me. I lost my own mother and father just a year after Bob passed away on April 12, 1998. So now I know exactly what is meant when you hear someone say, “You don’t know what you had until it's gone.” How true that is.