Remembering Sam

Friend, Potter, Mentor, Joker, Adventurer, Scientist, Sam Schug.

Sam joined the Forge in the summer of 2019.  He was immediately curious about everything.  I remember giving him a tour before he joined, and it might have been the longest tour I have ever given.  He knew multiple members there working, he had at least one million questions about everything he saw, we spent a while talking about working in the service industry, he made me want to keep hanging out with him.  When he joined and got started, I was so excited to have such an exuberant person involved at the Forge.

The first Slack message he sent me was during his first week as a member.  He seemed so overwhelmed by the possibilities of having access to our facility, but reached out to offer to be an ambassador for our community and I was a little speechless.  This guy just joined and he's talking about giving tours, tabling events, and doing outreach.  His passionate support was unwavering until he was unable to return to the space.

Sam got involved heavily in the Forge's pottery studio, creating his own maker practice from scratch, experimenting with wheelthrown forms and glaze chemistry.  When he started treatment for cancer and liver disease, I spent time with Sam almost every morning while he worked in the studio.  If I was lucky, I would see his dog Tuna too.  Sam spent years trying to convince me to learn wheelthrowing, but I just never seemed to have the time.  While I never had the opportunity to sit at the wheels with him, he taught so many people to get muddy.  Many of his students joined the Forge to continue their work after his passing in December 2021.  Sam had an amazing talent for teaching.  He made you feel safe making mistakes and comfortable asking questions.

While the Forge was part of his life for a short while, he was a pillar of the Forge for 2.5 years, which is 1/4 of the time we've existed.  As part of Sam's final wishes, he asked his family to set up a scholarship fund to benefit makers experiencing financial hardships, giving one annual membership to a passionate, community-centric, individual who will thrive as a result of access to the space, just like Sam did.

He has left his mark on this community makerspace and the lives of the makers herein and is missed here every day.

If you want to know more about Sam, consider browsing through his Instagram page -- he shared his work, process, life, personality, thoughts, dreams, and so much more of himself on that page very openly and candidly.  

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Jennie Savage
Managing Director