Psychologist redefines her life through pottery

Blu Wagner's commitment to service work benefits patients and pets.

As if by magic, the shapeless clay forms before your eyes as Blu Wagner wets, grips, twists and spins the softened earth into elegant and functional Moroccan doumbek drums and voluptuous wares of red, gold and brown.

Blu Wagner and one of her ceramic Moroccan doumbek drums. Profits from the sale of the drums will benefit local animal organizations.

Wagner, a licensed psychologist who did a one-year doctoral internship at the University of Oregon counseling center, finds comfort in the beauty and wonder of working with clay.

"Everyone has, if they are lucky enough to find it, something that speaks to them," says Wagner. "It can be drawing, painting, knitting. For me, it's pottery. It's therapeutic."

Throughout her life, Wagner has shared a strong connection to the earth, its beauty, wonder and mystery. Pottery started as a simple hobby six years ago for the soft-spoken, articulate woman who shares her life with four terrier dogs, two cats, four geese, two rabbits and 13 chickens. A cancer diagnosis in 1996 heightened her sense of priorities and challenged her to re-evaluate her life.

"Cancer heightens a million-fold your sense of priorities and values," says Wagner. "It sends you in incredible directions and causes you to revisit your values and re-assess what is really important in life."

One of Wagner's four terrier dogs.

Prior to Wagner's diagnosis, a Ph.D. in psychology was an important and valuable accomplishment, the highlight of her academic and professional career. A private practice, a career on the fast track, and a lifetime ahead of her devoted to her chosen field.

"I've come to find out that a Ph.D. is not that important to me," says Wagner. "You can have an enormous amount of knowledge in the field of psychology but be inept as a psychologist. You need empathy and compassion to go along with the knowledge and theory."

In 1994, two years before her diagnosis, Wagner established a cancer support group in Eugene. "I don't know what was driving me," says Wagner. "I had not yet been diagnosed with cancer, and I have no history of cancer in my family. I do know that it wasn't an accident."

A variety of functional and decorative wares will be available for purchase at the Potters for Pets exhibition.

She traveled to Bolinas, Calif., where she spent a week at Commonweal, a cancer retreat center that enriches people's lives through nutrition, exercise, yoga, and art therapy. Returning to Eugene, she established Cansurpass, a no-charge organization and educational center that reflects many of the programs at Commonweal.

Seven years post-diagnosis, her cancer is in remission. She maintains a private practice but says she is semi-retired. Her patients are almost exclusively people coping with life-threatening diseases, primarily cancer. For added support, Wagner frequently accompanies her patients to doctor appointments and stays with them in the pre-op room while they await surgery.

Today, a good portion of her life is committed to service work. In addition to establishing Cansurpass, she volunteers with several cancer organizations including CANsurvive, a spiritual support group for cancer survivors and their caregivers. She published an articled entitled "Cancer Recovery and the Spirit" in the Journal of Religion and Health in which she explored the remarkable recoveries and spiritual growth of cancer survivors. The article examined their move away from organized religion and into a new area of personal relationship and a spiritual nature of existence.

Wagner's love of pottery started as a trial-and-error learning process and has since evolved into a healthy obsession. It is an avocation, a symbol of mystery and wonder that allows her to work with the beauty of clay while remaining close to her spiritual roots and connection to earth.

Wagner, who divides her time between Eugene and Denver, creates about 70 pieces of pottery a year often using the facilities at the University of Oregon craft center. Upon returning to Denver in March, she will begin teaching a ceramic drum-making class.

A raku fired vase with a feather top

Throughout her life, Wagner has felt service work is an important part of life. Her connection to animals motivates her to volunteer with local humane socities (in Eugene and Denver) in an effort to improve the lives of animals.

Twenty or so pieces of Wagner's wares, along with many high-end functional and decorative pieces crafted by local potters, will be available for purchase through a fund-raising exhibition. Profits will benefit the Greenhill Humane Society as well as the Berean Foundation, an organization that offers financial assistance for owners to care for their pets.

"Oregon's Potters for Pets" applies the concepts of the international exhibition "Potters for Peace" that was developed in 1986 to provide support to the potters of Nicaragua and other countries. Wagner, who is spearheading the exhibition, says it is her love of pottery and her spiritual connection to animals that provided the catalyst for the fund-raiser.

"Animals touch me," Wagner said. "They epitomize the most vulnerable part of myself. In these unsettled times - when our economy is not good, feeling that we have very little choice where our world is going, the destruction of our planet - animals touch our lives. They have a lot to teach us about living."