We recently connected with Shelby Snyder and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shelby thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Everything that I create is meaningful in its own right because it has come from the heart. But naturally I have to pick one project which would be my Dinosaur Collection. It was created for my husband, Richard and his love of Jurassic Park. He grew up watching the movie and when he was old enough, read the book and fell in love. Last year we transitioned from an Active Duty Army family to a Veteran family. During Richard’s Army career, he worked incredibly hard to be the best in the Field Artillery Community. That dedication and hard work allowed me to be able to pursue pottery as a full time job. I cannot thank him enough for working as hard as he did providing me with the opportunity to be able to do what I love. So when I was thinking of different collections to create, my first thought was Richard. I wanted a collection that was created for him as a thank you for all that he has done for me. It was a no-brainer. Dinosaurs were the answer.

Shelby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My parents would say I have always been an artistic individual. As a child I was constantly singing, drawing, coloring or painting random things. I just had to do it all. I remember my father had his Texas Monthly magazine on the table and I would flip through and pick which photos I wanted to sketch and recreate. He framed them and hung them in his office at school, where they stayed for an incredibly long time. As a child, our summers were spent in Maine, where my grandma lived. She would take us to this place called Grand City on Maine Street (yes it is spelled correctly) in Brunswick, Maine. Once a week we would have lunch upstairs in the cafe then we would walk downstairs where there were all kinds of things from garden supplies to kids paint kits. Back in 1998 there were different designs on like this felt material that came with markers. She would get me a ton of those along with coloring books and that is what I would do all summer. I also helped my Grams plant all of her flowers around the house each summer. She always told me I had an artistic eye for the different colors and what went well with each plant/placement of everything. That became our summer ritual together.
I have always felt that I was put on this Earth to do something with Art. My entire family is/was in the Education Field. A fun fact: my maternal grandfather served in the Army, retired in San Antonio and went back to school to get his teacher certification in History. His name was also Richard and he was also a Field Artillery Officer, just like my Richard. I remember feeling like being a teacher was a very important job but that was something I never wanted to do. I adored being a student and learning. But I also wanted to make a name for myself and I knew I didn’t want to teach or be in the school system. In fact, initially I wanted to be a Veterinarian up until the age of ten. I think my passion for animals was stronger than my love of art until I realized it wasn’t all sunflowers and daisies being a Veterinarian.
In middle school and high school, I did take some art classes and I was terrible. It turns out I cannot draw worth a hoot. Well I should say, I can draw but not to the caliber I should have been at that age. It wasn’t until my junior year at Elmira College that I took a ceramics class. Leading up to this point, I had never taken a structured ceramics class before. I had one of those kid wheels as a kid and failed miserably at that. So much in fact, that I never took the clay off the wheel. It remained on the wheel underneath my father’s workbench for a very long time. Needless to say I really had no clue what I was doing going into Ceramics I. When Mr. Longwell said we would be “throwing” on the wheel, I really thought that meant chuck the clay on the wheel like a football. One of the perks of being a coaches daughter, right? Nope. That is apparently not how you do that. I wouldn’t say I was super great at ceramics, but I never gave up. I had heart and my creative juices were always flowing in the studio. I found myself in the studio on the weekends with friends and constantly wanting to do more. Similar to my dad with my drawings as a kid, my mom displayed all my pieces in a cabinet with lights. I would bring them home after each semester was over and there she would unwrap them and put them in the violet cabinet with lights. Some were downright awful to look at, especially the “pinch pots.” But there was no arguing with her.
I graduated college in June of 2013 and met Richard in November. He was in his final year at West Point. Once he graduated in 2014 our first duty station was Germany. During our three year tour overseas, he and I discussed on and off starting a pottery business but the logistics of it all were the biggest hurdle. We moved back to the United States in 2018 and headed straight to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Once we settled in and Richard graduated Field Artillery Captain Career Course, we talked more and more about trying to make pottery my reality. Finally in June of 2019 I bought a pottery wheel and started creating again.
Trevona Pottery is the name we settled on. It is the combination of our cats, Trevi and Verona. Verona is the cat that found us in Germany and she turned out to be pregnant. Trevi is her daughter and the kitten whose life Richard saved during birth. So we had to keep her! Verona is named after the first Italian city we explored and Trevi after the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome. With Richard being gone constantly while we lived in Europe, Trevi and Verona were my constant companions. It’s not very often you get to birth one of your cats. So our bond with the girls is very strong. We wanted to come up with a name for the business that reflected not only our love for them, but my love of pottery.
My pottery is a reflection of us. The colors I chose for my business are blue and green, our favorite colors. When Richard and I first started dating, we went to Bass Pro and happened to look at mugs. I grab a green mug and turn around to see Richard with a blue mug. It only makes sense that my logo reflect that. I am inspired by the life we had living in Europe, the outdoors and our hobbies. Okay– maybe a little Polish Pottery inspired too. :) That is partly why my mugs are on the smaller side, 10oz. In Europe espresso and cappuccinos come in smaller mugs. The intent is to sit and enjoy your coffee while you people watch in the town square. The other part is I take forever to drink something hot, so I would rather have a smaller drinking vessel that I don’t have to worry about getting cold. Pottery is my artistic expression that pulls inspiration from our everyday life and with that comes how I see shapes and sizes of my pieces.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This particular topic is very personal and one we haven’t shared outside of family and close friends. In June of 2022 while stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana we took a trip to go backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park. I can’t even remember the elevation but we were over 10,500ft. That was the last time we felt “free.” Three weeks later Richard finished a field rotation and came home not feeling well. He was having trouble breathing, his heart rate wasn’t under 130 and he had chest pain. He was diagnosed with Pericarditis, the swelling of the membrane around the heart. He spent several days on bedrest. When we had our call with the Cardiologist from San Antonio, she informed us that Richard was on restriction for 3 months. During this time, he was not allowed to get his heart rate up at all, not allowed to be in the heat, and zero physical activity outside of light walking like from a car. This meant he was not able to carry groceries inside the house, but able to help cook dinner. After that three months, he was cleared from the Cardiologist in November. Life almost went back to normal until he got Pericarditis again in May 2023. This time restriction was 6 months because he was a “repeat offender” is what Richard calls it. After that 6 months he was cleared but with restrictions. Then finally on my birthday January 4, 2024 he got Pericarditis for the third time. We were absolutely devastated because we knew without any answers for why this was happening his chances of retention in the Army were 0%.
If you’re wondering what this has to do with my business and career, it’s quite simple. I put everything on hold each and every time Richard was diagnosed. Each time life stood still for me and I didn’t know how I was going to manage it all; the house, job, mowing an acre of land. Yes, I know the least of my worries. I put pottery on hold and focused on our life and Richard and making sure he was healthy and taken care of. Occasionally I would do markets on post, but 99% of the time I was taking care of him. When the Army decided he was no longer fit for service, Richard was Medically Separated. He was, however, one of the top Officers of his class in the Field Artillery and was promoted to Major in July 1, 2024. Following his promotion, we packed our house up and moved to Michigan to start a new life outside of the Army. Once again I put the pottery business on hold to transition us into this new life. It was one of the most challenging and heart wrenching times of our life, but my main focus through it all was Richard.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being true to myself is what keeps me going. I said earlier I was put on this Earth to do something with the arts and I truly do believe that. I am holding myself accountable and staying in my lane by being an artist. When I started Trevona Pottery, I never intended to make loads and loads of money. I have only ever wanted people to see me for what I am, an artist. The fact that I get to do this all from my home studio is really the icing on the cake.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spouse-ly.com/store/trevona-pottery/
• Instagram: Trevona Pottery