As the United States marks its semiquincentennial, Yellow Springs has another anniversary to observe: The days just before July 4 mark 50 years that the penguins adorning John Bryan Community Pottery have been staring into the middle distance.
Or, at least, a version of them has.
The original mural was designed in 1976 by then-17-year-old D.J. Schiff, now a Berkeley, California-based writer, cartoonist and James Joyce scholar. Speaking with the News last month, Schiff said that, at the time of the mural’s inception, he was a YS High School student, working at Elsewhere Books, spending free time at former music store Dingleberry’s. He was absorbing Dada, surrealism and the emerging punk movement as the village and the country at large prepared to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial.
“I was a hippie who instantly became a punk — so I was sort of a ‘pippie,’” he said.
From those established credentials, one might detect a dissonance with the idea of bicentennial pageantry — and one would be correct, according to Schiff.
“I was just a snarky punk 17-year-old,” he said with a laugh. “I was sort of saying ‘no’ to the bicentennial, you know — ‘We’ve just had Watergate, our president is corrupt and there’ll probably never be a more corrupt president in the history of the U.S.!’”
When his high school art teacher, Dorothy Zopf, asked students to propose a bicentennial mural, Schiff offered an absurdist, top-of-brain suggestion: “How about penguins?”
“And [Zopf] essentially said, ‘Well, yeah, sure, why not penguins — indeed, why not?’” Schiff said.
The mural, he said, was conceived in opposition to bicentennial boosterism. Its palette of black, white and cobalt blue managed two-thirds of the nation’s preferred color scheme — “And two out of three is nothing to sneeze at,” Schiff said — but offered neither flag nor soaring eagle. Instead, Schiff drew row upon row of vaguely expressionless penguins receding upward toward a vanishing point.
“They’re literally just chilling,” he said. “They’re not doing anything — they’re just existing, damn it.”
The design began as a small drawing, about 5 inches by 11 inches, shaped to match the long wall of the pottery building. The penguins were arranged in converging lines against a blue background that grew darker from the ground up, suggesting a vista that, theoretically, continued past the top of the JBCP building.
“[The penguins] went off, it was implied, to an infinite point,” Schiff said. “Of course, the building could only hold so much of infinity.”
To his recollection, Schiff and a group of friends got started on or around July 1, 1976, beginning with the blue background and continuing into the night, when they projected a slide of his drawing onto the building and traced the penguins in black. The group returned the next day to fill in the black and white forms, which Schiff estimated took about five hours. Having previously fallen from a ladder while working for Center Stage, he said he relied on some of his friends to ascend and bring the upper-level penguins to life.
He didn’t sign the mural or make much of his role in designing it, which was part and parcel of his approach; the work had been made with friends, and Schiff said he was skeptical of ego in art. Years later, when a local account credited the mural’s many painters alphabetically, Schiff’s name landed among the rest, making his authorship easy to miss.
Thus, the penguins went on to become known about town independent of their designer, and the pottery studio became, to many villagers, the “Penguin Building.”
“I didn’t know I was doing that,” Schiff said of creating a local landmark. “But I certainly did find out. … I don’t know what people understand [about the history of the penguins], but they love them.”
By 2015, the mural had faded enough that Schiff, by that time a longtime Californian, drew up a plan to repaint the lower penguins — the ones he could reach without a ladder — and add powdered mica for sheen. The upper penguins, he said, would have been left to fade into eventual obscurity atop their refreshed brethren. Alas, work conflicts, canceled vacations, and later, the COVID-19 pandemic kept that plan from coming to fruition.
Around 2020 or 2021, John Bryan Community Pottery Director Meg Smallwood told the News, the studio’s board asked her to redesign and repaint the mural, which had fallen into serious disrepair. Two designs were put to votes by studio members, students and the wider community, and volunteers joined Smallwood in painting the new version over the last two years.
The new mural retains three penguins, now standing among pieces of pottery beneath a cloudy blue sky. Each maintains its own distinct expression, and a yellow beam shines down near the center bird — the one that most closely resembles those in the original infinite colony.
“We adopted the penguins to be kind of our mascot, because they were so iconic,” Smallwood said. “The beam of light, honestly, was just kind of to highlight how much joy the studio brings … but the feedback I’ve gotten is that some people take it as symbolizing the spark of creative inspiration.”
Schiff, for his part, didn’t see a photo of the updated mural until it was sent to him by the News; he studied it and took inventory.
“Only three left,” he said. “If two is company, then three is a crowd.”
Schiff added that he’s happy the penguins still exist in something of an “airless void of absurdity,” and that they’re still “doing nothing.” He also pointed to the bittersweet notion that his original penguins — faded though they might have been — are still on the building, “just under a 64th of an inch of acrylic paint.”
“They’re still there,” he said. “That’s a legacy of sorts.”
And Smallwood, regaled this week with the history of the mural, was glad to learn of the context in which it was created.
“I really wanted to make sure the original creator’s idea was represented in at least some small way,” she said. “And now I have more to the story; people always ask me, ‘Why penguins?’ And now I can say, ‘Because why not?’”
Do you have stories or memories to share about the penguin mural? The News would love to hear them; send them to chuck@ysnews.com
MEET YOUR NONPROFITS
This is the fourth installment in a series profiling the ongoing work of Yellow Springs-based nonprofit organizations.
By Alissa Paolella
The kiln had been a fixture of the pottery studio’s kiln yard for more than a decade — a hulking, hand-built wood-fire kiln that demanded everything from the people who loved it: weekends spent hauling lumber, marathon firing sessions stretching to 36 hours, a kind of devoted physical labor that drew a particular type of potter.
Over its lifetime, it logged an estimated 130 firings. Last year, it was retired and removed.
For Meg Smallwood, who became studio director of John Bryan Community Pottery in 2024, the decision was both practical and symbolic.
“It was, indeed, a tough decision,” she said. “But looking at what our population is like now, the cost of running it, and the cost of rebuilding it — trying to fill two equally massive buckets to rebuild kilns was just not practical for us as an organization.”
The wood kiln’s departure is perhaps the clearest marker of a studio in thoughtful transition. John Bryan Community Pottery — tucked at 100 Dayton St. and known to regulars simply as JBCP — has been a cornerstone of Yellow Springs since 1962.
What began as a co-op of four potters who pooled resources because, as Smallwood puts it, “Dude, we can’t afford all this stuff; let’s go in together,” has grown into a fully operational 501(c)(3) with 34 studio members, a packed class schedule and a waiting list that stretches 12 to 16 months.
Under Smallwood’s leadership, the studio has moved through a significant period of reinvestment. Two grants from the Yellow Springs Community Foundation in recent years funded what she calls the unglamorous but essential work: HVAC installation — the studio was previously cooled in summer with fans alone, which can be a health concern in a clay-dust environment; an expanded member workspace; a new glaze room; chemical storage; and most recently, new gas kiln burners and a replacement kiln shed.
A third grant, received this spring, is funding improved ventilation hoods over the electric kilns.
None of it is flashy. All of it, Smallwood said, is about ensuring the studio can run for another 60 years.
“Some things have been coaxed for very long, living with a nonprofit,” she said with a laugh. “We need quality equipment that’s going to last a long time.”
That ethos of longevity extends to how JBCP thinks about its community. The studio offers six-week classes in wheel-throwing and hand-building — from beginner through level 4 — as well as workshops ranging from a single day to three weeks for those who cannot commit to a longer session. Classes are currently booked through September, with openings through December. The class fee covers clay, tools, glazes and firing; students arrive and create, no gear required.
But Smallwood was quick to note that accessibility means more than an open door. The studio runs a scholarship program — seeded by the first annual fundraiser with Yellow Springs Brewery three years ago — that awards three free class enrollments every six months by lottery to adults in the Miami Valley region who demonstrate financial need.
“Pottery is expensive. There’s no getting around it,” she said. “Being able to provide an opportunity for somebody who can’t afford to do a six-week class is really important to continue our mission.”
Her longer-term goal is something closer to an endowment: sustained funding that could bring class costs down across the board.
The studio also collaborates with the Yellow Springs Senior Center, offering programming for older adults — a natural fit given that hand-building, Smallwood said, is far more accessible for people with back issues or stiffness in their hands than wheel-throwing.
One of the more surprising recent chapters involved a Raku workshop gone sideways. A cable snapped on the aging kiln’s crankshaft just as Smallwood was preparing to fire it; the hood dropped, and the impact finished off burners that were already on their last legs. A small fireball followed — no injuries, but the kiln was done.
Chris and Havilah McGinnis, students who had been taking classes for over a year, were there to witness the whole thing. Weeks later, Chris McGinnis walked into the studio and asked for the shipping address. He had ordered a replacement — a new top-hat Raku kiln from Olympic Kilns in Georgia, valued at approximately $3,800. It now sits hard-lined to the studio’s propane tank, weather-independent and bearing a small plaque in the McGinnises’ honor.
The artist-in-residence program, which Smallwood has actively shaped, reflects the same philosophy of breadth and generosity. The program originated about 12 years ago when founding resident Bruce Grimes lost his personal studio to a fire, and the pottery community rallied. Grimes, now artist-in-residence emeritus, still comes in regularly. Current residents Cathy Mills and Robin Dakin were each brought in to fill specific gaps — Mills for her expertise in glaze chemistry, Dakin for his deep knowledge of primitive firing techniques, which dovetails with JBCP’s new pit kiln program.
“The world of pottery is just enormous,” Smallwood said. “I wanted to make sure that we had new people coming in, bringing new concepts, and ways of working and techniques to the studio.”
What ties all of it together, for Smallwood, is something harder to quantify. She described the studio as a third space — a phrase borrowed from urban sociology that describes somewhere that is neither home nor work, where people simply exist together.
“There’s nothing like finding a third space,” she said. “We have so few third spaces in our world.”
The students and members she hears from most consistently report that since starting pottery, their mental health has improved. The act of working with clay, Smallwood believes, demands a kind of present-tense focus that crowds everything else out.
“They’re able to come here and just set stuff down, leave it at the door, and go play in the mud,” she said.
John Bryan Community Pottery is located at 100 Dayton St. in Yellow Springs. Classes, memberships, scholarship applications and studio information are available at http://www.communitypottery.org or by calling 937-767-9022.
*Alissa Paolella is a local resident and freelance writer for the News.
Villagers didn’t let the oppressive heat reign over their parade on July 4.
The lively train wound down Xenia Avenue by crowds that coalesced along the shadows of trees and awnings, waiting for the Sea Dogs’ Super Soakers — though kids were quick to dart out and nab tossed candy before it melted to the road.
Many village organizations were represented in the cavalcade. The celebration continued at Gaunt Park with friends and family picnicking, enjoying the community band serenade and, at dusk, taking in the fireworks display.
The evening was capped off with the traditional late-night dip in the pool.
Photos by Matt Minde
A swath of Yellow Springers joined hundreds of others outside Springfield City Hall on Thursday, June 25, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
At the rally, organized by G92, the World House Choir led the crowd in song, and Haitian Support Center Co-Founder and Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil spoke of the unknown future ahead for the thousands of Haitians living in Springfield and elsewhere in the nation.
“This decision has brought fear and uncertainty to countless families who have built their lives, contributed to their communities and called the United States home,” he said.
Speaking directly to Haitian residents, Dorsainvil continued: “I want you to know that we see you. We know your work ethic, we know your sacrifices, we know the long hours you work to provide for your families, to educate your children and to strengthen the communities where you live.”
The Springfield Haitian Support Center Co-Founder and Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil, pictured at left, called for solidarity and faith in the difficult days ahead — during a time when those formerly shielded by TPS, may face deportation and persecution. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
TPS, established in 1990 by Congress as part of a bipartisan immigration act, allows people from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and other unsafe conditions to live and work in the U.S. without being removed. Haiti was first granted TPS following a 2010 earthquake; Syria was designated in 2012 amid civil war.
The Trump administration moved to terminate TPS for both countries last year. Haiti’s TPS was set to expire Feb. 3, but a federal district court in Washington granted a stay before the termination took effect. The court found Haitian plaintiffs likely to succeed on claims that the Department of Homeland Security failed to properly consult other federal agencies and ignored evidence about conditions in Haiti. However, in its 6–3 decision last week, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s order. The majority held that federal law bars courts from reviewing most claims challenging the homeland security secretary’s decision to terminate a country’s TPS designation. The ruling allows the TPS terminations to proceed while the cases challenging them continue.
An estimated 12,000–15,000 Haitian immigrants live in the Springfield area, according to reporting from WYSO and The Ohio Newsroom. Many are TPS holders whose work permits, at press time, were set to become invalid Wednesday, July 1; that expiration was later extended to Thursday, July 10. WYSO and The Ohio Newsroom reported last week that Haitian TPS holders contribute an estimated $91 million to Springfield’s economy.
In a press release this week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine criticized the Supreme Court decision: “As I have stated in the past, the policy to remove these individuals from this country is a mistake,” he wrote. “The situation in Haiti could hardly be much worse. The violent gangs run most of the country. The government barely functions. And the economy is in shambles.”
The statement continued: “Further, our federal government has an advisory against traveling to Haiti, and our Federal Aviation Administration prohibits U.S. carriers from flying there because of the danger to planes of being shot at by the gangs. But, more importantly, changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio.”
The World House Choir sang songs of protest at the rally on Thursday, June 25. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
At the Thursday rally, Dorsainvil thanked residents of Springfield and Yellow Springs who have supported Haitian families: “You have welcomed your neighbors, spoken out against injustice, defended vulnerable families and refused to let hate and division have the final word.”
He added: “To every immigrant family who is anxious tonight, you are not alone.”
By Michelle Comer and Bethany Gray
Last month marked 50 years of Ohio’s state nature preserve system.
On June 2, 1976, Gov. Jim Rhodes signed legislation that made the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, or ODNAP, a permanent division within the department.
The division began with 19 preserves — all dedicated prior to the division’s birth. The first state nature preserve was Mentor Marsh in Lake County, and the first nature preserve to be purchased by the division was Fowler Woods State Nature Preserve.
The late Ralph Ramey, director of Glen Helen for 17 years, became director of ODNAP in 1990. By the division’s 25th anniversary, the division managed a statewide system of 123 state nature preserves and 12 state scenic rivers. Today, the system has grown to include 155 state nature preserves and 17 state scenic rivers.
State nature preserves are sanctuaries for rare habitats, plants and animals. Unique habitats, such as prairies, wetlands and mature woods, offer Ohioans a chance to see what the state looked like hundreds of years ago. Some also protect important geologic features, including cliffs, gorges, caves and other exposed geology. Most preserves are open to the public and offer trails for hiking, birding, photography and nature study. Others are restricted and require a permit to enter in order to protect the sensitive habitat and species.
State scenic rivers are those rivers that still reflect their natural characteristics with only minimal impact from human development. Often these rivers represent the very best aquatic habitat found in the state. The division also manages 20 scenic river access areas and several scenic river nature preserves, offering important buffers to protect stream habitat as well as provide public access in some areas for fishing, paddling, hiking and hunting.
Locally, Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve is adjacent to John Bryan State Park and connected by hiking trails and the Little Miami River, a state- and a national-designated scenic river.
In 1924, the state accepted a gift of 500 acres of the “Riverside Farm,” bequeathed by inventor and conservationist John Bryan. This gift initiated the public preservation of the lower section of the gorge, and a 161-acre parcel of the gorge was later donated to the state by Hugh Taylor Birch.
From 1963–68, the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy raised funds to purchase additional portions of the gorge to save it from proposed development, and arrangements were made for the conservancy to give its holdings to the state as part of John Bryan State Park. In 1973, a few years before the formation of ODNAP, a 255-acre portion of the park was dedicated as a scientific and interpretive nature preserve, and it was also designated as a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.
June is also National Pollinator Month. Visitors to Clifton Gorge can explore a native pollinator garden by the visitor center/service building, where various species of bees and butterflies can be spotted.
The visitor center is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 a.m–4 p.m. through October. It highlights the geology, flora and fauna of the gorge in addition to aquatic species, mussels and macroinvertebrates found in the Little Miami River. It is free for visitors, with donations accepted.
Celebrate this 50-year state preserve milestone by visiting Clifton Gorge and/or another preserve you haven’t yet visited.
*Michelle Comer is a regional preserve manager for ODNAP headquartered at Clifton Gorge. Villager Bethany Gray is an educator and has been a volunteer naturalist at Clifton Gorge since 2016.
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