Samuel Wallace is a traditional Jamaican potter who learned to make pots with his extended family in the backyard pottery shed in the rural parish of St. Elizabeth. Wallace became a resident artist at Baltimore Clayworks in 1993 after he found the organization in the yellow pages while looking for kiln rental. He was - at that time - producing highly decorated work of exquisite beauty from native Maryland stoneware gathered near Memorial Stadium in inner city Baltimore.


In the ensuing year, Wallace began to teach his ecologically harmonious way of pottery making to others and with the support from the Folk Arts and Children's Programs of the Maryland State Arts Council, conducted several highly successful school residences. In 1995, he was the centerpiece a Baltimore Clayworks residency project, "From the Ground Up", which placed Wallace for one month each in four of Maryland's most rural counties.


He also presented a workshop for the New Hampshire Potter's Guild and exhibited his work at Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Wallace was a featured demonstrator of his techniques at the National Council on Education for the Cermaic Arts conference in New Orleans in 1995. By 1998, Sam Wallace had led 28 school residencies and had been a presenter at the National Art Education Association Conference.


Additionally, he has been artist in residence at The Village of Arts and Humanities in inner city Philadelphia and at Reynolds Art Center in rural Crietz, Virginia - both through the Artist as Catalyst residency program of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.


Wallace continues to teach and exhibit his work largely in a residency format, while a resident artist and employed as technician at Baltimore Clayworks. For five years he has taught the after school and summer art component for Clayworks at the McKim Community center in historic Jonestown, as well as the Saturday BrightStarts program for the Mayor's Advisory Committee in Baltimore City. Furthermore, he conducts ongoing classes at School 33 Art Center in South Baltimore and at John Eager Howard Recreation Center in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood of Baltimore City.