Bill O’Callaghan holds court in his woodland garden on Vineyard Haven’s Main Street, not far from the West Chop Light. Evidence of his fantastical handiwork surrounds him. A two-story ceramic birdhouse spouts geraniums from its top. A sculpted troubadour, instrument in hand, balances on the rung of a stone-inlaid driftwood table, and a friendly dragon sits atop a lidded bowl, guarding its contents. A rustic bookcase leans against a tree, laden with skewed ceramic drawers and fit for a Hobbit.

With his wiry build, curly silver-white hair, quick blue eyes, and slight brogue, Bill could have been plucked directly from his own fantastic imagination. He calls himself “The Mad Potter,” but not in the typical sense of crazy or angry. “In Ireland, ‘mad’ means ‘interesting,’” he explains. “Like ‘that’s sick’ or ‘cool’ – not ‘loony.’”

Although his youth in Ireland – a land of myths and legends – inspired his work in ceramics, it took a move to Martha’s Vineyard in 1986 to channel that folkloric knowledge into an art form.

Born in 1960, the second of eleven children, Bill grew up on the outskirts of Cork City, the second largest city in Ireland. He passed his days playing in the woods with siblings, dogs, and friends, and riding the horses that ran wild there. The colorful caravans and culture of nearby gypsies helped shape a less-than-typical childhood. Stories, legends, and the prevailing Irish gift of Blarney made up another theme of his youth. “You go to Ireland and everyone talks. Every village has its storyteller. It was a big event when a famous one would pass through,” Bill says.

An avid reader and listener, he devoured the stories of Tuatha Dé Danann (“people of the goddess Danu”), believed to be the pre-Christian deities of Ireland. “The Lord of the Rings came from this mythology,” he explains.

“The Celtic culture is only about two thousand years old,” Bill continues. “Ireland was ruled by the faeries, then the Celts came and the faeries disappeared into the environment.” Irish lore relates that the faeries went underground into faerie mounds, or subterranean dwellings that have the appearance of small hills. According to Bill, artifacts found inside these mysterious structures were decorated with the Celtic spiral designs that have inspired many pieces of his early work.

Yet Bill practiced little to no artistry in Ireland. After moving to the Vineyard at age twenty-six, he took work as a carpenter, and soon discovered the Island’s many arts and crafts resources. “There’s more opportunity to learn here,” he says. “In Ireland there are long apprenticeships and many families pass down their trades.” Bill first tried his hand at ceramics while doing some carpentry for Chilmark Pottery owner Geoffrey Borr of West Tisbury, trading labor for pottery lessons. Bill began with functional items – mugs and bowls – then, as his technique progressed, he began to create ceramic birdhouses. The birdhouses became castles and, as he explains, “Of course, if you make a castle, you have to make a dragon.”

The dragons took wing and began to fly through the more practical bowls and mugs. Rustic troubadours began caretaking the birdhouses. And, lest Ireland be the only muse, he began including sharks, mermaids, sea horses, and other marine life among his various creations.

In the early nineties, The Mad Potter was born, and Bill opened a studio on Edgartown–West Tisbury Road. He has long since moved on from that space, but still enjoys selling his work himself, from his home and gallery on West Chop and at the Vineyard Artisans Festivals. He has also shown at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, and at the now-closed Gossamer Gallery in Chilmark.

While his ideas are fanciful and otherworldly, Bill’s materials are distinctly of the earth. Many of his creatures are mounted on driftwood – often found and donated by friends, neighbors, and fans. A musician perches in a tree trunk. Castles emerge from old roots and stumps. A stash of beach stones becomes a treasure trove for enhancing tabletops and cabinet doors with stone inlay. And of course the plants that spring from castles and birdhouses bring even more nature to the clay.

Last November and again this past August, Bill combined talents with his puppeteer wife, Robin Tuck O’Callaghan, to present A Walk Through Imagination at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury. They created The Mysterious Forest of Dreams, incorporating Bill’s whimsical sculpture into Polly Hill’s landscape. This year’s tale, performed by Robin’s puppets, transported the Tuatha Dé Danann tradition to Martha’s Vineyard. Bill’s eyes crinkle with a smile when he speaks of his Newfoundland-born wife of one-and-a-half years. “We work well together,” he says. “We are each other’s muses.”

Robin agrees. “I think we have a lot of similar inspirations,” she says. “The Newfoundlanders came straight from Ireland, so our upbringing was very similar. We have a lot of fun.”

For the past two summers the couple has been collaborating on another project, inspired by Robin’s daughter, Elke: Bill teaches pottery to special needs students at his home and at Camp Jabberwocky. “He’s so calm with children,” Robin asserts. “Nothing fazes him.” Robin adds that she knew he was extraordinary when he insisted on including Elke in their first date. “He felt that was important,” she recalls.

Bill still works in construction, and fits his art around it. In the summer, he works on his ceramic figures in the shade of a tree at the West Chop house. Although there’s no sign marking his studio, his regular customers wander in and shop his gallery or just drop in to chat and see what’s new. “People stop by,” he shrugs. “They know where I am.” And those who don’t can call or visit by appointment.

Coming full circle back to the start of his own career, Bill now teaches his craft. For the past year he’s led a course called Wheel Work and Hand-Building at Featherstone Center for the Arts, helping to release the imaginations of his students on terra firma, enabling them to create their own whimsical worlds of faerie gardens and middle earth. And that’s a fine madness, indeed.

For more information about The Mad Potter, visit the online gallery at www.madpottermv.net.