As an eighth grader at Barnstable High school, he has many different talents and hobbies. His name is Sean Beal, he’s 14 years old and has already done so much to live his life to the fullest.  Beal is a boy of many talents, including pottery, blacksmithing, painting, photography, unicycling, and stilts. His two main hobbies are pottery and blacksmithing, both of which he has been doing for years.

“I got into blacksmithing by almost burning down my shed a few years ago,” said Beal.

Beal and his brother were in their shed and they had a blowtorch and some nails that they would practice on. Their mom was partly aware of what was happening, so it continued. That all changed one day when Beal was 11 years old. He was in the shed by himself tinkering with the tools, and then his dad came home. Beal turned everything off as fast as he could, but did not turn the blowtorch off all the way.

“My dad was angry and told me I almost burned down the shed,” said Beal.

His dad then suggested that Beal goes to learn with the Barnstable Village blacksmith, Jim Ellis. Beal refused to go there, not really caring about it that much at age 11. Then some years passed and he got talking to Ellis about it one day, and has been blacksmithing for about a year now.

“It’s really fun, and Jim is interesting to talk to,” said Beal.

Beal started pottery is a similar story to how he started blacksmithing. However, Beal has been making pottery for a longer time than he has been blacksmithing. When Beal was little, he and his siblings would go into Barnstable Pottery Art frequently. Beal after a while started asking Kevin Nolan, who works at the shop, to start using the wheel. Nolan told Beal he would have to be 10 years old in order to use the machinery. When Beal turned 10 years old he started pottery with Nolan.

“I have been making pottery for four years now, and Kevin is great,” said Beal.

Beal has one more hobby that he picked up over quarantine — unicycling. Beal and his family had a unicycle for seven years that sat in the shed. Exploring his newfound interest, he unicycled almost everywhere in Barnstable Village this summer. Beal can be seen all over Barnstable Village whether he’s unicycling around or in the pottery shop making a popcorn bowl. Beal has many more artworks and to see some of them follow his Instagram @swb_pottery  and follow what he makes!