YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - The crowd slowly gathers, their hushed whispers blending with the sounds of nature, their eyes open in wonder. It's almost time, they can feel it, and parents gently guide their young ones toward the front of the gathering for a better view. They don't want them to miss this.

It's not Old Faithful or the Morning Glory Pool these people are watching. It's another wonder of Yellowstone - Carl Sheehan, the national park's resident potter, who is about to throw a bowl on his pottery wheel.

Sheehan is one of two resident artists at the park. The other is Earl Concho, a painter who has created his work at the Old Faithful Lodge and Old Faithful Inn for about 14 years.

For 21 years, Sheehan has created pieces of art before the eyes of fascinated guests in his open studio in the Old Faithful Lodge. His art is mainly stonework, bowls, platters, serving dishes and chip-and-dip trays decorated with carved and painted scenes of wildlife, geysers and scenery from Yellowstone. Every day during the summer, Sheehan creates about 30 pieces of pottery, which are sold at the Lodge and at other gift shops in the park. Prices vary greatly from $15 to $400.

From mid-May through September, Sheehan and his wife, Becky, operate Fire Hole Pottery in the park, an arrangement that allows the Sheehans to spend summers in the glory of Yellowstone and winters at their home in Bozeman, Mont.

Sheehan said he fell into the opportunity in 1980, when the director of the gift shop at the Old Faithful Lodge went to Bozeman to recruit an artist interested in spending a few months a year creating art at the park. "I was a year or two out of college and I said, 'Sure.' I'd always wanted to work in the park," he recalled. "I have a nice contrast. I work here in front of thousands of people and in the winter I go home and have solitude."

Sheehan rips a hunk of red clay from a large brick and begins kneading it on a creaky, wooden table, like a baker preparing the dough for a pizza crust. He's wedging the clay, he explains. The muscles in his hands flex as he flattens the clay, rolls it into a ball and flattens it again.

His "studio" in the gift shop of the Old Faithful Lodge looks more like a giant playpen, with a raised wooden platform for a floor and a wooden railing surrounding his workspace. His equipment is old and simple: The table, a 22-year-old foot-operated potter's wheel that has been modernized with an equally ancient-looking electric motor, and a small kiln.

Sheehan grabs the lump of clay, splats it onto the wheel and takes a seat in a small stool, facing the 10 or so people who have silently gathered to watch. As the wheel spins, Sheehan's large hands, which seconds earlier were roughly kneading, gently guide the heap of clay into a cylindrical shape. He periodically adds a few drops of water to keep the clay moist and calmly answers questions from the crowd, many of them for the hundredth time this summer. Does that feel cool? How did you start your career? Is every piece different? Do you teach classes? Foreigners who don't speak English don't ask questions, they just watch. The questions don't bother Sheehan and he answers them as if they have never been asked before.

Most people have never seen a potter work in person, he said, and he is proud to be a part of sharing a new experience with them.

Sheehan said one of the most surprising aspects of working in Yellowstone is the number of return visitors he runs into. "I used to think Yellowstone was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said. "The returning business is something I didn't count on. I have people from all over the country who come back and buy a piece from me every year."

And he said he never gets tired of meeting new people and talking to folks from all walks of life. "It's always interesting to talk to people. You meet people from all over the world," he said. He's even met two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

The greatest challenge of his 21-year summer job has been uprooting his wife and three children every year for a few months. Now 12, 18 and 20, his kids have literally grown up in Yellowstone. But the opportunity to experience one of the most beautiful areas in the United States has been a treat for the entire family, he said.

Sheehan has become what he calls an "on-the-fringe geyser gazer," somewhat of an unofficial expert in the schedules and traits of the parks geysers. Seasonal park employees often come to him for advice on which geysers to see, when they are most likely to erupt and less-traveled sights to see. He doesn't keep a notebook like many of the gazers, but Sheehan rides his bronze Schwinn Cruiser bike through the geyser basin paths every day, "just checking things out."

He also gets many ideas for his art while wandering the park. "What a place to be inspired - beautiful landscape, wildlife and geysers," he said.

It's the day before Sheehan's studio and the Old Faithful Lodge are to close for the season. The shelves are bare, save for a few bowls, platters and specialty pieces. George Crowell of Salt Lake City enters the gift shop and his eye catches a medium-sized jar with a lid whose handle is a perfectly shaped bison. Sheehan says it's a bison spirit jar.

Crowell walks to the piece, picks it up and, almost as a second thought, asks Sheehan how much it costs. But it doesn't seem to matter what the answer is; Crowell's going to buy it. He already has about 13 pieces of Sheehan's pottery at home. "I like the shape of it, the color and the different look to it," he says. "And, of course, I like the buffalo."

The jar is one of Sheehan's favorite pieces and as he watches Crowell cradle it in his arms on his way to the cash register, the artist looks a little sad to see it go. "It's like sending your kid, when he's 18, out into the world. You've developed him, you've nurtured him and a little piece of you goes with him," he said.

As winter approaches Yellowstone National Park, the animals are preparing for the cold and the tourists have gone home. Sheehan and his family have migrated to Bozeman and the park's resident potter will spend the cold months creating more art, teaching classes and waiting for next summer when he can again return to Yellowstone.

Features writer Maggie Hall Walsh can be reached at the Post Register at 542-6793 or via e-mail at mwalsh@idahonews.com.