Featured Alumnus: Michael Lancaster ’74 | Avon Old Farms News | About Us | Avon Old Farms

Michael Lancaster ’74 had a difficult decision to make determining how he would spend the weekend of October 25-27, 2024. On the one hand, he had written a screenplay and spent the last several years working to move it from the typed page to the big screen. Finally, he now has the opportunity to attend one of the country’s preeminent film marketing events to promote the movie. However, the event will be held the same weekend as Michael’s 50th high school reunion. While it was certainly a dilemma, Michael ultimately made the decision. His flight to Connecticut and his lodging near Mrs. Riddle’s Village are both already booked, and his anticipation to see his brothers after so many years is growing with every day.

For Michael, his decision to attend his reunion rather than potentially reach a new career milestone came down to a realization he had made way back when he was a senior at Avon. The state champion varsity swim team was at their New England’s meet, and Michael dove into the pool for his leg of the medley relay. “I was the slow leg in the relay as it was, and I wasn’t having my best race,” he admits. “I remember at one point I looked up and all I could see were the other swimmers’ feet kicking ahead of me. It was at this moment I thought to myself that I would never have this opportunity again. It was my senior year, and I wouldn’t be swimming in college. That pushed me to give it all I had. I swam my best ever time by three seconds that day. I had that same realization about the upcoming reunion. I don’t come to every reunion, so this could be the last opportunity I get to see some of my classmates in that setting.”

He qualified that he isn’t giving up on his movie. He’ll send other people he trusts in his place to market it. After all, this is the latest project in Michael’s lifetime of dedication to the arts—a dedication that first began to reveal itself while he was attending Avon. 

Michael first arrived at Avon as a sophomore in the fall of 1971. He still remembers the first time he saw the school’s campus. “If you’ve never seen the place before, as a young kid, it was almost overwhelming. The land around Avon was as good a teacher as the ones in the classroom.” He took some time to settle in, but by the time swim season came around with head coach Jorge H. Consuegra ’51, Michael was enjoying his time as a student and growing in confidence. During his time at Avon, he had also participated in cross country and the community service club. 

In the art studios at Avon, Michael worked with clay for the first time. He didn’t know it at the time, but pottery and ceramic work would become a lifelong career and passion. “I remember I worked with clay just a little bit and wanted to do more. That was my first inkling that I get something from the smell of clay,” he says. 

He says his interest in creative writing was also sparked at Avon. “My teachers pulled the best out of me.” Charles Duggan took one approach which awoke a passion in Michael, while Sid Clark in particular had an influence—something countless other Avonians can attest to. “I remember the first short story I handed in was so covered in red marks I didn’t want to look at it. The top of the paper said, ‘Excellent. Grade: D.’” Michael says these lessons and memories came back to him years later when he wrote and published his first book, a historical novel about the Ringling Brothers, of whom he is a descendent. For those interested, the book is titled: Ringling, The Last Laugh.

Even the school’s motto—aspirando et perseverando—would play a part in his career in the arts. “To make it as an artist of any kind, you have to persevere,” Michael says. 

While some of Michael’s interest in art was molded at Avon, it’s even more so something that was passed down to him through his family. His mother was renowned portrait painter Betty Warren, who’s services were sought by high profile customers and was the first woman to have a solo show in an American museum. Her father, Michael’s grandfather, was a nationally recognized professional cartoonist. Michael’s father was actor Stuart Lancaster, who was featured in multiple blockbuster movies and performed in theater productions as well. Stuart is the grandson of circus magnate Charles Ringling. 

Shortly after graduating from Avon, Michael began down the similar path as his family before him. He enrolled at SUNY Albany where he studied literature. It’s also where he began pursuing pottery much more seriously. “That’s when it really got into my blood,” he says. He began an apprenticeship with a professional potter and slowly, but surely, perfected his craft. “I was terrible that first summer. But repetition was the best teacher. I was making hundreds of pieces a week.” 

Through this apprenticeship he began to make more connections within the ceramics and pottery industry. Around 1980, he began collaborating with a recent Parsons School of Design graduate named Barbara Harnack. They quickly found their work in high demand and opened their own studio together. A year later, the two married. 

Since then, both Barbara and Michael have had very successful careers. They expanded their skillset to include sculpting, painting, and other mediums. Their ceramic work, which ranges from functional pieces to abstract figurative sculptures, has appeared in museums and galleries throughout the world. The two have also been very active in promoting the arts. Both of them sit on multiple artistic grant panels. In 2006, they created the Harnack/Lancaster Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Ceramic Arts awarded by New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists. They followed that up in 2018 by founding the Calliope Art Gallery in Madrid, New Mexico. 

Their repertoire continued to evolve throughout their careers. They co-authored a children’s book and have both published articles in various magazines and online publications. Michael also began writing longer works including Ringling, The Last Laugh. He says he and his father spent almost 20 years on and off doing research for that book. “Nowadays, with the internet, you can get all that info we got before you can finish a cup of coffee.”

In recent years, he has continued to scratch his writer’s itch, but in the form of screenplays. His first, which also dealt with his circus family’s history, didn’t exactly pan out the way he would have hoped. A fellow Avonian put him in touch with a producer, and Michael was invited to pitch his screenplay to a team representing director Martin Scorsese. “It was a terrible pitch,” Michael laments. “I was depressed for several days after.”

While it’s still very possible for that screenplay, “The Man Who Stole The Greatest Show on Earth,” to eventually come to fruition, Michael has since written another, this time a sci-fi/ realistic fiction piece that centers on real-life horrors titled, “Ink.” That project has already moved into the production stage. The next step is to market the movie to potential investors, but Michael will take at least one weekend off from that task when he returns to campus for Avon’s reunion this fall. 

Michael and a group of his classmates and their spouses have booked an Airbnb nearby in a living situation that will surely bring back memories from their time as students. “We’re 50 years older, but we’re all the same guys,” Michael says. “Even the people I wasn’t close to then, we have a camaraderie. It’s very important.”

This year, Avon Old Farms School’s Reunion Weekend will take place October 25-27 and celebrates milestone class years ending in 4 & 9. All class years are welcome. Whether you're celebrating your 5th or 75th milestone, come reconnect with friends, fellow alumni, and faculty at the place where it all began! Register today at avonoldfarms.com/reunion.

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