Scott Dooley, born and raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, graduated from Bethel College with majors in history, philosophy and German. Upon discovering clay as a senior, he proceeded to work for Voth Pottery for one year and then moved to Arizona where he attended Arizona State University and pursued art. He graduated with his Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Kansas State University where he studied with Yoshiro Ikeda.

His artwork has been exhibited internationally in Spain, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, China, Croatia, Portugal and Taiwan as well as throughout the United States including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. His work has been included in over 270 exhibitions during the past 26 years (1998-2024), winning 41 awards. He is represented in 34 permanent collections in the United States, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Spain, Taiwan, China, Portugal, Croatia and South Africa. Noteworthy permanent collections include the Gloria and Sonny Kamm Teapot Foundation, Ron Pizzuti Collection, Bruno and Mary Moser Pottery Collection, Yixing Ceramics Museum (China), Museu de Ceramica de Manises (Spain) and the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Musuem (Taiwan). His artwork has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Claytimes, Pottery Making Illustrated, Revista Internacional Ceramica, Kerameiki Techni, The Chinese Potters Newsletter, Ceramics: Art and Perception and The National Ceramics Quarterly. His work has also been included in Clay and Glazes for the Potter, 500 Teapots: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design, 500 Pitchers: Contemporary Explorations of a Classic Form, Eva Zeisel On Design: The Magical Language of Things, Throwing and Handbuilding: Forming Techinques, Clay: A Studio Handbook (2nd edition), and Susan Peterson’s 5th edition of The Craft and Art of Clay. Ceramics Monthly published an article on his work in the November 2002. In 2005 the Ohio Arts Council awarded him an Individual Artist Fellowship. The American Ceramics Society published a technique DVD, Handbuilding Modular Forms with Stiff Slabs with Scott Dooley, as a part of the Ceramic Arts Daily Presents Video Series. He is currently Professor of Art and Department Chair at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.