Building a Creative Community

When I first opened Ceramic Cube in 2019, I thought of it primarily as a studio — a place where people would come to learn pottery and leave again. I was focused on the craft, on getting the teaching right, on making the space functional. Community wasn’t really part of the plan. It happened anyway, and it changed everything.

The people who’ve found their way here come from everywhere. Long-term residents and brand new arrivals, people who grew up here and people still finding their footing. A lot of them are a long way from where they grew up, from the friends and rhythms they knew. That creates a particular hunger for connection that people don’t always name out loud, but you can feel it the moment you walk in.

Pottery, it turns out, is a very good container for that hunger. When you sit at a wheel next to someone, you’re both doing something difficult, something that requires a certain vulnerability. You’re going to make mistakes in front of each other. You’re going to laugh at those mistakes. You’re going to ask for help. All of that creates a warmth between people that’s surprisingly fast.

By the time we opened the community studio in January 2022, I’d started to understand what we were actually building. Not just a place to learn ceramics, but a kind of anchor for people who needed one. A place with regulars — the Wednesday morning crowd who’ve been coming so long they know where everything is. The group of women who started as strangers in a beginner workshop and now rent studio time together every week. The person who came once for a team event and ended up joining as a member and hasn’t stopped coming for two years.

I’m proud of the work that comes out of this studio — the bowls and mugs and sculptural pieces that people take home. But I’m prouder of the room itself. The way it sounds on a busy afternoon. The conversations that happen over shared tables. The feeling, which I hear from members regularly, that this is one of the only places in their week where they feel completely themselves.

The community is still growing. So are we. And I think the best is still ahead.