Pottery studios are fired up as more Chicagoans seek community, dirty hands and screen-free experiences

After relocating to Chicago from Spain, Leonor San Sebastián initially felt disconnected from her neighbors and the city’s art scene. That changed when she opened her Lincoln Square pottery studio Ceramics by Leo in September 2023.

The response from the community was instant: Her weekslong classes and one-day workshops were full almost immediately. As she added more classes to meet demand, those filled up too.

San Sebastián said the studio has allowed her to build connections with neighbors and the wider ceramics scene in Chicago.

“My life has changed,” she said.

Other potters in Chicago also are capitalizing on the growing popularity of ceramics. Longtime studio owners say their spaces are full of hobbyists and experienced artists, citing a surge in interest driven by social media and a desire for hands-on, screen-free experiences. Its appeal has also been a boon to new studios like Ceramics by Leo.

Albany Park resident Kelsie Huff was hooked after one ceramics workshop. She's now taking her second wheel-throwing course at Ceramics by Leo.

“As an adult, you're supposed to be good at things. I feel like there's just something really cool about being really bad at something,” Huff said. “We're so isolated and technology-focused today … and this is like getting back to the Earth.”

An eight-week course at Ceramics by Leo is $310, with one-day workshops costing $60 and private lessons $155. The 1,500-square-foot studio can accommodate 12 wheel-throwing students.

“For me, this isn’t just working. I love it,” San Sebastián said. “But it’s not as easy as it looks, because it is still a business.”

It took pottery studio GnarWare in Pilsen about two years to turn a profit after it opened in 2018. While some studios focus on date nights or one-off workshops, owner Liz McCarthy wants the studio be a place for established artists.

“I want to facilitate a space where people could kind of use vernacular techniques, such as wheel throwing cups and things like that, but also provide a space where artists felt comfortable to come in and make something non-traditional,” McCarthy said.

Its weekslong classes are $230, and one-day workshops are $40.

Part of the art

When Meg Biddle opened Lincoln Square Pottery Studio and Learning Center in 2003, she worried about bringing in enough money to keep the nonprofit’s lights on. Biddle also braced herself during the Great Recession, when people started losing their homes and jobs.

She expected fewer people would spring for a pottery class, but interest continued to grow. The same was true during the pandemic, and the studio has been at-capacity ever since. Now, her eight-week classes, priced at $340, sell out as soon as they go online.

“Our lives are getting more and more digital,” said Biddle, who has been a potter and ceramics teacher for more than 30 years. “Clay is sort of the antithesis to that: It's tactile; it’s messy. I think people started wanting more of that.”

Jessica McCartney, an Albany Park resident and longtime member of Lincoln Square Pottery Studio, said, “I find it kind of meditative, almost therapeutic. I work on the wheel a lot, and you have to focus on only that. You breathe and center yourself. It's a great place to stop thinking about all the outside crap. You can just be a part of the art.”

She said wheel throwing and pottery has gotten more attention on social media, and it's helped her promote her pottery on Instagram and Etsy.

Zoe Rosenfeld came to Lincoln Square Pottery Studio in 2022 and stayed because the studio celebrates her queer-focused, non-traditional work.

“It’s a very friendly, experimental community,” Rosenfeld said. “People are yearning for connection, yearning for individuality, or just want to step away from our mass-produced culture. It seems like that's kind of why people are excited about ceramics.”

Collaboration, not competition

Zoe Minzenberger, who co-founded The Digs in West Town with Fawn Penn in 2020, said part of the studio’s success has come from working with the Chicago pottery community.

Instead of competing with other studios, The Digs will organize events like a recent pottery crawl, when studios across Chicago hosted open houses and free workshops. When other studios are full, students get referred to The Digs and vice versa, Minzenberger said.

“Chicago just has such a communal, more collaborative scene,” Minzenberger said. “It's less competitive, and the artists around here are really welcoming.”

A four-session class at The Digs is $225, and one-day workshops are $75. One-day couples workshops are $175.

Since opening, The Digs has grown from 2,000 square feet to roughly 6,000 square feet. Minzenberger said a long wait list for classes made the expansion, completed in 2022, an easy choice and allowed it to add 16 students. The studio is now working on another round of upgrades to accommodate more artists and students.

“Everything's on social media. Everything is online now, and I think having a playful, muddy, dirty, hands-on experience gets people out of their heads,” Minzenberger said. “With all the new studios opening up, being able to spread the reach of pottery has been great.”

‘Can’t be on your phone’

Former Chicago Public Schools art teacher Chris Busse started Penguin Foot Pottery in 2010 with his wife, Paige, after he was laid off. Pulling together a small loan and their savings, the couple spent about $30,000 to open the studio.

Its four-week classes are $145. They said keeping the class prices low allows them to introduce the art of ceramics to as many people as possible.

“First and foremost, we really want to take away a lot of the barriers for just touching clay and seeing if you like it as a medium for art,” said Paige Busse, who co-manages the Logan Square studio.

Pottery's popularity has helped keep class prices reasonable, the couple said, and allowed them to expand the space in 2017 and 2019. It's grown from 1,300 square feet to around 5,500 square feet.

“There's been a revival of the handmade, and I honestly think a lot of it is just getting off of devices and touching things with your hands. When you're on the wheel, you can't be on your phone,” Paige Busse said.

After the pandemic, people flooded the studio seeking community, Chris Busse said.

“In 2021, there was definitely a big jump of folks interested,” Chris Busse said. “I think a lot of it was people realizing the importance of that third space — the place where you can go that's not work or home — and having a group of friends there.”

It also helped diversify the pottery scene, he said. When Penguin Foot opened, there were only a handful of studios in Chicago. Now, artists and students of all levels and backgrounds have more opportunities to get their hands on clay.

“Ceramics used to be more of a boy’s club,” Chris Busse said. “There’s been a really nice shift, and it's kind of helped the industry explode.”

After opening a string of pottery studios near Los Angeles, Marshall Blair launched The Pottery Studio Clay and Supply in Bucktown in 2022.

Blair, a businessman who got his start working in Chicago restaurants, said the studio has become a profitable business and a place where students can find community.

“It's a super social thing,” Blair said. “I also think America has lost its love of manufacturing a little bit — the craftsmanship of making things and getting your hands dirty. I think people missed that and want to get back to it.”

Biddle, of Lincoln Square Pottery Studio, said she was initially concerned about losing business when more studios started sprouting up nearby. But not anymore.

“I think the more people do pottery, the more people are going to be into pottery, and that's always been part of my mission,” Biddle said. “Even if people don't stay doing ceramics, having a basic understanding of what goes into the creative process and having access to the part of your brain that thinks creatively and makes things happen, I think is ultimately good for everyone.”