Emily MacArthur is, by her own admission, not “God’s gift to ceramics.” She’s more of a painter, she said.
But that didn’t stop the Park Ridge native and art therapist from opening the Centered Clay Collective, a mindfulness-oriented ceramics studio, on the 800 block of West Talcott Avenue.
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MacArthur said the tactile nature of clay and the focus it takes to sculpt clay by hand or on a wheel makes ceramics a playful, therapeutic way for people to connect with themselves and work through problems.
Surrounded by hand-built pots with rabbit heads and tails and wearing a hoodie printed with a Degas painting, MacArthur told Pioneer Press she wanted the studio to be a place where people can “experience getting their hands dirty and having a little bit of fun and play.”
MacArthur emphasized that the Centered Clay Collective won’t provide medical assistance that a prescription might call for, instead centering the “holistic wellness” benefits of an arts practice.
Her hope is that “people will just learn to relax and play and get that little bit of faith in themselves that they can do it, and come back and it becomes a practice like a yoga practice or running practice or a meditation practice.”
“I like to sit down and I center myself,” MacArthur continued. “I have people center themselves, align their bodies and breathe and think intentionally about their why before they even get started [on a pottery wheel], feeling the clay, to use that as a way to ground yourself to connect with the actual material.”
MacArthur is offering classes and workshops for free until the business officially opens April 20. About half the classes are wheel-focused and the other half have participants hand building, which doesn’t involve a pottery wheel.
Whatever type of ceramics people work on at the studio, MacArthur said she hopes they will enjoy challenging themselves and establish a regular ceramics practice — and not be too discouraged if they don’t produce a grade-A work of art the first time around.
“This is a place [where] you can make a huge mess and really not worry about it,” she said. “And the first time, especially on the potter’s wheel, the chances of you walking away with something discernible are very slim.”
She plans to offer weekly offerings geared toward families, couples, beginners, hand builders, wheel users and other specialized classes, she said.
