Scenic City Clay Arts Enjoying New 11th Street Location

The diverse pottery pieces produced at Scenic City Clay Arts have usually been the main attention getters for fellow artists or visitors, but now the studio itself is catching a few admiring eyes, too. 

Earlier this year, the non-profit organization moved into spacious new digs in the lower floor of the Arts Building at 301 E. 11th St., next to such fellow arts-related organizations or firms as ArtsBuild and Townsend Atelier. 

“We love it,” said founder and executive director David Chambers as he showed off the new studio recently. 

Like a piece of pottery being shaped, the group and its predecessor program have developed quite a bit over the last few years. It was formerly the city of Chattanooga-run Pottery Studio housed in a closet at the Warner Park Fieldhouse before moving to quarters at the Patten Arts Center in Lookout Valley. 

After the city program was discontinued, Mr. Chambers and others formed the current non-profit group last summer before moving into their current expansive new location. 

The facility – which opened in February and was dedicated in March -- features 14 pottery wheels, two new kilns, a variety of other equipment and plenty of room. 

Various memberships are available, and the facility offers classes focusing on different levels of wheel pottery and hand building, as well as more specialized workshops on activities like making clay birdhouses. 

All levels of talent and experience are welcome, officials say. 

Besides shaping clay items, the facility also hopes to shape the community through various outreach efforts. This might include a planned program for first-graders in the local schools, if support can be garnered, or through such nearby facilities as the Patten Towers residential facility for elderly Chattanoogans. 

Scenic City Clay Arts is also working to offer clay classes for UT-Chattanooga using some of its former equipment after part of the arts program was cut there. 

“We are currently in the process of housing and moving the kiln,” said Mr. Chambers. “We should start classes this summer.” 

This is all part of a trend taking place throughout the arts community locally with groups like ArtsBuild, Mr. Chambers said.  

“No longer does the community build the arts, but the arts build the community,” he said.            

Mr. Chambers and Scenic City Clay Arts board chairman Mignonne Pearson both say their own lives have been greatly changed in a positive manner by being involved with clay and ceramics. 

Mr. Chambers said he was diagnosed with cancer in the 1990s and was out of work. He decided to go back to school and eventually majored in sculpture and ceramics at UTC after initially planning to become a social worker. While going through the program, he filled in for a teacher and realized he had definitely found his niche. 

“Something clicked,” he said. “Sharing my knowledge became so fulfilling.” 

That soon led to a part-time position helping out with the Pottery Studio at Warner Park, and that eventually led to his current position. 

Ms. Pearson said she had attended Girls Preparatory School, which had a great art department and initially tapped her interest in the arts. But after her husband died in 2000, this stay-at-home mom needed something to fill the void and vacuum. She soon found an ideal activity through pottery and ceramics, she said. 

“A friend said, ‘Did you know Warner Park has a pottery studio?’ ” she said. “It kind of gave me a purpose.” 

As a result, she has become quite involved in Scenic City Clay Arts and now heads a board that also includes Paula Irwin, Tom Hughes, Todd Lusk, Charlie Pfitzer, Kim Brown, Lolly Durant and Charlotte Bible Wardlaw. Reiko Rymer is managing director. 

Artistically, Ms. Pearson – who had some pieces on display at the studio that almost looked like they could have been made out of metal -- said her interest is in hand-building pottery instead of wheel throwing. 

Both Ms. Pearson and Mr. Chambers hinted that the process of making pottery is as rewarding as the finished product. As a result, they invite all who might be interested to come visit them. 

“A lot of people want to try it and we just want to share that with people,” said Mr. Chambers. 

Jcshearer2@comcast.net