What's happening at the studio in 2024?
The front gallery is closed. After 5 years of renting the front, suffering a pandemic for 2 of those years, trying to recover in a recession, it has not produced enough income to cover the cost of rent plus employees to run it. We will miss the sunshine in the evenings that streamed in from the windows.
While we were fully booked with wait-lists in our classes during 2021 & 2022, in April 2023 class enrollments & memberships came to a screeching halt and engagement dwindled to practically nothing, despite having finally hired a great team of employees : a teacher, a marketer, & a studio tech. We hung on through the summer, but when enrollments did not increase in the fall, we had to look the beast in the face and stop thinking the gallery, store, and studio would improve financially. It feels like what happened in January 2011 in Alaska. A recession. Art is always the first to go when the budget is tight. So it's time to pull back on the reins and button up the hatches. Keep our nose to the grindstone, of course. Hard work never ends.
And then while having some fun outside of the studio, we broke a leg. So, forgive us if you haven't heard back from us in a timely manner during Feb-May. Hopefully in August we will be more responsive again.
If you have items to pick up from an event (ie: throw down, private lesson, classes) or from an activity that you attended (ie: paint your pot, party, memberships, etc.) then please send an email to set up an appt time to come pick up. Hopefully we have called you in the past to notify you that they are ready. If you are expecting to pick up something but haven't received a call, please check in with us to see what stage your items are at. Please understand that the employees are no longer working for the studio after 10/31/23. You may have to leave a phone message or send an email to contact us. At some point in July 2024, we will be disposing of items not picked up, assuming they are abandoned.
We will continue to produce pottery work to sell, just as we a have since 1998. Our focus will turn towards production pottery to sell at fairs and markets around Anchorage and Alaska. We will continue to create for wholesale accounts, as well as online retail or in person at shows. Besides that, it's a good thing we didn't quit our day job of bookkeeping, cause now we need it more than ever to continue covering the debts incurred as best we can.
We may eventually want a volunteer to help with some chores around the studio, like we have had in the past. Please send your resume in an email so we can get familiar with your skills. We will trade volunteer time for studio time. This position works in the evenings. This is a one-person position for this role, in trade for some studio time on the wheels to make your own work when the studio work is done. Material costs and kiln firings are not included in the trade value. This is for an experienced potter, not a new hobbyist wanting to get into pottery.
CO-OP STUDIO SPACE: We might be looking for a couple other potters who know the ropes of studio life to join our production studio to rent the space and do their share to take care of the place. Everybody plays, everybody works, everybody cleans. Being a potter is heavy work that requires muscles, responsibility, financial stability, diligence, intelligence, ethics, healthy living, leaving it better than you found it, recycling materials, sharing it with others of a peaceful nature. A small knit community can work together to cover the costs. Please contact Jenny by email if you would like to inquire about this.
We still have some tools & bottled glazes that we will sell in the future, but for now, that's on hold. Contact us to make an appointment before heading over if you need to pick up stuff. We will take in other people's items for kiln firing on a limited basis. We still have unpainted bisqueware to sell in the future as well, but it is not on display. Let us know what types of bisqueware you are interested in purchasing to take home and we'll get the bins down for you to look through during your appointment.
The front gallery is closed. After 5 years of renting the front, suffering a pandemic for 2 of those years, trying to recover in a recession, it has not produced enough income to cover the cost of rent plus employees to run it. We will miss the sunshine in the evenings that streamed in from the windows.
While we were fully booked with wait-lists in our classes during 2021 & 2022, in April 2023 class enrollments & memberships came to a screeching halt and engagement dwindled to practically nothing, despite having finally hired a great team of employees : a teacher, a marketer, & a studio tech. We hung on through the summer, but when enrollments did not increase in the fall, we had to look the beast in the face and stop thinking the gallery, store, and studio would improve financially. It feels like what happened in January 2011 in Alaska. A recession. Art is always the first to go when the budget is tight. So it's time to pull back on the reins and button up the hatches. Keep our nose to the grindstone, of course. Hard work never ends.
And then while having some fun outside of the studio, we broke a leg. So, forgive us if you haven't heard back from us in a timely manner during Feb-May. Hopefully in August we will be more responsive again.
If you have items to pick up from an event (ie: throw down, private lesson, classes) or from an activity that you attended (ie: paint your pot, party, memberships, etc.) then please send an email to set up an appt time to come pick up. Hopefully we have called you in the past to notify you that they are ready. If you are expecting to pick up something but haven't received a call, please check in with us to see what stage your items are at. Please understand that the employees are no longer working for the studio after 10/31/23. You may have to leave a phone message or send an email to contact us. At some point in July 2024, we will be disposing of items not picked up, assuming they are abandoned.
We will continue to produce pottery work to sell, just as we a have since 1998. Our focus will turn towards production pottery to sell at fairs and markets around Anchorage and Alaska. We will continue to create for wholesale accounts, as well as online retail or in person at shows. Besides that, it's a good thing we didn't quit our day job of bookkeeping, cause now we need it more than ever to continue covering the debts incurred as best we can.
We may eventually want a volunteer to help with some chores around the studio, like we have had in the past. Please send your resume in an email so we can get familiar with your skills. We will trade volunteer time for studio time. This position works in the evenings. This is a one-person position for this role, in trade for some studio time on the wheels to make your own work when the studio work is done. Material costs and kiln firings are not included in the trade value. This is for an experienced potter, not a new hobbyist wanting to get into pottery.
CO-OP STUDIO SPACE: We might be looking for a couple other potters who know the ropes of studio life to join our production studio to rent the space and do their share to take care of the place. Everybody plays, everybody works, everybody cleans. Being a potter is heavy work that requires muscles, responsibility, financial stability, diligence, intelligence, ethics, healthy living, leaving it better than you found it, recycling materials, sharing it with others of a peaceful nature. A small knit community can work together to cover the costs. Please contact Jenny by email if you would like to inquire about this.
We still have some tools & bottled glazes that we will sell in the future, but for now, that's on hold. Contact us to make an appointment before heading over if you need to pick up stuff. We will take in other people's items for kiln firing on a limited basis. We still have unpainted bisqueware to sell in the future as well, but it is not on display. Let us know what types of bisqueware you are interested in purchasing to take home and we'll get the bins down for you to look through during your appointment.