FEB 6, 2025 | NEWS | By Margaret Freeman
When you walk into the basement of the Fine Arts Center on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday afternoon, it is immediately abuzz.
Members of the Colorado College community spin mugs on the pottery wheels in one area while others hand-build sculptures in another. Some chat about what they’re making, and some listen to music, focused intently on a current project. There are buckets of clay to pull from, shelves with various colorful glazes, carts with tools and walls of drying ceramics waiting to be put in the kiln.
This group, commonly known as Clay Club, is open three times a week from 1 p.m to 3 p.m and was created to foster creativity and education around pottery.
Max Blair Houston ‘27, a frequent Clay Club member, says he appreciates the space for how available it makes art.
“It can be a very tricky medium to get into especially with clay ‘cause it’s expensive,” Blair Houston said. “It makes it very accessible for people who just want to try something new.”
Blair Houston finds Clay Club a great place for students to create art in a time when “a lot of art is very elitist.”
The studio is not just open to students, either.
Sue Lauther, who teaches The Body in Motion and adjunct dance classes, also finds value in Clay Club in and out of class.
“My Body in Motion class comes here to do movement with clay and get a somatic experience with something that moves,” Lauther said.
Lauther echoes Blair Houston’s sentiments about the club’s accessibility.
Other clubs require participants to bring your own tools and supplies, but Clay Club provides plenty of materials alongside staff who help throughout the clay process.
“I feel really spoiled here,” said Lauther.
Nitra Olsen is one of the volunteer proctors for Clay Club. She started taking pottery classes at CC during Covid and fell in love with it.
Since volunteering with the club, Olsen finds it essential for students to have a place where she says “the students can come in and do stuff that can take their mind off of all the stress of classes.”
According to Olsen, there are plans to improve the materials used in the studio. “Right now, we use recycled clay… whatever we can kind of find,” she said.
Clay Club hopes to get more clay and tools to improve the experience.
But those like Olsen, who are helping lead it, say they appreciate the “chaotic, amazing mix” of clay, conversation and community.