A Hands-On Approach

In the back workroom at the Clayhouse in Santa Monica, Doris Spivak is creating a shoe sculpture, Gail Buckley is teaching hand-building pottery and Anthe Wosczyna is working at the potter’s wheel. Out front, Clayhouse owner Tani Sims-Ebert is presiding over the gallery space, which features bowls by 30 studio members.

This truly is a place where there’s something for everyone. Prices start at $5, but can reach $70, and each potter’s work is distinct from the others’. Dark colors popular in the 1960s are gone, replaced by colors that are “earthy but not dirty,” as Sims-Ebert puts it. Stoneware glazes, for example, include copper red, tenmoku (brown/black), porcelain white and translucent blue. Some of the bowls, especially the celadon-colored ones, are reminiscent of Chinese ware; others are rustic looking. Some potters try for a thin, almost porcelain-like quality, while others make hefty receptacles.

Potters come to the 3,400-square-foot Clayhouse (founded in 1971 as the Pot Farm) both to work and to learn this timeless art form. Here, aspiring clay artists can learn wheelwork, hand building--working with clay without a wheel--and sculpture. “Students learn how to add fine details and make pieces that will survive in the kiln,” Sims-Ebert says.

The kilns fire at 2,390 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to make works that can withstand the microwave and dishwasher. The heat also seals the color and makes the objects food-safe. The Clayhouse offers 25 glazes to work with, Sims-Ebert says, and because many potters, such as the late Beatrice Wood, are known for their glazes, this is an important component of the work. Some potters use commercial powders, while others create glazes by trial and error, adding substances such as chrome and iron.

The bowls show runs through April 19, and studio exhibitions, which feature members’ works, generally run for a month. Being able to sell work in the gallery space is part of the experience of being a working potter, explains Sims-Ebert. “Before, students had to go to gift shows to sell their works. I also let students take turns displaying their works in the window.” Right now, Spivak’s “Feats of Clay” grace the window, a whimsical display of clay shoes that could serve as clever paperweights or coffee-table items.

For Sims-Ebert, the Clayhouse is a passion. “I have an Indian ancestry,” she says, “so I was exploring that years ago by taking a class in pottery-making through adult education. I touched the clay and that was that. I started designing my own pots, then I got a teaching credential in ceramics in 1983, and gave up my job in 1993 as a nurse practitioner to teach pottery here and oversee the studio full-time.” She bought the property in 1995.

Sims-Ebert may have stopped working in the medical field, but she believes pottery has a healing effect, and many people are drawn to learn it for that reason. “Clay is a great medium. We have the term ‘learning how to center,’ which refers to centering the clay on the wheel. The more centered you are in life, the more centered the clay is on the wheel.” She says that working with clay has held her together through a divorce as well as deaths in her family.

“We get all ages here,” Sims-Ebert says. Students must be at least 18; “I’ve had people as old as 90.”

Classes are limited to eight students, begin at $220 and last up to six weeks. All are hands-on, and the price includes supplies, firing and unlimited studio access. A $150 a month membership allows for use of kilns, glazes and equipment.

“Clay is such a sensual, earthy medium; it almost throbs. I love everything about it.”

*The Clayhouse is located at 2902 Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Kathy Bryant may be reached at kbryant@socal.rr.com.