Zen and Now Clay Studio

The adults hanging out inside Zen and Now Clay Studio look blissfully filthy. Soft clay slicks their hands and sticks to their smocks as they sculpt a pastoral scene onto a platter during a class or develop their own style of relating to Patrick Swayze during open studio time. In the white, utilitarian workroom, artists gather around a central table for hand building—helped by tools such as a slab roller, extruder sets for creating tubular shapes, and slump molds—or form clay on one of several electric pottery wheels. The staff later glazes and fires all student work in a process that takes about two weeks.

Adding to the enjoyment of creating art, Zen and Now's instructors organize events such as couples nights that give adults a chance to enjoy wine and cheese in the company of people they sculpted themselves, and a Boy Scout pottery merit badge workshop encourages kids to explore creativity in the studio and in the broader community. Helping students further explore 3-D modeling, the studio also offers drawing and painting classes in watercolor and Sumi-e, a classical form of East Asian ink painting.