Ceramics Crew Open Hours Offer “Fantastic” Crafting Opportunities
Emily Cobb | October 7, 2025
Nestled between the Kittredge parking lot and the forest, one can find a clumping of art buildings. Every Friday from 2-4 p.m., students are encouraged to come and get their hands dirty in the Holden 3D center during Ceramics Crew's open hours.
The open hours, which started last academic year, were launched to make ceramics more accessible to the student body.
“All of [the crew] had hard times getting into ceramics classes…” Lili Jones, a senior Ceramics Crew member, said. “We really wanted a space for people to come in and learn how to throw or maybe find a way to get interested in ceramics without having to commit fully to taking an entire semester's worth of class.”
Marta Geilfuss, a Blacksmithing Crew member, took Friday, Oct. 3, as an opportunity to attend their first Ceramics open hours, working on clay earrings.
“[Crafting is] when I feel most alive, when I am able to create and put an image from my head or even something that I don't have planned out, and have it be in the world...” Geilfuss said. “It's really nice to be reminded that it is a collaboration between you and the material. Things aren't always going to go how you want them to, you can just kind of adjust as things go on and be like, ‘Oh, this is something unexpected, but it's kind of cool.’”
During open hours, students can work with the Ceramics Crew on every part of their piece's cycle, from wedging to throwing/building, to firing, to glazing. Ceramics Crew members teach it all, whether handbuilding or on the wheel. However, the learning does not end with ceramics.
“[Ceramics is] a practice in letting go of stuff,” Jones said. “You're probably gonna make 100 really shitty bowls before you make one really good one…The process of making those 100 shitty bowls is so much more valuable to your personal life than you might think, because you just have to accept how things are and let them go if you don't like them, which is something that I think we struggle with occasionally in society. You have to accept embarrassment. You have to accept being silly and bad at things, and then also you get crazy boosts of confidence when suddenly it clicks and you get really good at something.”
Avery Adamson, a sustainable agriculture major, is a regular attendee. Adamson did a lot of hand-building in high school and expressed happiness over being able to attend the open hours this semester.
“I really appreciate that you can do [ceramics] here,” Adamson said. “I've never thrown before, and now I know the basics.”
Geilfuss echoed this enjoyment regarding the opportunities provided by open hours.
“I think [open hours are] really awesome because something like this kind of access would not be affordable for a lot of people,” Geifuss said. “I know that in my high school, the crafts that were offered there, I had never been able to do again because of that cost barrier. I think it's really cool that so many of the craft crews have open hours so that you can go and learn.”
Both Geilfuss and Jones mentioned how ceramics is a great tool for folks who have accessibility difficulties, particularly with hands and wrists, as it can be lower-impact and modified.
“It can be really fantastic and just really fun to explore your own brain and your body,” Jones said. “As someone who has a lot of physical pain and issues with that, having ceramics as a way to get more in touch with my body and use it as a tool kind of helps me feel better about all the things that I can't control.”
Ceramics Crew open hours offer a space for folks of all artistic abilities to come together in community and craft. Jones wanted to express that everyone has the capacity to do ceramics; they just have to be willing to learn.
“I just had someone come in and say that he was not artistic, and I don't personally believe in that,” Jones said. “I think that everybody has the capacity to make art, and there's a lot that can be learned from allowing yourself to express yourself in ways that are not typical, especially if you're someone who doesn't generally do art.”