Pottery's life lessons

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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

More Americans are picking up pottery as a screen-free hobby and a way to make new friends, Axios' Megan Stringer reports. Why it matters: Throwing pottery on a wheel is calming, therapeutic — and just the right amount of challenging. It takes some skill and creativity, but it's accessible to people who don't usually think of themselves as artsy. "I think it's always good to have other outlets outside of the norm of going to restaurants or going to bars," Lindsay Werner, who owns Mud Studio locations in San Antonio and Austin, told KSAT in San Antonio. "We're so isolated and technology-focused today … and this is like getting back to the Earth," Chicago resident Kelsie Huff told the Chicago Sun-Times. Zoom out: New ceramics studios are opening around the country, from Overland Park, Kansas, to Atlanta. Longtime spot Greenwich House Pottery in Manhattan opened a second location last year, citing an explosion in bookings. "People want a community, and they want to make things with their hands rather than swipe the screen all day," Fabio Fernández, director of Greenwich House Pottery, told The Art Newspaper. ? Megan's thought bubble: I began throwing wheel pottery a little over a year ago, and I love how it's embedded with life lessons. One of the biggest is learning to control what you can — and let go of what you can't. Clay teaches me to assert myself and be direct. If I want the clay to do something, I have to tell it. But the practice also helps me accept that things will go wrong and break — constantly. That's OK, because I can't make beautiful vessels without working past those wonky ones. My first mugs were shallow with lopsided handles. Now I can create mugs with symmetrical bases and comfortably smooth handles.