Redlands Pottery Project celebrates First Anniversary

By Siw Heede

Hidden in the Fifth Street alley in downtown Redlands is a gem of a pottery studio - Redlands Pottery Project, a place “where clay meets community, and creativity finds a home” as described on the studio’s website.

Saturday morning, Feb. 8, studio members sold their ceramics, master potter David Porras from Yucaipa donated pieces, and the Elias Valdez Quartet played jazz tunes. The fundraiser helped establish a non-profit portion of the studio while celebrating its first anniversary.  

The non-profit, called Redlands Pottery Community Project, will provide classes for underserved members of the community. Its first outreach project provided free clay classes for the youth at A.K. Smiley Library.

“Redlands being such an artistic community and growing up here, I think, is exactly one of the reasons we want to give back to the community,” said co-owner Bradley Evans.

Ryan Bailey and Al Hernandez of Citrograph Printing Co. are on the board of the non-profit. Bailey kick-started his ceramics talents at the studio a year ago, his art pieces can be found at Citrograph.

The idea to open a studio – complete with 14 pottery wheels, countless glazes, two large kilns, tools and pounds of clay – came to three former Redlands High School graduates and co-owners: Ezra Bosworth-Ahmet, Bradley Evans and Taylor Triplett. A fourth friend, Micah McClure, also helped build the studio and teaches classes there.

“We’ve been friends since elementary school but we all learned it together at Redlands High School where there is a really good ceramics program,” said Bosworth-Ahmet. Eight years later, after finishing college, the friends found themselves back in the area and returned to a shared love of ceramics.

“We were making pottery in Ezra’s backyard as well as once a week the high school teacher, Tim Colbert, would open his studio and we would go there,” said Bradley Evans, “But once a week was not enough and we needed a kiln.”

The three friends began wondering: Would anyone else enjoy ceramics as much as they did?

“Worst case scenario, we would have this private studio if no one comes,” said Evans.

Bosworth-Ahmet and Evans both live in Redlands, Triplett is in Los Angeles where he works for a studio with a similar business model. 

“We wanted to bring something like that to Redlands making the downtown more fun and have something to do,” said Bosworth-Ahmet of the concept.

While working full time, the trio built the studio in the evenings and weekends. One year later, Evans quit his job and is now the full-time manager of the studio because of the success so far.

Classes for 10 people are offered every Friday and Saturday, with the studio open for members Wednesday through Sunday. The studio now has 50 members, and classes have been fully booked for the past three months. About ten percent of each class attendance converts into memberships.

So yes, there were other people in Redlands who would like access to a pottery studio.

The studio’s goal is for people to feel confident enough after a two-hour session that they could throw on a wheel themselves. 

“We wanted to lower the barrier of entry as much as possible,” said Bosworth-Ahmet.

“I love being an instructor,” said Evans. “People come in not knowing what to expect and once they get their hands in the clay, they do really get their creativity to flow.”

“I’m still pinching myself,” he added. “This is one of the few spaces where you can have someone just out of high school, someone in retirement, a single mom – people from all different walks of life – working together, hanging out.”

Recently, there was an 87-year old who celebrated her birthday at the studio.

Since members have been working on their craft for a year by now, the plan is to begin offering intermediate classes. One of their members makes cups that are sold at local coffee shops and other members sell their pieces on Etsy.

“My favorite thing is being able to with your hands make something functional that you can use every day,” said Bosworth-Ahmet. To sit by the wheel he said, “It’s slow, it’s kind of therapeutic, you can put your headphones in and just relax. This is how people unwind.”

Evans agreed, “My mind is always racing and I struggle to find that inner peace in my everyday life. But when I am on the wheel, I enter this flow state and I am really not thinking about anything at all.”

After Saturday’s fundraiser event, Bosworth-Ahmet said, “We are all so happy and proud and honestly, we’ve agreed this is our biggest accomplishment,”  

About Redlands Pottery Project

Address: 113 N 5^th St. Alley, Redlands.
Phone: (909) 206 2224
E-mail address: info@redlandspotteryproject.com
Website: www.redlandspotteryproject.com
Social media: @RedlandsPotteryProject
Opening hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Book and see info on Friday and Saturday sessions on the website. Sessions start at $80 per person.