The whirring of pottery wheels hum through the room as students work diligently on their pieces. Water splashes as hands quickly dip into the bucket before applying pressure onto the clay. Chunks of clay will eventually be formed into cups, bowls and plates.
Shelves line the walls of the studio with drying creations displaying a range of skill levels. Students return to the art on the shelves each week or pick up a new chunk of clay to begin something new. The sounds of hands slapping onto the clay and the thud of each chunk hitting the table or wheel to prepare it for the new piece echo around the room.
Cornerstone Center for the Arts is a small community in Muncie that houses many different classes, 8-week classes and individual workshops in dance, martial arts, music and voice, visual arts and ceramics.
Ceramics is one of the most popular sections of classes offered. Nighttime ceramics instructor Jason Combs has been teaching classes for 22 years.
“It's fun to see the growth in people. See them create something,” he said. “We start out with a chunk of clay, and they are able to make something tangible. It’s this medium that’s a great way for expression and making stuff move and come alive.”
Student Hannah Ryker said she enjoys creating at Cornerstone’s ceramics classes due to the personal enrichment of having less pressure when crafting something. Without prior experience, she enjoys the freedom of “recycling clay as much as you want.”
“I like this because you can recycle the clay pretty much as much as you want until it’s fired. So it seems like less pressure, I guess,” she said.
Sarah Puller enjoys creating ceramic pieces at Cornerstone because the instructors are “very nonjudgmental.” She said she has learned that her creation “doesn’t have to look the way it looks on Pinterest … for it to still be worth something.”
Emily Grant relishes creativity and time to breathe while creating at Cornerstone. She likes that the instructors walk students through the process.
“[They] do a really great job of showing you the basics, being there if you need support or extra guidance; otherwise, just really letting you run free and letting it be your creative time,” Grant said. These students did not have much experience before attending classes at Cornerstone. In the ceramics workshop classes, Combs said the daytime and nighttime instructors teach students “the basic fundamentals of the medium.”
“If they decide to come back, then we might want to say, ‘Hey, I want to do more wheel throwing,’ and we just focus on that. And once they start getting better at that, we start tweaking their stuff,” Combs said.
Once the students return for future classes, the technique the students favor will then be focused on. Combs said Cornerstone’s ceramics classes are not like university classes because there isn’t as much structure.
“We work with them individually and tweak what they need. I like that we start everybody out on the same page so that we’re all together,” Combs said.
Regardless of what class is attended throughout the week, Combs said the instructors teach “the same lesson. It’s the same procedural stuff.”
At Cornerstone, students get to see their work move through each step of the ceramic-making process. Students get to form their clay, bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire their piece in a span of about two to four weeks before taking their finished projects home.
Ceramics classes at Cornerstone are “reasonable compared to other areas,” Combs explained. He said, “It’s a great place [in] the community to try out new things.”
“If you’re worried about price, prices are really reasonable compared to other areas that went to another art class that might be a lot more money. A lot of these people are here in the community,” Combs said.
Ryker likes that Cornerstone is “a really good community organization.” She explains how Cornerstone makes art accessible, while other places have expensive startup costs.
“It’s nice to be able to experiment with hobbies and find things that you’re interested in,” Ryker said.
Similarly, Grant feels connected with others in the class and appreciates the community Cornerstone has to offer.
“It’s a really nice way to connect with other people, and I feel like everyone in the classes is always really kind and welcoming. We get inspired by each other,” Grant said. “ … [These classes are] something everyone should try, should take a shot at because it does do a lot to show you there’s always something more to learn and unlocks that little inner kid who’s just playing in the mud.”
Combs encourages people in Muncie to get out and do something creative when they have the opportunity.
“Other art and other activities that happen in Muncie to check out and experience something like it … It’s just fun to get out instead of just being stuck at home all the time. It’s very important to experience life,” Combs said. “[Cornerstone] brings awareness of the arts to the community, people that have never known that Cornerstone existed.”
Contact Savana New via email at savana.new@bsu.edu.
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