By: Laura Silvernail
The sound of children surrounds the outside of the red brick building on Dean Road in Auburn, Alabama. Their instructor stands underneath the blue awning, next to two large handmade flower pots that provide just a glimpse of the art within the building.
Inside, past the lobby and the blue gym floor, lies three rooms that make up the Dean Road Ceramics Studio. The first room houses the pug mill – a machine that helps recycle clay, chemicals to make glazes and boxes full of bowls to take to the annual charity event, Empty Bowls. Another room is dedicated to hand building and another to wheel throwing.
A woman with gray hair sat on the black stool facing the wheel. She was finally able to center the B-mix white clay after six weeks. She couldn’t let the clay defeat her.
Amy Kaiser started taking pottery classes when her kids moved on to public school after being homeschooled.
Now she is the Dean Road Ceramic studio’s tech who makes the glazes and handles firing the kilns. Kaiser found a love for ceramics and sells her work locally at The Ross House Coffee Roastery. Kaiser focuses on functionality in her pieces, like a medium sized mug glazed in green that covers over half of the vessel diagonally, showing off the white underneath.
The glazes sit on the shelf in alphabetical order. Kaiser wouldn’t have it any other way. Glazed bisqueware sits ready for the next kiln load.
Before Kaiser hits the button to fire the kiln, she approaches the sculpture in the corner. “Kiln-baby” is what they named him, a pink bisque-fired part of a bust that blew up in the kiln due to an air bubble. Kaiser kisses the form for good luck and presses the button hopefully.
Many like Kaiser discovered their love for ceramics at the Dean Road Ceramics Studio. The studio offers classes for children and adults. The studio is the fastest growing program offered by Auburn Parks and Recreation Department, busting at the seams with only eight wheels.
“It's the best kept secret in Auburn. The classes are very affordable. The instructors are pretty nice, and you know you can come in and work on your own,” Kaiser said.” You can be an independent person, so that's what drew me to it.”
Emillie Dombrowski, art Education specialist, sits typing an email, the purple bird tatoo on her right arm moving as if it will escape from its cage. Dombrowski manages all events, classes, teachers and supplies for Dean Road. The studio puts on several events each year including camps, demonstrations, Empty Bowls and a Day in Clay on June 18.
“It's a great day to just come and see what we can offer,” Dombrowski said talking about a Day in Clay, “A lot of times people don't even realize we have a really awesome ceramic studio here.”
Jana Jennings, one of the teachers at Dean Road, enjoys being a teacher at the studio, since the turn of 2022, and said Dombrowski is a great person to work for. In addition to Jennings, five other people teach at the studio.
About 15 years ago, the Dean Road Ceramics studio started as a sip and paint. Since then, the studio has grown from one room to three. Each quarter all the studio’s classes are filled within one hour.
The studio hopes to move to the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center and expand their studio. In the meantime, the Dean Road Ceramics studio will continue to offer ceramics courses and independent studios to the Auburn community and will soon have registration for classes online.
“A lot of people keep glaze recipes and firing schedules and techniques a secret, for themselves to benefit from, instead of sharing these accomplishments,” Jennings said. “At the Dean Road Studio, there's a lot of sharing of that information, so it's encouraging students.”
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