Today we’d like to introduce you to Briggette Slivinski.
Hi Briggette, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have been working as a ceramic artist for over 17 years. I originally started out teaching at the community college, I can’t say I ever envision owning my own studio. I always had a passion for teaching others so it was no surprise that I found myself teaching. My business really started in response to the pandemic in 2020.
When the community college doors closed, students lost access to a studio space. With support and encouragement from my students, I opened the doors to my personal studio and began teaching small classes out of my home studio. These classes began small, 2 to 3 students, and they quickly grew. As our studio grew, I put everything back into it, buying additional equipment, hiring more instructors, and adding additional space in order to expand class size to accommodate waitlisted students; as the saying goes we built a longer table to meet the growing need.
I am passionate about bringing people together and this shapes our culture at Recovering Clay. I strive to provide affordable, accessible classes and stay centered around community, creativity, and collaboration. Students come to learn pottery, but I have seen that many students stay because they find connection during times of transition and change in their lives. Today, Recovering Clay serves children to retirees, we partner with local organizations, we say “yes” to as many opportunities as possible that strengthen our connection with each other and our community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our studio growth has happened steadily and organically through word-of-mouth with minimal marketing outside of our small social media pages. SPACE has been our greatest limiting factor. In 2022, we built an addition onto the original studio which doubled our space from 500 to 1000 ft.² At that time, we felt like this was a huge increase, yet within a year we had already outgrown our current location. Building again was not an option. To overcome our constraints, we have invested in more equipment such as additional wheels and kilns, additional class session times, and operate as efficiently as possible. This requires thoughtful scheduling and creative use of storage, dual purpose areas, and a great amount of flexibility from our team members and students. We will continue to approach our growth through planning and reinvestment to stay in alignment with our mission.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Recovering Clay’s core mission is community, collaboration, and creativity. We offer three ways to be involved in our mission: classes, open studio membership, and kiln firing. The core of our business is teaching pottery to persons of all skill levels, with classes that range from beginner-friendly, one-time hand-building or wheel-throwing experiences, one-week kid’s summer camp, to six-week instructional classes providing guided teaching and building skill development rather than product outcome. We teach intermediate classes, focused on building skills, and advanced classes for those looking for professional mentorship and specific skill development. We expand our teaching and learning opportunities by bringing in artists to host workshops. We have developed alternative firing workshops through pit firing, barrel firing, and the building of our own gas kiln in 2025. We provide open studio access for all students, as well as offering an open studio membership for experienced local potters in need of a workspace. Our open studio members have access to a full complement of clay types, wheel and hand-building tools, work-flow storage, in-house glazes, and kiln firing services. While the first two directly support members of our studio, our third service, kiln-firing through kiln-share, supports local potters without access to their own kiln.
We deliberately choose an active role in our local community by hosting several on-site free events: our annual studio show, and monthly ‘clay & coffee conversations’, bringing together area potters to talk about specific topics each month. We partner with local churches, small businesses, food pantries, as well as the local arts organization, Alamance Arts, to serve our community. We want pottery to be approachable, affordable, and accessible. We have grown through word of mouth and the use of social media, as our studio is not located in a highly visible area.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We have grown intentionally and with restraint keeping our long-term goals in mind. Much of what we have accomplished has been through the volunteerism of those in our studio community and reinvestment of studio resources and funds back into the growth of the studio. Every phase of our studio development has been in response to listening to the members of our community, their needs, and a commitment to providing unique opportunities to enhance the ceramic education environment. So far we have grown without taking on debt by reinvesting revenue back into the studio, and drawing on personal savings to obtain safety equipment, studio equipment, and provide affordability even as demand for studio services has increased. This has allowed us to build deep relationships, have a 70 to 80% retention rate of students, and has created a stable environment, allowing us to take this next step into a larger facility.
Recovering Clay is not intended to be a transactional business, but rather a relationship business where people show up regularly, build friendships, and develop skills over time. As we move into a larger downtown space, retaining the same feeling of intimacy and connection is at the core of all of our team discussions. We want to grow in a way that strengthens our community, supports artists and makers, and keeps the personal touch that defines our studio. The support of the American Express Shop small business grant would help ensure the next phase of growth aligns with those values.
Pricing:
- $225 for 6 session classes
- $65 for single sessions
- $75 per month-Base Open Studio
- $750 annually-Base Open Studio
Contact Info:
- Website: https://recoveringclay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recovering_clay/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Recoveringclay
