04/24/2015
Potter’s Room Notice of Closure
To open, I would like to express my thanks to all my studio patrons. To the community of continued studio users — your support has been wonderful, and I’m so happy that I was able to get to know each of you while fostering this creative place. Over the last years I have experienced a spectrum of good and bad things here in Ithaca. I have matured and learned a vast amount about myself and about the business of ceramics as it relates to community. I feel honored to have had this opportunity and privileged to reinvigorate the community’s interest in ceramic arts and the overwhelming benefits that a public art space like The Potter’s Room can bring. I have had the fortune and ability to surround myself with such interesting and supportive people. I thank you greatly for this.
It comes with great regret and some pain to say that I will be closing down The Potter’s Room this May. This decision was not taken lightly, nor did I expect to have to close so soon. But due to compounded issues surrounding the physical infrastructure of the studio and the continued relentless economic hardship that The Commons project has brought, I’m unable to keep my doors open. I have tried hard to overcome and persevere while having many odds stacked against the business in this location. I have tried my best to keep improving the studio each and every month with the intentions of making its future successful. I believe that we have all contributed to the space’s development and it is truly an amazing model for a public ceramic studio. Again, I thank you so much for this. Remember that even when things seem dark, the future is bright. I’m not quit sure personally what my next move is, but new experiences await me. For The Potter’s Room community, your ceramic future is still bright with the opening of another community studio later this summer. So where do we go from here?
The Potter’s Room doors will be closing to the public on May 23, with final pickup of work through June 1st.
In order to wrap things up over the next month we will all have to be conscientious of where we are with our projects and how to best complete them. I’m going to create a working timeline and unfortunately going to have to enact stop-dates of work being made. The following dates are the set-in-stone schedule for our closing. Exceptions will not be made, as there is no time for working outside of these parameters:
The last day to make new work will be May 11th
The week of May 12-15 is for trimming, detailing and drying of work so that it can be fired over the weekend (May 16/17).
Finial week for glazing will be May 18-22. Ideally, all work will be finished glazed by May 23 to allow ample time for final firings.
Final pickup date for all work is May 30th.
We are also going to be putting new hour of operation into effect Starting 4/24/2015
The studio will be open 12-6pm Tuesday to Friday, Saturday 10-6pm, and we will be closed Sundays and Mondays.
Beginning May 16th, The Potter’s Room staff will begin breakdown of the upstairs and begin deep cleaning of the upstairs. Beginning May 23rd The Potter’s Room staff will commence basement organizing and cleaning.
We are shooting to have the studio emptied and cleaned completely by June 5th with a drop-dead date of June 10th.
Due to current economic and timeframe issues, I will not be ordering any more clay or raw materials before the studios closes.
Keeping this in mind, I ask that you work conservatively this last month (think quality over quantity), and that remember we are a community, and to be thoughtful of your neighbors and fellow studio users.
I thank you all for your support, interest and enthusiasm. We have all brought light to the need for art within a community. I hope that my idea of community development and sustainability through exposure to the arts, access to the arts and art education will continue to drive you as an artist and your communities creatively forward.
Thank you all,
Tomas Black
