All work and no clay makes for a dull city — but in Richmond, the world of ceramics has been quietly flourishing.

Over the past decade, the city has seen the debut of new studios such as Shockoe Bottom Clay and Hand/Thrown Ceramics Studio [and more recently, the clay ground studio in the East End] while longstanding hubs such as Rosewood Pottery Studio, 43rd Street Studios and the Visual Arts Center continue to provide Richmonders a chance to take a spin at the pottery wheel. Now there’s another new studio in town: Still Life Ceramics Studio, a communal ceramics space that’s found its home in Scott’s Addition.

First launched in Los Angeles in 2018 by founders Ana Henton and Mel Keedle, Still Life has since become a collective of artist-run studios; their last location opened in Detroit in 2023, and their newest in Richmond held a soft opening at the beginning of this month.

But Richmond had been on Still Life’s radar for some time thanks to its history as a hub for street art, DIY scenes and other countercultural movements, as well as the presence of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Virginia Commonwealth University’s art and design program, which has long ranked among the best in the country.

Richmond has fostered a thriving creative community for decades.

Pottery in Virginia

Historically, the art of pottery holds a notable place in Virginia’s past. Archaeologists have uncovered Native American pieces in the region dating back more than 3,200 years. Fast-forward several centuries and the craft is having a contemporary resurgence — last year, Richmond hosted the annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference, the world’s largest ceramic arts event.

With a growing community, Still Life saw that the Richmond area had space for another studio and identified Scott’s Addition as a neighborhood yet to have its own ceramics spot.

Each Still Life studio is locally owned and operated, and at the helm of the Richmond location is studio manager Jess Gary. Before moving to Richmond in 2021, Gary had been living in New York, working a traditional marketing job. Looking for a new, more tactile creative outlet, she tried a pottery class and what started as a hobby quickly began to take on greater meaning in her life.

“For me, it’s practicing mindfulness,” she says. “Whenever I’m feeling stressed, my first instinct is to go throw some clay.” She adds that her practice has equally been about “creativity and my overall wellness.”

A community space for creatives

The rising popularity of Richmond’s ceramics studios isn’t just theoretical. Today, many of them are booked out for months — not just for classes, but for memberships that allow experienced potters without a home studio to use the space regularly. Gary says some new members told her they’ve been on waitlists for years.

With a building spanning more than 7,000 square feet, Still Life’s new location in Scott’s Addition offers ample room for those in search of a home base for their ceramics practice. But just as many guests are drawn to the community aspect as to the craft, Gary explains.

“As much as people talk about pottery, they’re also saying they want a new way to make friends,” she says. “During the pandemic when everyone went on lockdown, I think a lot of people, especially younger people who came of age during that time, felt that lack of community. So I’m hoping this can be a kind of third space outside of peoples’ homes and jobs where they can come together.”

With Richmond’s Still Life fully in operation, Gary is looking forward to seeing the collaborative energy that she’s seen take root in other studios come alive here — members teaching each other, exchanging tips and tricks of the trade and offering encouragement.

And for any first-time throwers, she has this advice: stay open-minded about what the practice can mean to you and embrace the analog.

“We’re living in the digital age and I think because of that we tend to have a lot of perfectionist tendencies,” she says. “Something I love about pottery — and I think students do as well — is that you have to practice the art of balancing creativity with disappointment, and not being too attached to any certain outcome.”

Still Life Ceramics is located at 1600 Altamont Ave. and is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week for classes. Members can access the space any time.