Photo by Earl Wilcox for Unsplash
A crop of cool dads spent some time this Father’s Day weekend at a house in Oak Cliff getting their hands satisfyingly muddy while turning lumps of clay into mugs and various crockery.
The Father’s Day pottery classes were not quite as well-attended as the Mother’s Day sessions last month, but a good couple days nonetheless, says Oak Cliff Pottery owner James Olney.
The “slow, mindful craft of pottery is booming” in popularity, we hear. Lucky for ceramic-curious citizens of Oak Cliff, we have a master potter in our midst, and Olney is eager to teach more people about the art to which he has dedicated his life and home.
“Clay has a magical ability to open the mind in ways that people never thought possible,” he says.
Olney started Oak Cliff Pottery in his home on S. Franklin in 2016. He loves Oak Cliff, which he says has the artist-friendly vibe of a college town like Austin. In January he bought the house next door in order to expand his studio and business.
“It is a common thing in Oak Cliff for old houses to become small businesses,” Olney says. And he needed to find a way to make a living without having to work a job that is not art related. “Artists can get pretty creative figuring out how to do that,” he says.
The added space has allowed him to hold not only individual or small-class sessions but also summer camps, pottery-making parties and other events.
After great success with his Valentines and Mother’s Day couples classes, he decided to up the number of lessons offered at OCP, he says.
At this past weekend’s three-hour, $260 (per pair) lessons, each student sat at their own pottery wheel as James guided them through the step-by-step bowl-making process. Each participant left with one bowl that they made on the wheel themselves and another prefabricated bowl that they decorated.
That’s roughly the itinerary of most adult classes. One of Olney’s more in-demand tickets is his Full Moon class, a recently resumed concept held each full moon from 7-9 p.m.
He says he started teaching Full Moon classes at The Craft Guild in Carrollton, the first place he worked after moving to Dallas in 2010.
“They were always the most popular classes. So every full moon we have a different hand-building project. Each time we make something different — a rattle, a whistle, a bowl, a plate, a planter or something along those lines.”
Beginners are welcome at Full Moon classes — “The intent is to unlock each person’s creative mind and not be afraid to get wildly creative with no judgment,” James says. Full Moons are coming up July 3, Aug 1, Aug 30 and Sept 29.
Camps for 8-15 year olds are offered throughout the rest of the summer. These lessons are about throwing clay and learning how the potter’s wheel works.
“They are very serious classes where kids don’t just mush their hands around in clay but actually learn a skill from a master potter who helps them understand what it is like to be a potter. Because it meets every day of a week, kids get to take responsibility for seeing their pots through to the end.”
Summer campers meet Monday-Friday and go from 10-1 p.m. or 2-5 p.m. Those run $375 for the week.
James also teaches advanced classes to students who “want to go deeper into their skill levels and discover their own style.” Visit oakcliffpottery.com for a full list of classes and camps.
Oakcliffpottery.com
James has been doing clay work since 2002, when he began an apprenticeship with the master wood fire potter Mark Hewitt.
“This type of education is less popular in today’s modern world but it serves as the best method for any young mind eager to learn a skill directly from the master,” he says of his education in pottery. Today at OCP he has a couple interns of his own who help with classes and camps while honing their craft.
In 2006 James traveled to East Africa, Tanzania where volunteered for the US Peace Corp. He says he spent time working with local farmers and beekeepers learning traditional village farming techniques as well as learning from potters in a nearby village.
He’s studied under a number of masters and has traveled around the States and through southeast Asia, visiting potteries in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
He’s been making restaurant-grade dishes since the early days of OCP for purchase by high-end chefs and kitchens. He also sells his creations at local farmers markets, including Good Local Markets in Lakewood and East Dallas, and other bazaars here and far.
