Today we’d like to introduce you to Dre Lewis.
Hi Dre, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am Dre, owner of Tumbleweed Clay. I work with some amazing staff, Nick Fletcher and Rylie Gately and many other local artists who instruct for us at our studio.
I am a ceramic artist who found ceramics at a time in my life when I really needed it, it provided for me a form of artistic therapy and expression which was life changing for me. I have remained an active artist, and wanted to open a ceramic studio to bring access to the world of ceramics to others, hoping for others to have similar benefits from exploring their inner artist, similar to what I found.
Ceramics as an art from can be very spiritually therapeutic and connect you not only with nature, the Earth (Clay) but also with yourself, by using your hands and creating space outside of your mind.
In a world of AI and desk sitting, I dont think there is any other time than now, to start taking what’s in your mind, and putting it into art or clay, or whatever or wherever it needs to go.
Within the art of ceramics I have found incredible flexibility in expression and endless opportunities to learn more, always increasing my skill and knowledge in the field of art.
My goal in opening this studio was to bring art to the West side of town, allowing more people in this area to take classes and access membership, mostly to help people who needed sort of an Art Church.
When I was a new mother, and didnt have a ceramic studio of my own, the times that I could access a studio were very few and far between. That is why I opened our studio on a co-operative basis with all member having 24 access to our studio to create their pieces on their own schedule
We offer single evening classes as well as 4 week classes for beginners and advanced artists.
We have also just recently opened our doors to collaboration with private schools and homeschool groups to bring curriculum to young adults who would like to improve their knowledge of this art form.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road for us, our first location that we opened we ran into some licensing issues and had to move to another location, as well as getting the word out on this side of town. Between some of these barriers and a bunch of walls life has thrown up at us, it has seemed almost impossible to stay open but we are determined to accomplish what we started out to do, which is to make a safe place for people to learn and grow as an artist in a world where we need nothing more.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our studio specializes in classes, bringing the art form to you so that you can then use the information, knowledge and skill to create your own pieces.
What we are most proud of is that we encourage learning from the heart, and we like to be very personalized and focused with each student. We feel that in the world of ceramics there are no dumb questions, and we want you to ask them all, and practice as much as you can.
We want you to feel lifted up through the form, and almost like you have grown spiritually by giving yourself some time to put out into the world those forms or ideas that are in your mind.
We also partner with local educators to bring our classes to students of homeschool groups as well as private schools.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success we believe would be having a successful group achieving growth as artists, reaching others as well as growing as individuals. We believe that if we can accomplish helping others achieve their artistic growth and goals, as well as a wonderful community space for growth and collaboration
Pricing:
- 235 basic 4 week class
- 265 monthly membership
- 75 Single class
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tumbleweedclay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tumbleweed.clay/?hl=en
Image Credits
Amanda Campbell
