Dana Balch was curious about pottery when she discovered POT Gardens, where she got a taste of creating ceramics and also discovered community within the space.
“I actually started just taking classes, being curious about pottery and then I took another class and another class and now I am a part-time ceramicist because of this space,” said Balch, who has been a member of the South LA-based garden community for at least four years.
She explains that at one point during those four years, she had lost her job but the studio and community supported her so she could continue to practice ceramics.
That’s the purpose of the studio on Jefferson Boulevard that became an anchor in Balch’s life: Creating space within the pottery community for folks who may not have access to the practice.
POT Gardens, founded in 2017 by Mandy Kolah, celebrated its ninth anniversary Saturday. The celebration also served as the studio’s open house and featured children creating their own clay masterpieces, teens and adults trying the throw wheel for the first time and newcomers touring the studio.
“ We just really wanna take our birthday as a chance to thank the community and to answer the question of: ’What are you guys doing in there?’” said Camila Navarrette, POT Gardens spokesperson.
POT gets the name Gardens in commemoration of Tak’s Hardware and Garden Supply, a long-standing, Japanese-American-owned historic business.
The studio offers classes in Spanish, English and American Sign Language (ASL) — to name a few. The intention is to make this a welcoming space for folks from all walks of life to come together.
POT Gardens studio also offers a kids summer camp that’s still enrolling as well as tickets for an upcoming queer singles mixer in September and December.
