Pottery@Brown, a student-led club at Brown University, is providing daily studio sessions for Brown and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) students to learn pottery, create their own pieces, and experience the meditative aspects of working with clay, according to a March 19 announcement.
The club has become an important outlet for creative expression on campus. Students say it offers a break from academic pressures and a chance to build community while learning new skills. The sessions are held in the Brown Design Workshop studio and are open to all interested students in a non-academic setting.
Jolin Zheng, a RISD sophomore and media officer for the club, said, “People might find ceramics intimidating, because it’s hands-on and can get pretty messy. But you can’t really make mistakes with this medium, because it’s very forgiving. You can always take the material, recycle it and start over — it’s almost like a healing process.”
Since its founding as the Brown Ceramics Club in Fall 2022 with modest membership numbers, interest has grown rapidly. After rebranding as Pottery@Brown in Fall 2024 under President Julia Gu’s leadership, the club now has about 1,850 students on its mailing list. To manage demand for limited studio space and resources, Pottery@Brown uses a cohort system with two cohorts per semester. Each week features about twelve two-hour sessions per cohort led by student aides; roughly 400 students participate each year.
Participation is free for students thanks to funding from the Brown Arts Institute during its first year and ongoing support from the Undergraduate Finance Board. This allows members access to materials such as clay and firing services without cost—an important factor since private pottery classes can be expensive.
Tina Li, a senior studying applied mathematics and economics who joined one of the cohorts, said: “I always see TikTok videos of cute pottery projects… but it’s a little inaccessible because you need all the materials and stuff. I don’t necessarily get to be very artistic with my concentrations, so this is a really fun way to sort of explore that side of me.”
Students describe Pottery@Brown as both meditative and communal. Sasha Watson, a first-year student who serves as a studio aide, said: “At a rigorous school where academics can be somewhat all-consuming… being in the studio and building in at least two hours a week to work with your hands… seemed really rewarding to me.”
Gu reflected on her experience leading the club: “Growing up ‘scalability’ was a concept that was always thrown at me… Now I’ve been able to apply that to leading Pottery@Brown… I’m turning it into something that’s meaningful for me.”
As Pottery@Brown continues to grow in popularity on campus, leaders hope it will remain an accessible space where students can slow down together—shaping not only clay but also lasting connections.
