Putting The Wheel In Motion

Two nights a week the wheels are turning inside a small workshop north of town, where clumps of clay are molded into virtually anything an aspiring potter can imagine.

MudHut is a labor of love for Holly Johnson, captivated by pottery since choosing it as an elective during her days as a business major at Memphis State University. "I started doing it in college and never gave up," said Johnson, who by day is an accountant for a Tampa commercial roofing contractor.

Eager to share her passion with others, Johnson and her husband had a 900-square-foot pottery studio built next to their home at 3009 Bruton Road and furnished the air-conditioned structure with four potter's wheels and a kiln, all electric.

Fliers posted in coffee shops and corner stores around town attracted students for the first "Beginning Wheel" class in May.

"She used to do this in a room in the house," husband David said as he stood in the studio during one recent Tuesday night class. "You have to clean up all the time" when the studio is inside the house, consuming a lot of creative time. "So we decided to build this," he said. "She gets exponentially better."

David Johnson has dabbled in pottery. "I'm not very good at it," he said, but that seems to be the mantra of every beginner.

"It's fun, but I'm just mediocre," Plant City resident Donna Childs said in the midst of her third three-hour class geared for beginners. She half-jokingly says her repeated attempts to create various vessels produce a singular result: "Everything is a paperclip holder in my world."

Pointing at fellow student Judy Neumann deftly "throwing a pot" on the variable-speed wheel halfway through her second class, Childs observes, "She's gifted."

Neumann, recruited for the class by Childs, her coworker at the Hillsborough County schools district office in Plant City, said, "I didn't realize how much fun it would be." She has already made a plate, a bowl and a small pitcher. "It's nice to be creative," she beamed.

Tara Horne of Plant City, half of a mother-daughter team taking the class, has prior ceramics experience, but only "hand building" - molding clay without the use of a potter's wheel.

"It's definitely more of a challenge," one that begins with perfectly centering the clay on the wheel, said Horne, a third-grade teacher at Trapnell Elementary School. "That's the whole key," she quickly learned.

Horne has made several bowls, including one dual-colored creation crafted from two clays. "I'll probably keep some, give some away," she said of her ceramics, each signed "Tara" on the bottom.

"It's definitely a different thing," agrees Horne's mother, Debi Delfino of Plant City, who has two years of hand building experience, mostly sculptures. "My husband bought me a wheel and suggested I should maybe take a class because it was still sitting in my garage," unused, she said.

"I didn't think the wheel was as creative, but I think I was wrong," said Delfino, who has taken seven sessions of Johnson's classes.

In addition to the four potter's wheels and kiln, MudHut has work stations for glazing, plus a large assortment of 50-pound boxes of clay. The $175 fee covers instruction, clay, glazing and firing in the 1,800-degree kiln.

"We really focus on the basic elements," during the five three-hour classes, Johnson said. "That's enough time for someone to come in, get proficient with the wheel and complete a few pieces," said Johnson, whose own pottery - from Japanese rice bowls to wine chillers and beer mugs - is displayed and sold at her workshop west of Paul Buchman Highway.

Everyone has the potential to become a talented potter, Johnson said. "We all have the basic skill set" for creating pottery. "And you just go from there."

So far, Johnson's students have been women. "Actually, a lot of men are involved in pottery," she said. "They have an advantage because their hands are bigger," making it easier to shape the rotating mass.

Meanwhile, still at the wheel, star student Neumann detects a problem with her latest artistic creation. "Ya know, I think this is going to be a bowl. I don't see a platter," she says to no one in particular.

Replies Childs, Neumann's No. 1 cheerleader, "That piece of clay wanted to be a bowl."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Beginning Wheel pottery classes

WHEN: Weekly, 6 to 9 p.m., Tuesdays, July 29 through Aug. 26 or Thursdays, July 24 through Aug. 21

WHERE: MudHut, 3009 Bruton Road, west of Paul Buchman Highway (also known as State Road 39), Plant City

COST: $175, includes all materials

WEB SITE: www.MudHut.net

INFORMATION: To reserve space, call Holly Johnson, (813) 505-8938 or (813) 754-0845 or e-mail Holly@MudHut.net