Whether you're a total beginner or practiced hand, The Potthouse Collective is the place to go in Cheltenham to bring your most creative pottery ideas to life.
Launched in 2023, the not-for-profit pottery studio and artist space, located off Leckhampton Road near Park Campus, offers everything you need to hone your skills, in hand-building and on the wheel, whatever your ability.
The successor to former Woodmancote studio, The Potthouse, and local artists' collective, Nau Arts, its team of professional potters brings a wealth of experience in a range of ceramic disciplines, led by co-owners Tanya McDonald and Zoe Cheale.
One-off classes invite beginners to get a taste for pottery, while masterclasses from visiting potters – from renowned industry names, to The Great Pottery Throwdown finalists – and multi-week courses invite all abilities to reach the next level.
More experienced potters and semi-professionals can use the studio independently to craft their ceramics, and it also offers pottery parties, for anyone looking to learn a new skill with their loved ones for a special occasion.
Courses and classes
The Potthouse Collective offers a range of classes for all abilities, from one-off tasters, to multi-week courses, each guided by its professional potters.
Its 'Classic' beginner tasters include a Beginner Throwing Class, which starts with a throwing demonstration followed by around two hours of guided practice, with time at the end to clean up and choose a glaze for your favourite piece.
While in its Beginners 'Make a Mug' Class, participants make their own handmade mug using slabs of clay, templates and formers, with time to decorate their piece with cutters, stamps and underglaze colours.
The studio also puts on seasonal one-off classes throughout the year, which for the autumn have included making a daylight clock, a winter tea light holder and bird sculpture – with details available on its website for what's coming up.
It also welcomes visiting professional potters throughout the year to deliver Masterclasses across three levels – beginner, level-up and intermediate – in a range of disciplines.
And for more in-depth learning, potters can book onto multi-week courses to develop their skills.
Its Beginners Handbuilding Course covers foundational skills including creating with coils, slabs and moulds, as well as decorative techniques like using coloured slips, underglaze, stoneware glazes, paper resist, sgraffito and more.
In its Beginners Throwing Course, potters receive in-depth tutoring of all of the foundational skills of throwing, including wedging, centering, coning, pulling and turning clay, before glazing four of their favourite pieces to then be fired.
And on the Level Up course, potters learn to throw larger and more complex forms, as well as new decorative and glazing techniques.
While there's also a Throwing Foundation: Weekend intensive course, which packs all of the in-depth learning of a multi-week course into a single weekend.
Independent pottery and membership
The Potthouse Collective welcomes hobbyists and semi-professional potters to use its workspace for hand-building and throwing, for half or whole days, and offers a discount to those who commit to regular potting.
Sessions can booked individually or in batches, while those who use the studio regularly can also opt for membership.
For a monthly fee, members get three hours a week of flexible independent pottery session time, free firing up to 1kg, and early access booking for all classes and courses.
Pottery parties
The studio also welcomes people to celebrate special occasions by learning new skills with their loved ones, at its popular pottery parties.
Children and adults can hone their hand-building and throwing skills through making a range of pieces, guided by the professionals.
For adults, there's a Hand Building Party where participants can make their own one-of-a-kind mug; a Throwing Party where guests can try their hand at throwing on the wheel, before choosing their favourite piece to fire in a glaze of their choice; or an option for combined hand-building and throwing.
For children, there are options to make items from trinket dishes and pinch pot monsters, to textured pen pots and hot air balloons, while for older children, there are throwing and hand-building options, too.
For more information about everything that's on offer from The Potthouse Collective, visit thepotthouse.co.uk.
