Getting our Swayze on

Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, made pottery look hot.

It's definitely one of the most talked about movie scenes in our store. For the first two years Earth Arts was open, so many people would walk into our store, look at our pottery wheels and say,

"I took that class in college."

It seemed 1 out of 4 people took a wheel or clay class in college. Then they'd get some of our clay, sit and position themselves at the wheel, and ... then they state "I don't remember it being this hard."

Like any discipline, whether it's running, art, writing, composing... it takes practice, patience and discipline. Some suggested "date night" pottery classes, others would make more of a mess of clay on the walls than actual clay pots. We had a few wheel lessons, tried to incoporated it into our adult and kids clay series, and a few came back to practice a bit on their own. But not enough people came back. In any business, you have to figure out what works, and what your customers want. The fantasy of Swayze and Moore, was fun to talk about, but the reality was the wheel classes weren't happening at Earth Arts. So, Tim stated the obvious, "those wheels aren't paying their rent in this store", and they definitely took up a lot of room. In 24 hours we sold them faster on craigslist, then we ever could imagined, and gained a lot more real estate in our store.

Since then we have embarked on many different art classes and camps, and 7 years later we are still here creating with you.

I kept one wheel for myself, plopped it down in my new and improved "Sandy" garage. So if you hear unchained melody blasting, don't come in. I'm just trying to conjure up a little Swayze.

For other creative, and less messy arts, visit our website at

Creatively yours...

Michelle and Tim Kelly