ClayWood Studio in Muncie

In 2022 my wife, Anna, Rick Peterson (architect) and myself (Tammeron Francis) started planning for a small studio that now rests in our backyard. The building has a shed roof with transom windows oriented to the south, a large three foot door to the north and “box bay” windows on the north and west. The studio was built using 8” thick panels of insulating foam blocks wrapped in steel skin. Particularly useful features include a large 8’ x 8’ door swings up to enlarge the space, for production and instruction during the warm season and a below grade thermal mass system that cools the air in hot summer weather. The studio’s economical 200 square feet functions with two electric wheels, a Bluebird pug-mill, a slab roller, an extruder, two sets of working tables as well as drying and storage space.

The basic elements of the studio were designed, built and assembled by architect Rick Peterson R.A. Minnesota and myself, between May 22 – Nov 22 through a process Peterson calls ‘Studio Architecture.’ Peterson’s process is one where design and making are connected in a way that allows innovation and thinking with the materials and parts themselves not unlike the process of the maker of pottery.

This studio prototype was built in Afton Minnesota by Rick Peterson and then disassembled for shipment and rebuilt in Muncie, Indiana. The disassembled studio was delivered by Rick Peterson and myself using a rented 26 foot U-haul truck. The truck arrived in Muncie on Nov 5 2022 and assembled between the 6th and 8th of November. The assembly in Muncie was a collaborative process. Participants included some of our past workshop participants, local friends, Madjax associates and the architect.

I added flooring (concrete pavers) in December. The same month we brought in furniture, including our pug-mill and wheels and started to use the studio. The studio was further developed with shelves etc. in the early spring of 2023. Because of the death of two family members in March and April of 23 we had to delay final work on the studio. The studio was fully functional in Spring 2023.

Now, in the studio, we throw clay on the wheel and build work by hand. This is also the place where I mix my glazes and decorate the pottery. Our kilns, one test kiln and a production kiln are in the basement of our house.

We had an open house on the 8th of June of 2024. Attending were local residents, friends and past workshop attendees. On that day we had traditional Balkan foods and blessed the threshold with a Bulgarian ceremony involving the throwing of water from a pitcher wrapped in geranium plants. Studio construction was supported, in part, with an On-Ramp Indiana Arts Commission grant, 2022.