[music playing] We've helped people repair boats.

We've helped people make costumes with our 3D printers.

We've helped people launch product lines or begin a pottery business by giving them the space to really increase their production capabilities.

And all of that happens right here.

We literally put an ad in the newspaper that said, we're thinking about building a community workshop.

If you're interested, show up at this time and day.

And 40 people we'd never met before showed up to talk about it.

And so we spent time learning what tools would be useful to them, what else we should build out, what kinds of classes they are interested in.

We have a couple of different sort of specific workshop areas.

So, out in our front bay, we have a wood shop and metal shop.

We have our computer lab, as well as a variety of other equipment like jewelry, working glass, working textiles, 3D printing, and laser cutting as well.

And then finally, in our back classroom, we have a pottery studio.

So between all of those things, we can usually help people with just about any project that they could dream up.

We have clay.

We have seven wheels.

We have all the tools necessary for wheel thrown or hand-building ceramics.

In clay, I teach a three part introduction to the wheel.

Everyone has a centered piece of clay, as well as a bucket with water and a couple tools.

So watch how I do this.

I'm drilling down.

And you will feel that the clay on the inside is drier.

So it might even scrape your hands a little bit more.

So we'll just wet our hands when you're feeling that dryness.

All right.

I try to teach them patience.

There is a lot of artistic skill.

There's design elements.

There's lots and lots of techniques for finishing texturing pieces.

How to glaze.

It's a lot of fun to get them over that hump from being a little impatient to actually becoming a potter.

That's something.

Is that how you do it?

Yeah, that's excellent.

Should we take that one off.

Sure.

We also have such a range of age here at the rivet in all of our spaces.

I really enjoy that intergenerational aspect of working here.

Pottery just takes a lot of practice.

But we've built such a friendly community here that people like to come back and experience this and work on it and get better at it.

Right now, I'm making some mugs and some lemon juicers because lemonade season is upon us.

And now I'm glazing some of my bisque Ware to get it ready for its second firing.

I had no idea what I was doing when I got started with ceramics.

I needed something that would get me out of the house and bring me into community and let me be creative.

I just look forward to seeing what everybody's working on, catching up with my friends.

Watching their skills develop as well, it's really nice to have that opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other.

People who use the space, they come in, for one thing, and they see somebody else doing something else interesting.

And so it makes it really intriguing to learned something new.

And we've also seen people sharing skills.

And so they're maybe they make pottery, but they see somebody on the laser.

And so now they've learned how to incorporate both together to make art.

And they make such beautiful things.

It's really easy for us as adults to stop learning new things on a daily basis.

And I think at our core, that is what really drives us, is that we want to engage people and make people curious again.

We make better citizens in our communities when we are curious, when we are engaged.

And this is a way to both unite people in a space and to teach them new things, teach them tools that will improve their own lives, and hopefully, the lives of everyone around them.

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