Centered Earth's expansion brings art to community.
Pennsdale, Pa. — The recent opening of an adjacent space in the Penn Hills Plaza was a blessing for the art studio Centered Earth.
Owner Melissa Jenkins said when a restaurant moved out of the space in November, she jumped on the opportunity to expand her location. "We were running out of space and weren't sure what we were going to do with the business," Jenkins said. "We like it here and we really didn't want to move."
The addition serves as a workspace for the popular PYOP: Paint Your Own Pottery. Customers can choose from the many unpainted ceramic pieces on the shelves, including seasonal Christmas trees, animals, and trays and paint them at the shop. The staff will fire them in the kiln, and several days later the pieces are ready for the customer to pick up.
"It's one of our most popular things here and we do a lot during Christmastime," Jenkins said.
Classes offered at the studio include stained glass, fused glass, clay, jewelry making, basket weaving, watercolor painting, and acrylic painting. Over a dozen artists come in to teach the evening and weekend classes.
Jenkins said since the studio re-opened, after shutting down for part of 2020 due to the pandemic, classes have been filling up. Working out of the small, existing teaching room was becoming difficult to meet demand.
"We were using every inch of square footage," Jenkins said.
Jenkins now plans to host more events. One recent event was a field trip day for a local charter school. At least 60 kids and their parents spent the day working on a clay project. Jenkins is hoping to host more youth programs in the future. "We're looking at building more relationships with the local nonprofits, schools, and youth programs," Jenkins said.
Centered Earth already had been hosting art clubs for homeschooled kids, as well as after school art classes for kids ages eight and up.
"They do clay, printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, and we also touch on art history," Jenkins said. "It gives them a chance to work with a professional artist, as they may not have had as much exposure to art." Jenkins added they also have done PYOP with local daycares and summer camps and have hosted kids summer art camps at the studio.
The new space also will be used to expand regular class offerings. Jenkins is looking into expanding to add more fiber arts classes and batik.
Jenkins sees the studio as a place that is making art more accessible to the general community. "A lot of clients loved art when they were younger and they didn't choose it as a career," she said.
Centered Earth, which originated in Montoursville by local clay artist Kathy Görg, initially opened eight years ago. The studio has been located in the Penn Hills Plaza in Pennsdale for the past six years. When Görg moved into the plaza, she originally had two adjacent spaces, Jenkins explained.
The studio shut down for a period of time in 2020 due to the pandemic. When Görg reopened in fall 2020, she decided to downsize and keep only one space. By 2021, demand for classes had increased but Görg had been trying to keep up with the studio work in addition to her teaching job.
In the spring of 2021 Jenkins and her husband James purchased the studio. Jenkins, a jewelry artist who also owns Narrow House Metals, had taught jewelry classes for Görg for seven years. "We didn't want to see it close. We wanted to keep it for the community," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said they wanted to stay true to Görg's original concept of having clay arts at the studio. "We always want to keep the clay as a foundation because it's accessible to most people and it's popular," Jenkins said. The studio has pottery wheels and offers classes on using the wheel to create as well as making textured mugs and trays.
Jenkins is just getting started in planning events and classes to add now that the studio has more space. She would like to offer more inclusive classes, including sensory friendly art classes. "I want people to be able to come here and be themselves," Jenkins said. The handicapped restroom in the new room also makes the studio space more inclusive.
Jenkins said she's proud to offer art to people in the community and to see them happy doing it. "People tell us that this is their mental health break," she said.
Class schedules are posted on the Centered Earth website. The studio is located at 21 Kristi Road in Muncy.
