Mom, daughter open pottery shop to help others through therapeutic arts

LYNDHURST, OHIO — It was 2019 when Renee Borowski found out her mom had terminal cancer. She quit her corporate job and find a place to help clear her mind and feel at peace.

“On the wheel here, I cannot think about anything that's happened to me in the day,” she said. “So, if I'm worrying about something or thinking about worrying about the future or even the past, I can't concentrate on what's going on in front of me. So, what happens with the wheel throwing especially, is that you have to focus on what is going on in the present moment.” 

After she took a class, she fell in love with pottery.

“Throw the clay onto the wheel and then that's your center of the clay,” she said. “Then the only thing we can control is the water, the speed of the wheel and the pressure.” 

She and her daughter Alexis are now running the newly opened pottery store called "The Drawing Board Arts" in Lyndhurst. 

Borowksi said the store offers people the opportunity to create a variety of art from canvas painting to wheel-throwing, and of course, therapeutic art. 

“It always makes me emotional because I couldn't have done this without God, in my opinion,” she said. “So, like, everything happened so fast and all the doors—all the right doors were opening. So, I felt like he's bringing people to me. He had me open this for a reason. So, I hope that this place heals everyone.” 

While inflation continues to be a cause of concern today, she hopes the shop will help keep people uplifted for years to come. 

Borowski said while all ages are open to the shop, she’s hoping to garner the interest of teenagers and the elderly to check out the studio.