Let’s travel back to 1990. Yes, the 90s! Seriously, who doesn’t love the 90s? Let’s face it that decade was pretty amazing on some many levels from music, to movies, to pop culture and let’s not forget 90s fashion. Speaking of 90s films who remembers the movie Ghost? It starred Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and pre Scandal hype Tony Goldwyn. It was the highest grossing film of 1990, and the film earned Whoopi Goldberg an Academy Award and Golden Globe. It also boasted one of the most iconic scenes in pop culture history. Yes, the pottery wheel scene with Sam and Molly. This scene has been parodied and inspired countless date nights.

This leads me to this week’s edition of Weeknight Date Night. It was selected by me! I got inspiration from Sam and Molly’s iconic scene and decided to find a local clay pottery class for us to take. Through some research I found Woodland Gallery and discovered they have a “one time try it class” for $25. The gallery is run and operated by a husband and wife duo named Michael and Wendy Gustafson. In addition to pottery classes they offer a photography workshop and sell a ton of beautiful art pieces, pottery pieces and other amazing little treasures.

I let Anthony know that we’d get messy during this date so we needed to dress comfortably and wear clothes that could get dirty. We had about a 45 minute drive to the gallery, and I of course played 90s music. I’m sure the 45 minute drive seemed like 2 hours to Anthony because of my car concert, but in the end we made it to our destination. We arrived and Wendy told us we could look around the gallery until the class started. We saw several amazing pictures that were for sale as well as hand-made pottery that could be purchased.

Wendy informed us that it was time for the class to begin and she took us to the pottery studio. She told a quick story about how she started doing pottery, and also let us in on some of their clients. She explained what each of the items in front of us would be used for during the class. We each tested out our wheels and became accustomed to changing speeds. Wendy did a quick demonstration on how to make a bowl and then told us it was our turn.

She placed clay on each of our wheels, and it was our job to turn the clay into our own creation. It was very important to keep the clay moist with water. Dry clay doesn’t work well for making things. The mixture of the clay and water was squishy, but it felt good between my fingers. It was interesting to see how everyone’s clay was taking on different forms and shapes. We all had the same amount of clay and the same materials, but our creatures all looked differently. I guess that’s the greatness with any form of art. People can have the same tools, but the way they express themselves usually turns out to be different. After we finished forming our creations we each gave them a little extra TLC by adding small decorations.

Wendy let us know that our creations would have to be put in the kiln therefore they wouldn’t be ready for us to pick up for 7-10 days. The class all worked together to clean up the studio. We had a class of 7 participants, and we had plenty of laughs.

Each date usually leaves me with a small nugget. This date’s nugget was that it’s possible to turn anything into a work of art. Anthony and I sat side by side and enjoyed each other’s company while encouraging one another. We shared laughs, made jokes and had an all-around great time!

Why Should You Take A Pottery Class At Woodland Gallery?

1. The staff is friendly and helpful
2. You get to create something beautiful out of a lump of clay
3. The one time try it class is only $25 per person