Teresa Pennington stands Sunday with some of her work at her new business, Work in Progress Art Studio, at 52 Lisbon St. in Lisbon. She opened it last month with 10 pottery wheels, two electric kilns, shelves, lockers and personal workspaces, and tiered memberships. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
LISBON — Several years ago, Teresa Pennington decided to pursue her long-held dream to open her own art studio.
She began crafting a business plan and searching for the right place, eventually landing on a building at 52 Lisbon St.
Last month, the Lisbon native opened Work in Progress Art Studio, just in time to participate in the Maine Pottery Tour. The 2,400-square-foot space has 10 pottery wheels, two electric kilns, shelves, lockers and personal workspaces.
For now, Pennington is offering tiered memberships — some with 24-hour access — one-on-one work sessions and beginner to intermediate pottery classes. Memberships start at $50 per month, according to her website.
Over the past month, students have started trickling in, mostly by word of mouth, she said. Some nearby pottery studios with waiting lists have also been sending people her way.
“It’s kind of cool going back and trying to build up the arts where I first fell in love with the arts in my high school art class,” she said.
Pennington fell in love with art as a student at Lisbon High School and studied art education at the University of Southern Maine. There, she began learning to throw clay and soon started taking additional ceramics classes at Portland Pottery.
After graduating, Perrington ended up working in human resources. But she has continued making pottery in the 20 years since, taking classes at Portland Pottery and teaching some.
Teresa Pennington’s pottery is displayed Sunday afternoon at her new business, Work in Progress Art Studio, at 52 Lisbon Street in Lisbon. She opened it last month with 10 pottery wheels, two electric kilns, shelves, lockers and personal workspaces, and tiered memberships. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
She seriously began considering opening her own studio several years ago after she began feeling burned out at work.
“It occurred to me that I don’t really have anything to lose,” she said. “What’s the worst that could happen? If it fails, I go and I live with my mom,” she joked.
Eventually, she hopes to leave her full-time job and focus solely on running the studio. Later, Pennington envisions growing beyond just pottery, recruiting artists of different medias to teach classes.
“When I was in college, in the ceramic studio we had other students from other disciplines taking ceramics,” she said. “In my class there was a printmaker and a photographer and a painter, all different media. And it was really exciting … we would do critiques of our work, and it was really great to get those different perspectives in talking about clay.”
More information can be found on her website, www.workinprogressartstudio.com.
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