Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Ritchey.
Hi Susan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After I retired from corporate accounting, I found myself looking to do something more fulfilling. I tripped upon pottery, took it on as a hobby, and quickly discovered how important it was to the people around me. It was a form of therapy they used to escape and deal with the hardships of life, and provided a place to build meaningful friendship. I also realized how little opportunity there was to share this great medium with the world. So, I decided to combine my business savy and passion for the art into a place where people could come, create, and build community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like anything worth doing, it has not been easy. But I have been lucky that most of the hardships have only been administrative and logistic. Because it’s time-consuming nature, I haven’t been able to enjoy pottery as much as I was before and I miss it. But the hardest part for me has been the time away from my family.
We’ve been impressed with CIY Pottery, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
CIY Pottery is a full-service pottery studio, offering both memberships for patrons to use the facilities at their leisure, as well as classes for people to explore and progress their craft. We also offer a variety of workshops that introduce current members, students, and the general public to new styles and techniques with enthusiastic teachers and artists from around the world. What sets us apart is the wonderful people at our studio. They are here for the same reason, to provide a wonderful place where all are welcome to create and enjoy time with other creative people. In addition, the quality of our teachings—our instructors and featured artist bring a level of talent to the studio that is hard to match. I don’t know how we are able to bring such creative talent to our small studio in Ashburn but somehow they have come and shared their skills. It’s amazing!
How do you think about luck?
I don’t know that I would consider myself lucky or unlucky. I think both the good and bad moments were meant to be. We have built a wonderful community of people, many who had been looking for an outlet like CIY, and it was the right moment in my life to build that for them. It wasn’t luck, it was fate. We’re blessed with many good things in life, and challenged with the bad, and we’re meant to learn from them and continue on.
Pricing:
- Can all be found on our website!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ciypottery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciypottery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ciypotterystudio/
