The art scene is growing in downtown Woodland with the opening of a new art studio, Earthbound Ceramics.

Earthbound Ceramics— located at 427 College Street— is a new creative sanctuary and community art space for people of all ages to take classes and learn all about ceramics. Owners Sandra Rudorff and Frode Joensen have been in business for only two weeks and are already loving everything about their new business.

“I would love this to be a creative community spot where people come here and congregate to work on art and share ideas, exhibit work, and have workshops,” Rudorff says.

Originally from the South Bay near San Jose, Rudorff attended UC Davis in 1997 for undergraduate and graduate school to earn her degrees. For the past eight years, she worked teaching middle school English and later decided to take a break to focus fully on her art and more specifically, to do ceramics.

Rudorff was doing ceramics on-and-off as a passion for the past 10 years before deciding to commit to it fully with her business.She would make ceramic pieces at home and always liked making pieces by hand whether it was drawing, painting on canvases, jewelry or making sculptures. When Rudorff and her husband lived in Sacramento, she was also a member of Panama Pottery and would take classes with different artists there.

“I think it just has always been in my mind, like to want to continue being in that kind of environment and atmosphere collaborating with others and taking more classes,” she explains.

Her husband Joensen encouraged Rudorff to open an art studio as it gave them more of an opportunity to walk to work and add something new to the downtown scene in Woodland.

“He’s like, ‘Why don’t we open up something in Woodland?’ There’s no studio here, and you know, then you could walk to work to the studio, and so it was his idea, and we just went for it,” she says. “We’re really excited.”

Joensen, originally from Denmark, studied psychology and works in the school district as a behaviorist. The couple lived in Denmark for some time, then moving to Davis, Sacramento and eventually settling in Woodland.

Rudorff and Joensen explain that the process of opening their business took them about six months, as they started their search last spring.

“We debated for a long time and back-and-forth, looking at a bunch of different places until we found this spot,” Joensen says. “We wanted to be in downtown, that was the main thing. We can find places outside but we wanted to be part of the community so people can walk down here.”

Earthbound Ceramics is a place where artists can create a creative escape, regardless of their level of art experience. They are considered a mid-fire studio that can fire items up to cone six and make them safe to eat out of and for the kitchen.

“We’re more about creating like, kind of fostering people to motivating them to create something and go through the process,” Rudorff says.

Rudorff explains that the process of working with ceramics is something that requires a lot of learning and patience. She explains that there are different stages to drying when working with clay, and based on that is the level of detail you can add.

She says once it’s dry, the ceramic piece goes into a kiln for its first firing, and when it comes out, it’s ready for colors and glazes. Then, it goes in for another firing.

“So a lot of people think that they can come into the studio and just make something and take something beautiful home, and ceramics is one of those arts that takes patience. Like, it’s not quick, it’s not fast, it takes time,” Rudorff explains.

They offer four-week classes of wheel throwing and hand-building to adults 18 and over and teens/kids between the ages of 5 and 17, as well as two-week workshops. Classes are offered in the morning and in the evening, and anyone interested can sign up on their website.

Earthbound Ceramics also offers a membership for $150 a month that allows 16 hours of access to the studio space, access to tools, the use of different dipping glazes, shelf and locker space, and a chance to fire up to 25 pieces.

The studio will offer a Saturday Christmas ornament and gnome-building workshop for kids ages 5 to 13 and a two-week Luminarias workshop.

Rudorff mentions that Earthbound Ceramics will be part of downtown Woodland’s monthly First Friday event that showcases different and local artists. They want to have the opportunity to feature a new artist every month and have their art displayed on their wall for people to check out.

“We hope to be just every month featuring local, Woodland, and Sacramento artists. Hopefully, get the kids that are in Pioneer and Woodland high also down here excited about it because I know there’s a lot of young local artists,” she says.

They hope to offer different workshops with other local artists and live music events in the future. They are also working on eventually offering and accommodating to families and children with disabilities, as well as offering bilingual classes for Spanish speakers, as Rudorff and a few of the teachers speak Spanish.

Rudorff and Joensen hope to continue building a community and seeing more people come into their business. They encourage everyone, whether a beginner or advanced, to check out their art studio to learn, create, and take up a new hobby.

“Even if people, if they’re curious, come and take a look, say hello, come and talk to us,” Rudorff says.

For more information about classes offered, memberships, or more, visit earthboundceramic.com or contact Sandra at earthboundceramicsstudio@gmail.com or 530-309-8781.

You can also check out their Instagram @earthboundceramicstudio and Facebook page for more information on classes and events.