Working from her heart: Ann Lennon creates pottery
by Mara Dresner
Contributing Writer
Many business owners use superlatives in their company names to boast about their product or service. Not Ann Lennon. The tongue-in-cheek name of her pottery business is The Lazy Potter.
“I’m kind of lazy. It’s not like I’m out here every day making a ton of product. It’s just not my personality. I want to go hang out with the grandkids,” she said.
Besides, she added, “it’s really catchy.”
Lennon specializes in hand-building/slab, wheel throwing and sculpture. She has taught at the West Hartford Art League and at her studio in Newington.
She’s celebrating five years of teaching in town that began with putting a sign up at Starbucks to see if anyone was interested in taking a class. Lennon, who grew up in the Boston area, was first exposed to pottery in high school.
“I grew up in West Roxbury. My dad was a firefighter. We were the quintessential Irish Catholic family. I have seven brothers and sisters,” she said.
Coming to Connecticut, Lennon was ready to further explore her artistic side.
“When I moved here 24 years ago, I was looking to discipline myself in the arts,” she said.
She took classes at John Macomber’s studio.
“He’s known for Greenleaf Pottery. He’s a great potter. He makes his own clay and glazes. He built his own kiln. I went there for about 20 years,” Lennon said. “Then my children built this [studio] for me. I was working in the basement. They built this for me and I retired.”
She had a career as a project manager. Today, she spends her time creating and teaching pottery, as well as teaching and practicing yoga. Her students do both wheel and hand-building projects, depending upon their interest.
“I like having students; they inspire me. It’s a nice community of people. A lot of students started in the beginning and they still come,” she said.
“It’s a process for everybody. Some of my students come back and are more advanced and are progressing and are trying new things.
“I like the size of my studio. When I taught at West Hartford they had eight wheels. That was a lot. I demo. Some pick up quickly, some don’t. Even hand-building is interesting,” she added.
“Some come because they don’t have dexterity in their fingers, so they come to see what they can do. My maximum class size is six, four wheels and two hand-builders.”
Students choose the projects they want to work on.
“I say tell me what you want to make and we just kind of work through it. I have all these forms if they want to make plates or platters,” she said.
“It’s kind of a cool, little place to come. There’s no pressure. It’s very communal, everybody shares ideas. It’s very supportive. It’s low key. I have little appetizers and wine at night. On Sunday mornings I bake for everybody. I feel like they’re my friends. It’s nice.”
Krys Tucker, an estimating coordinator who lives in Wethersfield, has been doing wheel throwing with Lennon for about three years.
“Ann is a very down-to-earth and patient teacher. She considers what each individual student is interested in and works at helping them achieve the goals they have in mind or creating the art they’ve envisioned,” Tucker said.
“Her teaching style and the environment she’s created in her studio really helped me feel comfortable enough to express myself and explore the medium and sometimes fail. But I always want to come back and do more,” Tucker said.
“I love the grounding and centering – literal and metaphorical – aspects of throwing. Getting my hands in the clay is a lot like playing with mud when I was a kid. I also enjoy that there are so many different aspects to focus on as you learn and grow, from just successfully making a vessel for the first time, no matter how lopsided or wonky, to throwing bigger or more complex pieces, refining their shapes, pulling thinner walls and using your clay more efficiently.
“Not to mention textures and glazing and other finishes. There’s always so much to learn,” Tucker added.
Kelly Proulx, a physical therapist who lives in West Hartford, has been studying with Lennon for about a year-and-a-half, trying her hand at both hand-building and wheel classes.
“I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to try something completely new and outside the realm of my usual hobbies and interests. I think as adults we tend to lean in to the things that we’re already good at and often avoid circumstances where we might not feel immediately successful,” she said.
“Pottery is something that I have always wanted to try but I felt a little intimidated by it and didn’t really know where or how to start. I did one of Ann’s date nights with my husband and had so much fun that I decided to sign up for a class,” she added.
“The environment in Ann’s studio is hard to capture in words. It’s so supportive and everyone is just so warm and encouraging. I’ve met so many great people that I never would have known. It feels like a safe, little haven where everyone is just happy to be there, and you can leave the rest of your life at the door and just create in the quiet company of other people for a few hours,” Proulx said.
“Ann is a wonderful teacher. We joke that she’s our pottery mom. Like our real moms, she’s very patient, supportive and encouraging, but she also wants us to grow and develop our skills so that ultimately, we can leave the nest and be independent as potters.
“She is always there to guide us, but doesn’t want us to remain dependent on her, so she really knows when to give us a little nudge towards self-reliance.”
Proulx is also a big fan of the snacks that Lennon provides.
“She also puts out these delicious and healthy snacks for us each class, including homemade treats, which is amazing and makes us feel so cared for. I mean, as a mom of three, how often do you think someone feeds me homemade banana bread or cuts up my fruit for me?”
Proulx said that sometimes projects don’t go as planned and Lennon has helpful suggestions for saving those projects.
“I was working on a bowl that I was really excited about because it was the largest piece that I had ever thrown and I was planning on giving it to my mom for Mother’s Day. But I totally botched it and the shape ended up coming out all wrong,” she said.
“I was feeling pretty deflated about it but Ann took one look at it and said ‘you know, it looks really organic and natural like that. It would make a beautiful planter if you filled it with succulents.’
So that’s exactly what I did. I gave it to my mom on Mother’s Day and she loved it. She has no idea that it was supposed to hold pasta, not plants,” Proulx said.
“I’m truly grateful to have found a place where I can channel my creative energy, learn a new skill and step outside my comfort zone in such a nurturing and supportive environment. It’s helped me tap back into the childlike joy of making something with my own hands for someone that I love and seeing the look on their face knowing that I put my whole heart into something special just for them
“Are my little bowls and mugs going to change the world? No. But I’ve found something that I love and a way to bring joy to the people that I care about. I think that’s priceless and exactly the kind of energy that our world needs right now.”
While Lennon’s business may have the word “Lazy” in the name, she’s no slacker when she’s spending time in her studio.
“I like going to stay out there for 12 hours or I don’t feel like being out there. I like to have long periods of time out there,” she said. “When I have classes, it’s a lot of cleanup to make sure the classes are ready.”
She admits her time in the studio can be haphazard.
“If I get an order, I make it. If someone asks me for stuff, I make it. I just kind of produce at a casual pace. I don’t want to rush at this point in my life,” she said.
“I do one open house right around Christmas time. Whatever I make throughout the year, I sell then. It’s a big party. People come to the studio. There’s live music in back. It’s a really fun time and I sell a little pottery.”
Lennon enjoys working on items that people can use in their daily lives such as plates, platters and bowls.
“I have people I’ve given mugs to years ago and they still use them every day,” she said.
Her works are food safe and microwave and dishwasher friendly. She doesn’t have a favorite type of piece that she enjoys working on, although she used to.
“I used to always say mugs and then I ended up with an order of almost 600 mugs, so I can’t say that anymore,” she said with a laugh. “At the moment, I’m working on bigger pieces. It goes in phases of what I feel like doing.”
She shares a personality trait with other potters.
“I feel like potters are easygoing. You have to be when pieces are fired in a kiln that’s over 1,000 degrees. A lot of things can happen. You have to let go of expectations. Sometimes things come out amazing and sometimes they don’t come out the way you want it, so you do have to be a little easygoing,” she said.
When it comes to her studio, Lennon is led by one guiding principle.
“I try to remember to always work from my heart.” NL
Learn more at thelazypotter.com.