FORT KENT, Maine — Since opening in 2024, the Rivertown Community Arts Center in Fort Kent has continued to see steady growth. The facility moved to a larger location on Market Street last year, and just last week opened a second location on Main Street that will exclusively serve as a pottery studio.
Rivertown Arts Center Founder Jenna Jandreau said that, since opening, she has received requests and suggestions from community members about opening a pottery studio or teaching pottery classes.
The studio had a soft opening in December, but officially opened last week, and began offering “Clay Club” memberships, giving members access to the studio and discounts on clay.
After last week’s launch, Jandreau said they already have between 15 and 20 students.
The grand opening was well-attended, Jandreau said. The wheels were full with students and clay club members and instructors were helping to demonstrate pottery techniques. The studio offers lessons via the wheel, which is referred to as “throwing,” and also on hand-building, which is when the creations are made by hand without the wheel.
Kelley Marquis, a pottery instructor and board member at Rivertown, has been leading pottery classes so far, and said that there is a combination of learners who are picking it up for the very first time, and some who have been doing pottery in their basements for years.
The studio consists of six student pottery wheels and an instructor’s wheel and massive kiln in which clay creations can solidify. The kiln can reach temperatures of up to nearly 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pottery creations need to go through the kiln two times before they are no longer breakable. Before the final time, artists can paint their pottery with a “glaze” which fuses onto the clay at high temperatures and helps ensure water doesn’t seep in.
While pottery begins with an amorphous lump of clay that is molded into a specific shape, artists also have to let go to a degree when it comes to the piece’s final appearance. The glaze, for example, always changes color in a somewhat different way each time it is heated in the kiln.
Marquis said the feeling of opening the kiln after a piece is complete is just like opening gifts on Christmas morning.
“That’s kind of the magic of it,” Marquis said. “With every different clay body and color, it’s always different. You have an idea of how it will come out, but each piece is unique in that way.”
Another unpredictable element of the process is water. If any of the pieces still have water in them, they can explode while inside the kiln, which will destroy it and damage all the other pieces inside.
Jandreau said the studio would not have been possible without the help of the family of Susan Gerard, a resident of the St. John Valley who was well known throughout the region for her pottery talents. Gerard died in 2023, about a year before the Rivertown Community Arts Center opened.
“Any time she was at the craft fair at UMFK, she would be the first table to sell out,” Jandreau said of Gerard, adding that people would proudly talk about owning her pieces.
And once the center opened, Jandreau said Gerard’s late husband Thomas Gerard began donating her pottery tools.
“He first started to give us little things, and eventually kept donating more and more stuff,” Jandreau said.
The value of the materials alone is worth well over $10,000, but he has also helped write numerous grants for the center and to spread the word and create excitement about the facility.
Jandreau said the studio has received overwhelming support from the community in general, including a GoFundMe campaign that has raised about $1,000, and donations from around the greater St. John Valley community.
“People have handed me envelopes with checks and cash to go toward the pottery studio, people I’ve never even met or talked to,” Jandreau said. “My husband went to Joe’s Country Store in St. Francis and the cashier handed him a donation for the pottery studio.”
The studio is seeing people come in from as far as Presque Isle, Allagash, Madawaska, and throughout the St. John Valley region.
She said the location of the pottery studio on Main Street, across the street from a McDonald’s and right next to a Walgreen’s pharmacy, helps with visibility. The location in a central part of town also will help make premium members, who have nearly 24/7 access to the studio, more comfortable with coming in at night.
Overall, Jandreau said there has been positive growth with the arts center in general since opening in 2024.
“It seems like the community is enjoying our programs and what we have to offer, and we’re always adapting to the needs and wants of the community,” she said.
