The Clay Studio is working to make tech tools more accessible to community artists

Claymaking is an ancient art form, but now technology is changing the ways artists interact with the medium. 

The Clay Studio’s new Digital Fabrication Studio opened last year in time for its 50th anniversary, thanks to a nearly $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation. The Digital Fabrication Studio houses 3D printers for both clay and plastic, laser cutters, vinyl cutters and a ceramic decal printer. 

Opening the studio is an effort to make tech tools more accessible to community artists and clay work more accessible to other industries, Audrey An, prototyping and digital fabrication studio manager, told Technical.ly. 

The Digital Fabrication Studio is an effort to bring these worlds together and increase inclusivity in the art world, she said. 

“It brings in [a] different kind of creative who wants to work in clay, to feel [invited] to come in and expand their creative input in a different way,” said An, who teaches the class Digital Clay, where she shows participants how to use each machine in the digital fabrication studio and how to use 3D modeling software.

A lot of maker spaces with this equipment exist in university and academia settings, and only students enrolled in specific programs have access, per An. The Clay Studio wanted to make the tools more available to the general community. 

“We’re proud to envision a studio space with this technology equipment being available to the general public [in] Philadelphia,” An said. 

The studio hosted its first class session last year and is bringing the already full class back on Jan. 5. The three month class costs $470, but there is also an option to contribute money towards discounted classes for other artists. 

Aside from the community classes, the studio is also working on an artists service program where individual artists can sign up to come in and work with the equipment, she said. 

Tech tools increase collaboration and creativity in the art world

In general, the clay industry has been embracing more technology, An said, because it challenges artists to try new things and increases collaboration. 

The studio’s clay printers function the same as the plastic 3D printers, except they extrude thicker coils of clay rather than thin lines of plastic. An loads the clay into the printer’s metal canister and the machine’s compressed air system pushes the clay out of a nozzle into the design. The printers are also capable of printing two types or colors of clay at the same time, she said. 

Artists can use the plastic printers to print prototypes of their ceramic work or print custom tools that assist with their practice. These tools allow more “design autonomy” for artists, An said, because they allow more customization. 

Additional tech tools allow artists to further customize their work. The decal printer makes stickers to apply on glazed pottery and the laser cutter is used to make custom tools or for engraving. The vinyl cutter has been used to make stencils. 

An’s class also teaches 3D modeling software, like Blender 3D and Rhinoceros 3D, where artists can input their design. 

When she teaches, she said sometimes it’s difficult for ceramic artists to get into the 3D software because they just want to get into the clay. So, she also recommends 3D scanning apps they can use that will scan a piece of pottery they’ve already made and turn it into a printable design. 

Technology like this brings together different types of creatives with different strengths, An said. For example, architects or designers may be interested in using clay as part of their research process, but don’t know how to access it. Vice versa, some clay artists have a lot of knowledge about the material but not about how to use the software. The Digital Fabrication Studio brings these creatives together and combines their skill sets. 

“I always find it exciting when there’s a crossover for all this collective intelligence building in the classroom,” An said. “Where everyone shares knowledge and feedback ideas off of each other.”