Making is good for your mental health
Pottery engages the ‘effort-driven reward circuit’, which provides meaningful relief from depression on a neurochemical level. As educator Jenni Lukasiewicz puts it: ‘You put clay on the wheel. It gives you a little fight, and you get past it, and there is this object.’ That ‘little fight’, or the resistance the clay gives back, is part of what gives the practice power, and what can alter the brain’s natural pathways, helping alleviate symptoms of depression.
Celebs are getting in on the act
Supermodel Emily Ratajkowski and actors such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo di Caprio, Seth Rogan and Spider Man star Laura Harris are all new fans of getting down and dirty with clay.