Ted Norris is all about pottery and zen: to hear him tell it, the two are totally intertwined.
“Pottery is a wonderful release. It’s not something you can come and do and watch football while you’re throwing a pot,” the 60-year-old Camas resident said. “The focus is on the clay, on the wheel. You get your zen.”
In mid-December, Norris will begin to share that zen with others when he and his wife of 28 years, Anna, open Norris Arts in a 1,000-square-foot space in Camas’ Northwest Sixth Avenue Commercial Center, near the roundabout off Highway 14. Anna, a painter, will be a partner on the project but leave the day-to-day operations to the potter.
The new business will allow Ted Norris a chance to throw clay on his pottery wheels, teach beginning and intermediate pottery classes and provide open studio space to area potters five days a week. He also plans to sell his own work, as well as work from other artists, at Norris Arts.
Norris has taught classes before, but never had his own teaching studio. He said he’s looking forward to working around people again.