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Weathering Storms - Crack Pot Studio's pandemic response

by Geoff Godard Originally published in Oakville Lakeside Residents Association News
Creativity in clay
Creativity in clay

As spring approaches, COVID-19 continues to hover over our town, our country and much of the world. The arrival of vaccines signals the beginning of the end of an unprecedented peacetime disruption to economies and societies everywhere.        

You may remember reading about an extraordinary endeavour undertaken by Oakville residents, Jim and Dale Egan, to address the local shortage of personal protective gear for front-line workers in the fight against the recently arrived disease. Their project shed light on how individuals can make a positive difference in a troubled time. We wondered how a business that would most definitely not be deemed “essential” has faced this era of shutdowns. We discovered that what is formally deemed essential and what is actually essential are not always the same.

Crack Pot Studio is well known. It has been on Robinson Street since 1996. Many of us have fond memories of birthday parties, camps and more held at Crack Pot when we were young or when we took our kids there – or in many cases, both. Wilma Spence owns Crack Pot Studio. She and her staff initially welcomed the March break extension last year since it is one of their busiest times. Then lockdown was announced. Schools and virtually all social and sporting activities were cancelled. We all sheltered in place.

This was when ingenuity and innovation took over. Wilma thought parents would need (maybe even be desperate for) something to entertain their shut-in offspring. “Right from the beginning, we knew there would be great demand, but with the lockdown, we had no way of supplying it; at least the way we had always done it, in person, at our studio.”

As with the Egans, adversity can mother invention.

Crack Pot Studio
Crack Pot Studio's Paint-at-Home Kit | Ashley Correia

After some thought, she developed a concept she calls “paint and pottery to go.” Crack Pot Studio pirouetted from its traditional in-studio business model to letting it be known on its website and through Instagram that “Paint-at-Home” pottery kits were available. Word of mouth took over, and orders began to flood in.

Kits contained everything needed to prepare the raw pottery for firing. Wilma and her staff delivered the kits. Their cars were affixed with magnetic signs so that anyone wary of answering the door could see who it was through the window. Strict safety protocols were adhered to. Virtual birthday parties began to happen. Kits would be delivered to all invitees, who would join on Zoom and proceed under the supervision of the host mother and/or father and/or older sibling. The finished products would be dropped off at the studio and be available for pick-up after firing.

In early March, with the relaxation of quarantine regulations, Crack Pot Studio was open for in-person classes and parties with the now-familiar restrictions. The studio aspect of the business was approaching normal. But, interestingly, the Paint-at-Home kits continue to be in great demand.

Artist: Beth Marchant | Ashley Correia
Artist: Beth Marchant | Ashley Correia

This is a fine example of adapting to change, even in our small part of the world. The supply and demand model that had sustained Crack Pot Studio’s success for over a quarter-century was suddenly disrupted. But neither the supply nor, particularly, the demand had disappeared. Wilma, faced with adversity, found a way to serve the market she had developed that not only preserved her enterprise but allowed her to uncover another offering that, without the ingenuity born of necessity, would have remained unknown.

Pottery artifacts have been found that are almost 30,000 years old. It is the first synthetic material created by humans, and ceramics is probably the most ancient industry. Once our distant ancestors discovered that clay could be dug up and formed into objects by mixing with water and subjected to heat, an industry was born that survives to this day.

Wilma and her staff add a very twenty-first-century twist to a craft that began well back in the mists of time, predating even what we think of as the dawn of civilization, the agricultural revolution, by a very considerable margin.

Oakville News welcomes contributions from Residents' Associations.