Ceramics artist opens new studio in Marine City

Local artist Juliet Faber recently opened a pottery and ceramics studio, Earthly Elements Pottery, in Marine City, fostering a space for everyone to unleash their creativity. 

The building is a mix of teaching space and a working studio to sell her art and ceramic pieces. She sells dishware, ornaments, custom-engraved mugs, bowls, vases, garden art, decorative wall art, figurines, and more. 

She will often host workshops that run for five to six weeks, once a week, where she teaches a small group of students about a certain craft or technique. Students can then create whatever they want with their newfound skills. Individuals are also welcome to walk in and learn how to make art. 

In the new year, she also plans to teach classes. These one-time classes will feature a specific craft project for participants to complete. She can also teach group classes or gatherings upon request.

Faber says she wants to keep classes and especially workshops small enough that she can give each person individualized attention.

“I want to be a place where people can gather and have fun and feel good and leave all the troubles outside the door,” Faber says. “Everyone’s welcome, and we’re not going to talk about all the yucky stuff. We’re just going to make art and feel good.”

As a teacher, Faber says she enjoys learning from her students about pottery techniques and about their personal lives. To help someone’s idea come to life, often you have to figure out what makes them tick, she says. 

“I like the camaraderie of it all, sitting with people with like minds and teaching them how to be better,” Faber says. “And it’s weird, because when you teach, especially when you teach art, you’re trying to never really see that person in a bad light, because you’re trying to help them make something beautiful that they have in their head. So, you get to know them really well, but you get to know the good parts of them.”

Linda Cummings took classes from Faber when she taught in Port Huron. She says Faber is a great teacher because she is willing to share new techniques and tools of her trade, and she is great at meeting students at their level of experience. 

“She is an amazing teacher because she’s super talented at pottery and art,” Cummings says. “She has ideas shooting off like rockets all the time.”

Local Artist Graces Faber’s Studio with Original Mural

The outside of the studio features a mural painted by Algonac artist Amelia Laboda. The geometric design features detailed motifs from Faber’s shop, including floral motifs, specific tools, various pots and pieces, and a depiction of Faber at her wheel.

Laboda says she worked with the horizontal siding and 2D, geometric shapes to create a retro feel.

“I like the fact that a mural can engage the community and bring people together,” Laboda says. 

Laboda met Faber through Cummings, who is her mother. When Cummings showed Faber a picture of a mural that Laboda had done at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, Fabor knew she needed to commission Laboda to decorate her studio. 

Originally from Michigan, Laboda studied Illustration at the University of Rhode Island School of Design and Environmental Science at Brown University. She recently moved back to Algonac and is working as a muralist and illustrator for children’s books. Find her work on Instagram @amrosecu.

How a Hobby Turned into a Thriving Business

Fabor didn’t intend to be a professional potter. She originally went to college for occupational therapy, but she fell in love with ceramics after taking a few general education courses.

When she moved to St. Clair, Faber took over the studio at the St. Clair Art Association and taught pottery classes to children and adults for about 13 years.

She also continued her own work in her home’s basement studio as a hobby. While hosting parties for her kids, Faber became frustrated by the mess when serving chips and dip. So, she created a plate that held chips and dip together; the dip sat in a small bowl attached to a large serving platter that housed chips.

Other parents noticed her party creation and asked to purchase one. As word of her chip-and-dip bowls spread, she began selling other pieces as well. 

As her business grew, she stepped away from teaching at the Art Association to focus on her own work full-time. Now, she makes a living selling her pieces under the name Earthly Elements Pottery at art shows, to art galleries, and to shops around the state.

“I never intended for this to be my profession,” Faber says. “It just happened. It just slowly happened over time, because I was so addicted to it that I always wanted to do it.”

Faber says she loves the way the medium moves and can be used to show movement. She also enjoys learning new techniques. Whether it’s glazing, shaping, firing, or painting, she says ceramics has hundreds of techniques and styles to experiment with. 

“With ceramics or pottery, you never stop learning. There are so many different techniques to learn with that when you get bored with one, you can just move on to the next one,” Faber says. “I could live for 200 years and never run out of techniques to try and learn.”

Find Faber’s new studio at 338 Fairbanks St., Marine City.