About

We are a community ceramic studio in Smithville Tennessee offering memberships, classes, workshops, and private events.

The first two classes available at Pawpaw will be taught by the studio founder, Cornelia, who is a Landscape Designer by day and not a professional potter, but a lifelong ceramics hobbyist and enthusiast with experience teaching. Her approach to the classes will favor learning by doing and minimize traditional lessons. Classes will begin with demonstrations of the basic techniques for working with clay and then set everyone free to practice and play, providing as much feedback and help as is requested.

Pawpaw Studio is named for the pawpaw tree, which can be found along streams throughout our county. The pawpaw is North America’s largest native fruit, but has remained largely hidden and underappreciated. Once you learn to identify it, you might start seeing them everywhere! (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃━⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿

Like the pawpaw, the arts have long been a hidden treasure in our county, hiding in plain sight. We hope to help create a space for Dekalb County’s creative community in historic downtown Smithville. The studio is mostly about providing a makers space, but we will occasionally offer community classes taught by our staff and visiting artists!