The Wandering Peacock

Local Ceramic Studio Invites the Community to Create, Connect & Find Joy Through Art

Photographer / Robert Jones

The days are getting shorter, colder and a bit dreary. However, a local artist is inviting the community into her cheerful, vibrant ceramic studio, offering a warm smile and a steaming cup of hot chocolate while guiding guests to find a comfortable space to create Christmas tree ornaments with their families or craft their own coffee mugs during a company holiday party.

The Wandering Peacock, owned by Hamilton Heights High School graduate Erin O’Rear, offers a variety of opportunities for clients to design their own creations. Options include parent/child and homeschool classes, after-school Tuesdays, individual or group sessions with friends, as well as date nights and birthday parties on the pottery wheel or through hand-building.

O’Rear, who graduated from Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in art specializing in ceramics, opened her studio in 2012. The walls are adorned with inspirational messages, hanging plants and bright paintings of animals — including an orange cat that O’Rear was inspired to paint three or four years before an enthusiastic, full-time employee jumped into her lap.

“A community cat showed up,” O’Rear says of Shino, a friendly, ginger feline. “He wandered in, and I’m grateful that he stayed.”

Shino brings a smile to guests as he welcomes hugs, perches nearby on tables or leads them to a vast, peaceful backyard named the sharing garden, where a variety of vegetables and colorful blooms — including tall sunflowers — grow. Art exploration camps are held during the summer in the sharing garden, where children discover their inner artistic abilities while creating pinch pot monsters from clay or drawing “Charcoal Picasso” self-portraits using charcoal and markers.

“I love the joy I feel helping people to create,” O’Rear says, noting that she enjoys watching the happiness and self-worth that come from 6-year-olds crafting their first mug, as well as teens tapping into their imagination or discovering how a “mistake” can create something unexpected. For example, when an adult at the studio attempted to mold a cup from clay on a pottery wheel, a small piece of clay unexpectedly fell off.

“No, you didn’t mess up,” she recalls saying. “Let’s see where it could go.”

That fallen piece of clay became a handle for a soup bowl instead.

“I feel like clay is a spiral, a whirlwind. I feel like that’s life, too,” O’Rear says. “It’s always moving, it’s always in the process of getting dirty. That’s a place where I can feel creative, successful, confident. It allows those resistant to change. It’s acceptance in the adaptation.”

Art can serve as therapy for many who are struggling with challenges in their lives. Guests sometimes share their stories with O’Rear while creating gifts for themselves, family or friends. For example, one adult whose mother had Alzheimer’s disease created wise old owl salt and pepper shakers for her siblings.

“She said, ‘Thank you for listening to me in making this,’” O’Rear says. “Clay is very expressive, so I see people of all ages cry sometimes. It’s a release for them.”

O’Rear began creating art from clay while in high school after her sister passed away. “I was being healed by that clay,” she says.

The Wandering Peacock now offers private date classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6:15 p.m. (a second date class is free) and family days on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Art exploration classes are also held weekly. O’Rear says she plans to keep class prices low despite rising costs of living.

Christmas ornament classes are $30 per person and include hot chocolate, cookies and music. Gift cards are also available for purchase. Each creation made at the studio is dishwasher – and microwave-safe.

The Wandering Peacock is located at 227 Jersey St. in Westfield. For more information, call 317-385-0994, visit thewanderingpeacock.com, or find the studio on Facebook at The Wandering Peacock.