Members of the South Berkeley Senior Center ceramics program at work in the studio. Credit: Ruth Rogow

When Nicky Royce first walked into the ceramics studio at the South Berkeley Senior Center, her first thought was: “Oh my God, I’m home!”

Royce, who taught high school ceramics for 30 years, knew a thing or two about clay studios, but there was something special happening at the senior center.

“I saw these people working and chatting and being so creative,” said Royce. “I had that feeling like, this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Royce is not alone. The ceramics studio is just 2 years old, but already more than 100 older locals — from beginners to accomplished artists — are members, and there’s a large waiting list. 

With the South Berkeley Senior Center (SBSC) due to close for seismic renovations and other upgrades starting next summer, the ceramics program may be left without a home for at least a year — leaving Royce and her cohort with heartache.

“It’s very depressing that it’s going to close down,” she said. 

City spokesperson Matthai Chakko said the city is “looking for potential alternate spaces” for the ceramics program while the center is being renovated. The ceramics program is free, with clay, glazes and other supplies funded through donations from members. The city of Berkeley does not financially support the program beyond providing the space and paying for electricity.

The city’s other senior center in North Berkeley was temporarily closed in 2019 for renovations, which were planned to take 12-18 months. But the pandemic and disputes with the contractor delayed the project. It finally opened in September 2022. The former West Berkeley Senior Center is now the West Berkeley Family Wellness Center.

Ruth Rogow, who runs the free ceramics program, said that the North Berkeley Senior Center is “not a viable option” for the ceramics program because it lacks adequate space to accommodate all the members, has insufficient parking and is “located too far from most of our members.”

There’s also the matter of the kiln, which cannot be moved, according to Rogow.

“It’s not like moving a yoga class,” said Marianne Fisher, a studio member and volunteer. “We need to have a kiln. And space for that. And a kiln requires filtration and electricity.”

‘When you’re a senior, it’s harder to make friends’
Members of the South Berkeley Senior Center ceramics program at work in the studio. Courtesy: Ruth Rogow

The studio is open Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and several members go every day. Fisher is among them. She says the studio has become the most important part of her life, besides her family.

 “A big surprise for me was the new friends that I made,” she said. “I have heard that as you get older, when you’re a senior, it’s harder to make friends.”

Some 17% of Berkeley’s population is 65 or older, according to census data, which amounts to more than 25,000 residents. 

“When  you’re participating in arts as a senior, you have benefits that are cognitive and emotional and physical and it can help you sharpen your memory and your mental agility,” said Rogow. “It boosts your mood and you get more emotional resilience.”

Rogow started the ceramics program two years ago with the belief that “we don’t have enough art in our society.” As a former certified nurse midwife, her  life has always involved taking care of people. But as the program grew, she realized that “my life’s purpose was changing from being a caretaker to being someone who wants to bring more art into people’s lives.”

The studio space is also used to teach a ceramics class through the Berkeley Adult School on Monday afternoons, which is how several members first heard about Rogow’s program. 

Rogow offers an eight-week introductory course for beginners, where she teaches the basics of hand building. There are no pottery wheels at the studio; all the members work together at communal tables. Members can drop in anytime the studio is open.

“There’s a whole community that has developed,” said Rogow. “It’s not just like you go to a class for a few weeks and that’s the end of it. These are people who have really developed a community.”

‘It’s like going to therapy’

When Pip Marks retired a year and a half ago after an “intense” career in health policy, she “ was feeling quite lost without purpose,” she said. Growing up in a family of eight in New Zealand, she was the lone sibling who was not an artist. 

“I didn’t get that gene,” she said.

But when she was looking for ways to fill up her time during retirement (“There’s only so much gardening you can do,” she joked), she heard about the ceramics program, and realizing that none of her siblings worked with clay, she thought that might be the art medium for her. She took to it immediately, and quickly built a camaraderie with others in the program. She called the experience “life changing.”

“It’s been very healing for me,” she said. “It’s like going to therapy.”

There are no pottery wheels at the South Berkeley Senior Center ceramics studio; all the members work together at communal tables. Credit: Ruth Rogow

Among the studio’s members is an actual therapist, an art therapist to be precise. Dr. Pat Allen, who has authored several books on the power of creativity, moved to Berkeley five years ago to be near her daughter, a rabbi who runs the Berkeley nonprofit the Jewish Studio Project. 

Allen had done ceramics in the past, and started looking around town for a studio where she could do hand building, but all the ceramics programs in town were too cost prohibitive. 

“Somebody mentioned to me that there was a program at the South Berkeley Senior Center,” she said. “And my first reaction was ‘Senior center? No thank you!’ I mean, I am, but I don’t think of myself as a senior.”

The South Berkeley Senior Center, at 2939 Ellis St. File photo: City of Berkeley

But, she swallowed her pride and signed up for the intro class and learned about the drop-in studio and the entire community that had formed there. She was amazed.

“As someone who’s an art therapist, my entire career has been about promoting creativity for people,” she said. “It was all happening there and it was just thrilling.”

Beyond the clay, the group has a weekly potluck every Wednesday (“My favorite meal of the week,” said Rogow), monthly field trips, occasional parties, as well as an active email group and Facebook page. 

But the real magic happens when everyone is making art together. 

“It’s something about sitting at a table and all of us working on our art projects that would be missed dearly,” said Fisher, referring to the impending closure of the center.

“You walk in this room and everybody greets you by name,” said Rogow. “If you don’t show up for a couple of days, people are wondering, ‘Where’s so and so,’ and somebody’s going to give you a call.  So it’s been really profound in people’s lives and reaches a large audience that is just aching for programs like this. It’s just sad that it’s the only one around.”

Judge Henry Ramsey Jr. South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St, Berkeley. Phone: 510-981-5170. Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

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