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Grade-school artwork is about bright colors, learning new skills, and trying to stay inside the lines. It doesn’t matter if your painting is the best in the class or the worst; it ends up on the refrigerator anyway. Your lopsided bowl is proudly propped on an entryway table, and your self-portrait is displayed in the school hallway.
That so many grown-up creations from sip-and-paint classes end up in a closet or, worse, the trash, doesn’t sit well with Aaron Cummins. That’s how he came up with the idea for Five Points’ Sip and Throw Pottery Studio, which offers sip-and-paint-style classes but with clay as the medium. “Pottery has a little bit more innate value when people are creating their own stuff,” Cummins says. “It’s been really interesting introducing a concept that doesn’t really exist.”
Sip and Throw, which opened in June, offers two-hour classes for guests ages 21 and older and includes a drink (wine, beer, seltzer, or NA), all art supplies, and hands-on instruction, whether you’re a novice or an expert. “There’s a little bit more autonomy in the creative side [when you’re making pottery],” Cummins says. “With sip-and-paint classes, they tell you what to paint. Here, you come in, we show you what to do, and you just go off and create whatever you want.” Each artist in the 10-person class makes two vessels, such as a bowl, plate, or vase, and selects a glaze for their pieces. The art is fired and available to pick up two to three weeks after class.
Cummins is the first to admit he’s not a “super well-versed potter,” although he studied art at the University of Colorado Boulder 15 years ago. “Whatever’s happening in your life, whatever you’re going through, this is a space that I really want people to let go,” he says. “There is no judgment in here.”
Cummins credits his perspective to a road biking accident in 2017. At the time, he had a career in luxury real estate, but the wreck put him out of work for a couple of months as he underwent countless facial and dental surgeries. “It took me a minute to realize how fortunate I was in that circumstance to not walk away paralyzed, not have any brain damage,” he says. “I think, ultimately, it helped me pivot out of real estate [and realize] life is short. I needed to ditch what I was doing and create something that I am really excited about.”
So he leaned on his college degree and childhood memories of making art. “I wanted to create a space that showcases how creativity is for everyone,” Cummins says.
Since opening Sip and Throw, Cummins says his “pottery has grown immensely,” from not being able to lead a class to now teaching behind the wheel. (He took a six-week course with Lily Ellison, who now serves as Sip and Throw’s studio manager.)
Sip and Throw’s signature class ($85) has grown in popularity (partly due to a TikTok video that’s garnered more than 50,000 views), spurring Cummins to launch a new offering: Potters Class. A two-hour class for students who have taken the initial course, Potters ($50) includes a short demo but allows for more time on the wheel and unlimited pieces ($15 each).
Cummins plans to continue evolving Sip and Throw’s offerings and hopes to open a second studio in Boulder within the next year. Eventually, he’d like to take the studio nationwide—so everyone can make something they’re proud of.
“Pottery is such a feeling-based thing,” Cummins says. “You have the clay on your hands, you’re manipulating it as it spins on the wheel. I don’t see a lot of people give up with pottery.” 1160 26th St., Denver (Curtis Park)
