Exhibits, Workshops and More at Riverwest’s Yours Truly

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Yours Truly is a community art space and ceramics studio located in the heart of Riverwest at 833 E. Center Street. Founded in 2017 by Basha Harris, Ethan Kastner and Meg Zimont, the studio’s goal is to create accessible, enjoyable artistic experiences through exhibitions, sales, events, workshops and more. The studio is now co-owned by Danielle Burrows, Taylor Bucki and Kelsey Parks. 

Bucki explains that the studio’s founders are all UWM graduates who were all into different mediums of art. “When we started, we didn’t focus on any specific medium; we had a jeweler, a graphic designer, a clothing designer, and Ethan was the primary person doing ceramics. Me and Ethan shared a tiny table and did all our ceramics on it, but it wasn’t very conducive to other peoples’ spaces because there’s a lot of dust with clay plus the kiln takes a lot of space.”

When some of the original artists left for various reasons, the remaining artists decided to build a full-blown ceramics studio in early 2018. Bucki continued, “It was awesome because we have the whole space split in half with the gallery in front and ceramics in back with two kilns and a ton of shelf space that we didn’t have before.”

The current artists-in-residence at Yours Truly are the three co-owners plus Brittany Mahlberg, Derek Loehr, Lulu Sanchez, Joe Clark, Cortney Heimerl, and Catherine Mehringer. “It’s nice because the artists here can utilize the space for themselves while also working as a community,” Mahlberg said. “If an artist here has an idea, they’ll bring it to the table, and we’ll see if it makes sense. One artist has an art education background ,and she does a lot of throwing classes and hand-building classes for both kids and adults. I myself have an art therapy background and being an art therapist is my full-time job, so I try to bring some of the community art workshops that are more accessible and donation based. We try to be collaborative however it makes sense with each artist.”

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The studio hosts a monthly event, “Make A Pot, Take A Pot,” where folks are given a ball of clay to make something, which is then fired in the kiln and put out for grabs at the following event; folks then get to take a pot if they made one themselves. In addition, the studio recently launched monthly open art studio events where folks are provided a variety of materials to create with; it’s all-ages and does not require prior experience.

“Some people will bring art projects that they already have going on,” Mahlberg explained. “Some people come wanting to explore clay for the first time. If you want what you’ve made glazed and fired, we have a $30 firing fee and then you can take it home with you.”

“We also do private firings for anybody who makes clay things at home but doesn’t have access to a kiln,” Bucki added.

Yours Truly are hosting their holiday sale December 10-11, a showcase of work from both the artists-in-residence and community members. Come January they plan to do more hand-building classes. Visit their website here: yourstrulymke.com.