Grant helps studio continue mission
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — An Atlantic City-based nonprofit ceramics studio was among the recipients of a grant from the Community Foundation of South Jersey (CFSJ) for its work on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CFSJ provided grants to 26 nonprofit organizations from the COVID-19 Response Fund, and MudGirls Studios was awarded $4,000 to help it continue to provide food assistance and emergency basic needs assistance to women in need.
Linwood resident Dorrie Papademetriou, director, designer and founder of the studio, said the funding would help the nonprofit continue its mission.
Founded in 2016, MudGirls Studios is dedicated to providing opportunities in art and entrepreneurship to economically disadvantaged and at-risk women by providing training and skills to transition out of poverty and onto a pathway of self-sufficiency. Through the creation and sale of functional art and aesthetic utilitarian objects, women gain a source of long-term supplemental income, Papademetriou said.
According to its website and Facebook page, MudGirls Studios began in Adelaide’s Place, a day shelter for homeless women in Atlantic City. Each week, the women who went there gathered around the kitchen table to roll out clay, making bowls, trays, plates, boxes and decorative items.
Looking forward to “clay day,” the women worked with energy and precision, pouring their heart and soul into their ceramic wares, Papademetriou said. Most created gifts for loved ones, not being able to offer much else. In time, and under the direction of Papademetriou, designs and standard pieces were introduced, and the women were trained in larger production with attention to detail to produce high-quality work.
“Everything is slab built — it’s hand-built, hand-formed, hand-rolled, hand-painted,” Papademetriou said, noting that the studio was in the process of making 400 tiles for an installation at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. “Here they are rolling it out, forming it and giving it its texture, then it’s compressed between drywall boards to dry and then fired once, glazed and then fired again.”
As MudGirls Studios began to sell the products at local festivals, orders and demand grew and the studio needed to expand. The number of participants expanded little by little to become a workforce, currently of 10 women, thanks to a significant job-training grant, Papademetriou said.
“We are a diverse team of women spanning across race, ethnicity, generations and life experiences. Each day makes an interesting adventure as we grow and learn together,” she said.
MudGirls also needed to expand its studio space and find a permanent home, and Father John Thomas and the Parish of St. Monica’s offered space to create a full-time, functional studio, first in the rectory of St. Michael’s Church, and more permanently in the former St. Michael’s School on the second floor of the church.
According to Papademetriou, a turning point came when the Atlantic City Development Corp., the agency charged with building the Atlantic City Gateway Project, commissioned MudGirls Studios to design and produce ceramic tiles for Stockton University and South Jersey Gas.
Other commissions for MudGirls Studios products include the AtlantiCare Foundation, the Wells Fargo Foundation, Contact Cape Atlantic, Hard Rock Casino & Hotel and many others, in addition to many private individuals who have placed special/custom orders.
Now, once again, the studio is looking to expand and bring more women into the program. Papademetriou said she has been reaching out to other agencies to try to find more women in need of job training and skills.
“Women that work with us sometimes have challenges that inhibit them from working full work days — child care or health issues. So we plan to split the day into shifts, with some working mornings and other afternoons. We will be able to help more women that way,” she said.
Papademetriou’s husband, Tom, is a professor at Stockton University and her two sons, George and Roman, are graduates of Mainland Regional High School.
She said helping those in need is something instilled in her from childhood.
“We were raised that way to give back to the community,” she said. “It’s always been a part of our lives.”
Papademetriou was trained as a graphic designer but “dabbled in many mediums.” She said she found that ceramic is very accessible to many people.
“Through that medium I found a way to work with people in situations who may never have had the opportunity,” she said. “To have the experience of being in a studio and creating and seeing the final project. There’s a real sense of satisfaction when you make things with your hands. To form something out of nothing is a real empowering experience and I wanted to share that with people who otherwise never would have been able to do so.”
She said the studio does more than provide women with a little money.
“When you find success at something day after day and you feel good about what you are able to do, it sets you on a path that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to,” Papademetriou said. “Now they consider themselves artisans when they never did before, so let’s see what else they can do.”
Papademetriou said the grant would help the studio focus on and develop an online sales platform and increase its social media presence, and “keep the studio going so we can get through this crisis.”
The items are available at No. 7311 Café at 7311 Ventnor Ave. in Ventnor and online. For more information, visit mudgirlsstudios.org or email mudgirlsstudios@gmail.com.
MudGirls is planning an online sale Aug. 22-23, when people will be able to purchase the one-of-a-kind pieces at a discounted price.