Christopher Dacanay MAKER’S MARK — Paul Monroe stands with his wife and kids in front of 189 N. Fourth St., while holding ceramic mugs that he created. Monroe is the owner of Spyridon Studios, a new pottery studio set to open at the Fourth Street location sometime in the coming months. From left are Shannon Monroe, holding Josephine and Magdalena Monroe, and Paul Monroe, holding Juniper Monroe.

STEUBENVILLE — Paul Monroe knew he wanted to create a pottery studio at some point, but perhaps not within his first few months of living in Steubenville.

However, Monroe’s friend who owns the shop at 189 N. Fourth St. learned about Monroe’s plan and asked him to check out the building. That connection, along with support from others he had gotten to know, put Monroe on the fast track toward establishing his own pottery studio downtown.

“It was a lot faster than I expected, but it was still very precious,” Monroe said. “People were very encouraging and very inspiring.”

Now, Monroe’s goal is on the verge of becoming reality, having been renting the Fourth Street shop since Aug. 1 with the goal of establishing Spyridon Studios in the coming months.

Monroe said the studio will sell mostly functional ware, such as plates and mugs, as well as statues and other traditional art pieces. Selling the functional ware, Monroe said, will support the studio with additional revenue, alongside pottery classes and a monthly membership option to use the studio that will be priced to let everyone participate.

“The main thing for me is having a space where people can come and engage with and make art that’s not exorbitantly priced,” Monroe said. “(We’re) trying to keep costs low intentionally so the threshold for people to come in and experiment is low enough that anyone could try.”

Monroe said his goal for moving in and beginning operations is sometime in September or October. He hopes the opening will be early enough to begin hosting his volunteered, biweekly pottery classes for kids from the Sycamore Youth Center, beginning in October.

Waiting for the city to approve his construction plans, Monroe has big hopes for the store. Raising the ceiling to make the room more spacious and installing mop-friendly vinyl flooring are the biggest changes Monroe is seeking.

The room’s first 10 feet will be retail space for selling pottery pieces, and the next segment of the room will have pottery wheels for classes and creating the retail pieces that help support the studio. The rear of the first floor will be used for storage and glazing, and the basement will house a kiln.

The name Spyridon Studios comes from Saint Spyridon, the Catholic patron saint of pottery, who lived between the third and fourth centuries. Monroe, a convert to the Catholic church, said St. Spyridon is known for having used pottery to explain the Catholic doctrine of the trinity because of the pottery’s unity of three components: fire, water and clay.

“I wanted to know who the patron saint of pottery was when I converted to Catholicism,” Monroe said, “and I found out who it was, and I started learning more about him, and decided, if there’s going to be a name for a studio, I’d want it to be for St. Spyridon. It’s kind of the same deal with naming my kids, where if you name something for a saint, it’s a small prayer every time you think about it.”

Monroe has been creating pottery for about 10 years, but his start with the medium was slightly complicated. His first introduction to pottery in high school was less than ideal, as his projects “kept blowing up” and his teacher was discouraging.

Later, while receiving a liberal arts education at Huntington University in Indiana, Monroe received proper tutelage in pottery-making, which inspired him in the art. Monroe said he appreciates the medium’s “craft traditions” and how pieces are, generally, not too expensive.

Monroe said he wants to try and uphold the philosophy of mingei, which focuses on making ordinary pottery pieces for the benefit of the common person.

“It shouldn’t be that your prices dictate how you can survive,” Monroe said. “You should keep your prices low enough that everyone in town can enjoy the pottery you’re making. … Everyone should be able to enjoy something, even if it’s something small.”

His favorite this to make is teapots, Monroe said, because “teapots are five separate parts that each have to work together harmoniously, otherwise it feels wrong. There’s some cool math stuff at work. … Teapots are the most challenging, but they’re the most fun to make.”

Monroe worked as a teacher after graduating, most recently living in Connecticut and teaching art at Somers High School in Westchester County, N.Y. Now, Monroe lives in Steubenville with his wife, Shannon Monroe, and daughters: Juniper, 3-and-a-half years old; Magdalena, 18 months old; and Josephine, 1 month old.

Paul Monroe said he has wanted to start his own pottery studio for a while, as it is the perfect place to build community.

“What I’ve experienced in the classroom,” Monroe said, “is that kids come together to make something, and they start chatting, and it’s almost never about the projects themselves. … You’re doing something with your hands, so you’re distracted from the pressure of conversation, … and people set aside their lives and sit down and chat with someone.”

Monroe said he wanted to see that environment enacted on a larger scale, and he hopes to include amenities like spare mugs and a coffee pot to encourage people to stay and relax with others and make the studio “a place to be.” Furthermore, Monroe aspires to offer “pretty cheap prices” to allow anyone to work in the studio, not just those with expendable finances.

The Monroes first heard of Steubenville when Shannon Monroe, who is finishing her doctorate degree in archaeology with New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, was looking at schools she could teach at one day. She learned about the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s physical anthropology department and decided to move nearby in case a spot in the department opened, at which point the Monroes became absorbed in Steubenville’s various revitalization efforts.

“The more we found out about Steubenville and all the work that’s happening to try and make Steubenville walkable and bikeable,” Paul Monroe said, “it seemed exciting that we could come in on the ground level while those changes were happening and be a part of that.”

Awaiting the pottery studio’s opening, Monroe has been creating pottery out of his house, where he has a pottery wheel. Once the studio is established, Monroe said, he hopes to offer Steubenville residents a place to share fulfilling activities and obtain handmade goods that are beautiful and don’t break the bank.

“We want to build each other up,” Monroe said. “We want to have something that’s beautiful but also practical, and I think ceramics is a great connection for those two things.”