The Digs Shapes Chicago Ceramics

By Catherine Eves

Since its founding in 2020, The Digs Chicago has become a pillar in the Chicago ceramics scene, offering studio space and arts programming in a sunny West Town warehouse.

It’s a far cry from the typical ceramicist’s workspace—say School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) alums and co-founders of The Digs Zoe Minzenberger (BA 2020) and Fawn Penn (BFA 2020)—which are so often tucked away in dark basements.

Dotted with leafy plants and other cozy touches, the space was designed with the intent to inspire creativity and collaboration.

“[We were] going for something that would function as a studio but be kind of modern and beautiful and sunny,” Penn said. “It’s an open concept space so there’s actually no walls, and I feel like that’s very conducive to community because there’s so much dialogue and exchange that happens just being in physical proximity to each other.”

This notion of fostering community was integral to The Digs’ development. Minzenberger and Penn note that opportunities to collaborate and learn from artists in your discipline are hard to find outside of the academic institution (or your beginner-friendly local arts center), and they hope The Digs can fill the gap.

“Everyone in that department was incredibly talented, incredibly committed and passionate about ceramics, so I think that was a huge part of why Fawn and I [first] saw the importance of creating and maintaining a community in ceramics.”

“A lot of it is based around sharing information and educating people,” Penn said. “That learning environment is what’s building a community, because [our artists] have this reason to be critically engaged with each other and start conversations organically, and we have an avenue to do that."

In drafting the initial plans for The Digs in Lecturer Jordan Martins’ Professional Practices course, which Minzenberger and Penn took together in their final year at SAIC, Minzenberger said they were essentially answering the question: “How can we create something outside of the institutional walls that’s conducive to learning and exploration of personal practice?”

Now, four years into operation, The Digs is a beloved studio space for upwards of 75 ceramicists, and Minzenberger and Penn only want to continue growing. They hope to expand their studio footprint to be able to house even more ceramicists while building out their cultural and educational programming offerings.

“My biggest goals right now are to reimagine what that community aspect [of an artist studio] looks like and to be able to offer more professional opportunities and professional resources,” Minzenberger said, using an annual tax seminar for working artists as an example—things you may not necessarily learn if you didn’t go to art school.

“The ceramics community in the years I [attended SAIC] was super special,” Minzenberger said. “Everyone in that department was incredibly talented, incredibly committed and passionate about ceramics, so I think that was a huge part of why Fawn and I [first] saw the importance of creating and maintaining a community in ceramics.”

Expansion efforts are already underway, and Minzenberger and Penn hope that future SAIC graduates consider membership to The Digs as a way to maintain a ceramics practice once they no longer have regular access to educational resources, a strict studio schedule, and world-renowned instructors.

Penn’s new venture, Old Friends Gallery in Roscoe Village, is part of this bigger picture. In addition to regular exhibitions from visiting artists across all disciplines, Old Friends will give The Digs’ members the opportunity to engage with ceramic work in a gallery context.

Old Friends Gallery is a very new endeavor, but Penn is already looking ahead for opportunities to collaborate with The Digs in the future. They have clear goals for down the road: “Artists that are coming through Old Friends will be hired by The Digs to host lectures, and do walk-throughs with The Digs members, and artists talks, so we can get people thinking beyond the daily grind of being a functional potter,” Penn said. “That’s building community, because we’re having members engaging with art, engaging with each other, and encouraging conversations that are difficult to find outside of an institutional environment.” ■