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Jenna Collins | Episode 1014

Jenna Collins is a potter making a difference. Having lived a life that included a long struggle with drugs, Jenna eventually turned her life around. Jenna eventually used her story and clay as a way of helping others get their lives out of the same struggle.

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Do people on the street really change? Are you an exception?

No. With the right setting and whether it is medication and therapy or any kind of spiritual counseling I think that anybody can change. I think there just needs to be a right set of circumstances for that person.

Can something as simple and basic as clay really make a difference in a person’s life?

Absolutely. I have seen it work in hundreds of women’s lives. Ans whether it was their season to grow or their season to grow a radical change happened in them and maybe we don’t get to see it come to fruition but their was a change because they got to leave it in the clay.

What is one thing in the studio that has you excited right now?

I am teaching women how to use transfer rice papers and I know that sounds so silly but just getting to teach them and see their creativity come to life. So right now, I know it sounds silly because I know a lot of people listening have already done that but yeah, I am teaching them how to do rice paper transfers onto our pottery.

Is there something challenging or frustrating in your studio right now that you are not sure how to address yet?

Thankfully we have a 3200 piece order right now and just trying to get all the logistics to work to get it out without putting too much pressure on the women. But also making sure that it gets done by the time the people that ordered it need it. I think that’s always a thing, trying to let people know we can’t mass produce in droves so just always getting large projects done in a manner that the women don’t feel too pressured by it.

Have you ever seen someone come into the program that is too far gone, that there is just no hope for that person?

I like to think that anyone having living, breathing breath inside of their body, that there is hope for them. I have seen some women come in who may never mentally recover from some of the things and they may need constant care but that doesn’t mean that there’s not hope for them to live a better life than what they started with.

Where do you see yourself in five more years?

I could tell you what I think I could be doing in five more years but what God’s got me doing might be a different answer but if I had my wish I am really passionate about after care. Immediate care is so important and just is important is after care. We can teach these women all they want but are we going to continue not to just send them out into the world in two years when it took me ten years to learn how to live. But I think God has me exactly where he wants me. If he wants me to stay in pottery for another five years I would do it.

Book

Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr

Contact

prodigalpottery.com

Instagram: @prodigalpottery