Artist Series: Recreation Center
During my time at Classic Specs — an artist-inspired eyewear brand — I sourced, interviewed, and wrote stories on artists and creative professionals living in Brooklyn, NY. This one features Recreation Center, a ceramics studio run by Cooper Union grad Josephine Heilpern, known for her Memphis Group-inspired pieces.
from the piece
“Josephine Heilpern is the kind of person that can make you excited about clay. As she gleefully guided us through her ceramics studio, Recreation Center — a flower-painted former auto body shop-turned-shared artists’ space — we found ourselves fascinated by even the most minute details of her process: the speckles that form when the glaze interacts with clay in her kiln, for instance, or the subtle differences in each piece she creates.
It was a similar fascination that attracted Josephine to ceramics in the first place. After graduating from Cooper Union with a yet-unfulfilled urge to create functional art objects, Josephine found her calling in an unlikely setting: a farm with an on-site studio. The experience of eating food she grew off of plates she made by hand was a crucial turning point for herself as an artist: “It was the first time that I had felt something, for real. It felt natural,” she says.”
