People's Pottery Project

10/15/2026

It’s ADHD Awareness Day

Ilka, one of our founders, would like to share her story and experience with ADHD. It’s one that maybe other people relate to and shows why it’s important to raise awareness, de-stigmatize talking about our mental health, and the complicated relationships we hold.

A lot of people are diagnosed with ADHD later on in life. Ilka *was* diagnosed at an early age as she was deemed disruptive and would get into fights in school. However, her parents never told her until she was in prison at 22. With that, she began to understands that she isn’t broken, but needed the specific tools to help her navigate life.

Now, she embraces her ADHD! She thinks quickly on her feet and outside the box. She lives knowing that this is the same brain that allowed her to survive prison and be successful outside of prison with the tools to do extra things that help her focus.

She can understand that her parents didn’t want to make her feel out of place or to be taking medication because of the side effects. But, it inadvertently made her feel even more isolated. Now, Ilka is grateful to be held in community by people who welcome her for who she is and sees her brain as a superpower!

10/14/2026

10/10/2026

What exactly is life without parole? How are some of our previous participants able to work at People’s Pottery Project if they were sentenced to life without parole, like Bustamante, highlighted in the Saveur article?

Life without parole, sometimes referred to as “death by incarceration,” is a sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for release on parole. This is different from a sentence of 25 years to life, which generally allows a person to become eligible for parole consideration after serving the minimum term. Parole eligibility still does not guarantee release and the individual must still go through a larger process.

A person serving life may still have other potential avenues for having their sentence changed including appeals, resentencing, or executive clemency such as a commutation. A commutation can reduce or change a sentence without being the same thing as parole.

This is what happened in Susan Bustamante’s case. As described in the Saveur article, Bustamante served 31 years of a California life-without-parole sentence before her sentence was commuted in 2017. After her release, she became a member of People’s Pottery Project and worked there as a ceramic artist.

There’s a lot to learn about the prison system and the different ways that life sentences deeply affect our communities across the United States. You can read more about life sentences and efforts to reduce the use of life imprisonment from The Sentencing Project.

Saveur article here!
https://www.saveur.com/recipes/peoples-pottery-project-women-parolees-find-a-path-forward/

10/07/2026

Wow!! We can’t believe how many great ceramicists are out there and who we got to meet through our equipment sale. THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY!

Those funds went directly into our nonprofit’s operations and a small part of it will go into sending the PPP team to Oregon for Stone Soup PDX!!!

This is a great opportunity for us in the immediate and long term. We would be grateful if you considered a donation of any amount to help our team go to share our mission, make lasting connections, and for a few team members-leave California for the first time ever!!

Thank you so much!

09/21/2026

What exactly is life without parole? How are some of our previous participants able to work at People’s Pottery Project if they were sentenced to life without parole, like Bustamante, highlighted in the Saveur article?
Life without parole, sometimes referred to as “death by incarceration,” is a sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for release on parole. This is different from a sentence of 25 years to life, which generally allows a person to become eligible for parole consideration after serving the minimum term. Parole eligibility still does not guarantee release and the individual must still go through a larger process.

A person serving life may still have other potential avenues for having their sentence changed including appeals, resentencing, or executive clemency such as a commutation. A commutation can reduce or change a sentence without being the same thing as parole.

This is what happened in Susan Bustamante’s case. As described in the Saveur article, Bustamante served 31 years of a California life-without-parole sentence before her sentence was commuted in 2017. After her release, she became a member of People’s Pottery Project and worked there as a ceramic artist.

There’s a lot to learn about the prison system and the different ways that life sentences deeply affect our communities across the United States. You can read more about life sentences and efforts to reduce the use of life imprisonment from The Sentencing Project.

Saveur article here!
https://www.saveur.com/recipes/peoples-pottery-project-women-parolees-find-a-path-forward/

09/15/2026

“It’s weird to put a real fork in my mouth,” says Susan Bustamente, while stacking footed oval platters at People’s Pottery Project (PPP), a ceramic collective in Los Angeles’ Glassell Park neighborhood. “Because we ate with plastic. If we were locked down, everything came in styrofoam trays. And it took a long time to not save a container with a lid, because it gave us something to eat out of rather than the little white bowl that you could buy in [the] canteen.”

What does pottery mean to our formerly incarcerated loved ones? Wanting beautiful dishware might seem simple or even frivolous to some, but that desire might be more meaningful when you know that not everyone has that choice.

Everyone deserves beautiful objects and seemingly simple things can bring us real joy.

Quote from an article by Shane Mitchell for Saveur. Read the full article here!

https://www.saveur.com/recipes/peoples-pottery-project-women-parolees-find-a-path-forward/

09/08/2026

Throwback all the way to 2022 when People’s Pottery Project was a Springboard Fund Awardee of the Durfee Foundation. Your support means everything to us.

Pictured here is our 2022 cohort of participants in our training program, including our wonderful team members who stayed with us long after their participation! We’ve just welcomed a new cohort into our program where participants learn pottery skills, business know-how, and find community in each other.

09/05/2026

It’s a major blessing to be able to connect with children through pottery! We love to do workshops, hit us up and let’s work together!

Email us at [email protected] or shoot us a message!

09/04/2026

Did you know that nearly 60% of women in prison and 80% of women in jails are mothers? Every year, tens of thousands of pregnant people enter prisons and jails, where many are denied the care they need and separated from their loved ones.

Pregnancy and birth should be met with care. When parents transition out of prison, they can face enormous barriers to reconnecting with their children and loved ones and finding stable housing or job opportunities. Supporting parents during reentry helps create healthier and thriving communities for everyone.