From the basement
to the storefront.
Our Mission
At The Drawing Board, we believe art is for everyone. We all have creative side within us, and we believe that accessing that side is healing and grounding. We want to help you access and grow this important part of you!
At TDB, we focus on the joy of making – the art of art, if you will. We aim to make our space comfortable, encouraging, and accessible to all regardless of experience, age, or background. At our studio, your art is created and not critiqued.
Our Story
The Drawing Board Arts is a mother-daughter art collaborative.
By supporting us, you’re supporting a woman-owned and LGBT-run small business!
Here’s how it got started, from our basement to our storefront:
Read more about our journey...
Renee started doing pottery when her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer: “Pottery saved my life as it gave me an outlet and distraction from the reality of my mother dying and the stress of my senior management tech job,” says Renee, “There was a spiritual aspect working with the clay; it grounded me.”
She decided she wanted to share her experience with clay’s healing and grounding properties, and went back to the drawing board with her career. She left her corporate job, bought a wheel and kiln and set up a home studio in her basement.
When Renee’s mother did pass away, it was the first day of the shutdown in Ohio for COVID. Alexis, returning home from Bowling Green with her BFA, wanted to get back into throwing and help her mother continue her newfound passion through the wave of grief.
Once the two were working together, it quickly became a family affair – the rest of the family joined to help with each step of the process, from design ideas to glazing and eventually working shifts at craft shows.
These craft shows propelled this therapeutic hobby into a business, and the main catalyst was the IX-Center’s Christmas Connections show in November of 2021.
Renee explains, “Our time at the show – being on the local news, hosting demonstrations, and selling our work proved to us that this was a needed service, and that’s when it changed from ‘just selling pottery’ into finding a storefront and creating a public studio – a business.”
Meet Renee Borowski!
Owner; potter.
Renee has over 33 years of experience in business and business systems and needed a change! She loves to teach and help people achieve things they’ve always wanted to do. Renee has been driving her kids crazy their whole lives with the idea of a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can go and enjoy creativity without judgement. The idea was fondly called “The Sh*t Show”. When the idea started to become a reality, she quickly thought she needed to go back to “The Drawing Board” and come up with a more suitable name! Renee hopes that everyone comes to TDB and loves the art they create because they created it! Many people want to try the potter’s wheel but few have access, until now!
“What you believe you can achieve!”
Meet Alexis Rubertino!
Manager; artist.
Alexis grew up with a love for art and writing, and always wanted to pursue creativity as a career. She graduated with a BFA in Studio Art from Bowling Green State University in May of 2020, and is so excited and grateful to be able to use her skills in ceramics, drawing and painting, creative writing, comic making, and more to provide aid and unique workshops for beginners and inquisitives.
“Art is everywhere, anywhere, and anything you want it to be. ”
