Back Door Pottery

Back Door Pottery is a working pottery studio and handmade-ware shop in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri, run by potter Rebecca A. Koop since 1979.¹² More than four decades on, it sells original handcrafted stoneware and porcelain, takes custom tile and mosaic commissions, and teaches evening wheel-throwing and hand-building classes out of its St. John Avenue studio.³⁴

Description

Back Door Pottery is the working studio of potter Rebecca A. Koop, located at 3922 St. John Ave in the Scarritt Renaissance area of Kansas City’s Historic Northeast.¹² The studio produces original, functional pottery — bowls, pitchers, teapots and similar wares in stoneware and porcelain — alongside custom tile and mosaic work, Egyptian paste pieces, and kiln-firing services.³ Visitors can buy handmade pottery directly and commission custom work.³

Beyond its retail and production side, Back Door Pottery operates as a teaching studio, offering evening pottery classes for beginners through advanced students, hands-on workshops for kids, and private group sessions.³ Regular classes run Tuesday and Thursday evenings.³ The exterior of the building is fronted by a mosaic tile mural of Koop’s own making, depicting the earth, constellations and a muted rainbow.²

The business has operated since 1979, making it one of the longest-running independent pottery studios in the metro.¹² It is a fixture of the Northeast Kansas City arts community, with Koop active in local arts and chamber organizations.²

Ownership and history

Back Door Pottery was founded by Rebecca A. Koop in 1979, shortly after she graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute.⁴ The name comes from the business’s origins: Koop started out of a rented basement space where the “front door” was actually the back door of the house.² In 1986, Koop and the studio moved to their present location at 3922 St. John Ave, just blocks from the historic Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall.²

Koop is deeply embedded in the Kansas City arts and Northeast community. She was a founding member of the KC Clay Guild and served on its board for ten years, served on the board of the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce (later becoming its Executive Director and Business and Community Events Director), and serves on the board of Northeast Arts KC.²

In September 2023, a 45-foot hackberry tree felled by summer storms crashed onto Koop’s outdoor raku kiln, destroying the shed covering it and knocking down the studio’s electric service masts; the studio remained in operation and Koop sought community support to rebuild.⁴

Links

• Official site: https://backdoorpottery.com/
• Online shop: https://shopbackdoorpottery.square.site/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Back-Door-Pottery-100057656942790/
• ArtsKC profile: https://artskcgo.com/organization/back-door-pottery/

Sources

Disputes

None recorded.

See also

• _Tier1-Non-Service-Local-Businesses

Footnotes

1. Back Door Pottery, official website — https://backdoorpottery.com/ — asserts: business name, address (3922 St. John Ave, Kansas City, MO 64123), owner Rebecca A. Koop, founded 1979. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Northeast News, “Back Door Pottery Offers Creative Outlet” — https://northeastnews.net/pages/back-door-pottery-offers-creative-outlet-2/ — asserts: Koop founded the business in 1979 out of a back-door basement space; moved to 3922 St. John Ave in 1986; Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood near the Kansas City Museum; mosaic tile mural; community board roles (KC Clay Guild founding member, NEKC Chamber, Northeast Arts KC). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Back Door Pottery, official website (offerings/hours) — https://backdoorpottery.com/ — asserts: sells original pottery, handcrafted stoneware/porcelain, custom tile & mosaic, Egyptian paste, kiln firing; evening classes for beginners–advanced, kids’ workshops, private sessions; hours Tues & Thurs 7–9 PM; phone (816) 483-6964. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. KCUR, “Summer storms destroyed this Kansas City artist’s kiln with a tree” (Oct 3, 2023) — https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2023-10-03/summer-storms-destroyed-this-kansas-city-artists-kiln-with-a-tree-thats-a-loss-to-everybody — asserts: founded 1979 shortly after Koop graduated from Kansas City Art Institute; St. John Ave / Historic Northeast; makes bowls, pitchers, teapots, tile mosaics; September 2023 storm/kiln damage and rebuild effort. ↩ ↩² ↩³