It has been said that when one door closes, another door opens. In the case of 632 First St., it is two doors that will be opening to bring two new businesses into the space, both offering different models but sharing the same philosophy. The address that spent a period as Benicia’s post office and most recently was the home to Charlie’s Attic will be held by Happy Life Pottery and The Unclouded Adventure.

Happy Life Pottery was founded by David Stellato and his fiancée Amy Therese as a means to open up a pottery studio for all skill levels that focuses on the joy of the creative process rather than becoming a master of the form. Therese also partnered with certified Intentional Creativity teacher Kerry Lee Laird to establish The Unclouded Adventure, which Laird says will primarily be an online community but will conduct workshops at the space once a month. The goal of The Unclouded Adventure is to introduce creative methods to assist in healing processes.

The union of the two businesses have a long history. In 2014, Stellato retired after 30 years of working in the corporate world in Austin, Texas to raise his sons. However, he was diagnosed with Stage Four throat cancer not long after. As part of the coping process, he took up pottery which changed his life.

“Pottery provided a phenomenal outlet for clarity and focus,” he said. “I was really fortunate to work in the oldest running studio in Austin that had been in business for over 40 years, having a place that I could go to to learn the art and the gifts that come through the medium of pottery.”

It was through pottery that Stellato met Therese, and they later became engaged. After several rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, Stellato’s cancer went into full remission. Two years later, Stellato found out that his mother in Vacaville had been diagnosed with Stage Three ovarian cancer and had been given a 13 percent chance of survival. Stellato and Therese left Austin to care of his mother and father, who had Parkinson’s disease.

“We dropped everything and came out here,” he said.

In the midst of caring for Stellato’s parents, he and Therese had become attracted to Benicia’s artist community, attending exhibitions at Gallery 621 and Arts Benicia. After his mother went into remission, Stellato and his fiancee came up with the idea to start a business dedicated to using pottery as a creative healing force. They sold their Austin house in March and are living in Stellato’s parents’ home in Vacaville.

As the new business was being planned, Therese attended an art opening in Napa and learned about Laird through another artist and found that their philosophies were very similar.

“I went to her website, and she’s all of those things that I knew I wanted to deal with in the future,” Therese said. “I wasn’t thinking partnership or anything, I just thought, OK, this is clearly a direction I’m supposed to go in.”

Therese emailed Laird and the two met. Along the way, they determined they would establish a business geared toward creating a community around introducing different creative processes and healing modalities to help people gain clarity in their lives.

“It’s sort of living your life to the fullest and getting the most joy out of it,” Laird said.

Therese said these modalities include everything from acupuncture, meditation and other methods. The goal is for individuals to learn about the different processes and determine which one works best in their lives.

“We’re creating a community that can explore some of these different processes and things that are out there that can help people live their life to the fullest,” Therese said.

Laird said The Unclouded Adventure will primarily be an online community, but monthly workshops will be hosted at Happy Life Pottery for people to meet in person. She envisions the business as a “third place” people can go to between school and work.

“The way the world is right now, people are moving so fast and they’re all on electronics and technology, and it’s hard to connect,” she said. “This is a way we want to help people connect.”

One of the goals of Happy Life Pottery, Stellato said, was to simply bring a community pottery studio to Benicia, which has been home to world famous sculptors like Robert Arneson. However, despite the presence of glassblowing studios and ceramic painting businesses like Artcentric, Stellato said Benicia does not have a public studio where people can create their own pottery, which is a void he hopes to fill with Happy Life.

The bigger goal, though, is to bring all types of people together— whether they are pottery masters or have never touched clay in their lives—to have an enjoyable time making ceramics.

“The goal of the shop is not necessarily to be running a school to teach new future potters, although that could happen,” Stellato said, “but is to focus on the joy from the pottery. The focus is on creation and enjoyment rather than grading someone on steps one through five like so many schools do. We’re gonna make it as easy an environment as possible for people to be creative.”

“It’s finding enjoyment as opposed to judgment,” Therese added.

Stellato and Therese selected the former site of Charlie’s Attic because of its cement floors and skylights, which they said created the perfect spot to create art. Stellato also said that the wheel used will require less water and thus be more environmentally sound.

Happy Life Pottery will have workshops for intermediate and beginning pottery students that will focus on wheel throwing. The business will also have works by other artists on display and for sale, and even feature guest artists, the first of whom will be Stellato’s mother.

Everybody involved hopes the businesses will become a place for people to come in and walk away feeling positive and enlightened.

“The main thing is they come in and enjoy themselves,” Therese said. “Anything else is just a bonus.”

Happy Life Pottery and The Unclouded Adventure are expected to open by the end of the year. Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be at the space for the Holiday Open House on Dec. 1. A workbook for The Unclouded Adventure will be available online at TheUncloudedAdventure.com on Thursday. For more information on the progress of the two businesses, go to their Facebook pages at facebook.com/TheUncloudedAdventure and facebook.com/happylifepottery.