Clay Culture: Twenty-Five Years and Counting Denise Moss

Appears in the October 2022 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Carbondale Clay Center in Carbondale, Colorado, has become a beloved community resource and renowned ceramics institution. 

The gray, 1500-square-foot, cinder-block building was tucked away at the forgotten end of Main Street. It housed maintenance equipment, had temperamental plumbing, and offered a loud fan that blew dust continuously. No street lights graced it at night, though it marked the last bit of town before the pasture lands heading east toward Aspen. But in 1997, its simplicity became the palette for the Carbondale Clay Center’s inception, a vision shared and implemented by Diane Kenney, a potter, and her friends, Michael Stranahan, Jay Leavitt, and Dan Trautman.

The Beginning

Carbondale, Colorado, back then had less than 2500 residents. It was, and remains, a mix of ranchers, budding artists, and people seeking a connection to the outdoors, all huddled in a high mountain valley where two rivers meet and the wilderness is a stone’s throw away. Now, at 7500 residents and recognized as one of Colorado’s Creative Arts Districts, Carbondale houses the robust and nationally known Carbondale Clay Center (CCC) with artist residencies, community classes, national-level workshops, and a gallery with revolving exhibitions. Over the years, it has counted more than 40 resident artists, including Brian Chen, Steven Colby, Lauren Mabry, Albion Stafford, and Mike Stumbras. Although the clay center still uses that cinder-block building, as well as added resident studios and a summer outdoor makers area, its vibrancy has led to it busting at the seams. After that initial leap of faith 25 years ago, a capital campaign to expand the clay center is underway.

The center started with financial backing from Stranahan, but it soon garnered volunteer help and donations from townspeople to get it on its feet. Kenney conferred with the director of Baltimore Clayworks for advice about class structure and studio policies and patterned her vision after other clay centers she had seen. Grants and fundraisers were also integral to its growth. Now, viability for the clay center comes from reaching into multiple areas, including participating in town events, partnering with businesses for promotions, working with other art venues in the Roaring Fork Valley, maintaining a national presence at conventions, and gaining visibility through individuals sharing their experiences with the programs offered at CCC. These include the gallery shows and resident-artist program as well as the core programming of workshops and classes for all ages and skill levels. 

Growth and Community

Matthew Eames has managed the studio at CCC for the past 9 years. When he started, he was a part-time studio technician, working 20 hours a week. Only the director was a full-time paid employee. Now the CCC has three full-time employees and one part-time employee. The center evolved from running 3–4 classes every session (a session is 8 weeks long) to running 7 classes every session. Those classes all have waiting lists. “Activity and interest have been so elevated that we don’t have enough space to accommodate the demand,” Eames says. He believes that a large area of growth and development has also been within the residency program. “It seems to have gotten to the point where the clay center is in the discussion of many undergraduate and graduate programs as a possible landing place for an artist’s next step,” he explains. “It’s exciting to hear more people at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference every year inquire about the program and what Carbondale has to offer.” In return, it has offered a stronger residency program and more events in Carbondale each year. The opening of the CCC in 1997 coincided with the town starting a First Friday event each month. Main Street is shut down to car traffic, and businesses open for shows, food, and live events. Music graces the corners and themed activities prevail. First Friday event attendance has doubled in recent years, with the clay center as the linchpin at the end of Main Street. “I have noticed the significant development of Carbondale and its effect on the clay center. It’s very exciting to have been part of this growth,” Eames says.

Angela Bruno has been the director for 7 years and understands how to corral a community into supporting an art center. “Listening to the wants and needs of the community was key, as well as figuring out how to provide within our means. I knew that if I was going to make CCC more accessible to the community, we needed to be open to those community members who were not professional ceramic artists and embrace the hobbyists and the casually curious. I wanted a place to make clay work, but to also feel supported and inspired in learning, not on a professional level, but on a personal one.” As such, the center worked to emphasize supporting varied levels of experience—not just in the classes, but in all aspects of programming and events. Working closely with Eames, they paid attention to what people were asking of them and of the center. They established a Makers Membership to offer support for artists with their own spaces. Bruno also scrapped the old website and created an updated brand that was more vibrant and engaging. CCC began attending and representing at NCECA. Bruno explains, “Collaborations are important to me—I started looking at ways to expand our gallery offerings by creating exhibition collaborations with artists of other mediums: glass and clay, fiber and clay, wood and clay—and I started utilizing the residents in other ways, not just [for] studio maintenance. I am proud to say that some of our former residents have moved on to professional positions at other ceramics studios.” 

Bruno and Eames’ work, as well as the contributions of the residents and support staff, meant that CCC provided a reprieve through COVID. It was a safe space where creativity and connection flourished.

As stated by CCC founder, Diane Kenney, 25 years ago, “The Clay Center will be a refuge for the community. To take clay into one’s hands, conceive an idea, and make a physical object of some quality becomes a redemptive, if not an almost revolutionary act. Clay is such a primal, organic, and ancient material. Making things out of clay can both comfort and nourish the human spirit.”

25 years and counting . . . The Carbondale Clay Center staff and board are actively pursuing an expansion that would more than double the current facility in an effort to continue to serve the community for the next 25 years. To stay informed on all CCC events and happenings, join the newsletter or follow on Instagram and Facebook. To learn more, go to www.carbondaleclay.org.

the author Denise Moss is an English professor at Colorado Mountain College. She began taking clay classes in the summer of 2020 and has been addicted to working with clay ever since. She is a 30-year resident of Carbondale.