Clay Club members at a 2023 LAAC craft fair, top row from left, Jen Moss, Lindsey Gurganus, Judy Goggin, Svetlana Kirillova, Jocelyn Warner, Vanessa Feagin; bottom row from left, Kathleen Weiss and Bonnie Peterson. Courtesy photo

COMMUNITY News:

The Fuller Lodge Art Center Clay Club, or “Clay Club” as members call it, is celebrating 10 years of building a ceramics community in Los Alamos and looking to the future.

The organization began in 2015 as a partnership with the then Fuller Lodge Art Center, under the direction of Ken Nebel, and grew out of the passion of two local artists, Gloria Gilmore-House and Alison Ticknor. Their mission was clear: to form a thriving clay community where both experienced potters and curious newcomers could explore their creativity. They opened the doors for public membership, developed a regular kiln firing schedule, maintained glazes, and made the studio a welcoming space for students and artists alike.

Clay Club has since stewarded the ceramics studio while Los Alamos Arts Council (LAAC) hosts the formal ceramics education classes and as the years passed, the Clay Club blossomed. They introduced regular Clay Plays, where members could gather informally to create and share ideas and teach one another new skills. Their passion spilled beyond the studio walls into the community, with pottery fundraising sales held during popular events such as “An Evening of Arts and Culture” and the Arts and Crafts Fairs organized by LAAC. In 2020, the annual ‘Celebration of Clay’ was hosted at the Fuller Lodge Art Center in partnership with the statewide group New Mexico Potters & Clay Artists, inviting the broader clay community to Los Alamos.

Earlier in 2025, a pilot partnership with Little Studio on the Mesa was launched to meet the growing number of members that live in White Rock. This was deemed a success, and this second studio location continues to provide a ceramics art outlet for all members.

The official mission of Clay Club is to foster a vibrant ceramic arts community by creating opportunities for artists to connect and enrich their lives through hands-on education and creative exploration with clay.

What truly sustains the Clay Club, however, is its dedicated membership. The studios thrive thanks to members who take on leadership roles, volunteer their time, and pour their enthusiasm into everything from organizing firings to maintaining equipment and supplies.

These are community-built studios in every sense—without the ongoing commitment and care of its members, the Clay Club simply could not exist.

The membership model of Clay Club means that since the beginning, over 100 lifetime community members have joined the club, with about 50 active studio users at any one time.

This growth led Clay Club to become a 501c(7) non-profit social club in 2024, and they are eager to announce a new name on their journey to becoming a 501c(3) educational non-profit: Los Alamos Community Ceramics.

This new name better encompasses the greater ceramics community outside of the Fuller Lodge Art Center. If you are interested in joining Los Alamos Community Ceramics, check out their website at www.clayclub.org.

Clay Club founder, Gloria Gilmore-House, in the Fuller Lodge Art Center studio in 2017. Courtesy photo

Clay Club founder Alison Ticknor demonstrating throwing techniques in the Fuller Lodge Art Center studio in 2017. Courtesy photo

Clay Club members Soledad Herrera, Branden Willman, Kara Peters and Claire Saks learn how to use underglaze transfers at a monthly social and learning event called Clay Plays. Courtesy photo