Dear ClayHouston members,

I hope you’ve been doing well! It’s been a busy month for ClayHouston! As always, I’m so grateful for the opportunities to connect with ACTUAL HUMANS even though it’s still within the continuing theme of virtual everything! I always say it (and it’s always true!) you all are wonderful!

I’m happy to report that the 2020 Creative Vision: Social Media Workshop that ClayHouston co-sponsored with WiVLA this past month was a success! All six presenters provided us with a wealth of knowledge about the various social media platforms. From the basics of set-up to the more advanced features of analytics, I know we all came away with a lot of new knowledge that will help us in our ceramics and art practices.

Exciting Announcement: Our Virtual Member Exhibition is now open, be sure to check it out! Thank you to our members for submitting your gorgeous pieces! It’s always so cool to see the variety of work that everyone is making. Honestly, our exhibitions always serve to remind me of how lucky I am to be part of an organization that brings together such awe-inspiring talent. I hope you’ll join us for our general membership meeting to hear the announcement of the exhibition award winners.

Speaking of which, yes! November also brings our Annual General Membership Meeting . It will be virtual on Zoom this year: Wednesday November 18th at 6pm. Tune in to hear more about what we’ve been up to! Also, as I mentioned above, Jesse Sifuentes has selected our Member Exhibition award recipients for the “Best in Show”, “Best Sculptural” and “Best Functional” pieces and we will be announcing the winners during the meeting. I hope you’ll join us to help celebrate them! Register Here

You may recall that ClayHouston began an initiative this past summer with the goal of promoting access and inclusivity in the ceramics community. The board voted to utilize $8000 of ClayHouston’s excess 2020 budget funds toward these efforts. We’ve been busy behind the scenes with a special committee brainstorming ideas and developing actions so that we, collectively as an organization, can find ways to promote these efforts. I’m excited to tell you about one of the initiatives that has begun this Fall. ClayHouston has partnered with The Ceramics Store to identify local K-12 school ceramic programs that need our support. As you can imagine, budget shortfalls are widespread right now due to the extreme demands of the response to COVID. ClayHouston’s board voted to earmark $2000 of our excess funds to provide ceramic tool and supply donations to these local school programs and we have begun distributing them this month.

We’re so appreciative of the efforts of Pamela and Kevin at The Ceramic Store in facilitating this initiative. They’ve worked hard to help us identify which schools are in particular need and have also been coordinating the donations. In addition to this, The Ceramics Store has truly gone above and beyond by matching ClayHouston’s $2000 donation with their own funds thereby doubling the impact of these efforts!!! It’s amazing to think that there are kids out there in our community who will now have the opportunity to work with clay when they otherwise might not have been able to!

If you’re curious to hear more about what we’re doing or would like to help with these initiatives, please reach out to us by email at info@clayhouston.org.

Don’t forget about our other upcoming events:

Virtual Clay Talks: Thursday, November 19th 6-7pm. Always a fun time to chat with each other, peek at current studio works and share tips and tricks! Register Here

Bayou City Clay Crawl: Sunday, December 6th, 10am-5pm. You can now view the details at: www.bayoucityclaycrawl.com - it’s going to be a fantastic day! We have 5 studio locations that will be all outdoors (masks and social distancing required!) as well as some virtual-only artist sales. Don’t forget this is also a great opportunity to score some Empty Bowls and support the Houston Food Bank. Each studio location on the crawl will have a selection of Empty Bowls available for purchase with 100% of those proceeds directly benefitting the Houston Food Bank. The BCCC is ClayHouston’s primary fundraiser for the year and we appreciate your help in spreading the word! Please tell your friends, neighbors and collectors about this wonderful opportunity to view and purchase some of the finest ceramic works in Houston!!! Also, we are looking for volunteers for the Empty Bowls tables at 2 of our studio locations. If you are available on December 6th Register Here In addition, if you made bowls this past Spring for Empty Bowls you can donate them now. Click here to let us know you would like to donate bowls.

Yoga for Artists with Debra Chronister: December 12th, 10-11am. Join us for a Zoom yoga session with certified yoga instructor and ceramic artist Debra Chronister. Since 2009, Debra has been featured by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts with YOGA FOR POTTERS. Her classes are designed through the rhythms of working in clay and the elements of earth, and can benefit people of all abilities and experience levels. Registration pending.

I hope to see you all soon and, in the meantime, take care, stay well and don’t forget to VOTE!!!