Local Ceramics Group Marks Ten Year Milestone, Announces New Name

On November 19, 2025 the Fuller Lodge Art Center Clay Club marked a decade of community pottery work and unveiled a new identity. Founded in 2015 as a partnership with the Fuller Lodge Art Center under the direction of Ken Nebel, the Clay Club grew from the initiative of local artists Gloria Gilmore House and Alison Ticknor. The organization announced it will now operate as Los Alamos Community Ceramics as it looks to expand programming and community engagement.

The organization began with a simple mission, to create a thriving ceramics community for experienced potters and newcomers alike. Over the past ten years the studio opened public membership, established a regular kiln firing schedule and maintained communal glazes, while creating a welcoming workspace for students and artists. The announcement included a courtesy photo and an updated member list that organizers intend to use to broaden outreach and collaboration with other cultural and educational programs in the county.

For Los Alamos County residents the group’s evolution is more than an arts story. Community ceramics provides opportunities for intergenerational learning, affordable creative expression and social connection. Participation in studio arts is associated with lower isolation and improved well being, outcomes that local nonprofits and public health planners increasingly recognize as part of broader strategies to support mental health and community resilience.

There are also practical public health and safety considerations as the studio grows. Shared kilns and commercial glazes require careful management of ventilation, storage and material safety. The club’s history of maintaining glazes and a scheduled firing routine positions it to meet those needs, and the renaming effort creates a platform to seek grant support and partnerships that can fund equipment upgrades and safer, more accessible facilities.

As Los Alamos Community Ceramics moves forward it brings a decade of grassroots organization to county arts infrastructure. The group’s next steps will shape not just the local cultural landscape, but also how creative spaces contribute to social equity, lifelong learning and collective health in Los Alamos County.