Clay Arts Vegas: Firing up the community
The owners of Clay Arts Vegas, 1511 S. Main St., aren’t afraid to do several things at once, and they aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty doing it.
“We kind of made it our mission to have raw materials for sale, teach classes and have a gallery space,” said Peter Jakubowski, one of the three owners. “There was a real lack of three-dimensional art in the Arts District and a real lack of ceramic art.”
Jakubowski and his partners, Thomas Bumblauskas and John Gregg, opened the business 4½ years ago and made a point of educating, showing both local and international art, and bringing in visiting artists for workshops, such as Sandy Blain of Mesa, Arizona, who is scheduled to teach a workshop Sept. 5 and 6 at Clay Arts Vegas in concert with a solo show of her work, “Texture Follows Form.” Blain also plans to be on hand for the show’s opening reception, scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 4.
“They’re doing a good job with their workshops and exhibitions,” Blain said. “It works together because their students get to see the finished work, and then they get to see the process firsthand. It’s a hands-on workshop, so they’ll be creating their own work also.”
The owners of Clay Arts Vegas try to bring in a visiting artist every other month. They often find the artists they want to feature from juried group shows.
“We try to bring in people who are doing things we don’t see happening in Las Vegas,” Jakubowski said. “You end up seeing how the visiting artist’s thoughts and ideas start affecting the work of people here. Their work evolves, and you get to see these hybrids of ideas. It’s exciting to see how they make it their own.”
Blain’s workshop is set to focus on handbuilding with pinch coils and adding textures to surfaces. Handbuilding refers to the process of working with clay by hand using only simple tools, not the pottery wheel.
“The imprints will probably be from found objects or items the students bring from home,” Blain said. “We’ll be talking about design, depth of surface and how that interacts with glazes. In the end, the surface and the form will work together for a functional or sculptural form.”
Blain was a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for 33 years before moving to Arizona and setting up her own ceramics studio. She is a practicing studio artist and teaches a few classes in Arizona, doing two to four workshops each year.
Jakubowski said the studio doesn’t have much trouble getting big names in the ceramics field to come out and teach a workshop. It’s usually just a matter of asking.
“I think it’s a little easier for us to get people to come out here because people want to come out here,” he said. “We cash in on the power of Las Vegas.”
Jakubowski attributes the success of Clay Arts Vegas to several things. The building is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. There is also the synergy of the three aspects of the business, but he feels the main reason is its efforts at community building. The studio’s raku firing on the second Saturday of each month is a potluck event and draws 40 to 70 people. The next one is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sept. 12.
“We have such a transient community in Las Vegas,” Jakubowski said. “We work really hard to make sure that everyone who walks through that door feels like they’ve got a home.”
Call 702-375-4147 or visit clayartsvegas.com.
— To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.
Clay Arts Vegas1511 S. Main St.
Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
A raku firing and potluck is set for the second Saturday of each month, with the next one scheduled for 4 p.m. Sept. 12.
Call 702-375-4147 or visit clayartsvegas.com.
