Colorado Potters Guild Tour and Studio Wish List
22 Photos
Click on the thumbnail to open the album and then click on any thumbnail to enlarge the photo and scroll through the contents.
The Colorado Potters Guild was formed in 1964 by a group of 18 people who had taken pottery classes and found themselves with no studio space to continue their clay exploration after exhausting every class available to them at the time. Thanks to their efforts, the guild now owns the building where it’s housed on historic South Pearl St. in Denver and has been outfitted with equipment and materials which ensures that current and future members will always have a place to work and to be a part of a clay community. The guild’s members have varied backgrounds – some with a formal education in ceramics (like myself) and most who found clay through continuing education classes and fell in love the medium.
Last fall, I applied for membership to the Colorado Potters Guild and in late January, after a arduous application and interview process, was admitted along with 2 other potters. I understand why the application process is difficult. Membership is for life and standing members want to make sure that they like and can work with potential members before handing over a set of keys for 24-7 access. Openings occur rarely, and generally happen when members leave the state, or can no longer work with clay because of advanced age.
This year was apparently unprecedented because three of us were accepted into the guild at the same time and I consider myself fortunate to have been chosen out of all the applicants that applied for membership. The cool thing about having members of all ages – our oldest members are in their 80′s and 90′s - is that there is such a range of work and experience. Isn’t it wonderful that there is no defined age limit for working with clay? I truly believe that that this keeps our older members young and hope that I will be in the same boat when I reach a riper age. I don’t often get the chance to see everyone at the same time, because our schedules are so varied. At least 3 times a year, however, we do come together for our biannual sales/potlucks and our annual top to bottom cleaning day in June.
Last week, I popped over to the guild to return some books to the guild’s library and realized that I haven’t really used the space that much because I do a lot of my work in my home studio, which is primitive to say the least. There are a number of improvements I’d like to make to my studio, but have delayed them because we might be moving next year to a different part of Denver and don’t want to spend the money until a decision is made. What is on my wish list?
- Solar panels to power my kilns and home. I already have an estimate from REC Solar, but decided to hold off until we know whether or not we’re moving. While there are a number of rebates and tax credits being offered, it’s still a substantial investment. The cool thing about installing solar panels in Denver is that I would still be tied to the grid and in the event of insufficient battery charge due to a string of cloudy days, there would be no loss of power. This was a big concern for me because it would be a bummer to have the kiln turn off before reaching temp. And, if I accumulated extra power, the electric company would pay me a rebate!
- A “Cink” like contraption for water and cleanup. My friend, Jim Bridgeman, is making a homemade version of the Cink and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.
- Heat – oh it was so cold in there last winter, despite my portable heaters. I can’t leave the portable ones on over night either (unattended they would be a fire hazard) which led to frozen clay and glazes in January. I could temporarily move my glazes and favorite tools to the guild since I do have 5 shelves which I’m not making good use of right now.
- Drywall the whole space – it’s insulated, but not completely drywalled which sort of makes the space feel temporary.
- Additional windows/skylights – I only have one small window and the tiny window bank above the garage door. During warmer months, I leave all the doors open for natural light. In the winter, it’s dark and I depend on shop style lights.
-
- My messy studio – okay, it looks much better than this currently
-
- My Kilns, notice the insulation minus drywall
-
- Primitive studio sink
Click on an image to enlarge
Since I don’t work a 9-5 job, I often find myself alone at the guild during the day and decided that this winter, I’m going to make use of the facilities since it’s fully equipped and HEATED. It’s also within walking distance of my home which makes it very convenient. The guild has a lot of equipment including an electric slab roller, spray booth, kick wheels, some motorized, and an electric wheel. I’m such a creature of habit though, and don’t really like throwing on foreign wheels, preferring my own. But, the truth is that I have been doing so much hand building lately, that I don’t really need to use the wheels at the guild. The only piece of equipment I wish the guild had was a small gas kiln so that I could fire it myself without having to organize a group firing. Overall, I can’t complain.
Hope you enjoyed the tour,
~Cynthia
Mary T.
August 30, 2008 at 12:37 pm //
I have wondered why you didn’t use their space during the winter to store your clay if nothing else!? Now I know. It waould be a good thing to use the electric slab roller too. Saves the arms. Hope you can do that this winter.
Janet
August 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm //
I dont need a cink but could use a sink. If we were staying here long enough, I would want to finish off our attic space with the same things. Hope your wish list comes true.
Linda Starr
August 30, 2008 at 10:35 pm //
What a great guild tour and a wonderful place to work – just love it. Electric slab roller, never heard of one. A small gas kiln would be great – I would love to share one with a few others some day – love reduction. Now that I’m back at the college, I can see a problem moving from one space to the other. the other day I didn’t even have a wire to cut my clay at the college. it wasn’t in my tool box I carry – it was at my table at home, so I can see why you don’t move from one space to the other. What are the wood tables with the silver bowls? 4th photo? Solar power, that would be great. My electric consumption for the last two years went down significantly but has gone up in price $50 per month. So no matter how much I cut back it still costs me more because they charge more.
Sarah Regan Snavely
August 31, 2008 at 6:10 am //
Loved the tour. I haven’t met an artist who feels like his or her work space couldn’t be improved. I have always maintained a wishlist for the studio — the fun part is finding an old list and noticing that all the things on the list have been achieved! Great feeling.
I’d love to know more about the solar panels to fire your kiln. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Cynthia
August 31, 2008 at 7:31 am //
Hey Mary, by the time March rolled around last year, it was already warming up – ya know how we have those 50 degree days. Don’t you think that Dec/ Jan/Feb are Colorado’s coldest months of the year? I also think that I was slow to move into the guild because I was a little intimidated since it was a new experience. Not anymore though…
I agree Janet – every art studio needs some source of water regardless of where it is! When my mom built her new home a few years ago, she turned one of the bedrooms into her craft room, complete with sink and cabinets. My brother thought she was crazy because he thought it would hurt the resale value – but I don’t think that really matters to her since she plans on staying a long time.
I had never seen an electric slab roller either, Linda! It’s sort of cool though because it can take a whole 25 pound bag of clay and turn it into an even slab with minimal effort on my part. Considering that I hand roll my slabs at home, a regular slab roller would be a luxury! I know what you mean about the tools – I did that this year at the guild. I was looking for a needle tool and couldn’t find one anywhere – and of course it wouldn’t be cool to dig through someone else’s shelves. Our shelves are sacrosanct. The fourth photo – those are kick wheels without the wheel heads attached. I’m not sure where the wheel heads are – though there is a place for everything.
Hey Sarah, solarizing our home/my studio would probably happen next year depending on where we’re living. We have a rental property in another part of town that we’re considering moving into next year when our tenants move out. My husband and I have considered selling it, but would be hit with capital gains taxes, so by moving into it and living there at least 2 years, we could sell and not pay any taxes on the sale. When I talked with REC Solar, they explained that installing solar panels would pay for itself after about 5 years, so we would want to make sure we were going to stay for awhile. The reality is that we would move into the other home and stay at least till my daughter graduated from high school in 2015 – so it would make sense to add solar panels to the home at that point. We love our neighborhood where we live right now, but from a financial standpoint, it might make more sense to sell this one and move.
On the studio side, I sort of like that I’ve managed to make a functioning studio with very little equipment. Although, when I bought the digital kiln last winter, I never realized how wonderful it would be to have state of the art equipment. If I had to pick a piece of studio equipment aside from the wish list posted above (since those are really basic, aside from the solar panels) I would choose a slab roller, followed by a spray booth, maybe an extruder – I’m trying to think of some other things…, pug mill maybe
Lurearts
August 31, 2008 at 1:41 pm //
Living off the grid is a dream for me. It sounds like you have the perfect setting since you can still be hooked up to the grid as a back up for firing. I hope it works out for you!
Cynthia
September 1, 2008 at 8:14 am //
Thanks Pam – it’s still at least 9 months out. Now, I need to research and plan for everything depending on where we decide to live.
Jerry
September 1, 2008 at 2:35 pm //
Thanks for the tour. Thanks for the Cink link!! I have never heard of that before and I’m toying around in my head how to set up a home studio. While pricey, that would be a great think to have. Solar panels would also be great, and it is good that you can sell back to the grid. Not all places will let you do that.
Cynthia
September 2, 2008 at 5:42 am //
Welcome Jerry! I’m keeping an eye out for Jim’s progress making his own “cink” – I think he purchased a utility sink, buckets with a trap, and some type of pump that will cycle the fresh water back up through the faucet. I’m really curious and I’m sure his is going to come in under $300.00 – less if he can buy some of those things second hand.
Nancy
September 2, 2008 at 7:14 am //
How cool is that … I mean being able to walk there is a great thing in its self. I love seeing all the photo’s. As usual each post is a gem to read. I learn so much reguarding pottery that I had no idea about. Love the free education I receive here ar the Colorado Art Studio.
Cheryl
September 2, 2008 at 10:22 am //
Thanks for the tour. I love to see the inside of other studios. I really like your new blog header!
Sarah Regan Snavely
September 2, 2008 at 3:02 pm //
Go for the slab roller. I found a used one many years ago. It is a small Bailey and manual, but works great. The best $200 I’ve spent on studio equipment!
Anne W
September 8, 2008 at 9:11 pm //
Hey Cynthia.. Catching up on some of your postings here..
RE heating of your studio.. As you know, I used to have a small studio up in Canada. It was a pre-existing structure with a slab, unsealed concrete floor.
I polyurethane sealed the floor then installed radiant heat (well actually an infrared heater). It was the most amazing thing. There were no fans and the studio was comfortable through the winter, even on those -20 (or colder) days. Since the floor was already poured, installing coils in the floor (electric or boiler driven) was not an option. The unit we selected was quite similar to the ones used by stores like Home Depot up there: a long unit that was ceiling mounted. If this is not the actual unit (and it may be), it looked something like this:
http://www.schwankgroup.com/en/prod-tube-str.asp
The way it worked was it heated what was *in* the room vs the air in the room so was ultimately more efficient. I never had cold or frozen clay or glazes and always had warm feet, since the the concrete floor was warm and radiated heat but the room itself was comfortably cool though never hot. We got the unit through a heating contractor and had it professionally installed and was fully inspected by the gas company.
It had a thermostat so it could be turned down when you weren’t going to be there, ran on propane, though they had models, as I recall, that ran on natural gas as well. I wish I could remember how much the unit cost and how much propane it actually went through. It was a bit of an investment and a commitment (sorry I can’t remember the price), but it meant I could pot comfortably and productively even in the dead of winter.
The other thing I thought about was the lighting in the studio. Natural light is so much more desirable in a studio. I liked these: http://www.solatube.com/homeowner/Introduction.php
I ended up settling, however, on florescent light fixtures with daylight bulbs which were less expensive to get and operate.