Clay Studio

Claymobile, our community engagement program, brings a "pop-up" ceramics studio to schools, older adult facilities, community centers, events, and social service agencies throughout philadelphia. Since 1994, our professional teaching artists have served 50,000 children. Through claymobile, we provide arts education opportunities that use the tactile medium of clay to nurture imagination, critical thinking, and persistence. Claymobile operates all year round, annually serving more than 6,000 children, youth, and adults visiting 200 partner sites across philadelphia. Additionally, our community engagement initiatives introduce 15,000 people to the world of ceramics through our hands-on activities and demonstrations at free public events around philadelphia each year. The after-school initiative provides students in our immediate community with arts enrichment activities and homework assistance during out-of-school time hours. The clay studio is rooted in the belief that people deserve access to high-quality arts opportunities, and the claymobile is one of the ways we bring them to the local community.

The gallery and exhibitions program at the clay studio is a vibrant platform that annually showcases the work of over 300 local, national, and international ceramic artists. We curate and present multiple exhibitions, including solo and group shows, in our galleries, and host lectures, panel discussions, and artist talks. The gallery is a leader in presenting contemporary ceramics, engaging audiences with relevant programming, and catalog publishing. Our online lectures serve as a platform for engaging dialogue about ceramics. These events create an opportunity for a broad audience, from professional artists to collectors to beginning students, to celebrate traditional and contemporary ceramics in thoughtful dialogue, fostering an intellectually engaging environment.

The clay studio is committed to providing education opportunities to ceramic artists of all levels, from beginners to highly experienced makers. We offer a wide range of instruction, including wheel-throwing, hand- building, surface decoration, sculpture, glazing, mold-making, and more. Our classes and workshops, which enroll more than 600 students each term, are designed to be inclusive and welcoming. We serve as the primary studio for more than 40 ceramic artists through our associates program, and nearly 1/3 of our students are advanced-level ceramic artists. We strive to create a supportive studio environment where artists of all ages and abilities can learn and thrive, ensuring that everyone feels welcomed and valued.