A Wonderful Open House, Thanks To You – Plus, The Raffle Winner Is Announced!
Hello to everyone and a very warm welcome to all of you who just signed up for the Staunton Clayground newsletter during our Open House event this past weekend. What a wonderful time we had. Thank you for coming down and supporting us on our very first day! It was a beautiful April afternoon and, with so many great activities going on around town, we’re very glad and grateful that you decided to spend some of it with us ❤️
Kids of all ages enjoyed painting ceramic garden stakes for Earth Day (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Our “paint-your-own” garden stakes project, in honor of Earth Day, was very popular, with visitors of all ages enjoying the fun. We are working on glazing those and should have them ready to fire soon! We’ll keep you posted on the progress. Check out a taste of the fun above, and the whole gallery of photos can be viewed at the bottom of this post!
From the Staunton Clayground to a garden near you, this spring! (Photo by @octobergracemedia)
Live wheel-throwing demos ran pretty much all afternoon. The first to sit down at the wheel and show everyone what it’s all about was local potter Justin Hershey, who was volunteering to help us out for the day. Check out more of his work on his Instagram page, @potpotfrit.
Local potter Justin Hershey, demonstrating some of the amazing things a potter’s wheel can do (photos by @octobergracemedia)
For the second half of the afternoon, our very own Nicole Hill took over. You may know her by her Instagram handle, Eyerman.art, under which she exhibited at last fall’s Art in the Park, right here in Staunton. She will be one of our regular instructors, and is so far scheduled to teach a Slab Geometric Vases workshop in May and June and an Intermediate Wheel Throwing class in June and July, and has lots more ideas and skills to share!
Staunton Clayground instructor Nicole Hill of @eyerman.art shows future potters just how fun the wheel can be (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Meanwhile, we had a blast telling everyone all about the plans we have for the Staunton Clayground, from classes to workshops, upcoming events and the soon-to-come membership program (look for more info about that in May! We expect to be able to open up to members around Memorial Day).
Founder and Director, Cary (right in the lower photo), and Studio Manager, Jennifer (left), enjoy finally sharing all of their planning and hard work with the Staunton community (photos by @octobergracemedia)
Last but not least, we have to thank our fantastic photographer, Cindy Fellows of October Grace Media, for taking such wonderful photos of this very special event (check out her website at the link above or her awesome Instagram page @octobergracemedia), as well as Magdalena Bake, who helped to provide the delicious refreshments.
Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… and the winning ticket number is…
The lucky winner!
We have a raffle winner! One lucky Open House attendee has won one free class or workshop of their choice, to be booked on our shop before ringing in the new year on December 31, 2024. Winning ticket #1506224, be on the lookout for an email with more details!
Open House attendees paint their bisque-fired ceramic garden stake with different colors of underglaze (Photo by @octobergracemedia)
Stay tuned for news about garden stake glazing, firing and pick-up!
If you want to check out more photos of the event, you can see the full gallery by @octobergracemedia below, and, if you didn’t have a chance to play this time around, don’t worry. You can check out our Classes, Courses & Workshops page, and we’ll be planning plenty more fun soon!
Keep watching this space!
