The mission of Community Clayworks is to foster a love of ceramic arts and support a clay community in the Santa Ynez valley.
Alana
Trubitz
Alana is a lifelong potter who fell in love with clay as a kid at summer camp. She minored in Art with a Pottery focus at American University with classes at the Corcoran School of Art, apprenticed teaching at Hinkley Pottery in Washington DC, and taught beginner wheel for over a decade at BitterRoot in Los Angeles prior to moving to the Valley. Alana's class will put the FUN in FUNctional as we learn to make wheel-thrown bowls, cups, and more.
Bianca
Castañeda
Bianca has a fascination with marbled clay; loving the diverse effects of using either pigmented clay or different clay bodies. Her competitive athleticism reveals itself on the wheel as she challenges herself to create larger scale work. You can find her on Instagram @b.e pottery
Cindy
Henning
Cindy’s love affair with clay started over 35 years ago. For as far back as she can remember she has always had her hands in the mud. Working with clay, first recreationally then professionally, has been a lifelong passion…and dream. With years of instruction by many talented ceramic artists to draw from, she is thrilled to introduce clay to the next generation of ceramic artists right here in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.
hannah
myrvold
Hannah has been enamored with pottery since childhood, but it wasn’t until Community Clayworks that she first tried her hand at it. One class was all it took for her to know that she loved pottery as much as she had always dreamt she would. Primarily facilitating admin work for the studio, she assists however she can, constantly growing and learning, surrounded by the incredible community at the Clayworks studio.
Irene
Castañeda
Irene loves anything clay related. In addition to being staff at Community Clayworks, she also teaches ceramics at her old elementary school. Though she is a teacher, she continues to be a student everyday, learning new techniques and challenging herself in the vast ceramic sphere. She shares her ceramics journey on social media; you can find her artwork at: urgrandmaspottery.com
JOy
HYLTON
Joy has been loving and dreaming of clay on and off for 50 years. Having learned from many different potters, she brings an esoteric collection of skills to her textured functional pottery. She specializes in making tripod mugs
Sondra
Halperin
Taught by the one and only Veronica Medina, Sondra has been playing with clay for the last 15 years. As a life long learner she’s pursued pottery in New York City, Ann Arbor, Michigan and is now excited to call Community Clayworks her home studio. When asked what her favorite type of pottery is, she’ll tell you she loves the best of both worlds and enjoys combining hand building and wheel throwing techniques within one pot.
Staci
Curry
Staci has been playing with clay for around 20 years. She loves learning, teaching, and exploring the boundaries of pottery. Staci is always up for testing a clay “rule.” She owned a clay studio and gallery in NY for 11 years. She has a home studio where she makes and fires her work to sell at art shows and festivals.
SYDNEY
MILLER
Sydney is at the beginning of her art career. She started in high school and fell in love with all types of pottery but focuses on sculpture. Dragons are her specialty! Sydney is currently working on her degree in fine arts. Hoping to one day become a teacher.
our founder
Veronica Medina
Veronica has been working with clay since 1995. She holds both a BA in Anthropology and a MA in Art Education from New York University. Her continued clay studies, residencies, and travels have led her to ceramic studios throughout the world influencing her perspective and knowledge of ceramic techniques and associated clay cultures. Veronica was a member artist and teacher at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY. She taught at various community centers and camps throughout the NYC area as well as 6-12 grade ceramics for 9 years at Trevor Day School in Manhattan and more recently at Dunn School and Solvang Middle School in the Santa Ynez Valley of CA. In 2020, she founded Community Clayworks, an inclusive ceramics studio in Buellton, CA. In 2022 the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Coalition and Economic Development Collaborative highlighted Community Clayworks as a success story.
we offer
courses
Adult courses guide and support students towards achieving their individual goals. While skills are taught and projects are suggested, students are encouraged to follow their interests. Clay must be purchased from the studio.
Children’s classes introduce clay skills and techniques through open ended projects. Students will be encouraged to play and discover ways to express themselves. All materials are included.
Camps
A series of themed camps will be offered through the summer. A typical 3 hour camp experience will include skill building, experimenting with ideas, and creating original work. Campers will also have the three hours interspersed with clay games and a snack break half way through the class. Finished pieces will likely be ready for pick up the following week. All materials are included.
Memberships
Memberships are for students who already know their way around a ceramics studio. Both monthly and yearly memberships entitle members to 20 hours a month in the studio and a private shelf space. Members receive a 20% discount on classes and workshops and 10% discount on ceramic items for sale in the shop. Clay must be purchased from the studio.
In the Media
watch: “Take the Doughnut with Melissa Forziat” for some thoughts on motivation
Listen to: “Anatomy of Motherhood: finding your identity as a creative mom and business owner”
Listen to: “Meet me in Buellton” to learn more about the studio
Read our first newspaper article
Read about how the business started in shoutout LA
Watch our segment in a condensed version of discover the Santa Ynez Valley
Edit from Discover the Santa Ynez Valley Season 2, Episode 13
Food For Thought
“The essential ingredients for creativity remain exactly the same for everybody: courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust—and those elements are universally accessible. Which does not mean that creative living is always easy; it merely means that creative living is always possible.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear