As we reflect on 2025, we’re filled with deep gratitude and pride for what this year has represented for Baltimore Clayworks – a season of intentional growth, connection, and renewed commitment to our mission of making ceramic arts accessible to all. The adoption of our 2025–2028 Strategic Plan marked a meaningful turning point as we looked toward the future while honoring our roots. Alongside a full calendar of classes, exhibitions, and community programs, we invested significantly in our historic campus – refreshing our buildings with protective paint, completing major slate roof repairs, reinforcing critical wood and masonry structures, restoring the beloved Nurturing Nature fountain, and unveiling our new Gathering Ground garden, a space for creativity, rest, and gathering outdoors.
We welcomed spring by opening our galleries for Garden Reverie, the first of 16 free, public exhibitions that carried us through the year. Vibrant showcases like our fellowship exhibitions Conscientious Objection and Shape, Shift, & Mend drew large, diverse audiences to our Galleries. Our exhibitions highlighted the voices of over 200 artists whose work shared powerful narratives, technical excellence, and fresh perspectives in clay.
Education remained at the heart of everything we do. Across four seasonal sessions, we launched Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter classes, alongside youth Summer Camps, scholarship campaigns to increase access, residency and fellowship application cycles, and a successful membership drive. In total, we welcomed 2,898 studio registrations for classes, camps, and open studio access. Our 36 scholarships helped remove financial barriers so more people could experience the joy of working with clay – support we know must continue to grow.
Our Community Arts Program expanded its reach through classes with 29 new and existing partner groups, connecting with 1,545 youth, seniors, veterans, and individuals of differing abilities and backgrounds. We were proud to engage with partners and communities through experiences like the Veterans RCATs Festival, See Beyond Festival, our seasonal Community Arts Showcases, and gallery talks including Lauren Hawkins’ offerings through our Nature Sacred initiative, which also featured yoga programs, garden talks, clean-up days, and collaborative design work for the Sacred Place mosaic installation.
The year was also rich with opportunities to meet artists where they work. Open Studio Tours welcomed visitors into the creative worlds of residents and fellows. Our “Clay Mixer: Throw and Tell” events brought artists and audiences together for hands-on exchange, while Visiting Artist Workshops with Mary Barringer, Kelsey Bowen, Lars Westby, and Aisha Harrison provided intensive skill-building for ceramic artists of all levels.
Our Virtual Artist Talk Series thrived in 2025, featuring voices such as Janice Jakielski, Jai Sallay-Carrington, Yoshi Fujii, Mary Barringer, Lars Westby, Aisha Harrison, Pete Pinnell, Shalya Marsh, and more. We added 20 new virtual talks, bringing our digital library to over 100 recorded programs viewed thousands of times, extending learning well beyond our campus.
One of the most joyful highlights of the year was the Garden Party Gala & Earthenworks Community Day – a true embodiment of our core values of artist-centeredness, excellence, inclusivity, integrity, and joy. It was more than an event; it honored the founding vision that ceramic arts should be available to everyone, and celebrated what is possible when community comes together in support of creativity.
Our campus and programs welcomed 6,750 guests into our Galleries and Shop this year, supported by initiatives like our exhibition openings, the popular Seconds Sale, and Fire Fest 2025, and our Annual Winterfest and Holiday Sale Preview Party.
We also proudly celebrated the work of our residency programs and fellows – particularly the contributions of the Lormina Salter Fellowship alumni, nine of whom taught classes and workshops, presented talks, curated exhibitions, and enriched our educational offerings throughout the year.
There is no simpler way to say this – none of this happens without you. Your support fuels scholarships, community arts programs, artist residencies, the EMBARC Fellowship, our Taiwan artist exchange, exhibitions, virtual programming, and the hands-on learning experiences that welcome thousands into clay each year.
Thank you for being an essential part of Baltimore Clayworks’ ever-growing family. We can’t wait to welcome you back to our campus to share a cup of tea, explore a new exhibition, or get your hands back into the clay, and to see firsthand how your generosity continues to make space for others to discover the joy you know so well.