OUR VISION
In its start‑up phase, Kyndred Clay is a socially-engaged ceramics initiative that revives Newport, Kentucky’s historic role in American ceramic production. The vision is for a community ceramics studio and critical‑material‑culture laboratory located in either Newport’s East Row historic district or central business district. The mission is to deepen makers’ connections to place and community through mindful making. The studio will strengthen the NKY regional arts ecosystem by offering studio memberships, classes and workshops, apprenticeships, and a heritage art‑tile workshop. Accessible programming will spotlight and support emerging local talent, while honoring the diverse cultural lineages that shape the area’s craft heritage. Our programs foster intergenerational and intercultural bonds, deepen participants’ sense of place, and generate lasting economic opportunities through the resilient medium of clay.
Kyndred Clay’s signature apprenticeship program, is designed to transform compulsory labor demanded by the forthcoming Medicaid work requirements (effective Jan. 1, 2027) into restorative cultural production. The program will provide certified documentation of work hours for participating Medicaid‑eligible adults and neuro‑divergent youth, as they build foundational ceramics skills, create autonomous work under gentle direction, and access opportunities for supplemental income through art sales and paid collaboration opportunities.
All classes and programs draw on a mosaic of local influences, including contemporary artists and artisans, native Kentucky clays, Indigenous pottery traditions, the innovations of Marie Louise McLaughlin and Isaac Scott-Hathaway, and the refined tile‑making techniques introduced by immigrant artisans — Kyndred Clay provides Newport residents and neighboring communities a welcoming space to create, learn, and connect.
Through craft, storytelling, and community initiatives, Kyndred Clay will revive Newport’s ceramic heritage, honor the many contributors who have enriched local clay history, and fuel a vibrant arts ecosystem that supports education, heritage tourism, and enduring cultural impact.
CORE PROGRAMMING
Mindful Making.
Critical Material Culture.
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A full range of classes and workshops teach the breadth of ceramics techniques, including: design, throwing, hand‑building, surface decoration, glazing, and firing functional and sculptural wares.
With each session weaving technical skills with insights into regional geologies and stories of the myriad craft traditions and historic innovations that contribute to our region’s ceramics heritage.
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Teen & Adult Apprenticeships
Work side‑by‑side with professional craftspeople, and receive tailored mentorship that respects your intersectional identities, individual strengths, and the full spectrum of ceramic traditions.
Training builds on a foundation of Basic ceramics skills, with lessons in contemporary design, studio operations, and small‑business entrepreneurship — facilitating career exploration, and preparing graduates to enter arts-based employment, freelance commissions, studio assistantships, historic revitialization, or arts‑tourism projects.
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We place sustainability at the heart of our operations. We source clays from regional producers, recycle clay slurry & scrap in house, utilize clay settling tanks to reduce runoff into the sewer system, and operate energy‑efficient electric kilns.
Beyond the studio floor, we foster ethical practices through fair wages, sliding‑scale tuition, and collaborations with local schools and environmental groups,ensuring that every piece of pottery contributes to a greener, more inclusive creative ecosystem.
VALUES & VISION
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Grounding our collective in Kentucky is a deliberate act of love—for each other, for this land, and for the layered histories of resistance and creativity that shape this region.
From Indigenous survivance and Black freedom movements to Appalachian labor organizing and queer rural life, Kentucky holds powerful legacies. We create in conversation with these intersecting lineages—through storytelling, embodiment, and artwork that reflects deep solidarity with our human and more-than-human kin. -
At Kyndred Clay, we draw inspiration from Mia Mingus’s vision of access intimacy — a deep, mutual sense of trust, connection, and ease — that comes from spaces where all parts of us are welcome. As such, we aim for Kyndred Clay to be a space where visitors, students, and studio members feel welcome in their full depth, creativity, and complexity.
We are an explicitly:Intergenerational
Intercultural
Queer-, trans-, and neuro- affirming space.
To ensure studio access across diverse lived-experiences, we offer:
Sliding‑scale tuition
Neuro-affirming classes and apprenticeships.
Wheelchair accessible entrance, bathroom, and workstations.
Live transcribed instruction (via iPad & the live transcribe app).
Family friendly class options.
If your access needs are not met by the above practices, please get in touch, so we can work together to better meet you needs. -
At Kyndred, we believe thriving doesn't happen in isolation — it grows in relationship, in community, and through shared commitment.
Kyndred Clay is a shared, intergenerational & intercultural studio that brings seniors, young professionals, and teens of different backgrounds and lived-experiences together in mutual exchange of knowledge, stories, and cultural practices.
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Craft is the heart of our studio. It’s how we connect, how we show up, and how we practice new worlds into being.
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For us, liberation is a creative rhythm — an intentional, cyclical process of:
Unlearning
Deepening self-awareness
Living authentically
Sustaining one another through access, care, and cultural creation
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Kyndred Clay joins a growing arts ecosystem in Northern Kentucky, and a broader movements of artists, organizers, culture-bearers, and community-builders who also know that change begins in relationship, in practice, and in place.
By rooting our studio in Newport, Kentucky, we hope Kyndred Clay can help nurture self‑actualization through embodied craft, and contribute to broader communities of care.
Help us find our future home!
Our ideal location will be located within either Newport’s East Row Historic District or the Central business district along Monmouth.
We’re seeking a modestly priced historic storefront or light industrial space approximately 2000-4000 sqft, with natural light, plenty of on- or off-street parking, an accessible entrance and accessible restroom(s), and a commercial sink. A landlord must be amenable to working with us on any necessary upgrades to accessibility, power, and ventilation. Our ideal landlord will be an enthusiastic supporter of the arts.
SUPPORT KYNDRED CLAY