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 located in Newport’s central business district. 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 mission is to foster intergenerational and intercultural bonds, deepen participants’ sense of place, and generate lasting social and economic wellbeing through mindful making in clay.
Kyndred Clay provides Newport residents and neighboring communities a welcoming space to create, learn, and connect. Classes and programs will cover the breadth of ceramics processes, and introduce a mosaic of local influences, including: contemporary artists and artisans, local materials, Indigenous pottery and earthworks, historic material innovations by Marie Louise McLaughlin and Isaac Scott-Hathaway, and the refined tile‑making techniques introduced by immigrant artisans.
Through craft, storytelling, and community initiatives, Kyndred Clay will revive Newport’s ceramic heritage, honor the many contributors who have enriched local ceramics traditions (past & present), and fuel a vibrant arts ecosystem that supports education, heritage crafts, and enduring cultural impact.
Ceramic Arts Apprenticeship Program
Kyndred Clay’s paid, part-time apprenticeship program is designed in response to the forthcoming Medicaid work requirements with the intention of transforming compulsory labor mandates into restorative cultural production. The program will be an officially registered apprenticeship program with the US Department of Labor. It is designed to serve the needs of low-income, chronically-ill, neurodivergent, and disabled makers. Instruction is plain language, sensory-accommodating, self-paced, and co-designed with peers who have lived experienced of disability and Medicaid. The program will pay $685/month, satisfying the Medicaid work requirements through qualifying income. Pay-stubs simplify the reporting process to maintain Medicaid eligibility. As participants’ skills advance, their pay rate will rise, and their required hours will fall, while their monthly income holds stable. Participants will build foundational ceramics skills, create autonomous work under gentle direction, and access opportunities for additional income through art sales and paid collaboration opportunities. Upon program completion of this 3-year part-time program, apprentices will receive a portable, nationally-recognized certification as a Ceramics Artist.They will retain free studio access for an additional year and we hope they will choose to remain on staff to support Kyndred Clay’s operations and growth.
Mindful Making.
A Culture of Belonging & Care.
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