Above: Clay is way cooler than Play-Doh. Photograph courtesy of Silver City
CLAY Festival.
Lee Gruber founded the Silver City Clay Festival eight years ago on the notion that this “state is grounded in clay.” For her, interpretations of clay could range from ceramic traditions to how we preserve the land or bulldoze it, grow native food products, or conduct archaeology. Basically, if it comes from the ground, then Gruber likely puts it into the clay pot.
The Clay Festival invites all those interpretations during a weeklong series of events July 15–21, across Silver City and within the historic downtown, that includes lectures, workshops, and a makers’ market. If you’ve ever fancied learning how to throw a pot, felt the calling to collect ceramics, or even fantasized about winning a mud-pie competition, the Clay Festival has your name written in mud all over it. There’s even a bilingual earthen construction workshop on the agenda that focuses on adobe-making techniques.