CENTENNIAL —The ‘s program will give its largest sum this year to a familiar partner.
The district board last month to put toward a new potter’s wheel, glazing table, air filter and other materials for the clay arts studio at the .
Since forming more than 30 years ago, the guild — a private club based at Goodson that costs $5 to join — has formed a strong relationship with the district that current guild president Tim Morgan calls “symbiotic.”
It’s anchored in the matching gifts program. The guild raises its share of the money through regular hosted at South Suburban facilities a handful of times each year. Fifteen percent of the money the potters bring in is dedicated to improving the Goodson lab.
“We asked all the people who use the lab to list and help us prioritize those things they would like to see purchased,” Morgan, a retired physician, said of applying for and receiving another matching gift dedication in 2016. “We surveyed the entire lab, not just guild members. We got a HEPA filter for the glaze room. The staff and employees of South Suburban are great. We ask for things that help them, too.”
People will have their latest chance to buy work from the guild’s 30 or so members and other potters at a sale at Goodson next week.
The district has given the guild matching money more than a dozen times dating to 1984 when it helped pay for a gas kiln at Goodson still in use.
Marilyn Cassidy, who was the Goodson lab coordinator from 1991 until 2005, said that even before the guild was formalized, a group of dedicated potters pushed for a lab space inside Goodson when the center was built in 1979. They worked out of a district-owned barn in Progress Park before that.
All district pottery programs, including the kids classes at the Lone Tree and Buck recreation centers benefit from the guild’s efforts, Cassidy said. The kids classes use recycled clay from Goodson that keeps costs down.
“The original potters made this wonderful art form so available to everyone,” Cassidy said. “People should come and enjoy. Get your hands in the mud, as we like to say, or at the very least come and buy a piece that will help this program continue.”
Christine Katzenberg, Goodson lab coordinator for the last 11 years, said that 90 percent of the electric wheels in the lab and all of the kilns were purchased with guild-raised and matching gifts program money. She said guild members also volunteer to clean up the lab, provide skills demonstrations, recruit other people to get involved and offer their knowledge to developing potters. She said their efforts benefit all of her students, including a handful of regular lab users with disabilities.
“It’s really become a community-focused thing,” she said.
Centennial resident Kim Gedeon started taking beginning courses at Goodson six months ago. She is not a guild member, but like many of them, including Morgan, Gedeon got hooked on the art form after her first class. She is considering selling some of her pieces at the upcoming guild sale.
“I just love it,” she said. The instructors “are so knowledgeable and everybody here is so helpful and fun.”
Helen Pinson has been a guild member for about two and a half years. She said she is excited by recent growth in guild membership and interest in pottery programs. She said she should have 75 pieces in next week’s sale, and previously has made as much as $250 during a single event.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” she said of guild sales. “It helps pay for what we love to do. For a lot of people, it becomes not just a hobby, but a passion.”
Joe Rubino: 303-954-2953 or jrubino@denverpost.com
Pottery sale
When: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday
Where: Goodson , 6315 S. University Blvd., Centennial
Info: 303-798-2476
