Com Fusion Community Clay Center Update
Mariana’s current studio space and some of her happy clay community members.
Caldas da Rainha Portugal.
Besides finding our new home in Portugal, we were also busy doing other adulting during our three weeks in Portugal (Feb-March). It’s time to get serious about Com Fusion, the community clay studio Mariana Sampaio and I are building in the Silver Coast region of Portugal. If you’re new here—- a quick summary:
Com Fusion will be a community center for:
learning about all the clay things
hosting/teaching classes, workshops (on clay and the business side too)
Hosting artists residencies (clay and other art forms)
Hosting small retreats (6-8 people)
Learning about Portuguese culture and ceramics traditions, and sharing your culture/traditions
Collaborating with other artists
Rental equipment and studio space by the hour or month for local artists
Gallery space to show and sell work created at or in conjunction with Com Fusion (this part will come later)
And so much more. It’s a HUGE undertaking that I have been thinking about my whole adult life. Mariana and I have been talking about it for almost three years now, and while we’re aligned on the overall concept and offering, we’re now navigating the “how do we do this” part. I have a background in retail sales, marketing, public relations and events planning, so I have so many ideas and strategies around bootstrapping this thing. I’ve been working so hard the last several years to build community around my art, and share this big dream.
Parque Dom Carlos I, in Caldas da Rainha. This park is a short walk from Mariana’s studio.
At the same time, Mariana has been working hard to build in person connections in the city of Caldas da Rainha. She knows the ins and outs of how to partner with the city, and local ceramics educational centers, and she’s been dreaming up a partnership with her immediate community .
While we were together last month we started looking at our strengths and strategies, and finding the places we can stitch them together. We determined that Com Fusion will be an Association (this is the Portuguese equivalent to a non-profit), and in doing so we’ll be eligible for grants, and bigger partnerships with the local municipalities.
In the meantime, we’ll be utilizing Mariana’s existing studio and my new house (photos of residency wing and common areas/future studio space above) to get things started. Mariana already has a small kiln, five wheels, and your basic studio needs covered. My house is actually two houses with a large space that will become the resident studio and living quarters. Those are two big pieces of the puzzle to help us get started while we’re negotiating a lease for a larger studio and applying for grants and municipal assistance. In the meantime, we need to do some serious fundraising!
A few of the many collaborations in process (or completed), featuring the work of Mariana Sampaio Ryan Rakhshan, Cori Jacobs, and Alexis Mixter.
I’ve already got several collaborations in process or completed. Each collaboration will create a one of a kind pair of Plant Shelfie Bookends, that will be raffled. Each artist collaboration will have it’s own page on my website, with details of the artists and how it’s made, and a drop down menu to donate. Each donation is a chance to win this one of a kind thank you gift (the collaborative piece), at the end of each collab peroid. All of the proceeds (less taxes and fees) will go into the Com Fusion Fund. You can also donate directly: any amount helps!
We need to raise $50,000 (this accounts for taxes and fees, after which is $38,000) to purchase:
Our dream studio space looks a little something like this. This is my friend Wil LaBelle’s space, StudioLab here in Portland.
two new electric kilns,
6-10 potters wheels,
slab roller,
stools, work tables & shelves and smaller studio equipment/clay
office equipment and admin stuff (like a new website).
We have a stretch goal of $75,000 to acquire additional studio equipment. If we exceed our goals, we’ll offer scholarships to help artists come for residencies, or offer classes/workshops to local artists for free or a very reduced rate. We want this experience to be accessible to as many artists as possible, and we believe our community will help us do this.
If every one that followed me on Instagram, and everyone I know personally, donated $5-$10, we would exceed our goals in a blink. Wouldn’t that be amazing??
I’ll be announcing surprise gifts periodically, by choosing one donor at random and everyone who donates has a shot to win a 7-10 day stay in our art residency house in Portugal (transportation not included). If you can’t afford to donate, you can help by sharing any of the links about our project/donating, or commenting and sharing the posts on Instagram about the collaborations. There’s no purchase necessary to qualify for any of these gifts, you can join my email list for a free entry. Just email me so I am sure to add your entry.
The countdown is on to our big move in late August, and we’re hoping to reach our goals by then. If you have ideas about helping, please don’t hesitate to reach out!