Oasis Pottery: A Growing Ceramics Hub

President of Nevada Clay Guild, Ernie Valdovinos, (right) speaking at Oasis' studio social

By V. Galactica

In August of 2020, when the first wave of the pandemic was largely believed to have passed, I had a private ceramics lesson with Martha Hall, a former UNLV sculpture classmate, to freshen up my wheel-throwing skills. It marked a formidable moment in time; the world was in a precarious state. Distancing ourselves from each other and masked up, Hall and I searched for the familiar in a small, claustrophobic room in the back of a residential business. As we sit reminiscing on this moment almost four years later, she emphatically defends the positive nature of ceramics.

This was the genesis of Hall’s teaching trajectory, which materialized as an esteemed ceramics studio that’s gracefully expanded since our first lesson in the back of Bee Creative Ceramics. Hall had inquired with the owner, Janet, about a job at Bee Creative while in high school, but there were no classes available to teach at the time. They kept in touch, and, a few years later, after gaining some teaching experience, Hall began to teach private lessons in a space Janet had pulled together for her. This is where I first saw her teach.

Martha Hall, *Flourish*, 2024 for Nevada Clay Guilds Annual Member Exhibit at Sahara West Library photo credit Nevada Clay Guild

Martha Hall graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor in Sculptural Practices and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History in 2021. Currently, she is experimenting with stoneware glazes for a series of Japanese tea bowls/cups and throwing a variety of porcelain vessels, both decorative and functional, which she hopes to glaze and fire in a cone 10 gas reduction. She is also a full-time high school ceramics teacher and a member of the Nevada Clay Guild. Some of her work can be seen at Sahara West Library for Nevada Clay Guild’s annual member exhibit “Diversity in Clay” on view through August 24th.

Shortly after graduating, Hall’s career as a ceramics instructor began to gain some traction when Bee Creative Ceramics moved to a new location directly across the street on the east side of Eastern Avenue. Hall was encouraged by Janet to rent out the empty unit next door. Instead, she opted to occupy just the small front window space of Bee Creative Ceramics, and later, a sublease for the rest of the backspace that encompassed the entire north end of the unit. To encourage business, she developed a membership program. After garnering a generous following, her small space could no longer accommodate her growing business, Oasis Pottery.

The studio is nestled in the small, quaint business complex Plaza De Laz, hosting a marketing/advertising company specializing in t-shirt and screen printing, a flower shop, and Bee Creative Ceramics, where her first 400 square foot studio was located. Hall later acquired a larger unit between the flower shop and the advertising business, where Oasis currently resides. There is a small gallery space (a viewing window adjacent to the entrance) for members to display work. Recently, Hall expanded her business model to offer more studio space to her members and a ceramic supplies shop that she opened earlier this year.

To mark the occasion, the Nevada Clay Guild organized a studio social (social gatherings hosted by the Guild held at different pottery studios around town) on a Saturday in June. The NCG is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 whose mission is to enrich the ceramics community in Nevada. Oasis Pottery is now an addition to this community, sitting among other notable ceramic studios in Vegas — Animal House Pottery and Clay Arts Vegas. I arrived just before sunset, relieved about having evaded the high tide of the sun as I walked over to the event from the empty, dirt lot beside the plaza where the parking lot was full. As I balanced a tray of appetizers for potluck outside the door, an older gentleman rushed to invite me into the air-conditioned studio.

Left to right, instructor Jason, owner Martha, and instructor Alyssa at Oasis Pottery Store

Inside, the room was crowded, filled with amiable chatter, and there was wine. People circled around two worktables to the left and back of the studio and around the twelve pottery wheels to the right of the room. I felt welcomed and the conversation was easy. It was an intergenerational gathering of ceramics enthusiasts who were affiliated with the Nevada Clay Guild. I recognized some of the ceramicists from my earlier visits to the studio. A young man, who saw me idly standing at the snack table, walked over to introduce himself. He had only been living in Vegas for eleven months and moved here from Arizona to work as an interior designer. After a few minutes, we walked over to the Oasis Pottery Store which I had not yet visited, located in Hall’s former studio space. It had an assortment of items for sale, including ceramic tools, glazes, clays, Oasis Pottery t-shirts, and aprons made by one of the members. A girl wearing a Spirited Away necklace and I exchanged stories about our recent visits to Japan. She informed me about the raku firing that would be happening the next day. Intrigued, I decided to attend.

Anthony Yurango (Animal House Pottery) at Oasis raku firing

The next afternoon, under a forbidding Las Vegas summer sky, I arrived in front of the shop for the raku firing. I was met by Anthony Yurango, the owner of Animal House Pottery, who would be tending to the firing. Raku is an ancient Japanese art; ceramics are heated and then taken out of the kiln while red-hot and sometimes placed in combustible material that creates unique, unpredictable effects within the surface of the ware. I dipped my piece, a small egg-like vase, into two raku glazes, and shortly after began the firing process. The firing took place outside, where it was 109 degrees. Larger crowds congregate for raku firings on less heat-drenched days, though it didn’t stop three others and myself from experiencing it.

At Oasis Pottery, clay is a conduit for creative expression, and the eclecticism of the Oasis Pottery community is appealing. Hall pointed out that “it’s a diverse community; all kinds of people connect over clay.” Back at the studio after the firing, she signaled to the young woman with the Spirited Away necklace who had attended the previous evening’s event, now accompanied by her boyfriend, a rock climber. She was sitting at a wheel while he and a piano teacher sat on stools beside her watching intently as she shaped the clay. Additionally, tourists who want to get away from the Strip will sometimes visit the studio and create pieces that are later shipped to them.

The plaza, just a mile north of Harry Reid Airport, is hemmed in by a mixture of residential areas (circa 1970s): ranch-style homes with horses, smaller family homes, and apartment complexes, but quiet, convenient, and relatively affordable compared to other areas around town. A short drive to the west is the Strip, and about six miles north is the arts district. There are seemingly more interesting art spaces in areas outside of the arts district nowadays, and that says something in and of itself (the appeal of the arts district being its own detriment, etc.)

I enjoy the diversity of the studio and how it's separated from the frenzy of the arts district. Oasis Pottery is located directly across from the neighborhood where I grew up and where I currently reside. The addition of the ceramic studio to the vicinity is an exciting and convenient change (growing up in Las Vegas, there was -and is- a notable lack of accessibility to art).

In addition to the gallery that provides an opportunity for ceramicists to display their work, Hall also encourages members to participate in monthly member meet-ups. Every last Tuesday, people can come exchange ideas, play games, visit over snacks, and meet new people. The atmosphere is genuine and generative. The instructors are approachable, knowledgeable, and resourceful (all of the instructors first took classes - some of them their first ever - at Oasis before they began teaching at the studio). Hall’s next goal for Oasis Pottery is to provide more gallery space for her members. By creating a platform for artistic expression, Oasis Pottery is vying for a place in the local arts scene that deserves notice.

V. Galactica is a writer living in Las Vegas. She can be found on IG @via.galactica

See more of Hall’s work on Instagram

Images courtesy of V. Galactica and Nevada Clay Guild

Check out Oasis’ website: www.oasispottery.com and follow on IG @oasispottery

Published and posted by Lyssa Park on Sep 1.