New Orleans Clay Fest Presents:

Community Day!

This event is open to any and all ceramics folks. Please join us for a fun afternoon of community building, skill sharing, and fun!

This will not be an art market with vendors like previous years, but a casual gathering of the community. All experience levels welcome. Whether you have been working with clay for weeks or years, if you have an interest in getting to know the local ceramics community, this event is for you.

Sunday, October 4 | 12-5p
Reunion Shelter in City Park | 4 Friederichs Avenue

See below for more details on the days’ events.

Clay Fest will return in the fall of 2027!

  • It's all about the texture in Lora Rust’s demonstration! For hand-builders and wheel-throwers, learn Lora’s unique “pushing the clay” technique as she textures a cup and a bowl, using her specialty tools (available at LoraRust.com). Learn tips on keeping the shape of your piece while manipulating the surface, unlimited design ideas and shortcuts, and details how to make the texture “pop” when finished.

  • This is your chance to scoop up some artwork by your community members!Take your chances in the raffle or place a bid in the silent auction.

    Proceeds will be used to cover costs of Community Day! and fund Clay Fest 2027.

    * We are currently accepting donations. If you’d like to help support this event and future Fests, please email us neworleansclayfest@gmail.com
    Thank you!!

  • Bring a mug, take a mug!

    Make a mug (cup, goblet, chalice, etc.) and you’ll get to take home a randomly chosen mug made by a member of the community.

    Drop off your piece any time before 3:15, when the exchange will begin.

  • Bring your own t-shirt or tote bag to have screen printed on-site for just $10!

    Printing by Anthony of Nola Nacular. Design by Hope Hickman.

  • Talk to strangers and win prizes!

    Meet new ceramicists by finding people who match the description in each square. Fill your card and win handmade ceramics.

  • Got tools, books, or materials that you don’t use anymore? Bring them to share with the community.

  • Empty Bowls is an annual event to raise awareness and funds for hunger relief.

    LSUNO Ceramics Club will be accepting donations and selling tickets to the NOLA Empty Bowls event taking place in November. Bring a bowl to donate and get a discount on tickets to the event!

Mugs by Evie Berger

  • Must be present to claim!

  • Item description

Lora Rust using her “pushing the clay” technique

Lora Rust | Demonstrating Artist

Lora Rust is a ceramic artist in Atlanta, GA and New Orleans, LA. Lora developed her pottery skills in high school and college. After working in the corporate world for many years, she further honed her skills and unique processes during a two-year pottery assistant-ship at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta. Since 2008 Lora has maintained a production studio as well as taught at Callanwolde and various art centers in the Atlanta area. Lora also holds workshops nationwide, where she teaches wheel techniques and her signature decorating style of pushing the clay. Her forms are primarily thrown, altered and decorated with a unique process of pushing the clay with personally designed tools at a soft leather hard stage. Designs and patterns found in Gothic Architecture mixed with the fluidity of Art Nouveau are strong influences for her work. Inspiration from textile and fabric design provides movement to the texture on the form.

Hope Hickman | Designer

Hope Hickman is a ceramic artist working in the expanded field of ceramics, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her work processes the aesthetics of wealth, romance, and power through haptic, anthropomorphized forms that layer cuteness and kitsch over a deep skepticism toward European canonical art and its colonial inheritances.

Hickman holds an MFA in Ceramics from Tulane University (2026) and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Akron (2016). Her work was recently acquired by the Newcomb Art Museum, and she has exhibited across New Orleans, Ohio, and Tennessee, including Pleasure Grounds: The End of the Cul-de-Sac at the Carroll Gallery and Louisiana Queer Arts at the Marigny Opera House. She currently serves as Adjunct Professor at Tulane University.

Prior to New Orleans, Hickman founded and operated Hope Hickman Studios, a collaborative ceramics studio in Akron, Ohio, and curated the Groundhog Show, an annual exhibition representing over 100 local artists.

Anthony Del Rosario | Screen Printer

Anthony DelRosario, a.k.a anthonyturducken, is a cultural documentarian from the South. Born in Memphis and bloomed in New Orleans, he uses photography, printmaking, and digital design to capture and interpret the culture hidden in everyday life.