A year ago, after its doors had been closed for almost 18 months, the Kenai Art Center celebrated its grand reopening with a pottery exhibition. This month, members of the Kenai Potters’ Guild are hosting an anniversary show.

The pottery show, which will be up through the end of the month, features pieces varying in size and style — from terracotta pots to handcrafted clay birds.

Debbie Adamson, the president of the Kenai Potters’ Guild, said the best part of being a potter is the camaraderie.

“One thing I think is really wonderful about our guild is that we’re friends,” she said. “(Everybody) knows the kind of winters we live through here, and I’m finding the older I get the more difficult it is to be in that much dark and that much cold. But I think it’s such good therapy to be in the mud with your friends.”

Altogether, Adamson said she has practiced pottery for about 20 years. She said her husband signed her up for a class, and she was hooked.

“I fell in love with it that first night,” she said.

Adamson has a collection of mostly clay mugs and bowls on display at the center.

Mark Farnsworth, the vice president of the guild, has multiple pieces entered in the show that he threw out of clay he took from the beach. He said the process takes awhile, as he has to gather the clay, add water, let it rest, extricate unwanted natural materials from the mix, let it dry, and then run it through a food processor until it’s workable.

Farnsworth also started creating clay pottery a few decades ago, in 2000, but he said he didn’t get serious about the practice until the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns across the country in 2020. He said he’s a self-taught potter with an affinity for Southwest “pueblo” designs.

“I don’t follow any particular formula,” he said. “But I’m fascinated.”

The opening reception for the Potters’ Guild art show will be from 5 p.m to 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Kenai Art Center. There will also be an opportunity to sign up for pottery classes at the event.

Patrons are encouraged to park outside the center and on Cook Drive, not in the Peninsula Oilers Baseball Club bingo hall parking lot.

The pottery exhibition will be on display throughout July from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.

A member of the Kenai Potters’ Guild puts pieces on display at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday, July 5, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Pottery pieces are on display at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday, July 5, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)