Groundworks Art Lab adds four art forms to pottery offering

BOULDER — Groundworks Art Lab in Boulder touts that is the only arts education center in Colorado that supplies all the materials, supplies and classroom space for five different art forms.

And unlike a maker space that provides only access to equipment, the center offers classes and date nights, along with providing the necessary room for styles of arts such pottery and metalworking that require significant space.

“It’s very unique to have a center like this where five art forms are under one roof,” Groundworks executive director Kari Palazzari said. “We wanted to see additional programs in ceramics and other mediums that are difficult for people to do on their own. Art requires a significant investment in equipment, in space and in safety systems that are beyond the means of most individuals.” 

Groundworks opened in October in a 12,500-square-foot building at 3750 Canfield St. in Northeast Boulder with programming space, a gallery, a conference room and a private event rooftop deck. The rooftop deck has a service bar to serve food and beverages and provides both event and exhibition spaces.

The name Groundworks reflects how the materials used for the arts come from the ground and demonstrates how offering foundational art lessons sets the ground for further learning to launch a hobby or career.  

“About one-and-a-half years ago, we started a strategic branding process with a local firm and reviewed our mission and who we serve,” Palazzari said.

Groundworks united Studio Arts Boulder and The Pottery Lab under one name as part of its rebranding effort to create a memorable name and to highlight its growing number of studios. 

The Pottery Lab, now called Groundworks Hill, is a recreational pottery program housed in Fire Station #2 on University Hill. Studio Arts Boulder, founded in 2009, expanded the pottery program and added other studio art forms with a vision to create a showcase studio arts campus—that vision resulted in the search for a new and more suitable location.

“When a developer donated a piece of land, we saw an opportunity to make our vision come to life,” Palazzari said.

Studio Arts Boulder signed a contract with the City of Boulder in 2015 to take over its pottery program, and in 2024 Studio Arts Boulder became Groundworks Art Lab, a center for community art education. 

“We teach folks who have no experience at all up through an intermediate level of artists,” Palazzari said. “This is a gem not just for Boulder or the Front Range, but really the whole region.”

David Barrett of Barrett Studio Architects designed Groundworks Art Lab with artists in mind, taking inspiration from old factories that had large, tall windows facing north and got lots of natural, diffused soft light. 

“I love the way the light is designed in a space to provide soft and natural light,” said Jessica Adams, a member of the Art Lab board and owner of Living Design Studios, an Erie-based firm that provides architectural and ornamental metalsmithing design, fabrication and installation. “I love the lobby because it’s such a natural community gathering space.”

Groundworks Art Lab offers community classes for all ages in the studio-arts styles of ceramics/pottery, woodworking, metalwork, low-fire glassworking and printmaking. Classes in metalwork cover blacksmithing and welding; low-fire glass includes torch and flame work, fusing and stained glass; and printmaking provides access to table presses and a dark room for screen printing. 

Unlike other art education centers that offer a week or two of intensive programming as a destination for artists to visit from across the nation, the Art Lab focuses on the local residents. 

The classes at Groundworks Art Lab vary from four, five or eight weeks to a two-hour session during a date night on Saturdays, where participants can take a one-time class to learn about a new art form during a fun night out. Right now, date nights are limited to claywork, but in January, the other four art forms will be added. 

“They might have a regular day job and take time out to come to the studio to learn new skills, practice creativity and make really cool things,” Palazzari said.

Groundworks Art Lab provides students with an opportunity to learn about art forms and finishing trades traditionally not taught in high school, Adams said.

“All of those art forms find themselves relevant to the construction industry,” said Adams, whose former employee, James Makely, teaches the metal studio. “We have a heck of a time finding and filling jobs to do the work. … We’re making sure kids have an opportunity to experience artwork firsthand, and (we want to) make sure there’s a pipeline of people exposed to the materials and working with their hands, fall in love with it and pursue it as a career.”

Fees charged for Groundworks Art Lab’s classes follow three different models, that of fee-based, sliding scale or pay what you can, and free, offered in partnership with other nonprofits and agencies. Last year, more than half of the students attending Art Lab’s three facilities were served through free and reduced programming. 

“We really feel that art should be accessible and affordable,” Palazzari said. “The benefits of making art are incredible for everyone.”

Art can help kids perform better in school, reduce stress in adults, and reduce social isolation and increase neuroplasticity in seniors, and it offers a variety of health and wellness benefits for all ages, Palazzari said.

Last year, Groundworks served more than 8,500 students from the Boulder Pottery Lab and Groundworks East on Sterling Circle, which provides membership-based studio space for ceramic artists. Groundworks also partners with the Book Arts League at its East location.

With all three locations, Groundworks will be able to serve 15,000 students a year. Last year, the students took 85,000 hours-plus of programming, a number that’s expected to also increase with the additional programs and facilities.

“We expect that number to grow this year and next year,” Palazzari said. “With adding this new building, we know it’s going to grow.” 

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