Clay Angels: Build a kiln and inspire a village!

Team fundraiser

Andrea Dee Harris and 2 others are organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi, my name is Dee Harris, I'm a potter, and I am fundraising to make a dream come true in a small village far away. It's a dream I share with my friends, Alex Paton, Bishop Isaiah, Tim Sherman and Kevin Crowe. We want to build a modern, wood-fired "train" kiln in the tiny village of Zemo Nikozi in Caucasus Georgia. Please donate to become a "Nikozi Clay Angel", and help us build this kiln!

The majority of the money raised will go to buying materials -- bricks, kiln shelves, framing iron, refractory concrete, tools, wood posts, beams and roofing -- to construct the kiln and a protective shed.

It'll look very much like this kiln, which Alex Paton recently built at Sherman Ceramics in northern Maryland.

Part of the money raised will also cover travel and living costs for Alex P. and Nick P. to be there to oversee the kiln's construction and the first firing of the new kiln. We will all volunteer our time, and we will be joined by local volunteers as well in order to get the kiln built!

Below is a photo of Kevin Crowe and Bishop Isaiah at Tye River Pottery in spring 2023.

For those of you who care about handicraft, and pottery in particular, this is truly a chance to be part of the history of ceramics in the country of Georgia. The Nikozi woodfiring kiln will be the first modern-design train kiln built in that country!

This kiln will be built next to a small ceramics studio (currently under renovation) near the monastery where Bishop Isaiah resides and works, and just down the road from the children's arts education center that he built to provide inspiration and hope to local residents. A kiln will allow Bishop Isaiah to expand the impact of the arts education center, encourage increased hope in a economically struggling village, and hopefully spark the rebirth of a local crafts/pottery tradition in a region suffering from chronic poverty and hopelessness.

Photos of the Nikozi Monastery:

It's my passion project -- all of ours really -- and I know we are all honored by the chance to help

Bishop Isaiah fulfill this vision. It will benefit many deserving children and local craftspeople.

All funds raised will go 100% to getting this kiln built and running. If we are so lucky as to raise any surplus funds, those will be invested into potter's wheels and other crucial equipment to furnish the ceramics studio once it has been fully renovated. Not a penny will go to waste!

Please join us and become a Nikozi Clay Angel!

Nikozi Clay Cherubs -- $5 to $45 donation

Nikozi Clay Angels -- $50 to $100 donation

Nikozi Clay Archangels -- $101 to $500+ donation

Once you've made your donations, all donors will be kept up to date with regular photo and video updates from the project as the build progresses. In addition:

Clay Cherubs will get a Nikozi postcard, signed by members of the build team!
Clay Angels will receive a postcard and one brick on the kiln will be inscribed with their name in thanks for your generosity!
Clay Archangels will have a brick inscribed with their name, will receive one piece of pottery from the first kiln firing, and will be offered a short video tour of the kiln and monastery, hosted by Bishop Isaiah and the build team!

And all Nikozi Archangel- level donors are welcome to take an in-person guided tour of the ceramics center and kiln, when completed, the next time you visit Georgia :) !!

An important note: Bishop Isaiah is truly a remarkable person, and a community hero in every sense of the word. In addition to creating the children’s arts center that keeps the community vital, he has rebuilt his monastery twice – once following a military invasion by Russia in 2008 – and he also runs an annual International Animated Film Festival in his village, which attracts prominent animators and film directors from around the world! His efforts have truly provided life-giving energy and opportunity to the people in his region.

Please join our team in making his dream and vision for Nikozi a reality!

For more photos of Bishop Isaiah, the Nikozi monastery, the Nikozi children's art center, Georgian ceramics and general scenes of Georgian urban and natural beauty, particularly ceramics, then please scroll on down...

Here are some photos of the Nikozi art students and instructors at the school, and of the ceramics center under construction.

More scenes from the monastery and Nikozi Children's Arts Education center, which teaches puppetry, puppet making, fiber arts, traditional Georgian Music, classical music, children's shadow theater, ceramics and much more: