Courtesy Angela Kirkman
When Santa Fean Angela Kirkman took over ceramic studio Paseo Pottery in 2018, the goal was to become a business that donated net profits to local organizations with students, volunteers and customers democratically selecting those nonprofits. Since then, Kirkman says, the studio has generated roughly $30,000 in cash and in-kind donations, but with news that Paseo’s lease will not be renewed after decades in the same location on Paseo de Peralta, Kirkman’s now on the lookout for new space. We wanted to learn more about what’s new, what’s next and whether folks can help.
Can you give us the lowdown on why the studio has to move?
We’ve had a lease, and the lease was not renewed. I don’t really know a lot about why, but we need to find a new space. The building itself is over 100 years old, and Paseo Pottery has been there for 30 years. I took over in 2018, and before that, it was just a straight up for-profit business.
The volunteers are all helping us to pack up right now and we’re all just looking for a new place. Since I took over, we’ve had over 50 ceramic artists volunteering their time—currently 20—and everyone is heartbroken. They love the space. We’re trying to be optimistic and look at everything like an opportunity for a new beginning.
What does moving a space like Paseo Pottery entail? It sounds terribly hard.
When we first found out, that’s kind of how it felt, but I’m also starting to be more optimistic about it. Serendipitously, someone donated an electric kiln to us last month, and I was able to purchase a large gas kiln—and those are the main things we need to set up in a new location. But the universe seems to be showing us the way. During the pandemic, we had to rethink everything. We added an outdoor classroom so we could have classes in the open air, we created an online gallery because there were months there where nobody could shop; we’ve been rethinking everything and restructuring, and we’re ready to make a big change.
So what are you looking for in the right now? What would be your ideal space and situation, and how can people help?
We are looking at everything. I’m looking at everything available in Santa Fe for lease and purchase. Ideally, I’d like to purchase so we’re not in this same position in a couple years. I’ve been looking at warehouses in the Siler [Road] area, the Railyard, the Meow Wolf area; downtown would be great again. A warehouse would be great, but we’re even looking for old houses that could maybe be converted.
We are technically a for-profit that donates 100% of our net profits to charity, we’re not actually a 501c3, though I think we’ll probably do that in the future. As far as people donating [to Paseo Pottery], it wouldn’t be tax deductible unless we found a nonprofit that would operate as our [fiscal umbrella] then we could receive donations and give a tax receipt. At this point, though, it’s not an actual nonprofit, but we’ve thought about having a fundraiser or something. Until we know where we’re going, we don’t know what we need. Right now we just need a space, then we can figure out what we need and if we can make it happen. We like to be in the position of giving help to the community, not asking for it, and we’ve never asked the community for help.
And our own community is great. This year has been great, too—just right back up to pre-pandemic levels. Customers have all come back, the students, too, and our classes were more popular than any other year. I feel we were just finally hitting our stride, and everything was going well. Then [having to move] hits and we’re just kind of reeling. We have this great system and we need to figure out how to get our show on the road. The Food Depot gets our 2021 donation, though we haven’t given the donation yet and that won’t come out until our taxes are done. But we’re excited. In our first three years, we donated over $30,000. That’s way more than I thought we’d do in our first years. If people want to reach out, they can email at angela@paseopottery.com.
