Meet Kari Palazzari | Executive Director (aka “the spreadsheet lady”)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kari Palazzari and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kari, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind the success of Studio Arts Boulder & the Pottery Lab is our community — the students, volunteers, teachers, partners, friends, and supporters. Our mission is not really about pottery, it’s about people. We want each person to experience the physical, mental, and social benefits of hands-on community art programs. That’s only possible because so many dedicated, generous, and talented people show up, every day, to make it happen. From the volunteer teaching assistants, to the students covered with clay, to family foundation funders, the organization is the community that fills and surrounds it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When Studio Arts Boulder took over management of the Pottery Lab, the program was serving 630 unique people each year and had a large annual operating deficit. Within three years, we were able to eliminate the deficit while also multiplying the number of people served. Today, we provide over 60,500 program-hours with more than 3,580 unique individuals per year. We operate on two different program models – one is paid and pay-what-you-can classes and camps. These are typically held at the Pottery Lab and serve all ages and abilities. Demand for paid programs is skyrocketing, with waitlists outpacing enrollment capacity every session. The second model is free classes at over 44 partner sites across the community with students from historically marginalized and underserved populations.
Our priority is to make hands-on art programs affordable and accessible to all. Our adult level 1 and youth & family classes are all pay-what-you-can. We teach over 42 free classes every month. Approximately 65% of all our students across both paid and free programs report household income below the median. Nearly 60% of students in free classes are youth in low-income households, 14% are seniors and older adults, and 27% are adults and kids with disabilities.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First of all, sign up (well in advance!) for a Date Night at the Pottery Lab. Offered every Saturday evening, Date Night is the perfect chance to try the potter’s wheel and have some good clean fun getting dirty with a bestie or bae.

Second, plan to grab a bite at one (or several) of our Chili Bowl Street Party restaurant partners (listed at www.boulderchilibowl.org). So much yumminess to behold.

A hike at Chautauqua, just a couple blocks from the Pottery Lab, is the perfect way to spend the Saturday before getting your clay on. Visits to a few of our art partners – the Dairy Center, BMoCA, and the NoBo art gallery in Boulder, plus Museo de las Americas and Access Gallery in Denver – all must-do’s.

Last, but definitely not least, a quick pilgrimage to see Betty Woodman’s vase (full of flowers!) at the DAM. Woodman was the founder (and decades-long leader) of the Pottery Lab. She shattered the fine art vs. craft art divide and was the first living woman to have a retrospective at The Met in New York. Legend has it she got that gig by inviting the curator over for pancakes. She also insisted all her vases have flowers in them – a testament to her belief that art can be useful, every day objects. We agree.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The Pottery Lab would not exist without the City of Boulder. Founded in the mid-1950s, the Pottery Lab was the first city-supported community ceramics studio in the country. From the beginning, the program was dedicated to teaching regular people how to make pottery. Located in a historic firestation, generations of local residents have walked through the doors to take classes and camps. Parents and grandparents of our current students remember coming when they were children themselves. The City of Boulder operated the Lab for 60 years before contracting with Studio Arts Boulder to manage the program. Even now, the City continues to provide both the building as well as grant funding to make sure the Pottery Lab continues to thrive for the benefit of the community.

Website: www.studioartsboulder.org

Instagram: instagram.com/studioartsboulder

Twitter: twitter.com/sabpotterylab

Facebook: facebook.com/studioartsboulder

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCmGJd7_B1QFQcE91_WO15eA

Other: email: contact@studioartsboulder.org phone: (720) 379-6033

Image Credits
All photos are courtesy of Studio Arts Boulder