Rob Nealon recently began running a ceramics studio down in Ilium. A lifelong ceramicist, he is not. 
“I'm actually probably the least likely person to take this over,” he says. “I am a beginner ceramicist, took the class at the Ah Haa [School], wanted to get involved down here, and then found out it was shutting down. And when nobody else stood up to take over, I ended up falling into it. 

According to members of this little Down Valley studio, Nealan’s nonchalant attitude does not quite capture the anxiety they'd been facing for months. Robin Kondracki joined in 2021 and quickly became the studio technician. 

“There was a lot of uncertainty for a really long time about the future of this space, and a lot of it hinged on who was going to be able to sign a commercial lease. I know that the lease had a lot of stipulations that were…concerning in terms of personal liability. So it’s been looming over our heads for several months without a lot of clarity.”

This fall, that uncertainty came to a breaking point when studio members were told their lease was ending on October 15th, at which point they'd have to leave. 

“We had proposed solutions,” Kondracki recalls, “maybe getting a new space in town, maybe one of the current members taking over the lease…then in the 11th hour, Rob took over our lease, coming out of, seemingly, nowhere. He saved all of us!”

Savior? Nealon, demures. He says he was simply new to town, looking for ways to engage, and at a place where he felt prepared to take on a challenge — and, a commercial lease. 

“I signed on November first,” he says, “so the first thing was confirming we have a home for the next year. Now that's out of the way, and some of my other work has wrapped up professionally, so I have time to [invest in the space]. I'm going to design a logo, build out a website; I’m talking to one of our members about doing a mural on this wall that welcomes you when you come in. I'm just trying to brighten up the space and make it a bit more welcoming.” 

Local ceramicist Tara Carter managed this Ilium ceramic studio known affectionately as the “Wheelhouse” for years. The business venture Ghost Pocket Kitchen occupied the building's first floor and Ghost Pocket sublet half the upstairs to Telluride Arts for studio space and the other half to Carter for a collection of clay artists. 

The space glows a soft red one recent morning. The colors are earthen from years of pottery work and production. A three-quarter wall splits the ceramic studio from the former Telluride Arts space. Ghost Pocket Kitchen shut down this summer, vacating the first floor. Nealan now manages the whole building.His priorities? 

“One, using the space to its fullest potential,” he says. “Having empty space at Telluride feels like a crime. And then just getting the business in good shape, where we can start re-investing in it more and more.”

It's a lot, Nealon admits: “I really wanted to get into ceramics. Amazingly, I'm spending most of my time running the studio now, instead of actually doing ceramics!” he says.  

A handful of studio members are at work in the quiet space. Molly Theis came to ceramics relatively recently, but says it's become an enormous part of her life.

“[I remember] how frantic we were all summer, asking: ‘what are we going to do without pottery? What are we going to do?’ And we were looking on Facebook Marketplace, talking about buying a kiln to stuff in the basement of Robin's apartment. We were thinking of all these different ways we could still do this thing that we've now become quite obsessed with,” Theis says. 

Kondracki joined years ago: “It is amazing to see how this place has evolved since,” she says. “Initially, it was myself and maybe two other people, and now it has grown to 16+ people.”

“I think in the beginning, it felt like overflow from people who couldn't get into the Ah Haa School Space. And now, I have so much pride for this space, and I see the pride that we all collectively have, to the point where people are choosing this space for the community feel and for the collective buy-in,” Kondracki says. 

Nealon recognizes how precious, and precarious, creative spaces are in the Telluride region. 

“Ultimately,” he says, “this is a space for the community. If, you are an artist out there listening, and you have ideas, you have a need, something that you can't find in town, please reach out. We're always open and trying to figure out what's next for the space.”

For the time being, the work continues in this second floor studio filled with clay and buckets of slip. Ceramicists and artists interested in membership can email rob@telluridewheelhouse.com.