Southern Maine Clay Guild

Category: Guild Also called: SMCG; Southern Maine Clay Guild; southernmaineclayguild.com Last checked: 2026-09-29

What it is

The Southern Maine Clay Guild (SMCG) is a nonprofit educational group of ceramic artists, educators, and enthusiasts in southern Maine and the nearby Seacoast. Its homepage says it began in 2005 as an informal group of potters, ceramicists, and people who love creating with clay, professionally and as a hobby. Members learn from each other, improve skills, and take part in exhibitions and educational activities. A volunteer 2026 Board of Directors runs it (co-presidents, treasurer, secretary, and committee chairs). Since 2024 it has been fiscally sponsored by Strategies for a Stronger Sanford. It is not a teaching studio with its own permanent classroom lease as its primary identity, and it is not a clay supplier.

Who it’s for

Southern Maine and Seacoast potters who want a member association: seasonal guild meetings, pit firings, doodle-bowl sessions for Empty Bowls fundraisers, a members’ directory, and member-priority workshop registration. Professionals, hobbyists, educators, and enthusiasts are welcome. People who want weekly enrolled classes should look at member studios listed in the directory (several members run teaching studios). The guild itself does not present a public open-studio membership desk or a clay shop.

Why it’s listed

This is the first-party Southern Maine Clay Guild domain (southernmaineclayguild.com). It prints annual dues ($35), a named 2026 volunteer board, a dated 2026 events calendar with venues, a fiscal-sponsor mailing address, and a public member directory. It is not a scraped directory card.

• Membership dues (Join page, checked 2026-09-29): dues of $35 are paid annually in January. New and renewing members complete the Join form. Payment options printed: check made out to Strategies for a Stronger Sanford with memo SMCG Membership, mailed to SMCG c/o Strategies for a Stronger Sanford, PO Box 958, Sanford, ME 04073-2917; or Zeffy online (https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/southern-maine-clay-guild-membership) with note SMCG (third-party processor; the page says you can set the optional donation to custom/zero). After joining, members are added to the SMCG Google Group (southernmaineclayguild@googlegroups.com).
• Governance (homepage, checked today): 2026 Board of Directors — Rebecca Hillman and Mary Wilson (Co-Presidents); Kim Hanson (Treasurer); Erin Barrow-Ross (Secretary); Lindsey Howarth (Social Media Outreach); Amy Nolan (Members’ Directory); Kari Wojtanik and Barbara Hopkins (co-chairing Activities 2026). The board meets every other month electronically.
• 2026 events (Events page, checked today): Feb 22 Winter Meeting & Doodle Bowls at Dover Pottery Studio (10 a.m.–1 p.m.); Mar 20–22 Matt Katz glaze-chemistry workshop (full); Jun 8 pending burn permit — Spring Meeting & pit fire at Annie’s; Jun 20 small-group soda firing at Barbara’s; Sep 11 Brian O’Hare “Throwing Taller, Wider, and More!” one-day workshop at Dover Pottery Studio (9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., sold out); Sep 13 Fall Guild Meeting with Rebecca (3–6 p.m.: intros/meeting 3–4, doodle-bowl demos 4–5, potluck & pot swap 5–6); Sep 26–27 Tara Wilson altering workshop in South Berwick, Maine (sold out); early Dec Holiday Meeting & small ornament/gift exchange. A National Handwork Day collaboration is listed at Dover Pottery Studio, 66 Third St, Dover, NH 03820 (10 a.m.–2 p.m.).
• Members (Members page, checked today): a public directory of member makers and studios (examples printed: Dover Pottery Studio, Mill Pond Ceramics Studio, Spinney Creek Pottery, Mud in Maine, and others across southern Maine / nearby NH).

The dues, board roster, and 2026 event dates above are what the official pages showed on the check date. Several workshops were already sold out; meeting locations for some events are sent via the members’ Google Group rather than fully printed. Check the live Join and Events pages, or the Google Group if you are a member, before treating any figure or date as fixed.

Official URL

https://www.southernmaineclayguild.com/

Join (dues): https://www.southernmaineclayguild.com/join

Events: https://www.southernmaineclayguild.com/events

Members directory: https://www.southernmaineclayguild.com/members

(Canonical first-party Google Sites site checked 2026-09-29.)

Location

The Southern Maine Clay Guild is a regional member guild without a single permanent public storefront. Contact and dues mail go through the fiscal sponsor at PO Box 958, Sanford, ME 04073-2917. Meetings and workshops rotate among member studios and partners (printed examples include Dover Pottery Studio, 66 Third St, Dover, NH 03820; South Berwick, Maine; and member sites named on the Events page).

This is a membership potters’ association. It is not a teaching campus and not a ceramic supply retailer.

Notes

• Category is Guild: a member-run association with a volunteer 2026 board, $35 annual dues, seasonal meetings, pit firings, and workshops. Not a studio (no guild-owned open-studio membership product) and not a supplier.
• First Maine listing on Clay Plaza. Distinct from already-listed New England guilds (New Hampshire Potters Guild, Connecticut Clay Guild, Potters Guild of New Jersey, etc.). Keep separate from the Lapidary / Mahjong / Bee / Bonsai directories.
• Site inconsistencies at check: (1) many workshop seats for 2026 were already marked sold out / full on the Events page. (2) Some meeting street addresses are only in the members’ Google Group, not fully printed on the public Events list. (3) The Join page’s Zeffy link is a third-party payment processor; the guild’s own dues amount ($35) is what this listing cites. (4) No dedicated logo file could be saved from the Google Sites host (image CDN returned 400 to automated fetch); no listing image file accompanies this page.
• $35 dues, the 2026 board roster, and Events calendar dates were transcribed from official pages checked on 2026-09-29 and may change.
• No first-party logo on file — listing uses default guild card art. Do not invent a logo.
• Not affiliated with Clay Plaza.
• No Clay Plaza contact, purchase, booking, or publication action was taken.

FAQ

Q: What are membership dues?
A: Join page (checked 2026-09-29): $35 a year, paid in January. Complete the Join form, then pay by check to Strategies for a Stronger Sanford (memo: SMCG Membership) mailed to SMCG c/o Strategies for a Stronger Sanford, PO Box 958, Sanford, ME 04073-2917, or via the Zeffy link on the Join page with note “SMCG.” New members are invited to the SMCG Google Group.

Q: When is the next guild meeting or workshop?
A: Events page (checked 2026-09-29): Fall Guild Meeting is Sep 13, 2026, 3–6 p.m. (meeting, doodle-bowl demos, potluck/pot swap). Earlier 2026 dates included Feb 22 at Dover Pottery Studio and a June pit fire (burn-permit dependent). Several Sep workshops were already sold out. Confirm on the live Events page or, if you are a member, the Google Group.

Q: Does SMCG offer classes or sell clay?
A: No. SMCG is a member-run association with meetings, firings, and workshops. It has no public class studio of its own and no supply shop. The Members directory lists makers and member studios that may teach. For weekly enrolled classes use a teaching studio, and for clay and glaze use a ceramic supplier.