​Bonnie Adams: Hi. My name's Bonnie Adams. And it is my pleasure to be here today and tell you a little bit about Feat of Clay. You might have heard about the place. It's in Aztec. Believe it or not, we've been there for 25 years. Yes, 25 years. It seems like a second to me.

But 25 years ago, I moved to New Mexico from east of the Mississippi. When I got here, it was a totally different world. And I took a job as a nurse at the hospital. It was on the Nephrology floor. So, stressful? Yes, absolutely. Did I miss home? At that time, home was still green and rivers and all that. I did. But the Southwest was so beautiful and it got under my skin and I fell in love with this place.

I am an artist as well as a nurse. And I at that time was working in clay. And I took a class at San Juan College, what a jewel that place is. They have the best art department I have ever seen any place I lived. And I met some other potters, and it was wonderful. It just helped keep me sane through the stressful times at the hospital and dealing with so many sick people and adjusting to a new area.

Well, one day, a couple of them and I thought, "Ah, we have all this pottery building up. We should find a place and open a small gallery." And so, we did. It was about 9 by 16 feet. We could barely fit two people in there at a time. But we started Feat of Clay nonprofit co-op gallery, and that's how it started. Then, as we grew, we moved to a bigger building, and then a bigger building. And then, we got painters and photographers and sculptures and fabric artists, so many different things, jewelers. It just kept growing over the 25 years. Then, we started having community shows and we invited the community to come in and show their art in our silly little gallery, and it has grown every year.

About five years ago, maybe six, we started to have what we call poetry, and that is an open mic and local authors come and they read their poems and their essays. We've had people do one-act plays. We've had a drumming group come in and do a whole drumming thing while their main member read a poem she had written. It has been so interesting.

Another thing we have been doing of late is digital art. We got a grant from the Connie Koch Group, and we started a whole digital art program. So right now, we've had a digital art show. We have screens, we have the means to create digital art, and we're showing that. We've also started having book launches and book signings, just many, many things. Writing groups meet at Feat of Clay now.

It's a wonderful place. And I know that without having the option of a gallery of a place to show my art, of a place to meet other artists, life would've been a lot more difficult. And that's another reason I would like to talk to you about Feat of Clay. Whatever job you have, especially if you are in healthcare or in teaching, or so many different jobs that can be stressful, art offers an opportunity to relieve those stresses, to put them on paper, to slam that piece of clay down, and exercise those demons. It is a place to find joy. It is just one of the most wonderful things.

So, I encourage all of you to consider coming out to Feat of Clay and seeing some of the different local artists that we have there and participating in some of the events we have and enjoying this wonderful little place that has continued and grown over the years, Feat of Clay.

You can visit us Tuesday from 1:30 to 5:00 and Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 5:00. And it is at 222 North Main in Aztec, New Mexico. I thank you so much for listening today. And I hope this gives you another thing you can do with your week. It's been my pleasure to talk to you, and you all have a good day.