Meet your visiting ceramic artists

Your Event Organizers: Jackie Burrow & Gail Schomisch, Co-Owners.  In business since 1998 in the greater Las Vegas area, their paint-your-own pottery studio has imbedded itself deep within its community with large scale events for schools, churches and parks & recreation programs.  Their involvement in the Las Vegas Healing Garden project - with thousands of clay art tiles painted by the public - honoring the Route 91 Festival Concert shooting victims became a defining moment in their studio existence.  Legacy tile murals are their specialty, and this work takes on significant meaning for memorial sites, especially with children.  The public K-5 elementary school sector is their primary focus for daily fundraising partnerships and all kinds of super fun and festive social art nights.  They're often quoted as saying there's nothing better than a school lunchroom, community center, summer camp or church hall full of happy people of all ages relaxing and having fun... getting to "paint their art out" for an hour or two.  Therapy for mind and heart, indeed.

 "We are honored to be donating this gift to the 

City of Uvalde with the help of our industry peers listed below!" 

Visit allfireduplv.com for more information

Sandi Kirkwood opened her first paint your own pottery studio in 2001 in San Antonio.  In 2014 she purchased another pottery studio in New Braunfels, TX.  In 2020 Sandi sold the San Antonio studio, Clay Casa, but continues to operate Clay Casa New Braunfels in historic downtown New Braunfels, TX.  In 2017,  Sandi participated in the memorial tile painting event at the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church along with Art Attack LV studio in La Vernia, Texas.  Healing the hearts and minds of that community through painting tiles was a significant milestone in her studio's history.  Sandi is honored to be of service.

Clay Casa New Braunfels is a paint your own pottery studio that has been serving the New Braunfels area since 2004. In addition to walk-in pottery painting, the studio offers mosaics, parties, and field trips for schools, churches and daycares.  Sandi plays a key role in the project for Uvalde in that her location is within the region and her studio will be processing out the finished artwork.  It will take numerous kiln firings to complete the tiles and her donation of her time and talent and staff are priceless.

Visit claycasanewbraunfels.com for more information

Jenean Mills is the owner of Art Attack LV located in a small town outside of San Antonio, Texas called La Vernia.  She opened Art Attack LV in July of 2014 to bring art entertainment and creativity to her small town while still teaching high school art full time for 32 years.  Art Attack LV offers classes for adults, camps and classes for children and walk-in pottery painting.  Classes include pottery, canvas, board art, fused glass and many kinds of mixed media.  In 2017, Jenean and her studio partnered with Sandi Kirkwood's Clay Casa in New Braunfels and together they facilitated the memorial tile painting project for the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church that suffered a tragic shooting incident.  

Jenean's studio will also be processing out part of the tiles for the Uvalde mural.  We are thankful for her willingness to be a part of this work and her generous offering of her studio kiln space.  She will be on site during the painting events and will be easy to spot with her sunny disposition and open heart.  We are so pleased and honored she is joining us in Uvalde to assist at one of the sites.

Visit artattacklv.com for further information

Sara Thompson brings her years of ceramic experience to Uvalde to help with the tile painting project.  Her genuine demeanor and willingness to help along with her seasoned industry tenure will be supportive to the organizers and those participating in the tile event.  She had asked  “How can I help?” and the answer immediately was that she is coming to Uvalde to support  a very meaningful endeavor and to lend her giving & generous spirit.

Ceramic Café, located in the Kansas City metro area, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this November.  Sara opened her "paint your own pottery" studio in 1997 after working as an occupational therapist for many years.  Since opening the studio, Sara has always had a focus on giving back to her community.  She never turns down a request for a donation for local groups, schools  and non profit organizations hosting fundraising events.  In addition to the donations, she assists groups with painting events that not only raise money for their cause, but also provides an activity that promotes quality family interaction.  One of these projects are her annual "Gnome Hunt" for her local area: 

 Customers and community groups create the gnome out of clay, free of charge.  The gnomes are hidden in parks around the greater Kansa City metropolitan area.  Anyone that finds one of the hidden gnomes can bring it back to the Ceramic Café studio and paint the gnome at no charge.  This way even disadvantaged or lower income individuals & families can enjoy a creative and artistic activity in a relaxed and inspiring atmosphere.

Visit ceramiccafekc.com for more information

Romy Norberto is the owner of Picasso's Creative Workshop in Lake Worth, FL - in Palm Beach County. Romy and her husband Jason, bought Picasso's 5 years ago, they love to work with the local community, especially local schools. She has assisted many schools with tile events working with hundreds of parents and children at the time, which gives her great experience to help the families to the City of Uvalde with this project. Because Romy is multilingual, she will be able to assist with Spanish speaking families and she also speaks Portuguese, Italian and some French.

Besides a daily walk-in studio, the main focus of Picasso’s is working with schools, churches and other organizations to do large scale fundraising events and projects that help bring families together to create long-lasting memories.

When Romy got the request to come and help to Uvalde, she said give me the dates and I’ll be there.  She is mother of 2 teenagers and feels very compelled to be a part of this healing project. She knows her time away from her family, to spend time with the families of Uvalde, will be time well spent. 

 Visit www.gopicasso.com