About Chris Targoni:

"I grew up on the coast of California in a very creative family. As a child, I was given many opportunities to make art, some of which involved clay. In high school and college, I took ceramics classes and I loved working on the wheel. More recently, I have been able to utilize the resources at The District Clay Center to create for personal use and to develop a line of work that I hope to make available to the public soon. 

My wife and I moved to DC in 2015 for a teaching certification program.  I have been teaching elementary art since the 2016-2017 school year. In this work I have been able to give many students some of their first experiences with clay. Through Community Clay, I hope to help more of DC’s residents get access to pottery through community, school and family partnerships."

August 2018

The mission of our new Community Clay Program is to bring the joy of pottery to underserved youth in the Washington area.   Under the stewardship of Chris Targoni, our Program director, District Clay is meeting with teachers and community leaders to undertake pilot programs and demonstration projects around the following areas:

 1) Training art teachers how to use ceramic equipment and employ new ceramic techniques.

2)  Inserting District Clay teachers and artists into local schools to demonstrate new techniques to students.

3) Bringing youth from the community to visit the DCC for free classes in wheel throwing and hand building.  

Our first fundraising event will be joint effort with Cross-MacKenzie Gallery called Holiday Cheer!  This fundraiser will promote local ceramic artists while raising money for the Community Clay Program.

Community Clay operaties under a 501C3 organization that was formed by District Clay and is called the District Clay Educational Fund.  

If you would like to donate or get involved with our non-profit, please send Chris an email:  chris(at)districtclaycenter.com.