New artist-run nonprofit studio and gallery aims to get Rockford fired up about ceramics

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A new artist-run nonprofit sets out to foster the growth of ceramic arts in the city and help makers and crafters find their full potential in the medium.

Inferno Clay Studio, 125 S. Madison St. in downtown, marks its grand opening Saturday. It fills the former Noah’s Ark Animal Hospital, which moved to North Fourth Street in late 2019.

The two-level studio and gallery provides a professional workspace for residents artists to access a kiln for firing services and handle the messy and sometimes maintenance-heavy needs of glazemaking and working with clay. There will also be workshops and classes for all skill levels and a retail space for pop-up shopping events for artists to sell their work.

The studio is the vision of Alyssa Noonen and Emily Rangel-Cascio, who co-founded the nonprofit in April. The pair met at Northern Illinois University, where they both earned degrees in ceramics. Noonen was an undergrad while Rangel-Cascio was teaching as a graduate assistant en route to earning her master’s degree.

They created Inferno in response to a need for a non-academic ceramics studio where artists could work individually or in collaboration.

“We’re basically making what we wished we would have had coming back to Rockford after graduating,” Rangel-Cascio said. “A city our size should have this.”

There are four resident artists in addition to Noonen and Rangel-Cascio. Its residencies are 100% full, but the basement will become a shared workspace to provide more opportunities for artists.

Recovery and inspiration

For Noonen, a 2015 Boylan Catholic High School graduate, Saturday’s grand opening comes almost four years after an apartment fire nearly killed her.

It was 3 a.m. on Feb. 12, 2021, when an electrical fire broke out on the coldest night of the year at her then-boyfriend’s apartment in DeKalb.

“There was an immediate sense of danger when we woke up, and we had to get out immediately,” she said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the exit in time because the whole apartment was filled with smoke. I ended up passing out and being rescued by firefighters.”

Noonen suffered third degree burns across 40-50% of her body, including her face, head, back, shoulders, arms down to her finger tips and across her chest.

“It was like being cooked in an oven,” she said.

Noonen was airlifted to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, where she spent two and a half weeks in a coma. She was then treated for six weeks in the intensive care burn unit and spent an additional six weeks undergoing rehab in Chicago.

It was during rehab that the word inferno came to her, first as the inspiration for a tattoo signifying her survival and recovery from the fire. When she and Rangel-Cascio searched for a name for their new nonprofit, Inferno was a fitting choice as both emblematic of Noonen’s journey and the process of firing clay for ceramics.

Noonen’s graft-scarred arms and hands tightened and clenched into a fist after her surgeries, but she regained use after months of retraining her motor skills. Now, she says her skills with clay exceed what they were before the fire.

“It took a lot of stretching and exercising,” she said. “I think I’m better now, because I’ve been at the studio every day for the past year and a half, two years.”

Noonen spent a year and a half on disability after the fire. She’s now working with special education students as a paraprofessional at Kennedy Middle School in addition to her work at the studio. Rangel-Cascio, a 2010 Guilford High School graduate, is raising two children while handling the studio maintenance.

They see Inferno Clay Studio as a place for artists to work in collaboration and cooperation, pushing each other to excel in the medium. Rangel-Cascio described it as community over competition.

Together, they hope to cultivate a love for ceramic arts, help more artists grow with the equipment they need and create a bigger market for makers to sell their pottery, dishes and other ceramic work.

“It’s about getting a good group of people in here who are all challenging each other to make better work and always learn more and always keep going,” Noonen said, “because clay and ceramics offers endless possibilities.”

Inferno Clay Studio | grand opening

What: Inferno Clay Studio will have music, drinks, pottery painting and food on both levels of its two-story ceramics studio as it shows off its space and the handmade pottery for sale from its resident artists.

Where: 125 S. Madison St., Rockford

When: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15

Info: Go HERE

On Facebook: Follow HERE

On Instagram: Follow HERE

Online: infernoclaystudio.org

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas