Artist Residency

Nestled in the wooded landscape of rural Truro, Massachusetts, Truro Clay Works offers ceramic artists a peaceful and inspiring place to live, work, and connect.

Our brand-new, light-filled studio combines modern design with functionality. Spacious shared workstations, private storage, and electric and gas kilns provide opportunities for oxidation and reduction firing, supporting a wide range of creative exploration.

The property features a woodland path leading directly to the ocean. Just minutes from Wellfleet—with its renowned oysters and kettle ponds—and Provincetown, known for its vibrant arts scene and Queer culture, Truro offers the ideal balance of solitude, inspiration, and community.

A year-long residency allows artists the time to settle into their surroundings—to move with the rhythm of the seasons, form meaningful connections within the local community, and let both place and practice evolve together in a sustained and authentic way.

Residency Overview

The Truro Clay Works Artist Residency invites three ceramicists to join our creative community for a one-year term starting October 5 of 2026. Residents live in a large fully furnished communal home with private bedrooms, two full shared bathrooms, living room, laundry room, pantry and kitchen. There is 24-hour access to a separate and fully equipped communal ceramic studio on site. This is a great opportunity for an artist to explore a new body of work or collaboration. The residency is designed for independent artists who appreciate both quiet focus and a shared creative environment — a place where craft, nature, and community intersect.

Location, Duration, Available Residencies, Fees

Location: Truro, Massachusetts

Duration: One Year (with the option to renew)

Available Residencies: 3

Fees: $1,500/month includes housing, utilities and studio access and 50lbs of clay per month

Please note:

This is a rural environment; applicants should have access to a car. - Free parking is provided on-site.

The residency is a pet-free and smoke-free environment.

About me, my philosophy and why now

My name is Amy Kandall. Since purchasing my home at 3 Deer Path in 1999, this ¾-acre plot of woods up against National Seashore has been both my home and my sanctuary. It has nurtured me as I raised two children and built my career as an artist and high school ceramics teacher in our local community.

As my children grew and moved on to college, my home began to feel larger than I needed. During the pandemic, I built a new studio and a small apartment for myself—an intentional step toward living smaller and creating bigger. Teaching ceramics and fostering a vibrant studio environment has always been at the heart of my work, and Truro Clay Works is my opportunity to extend that creative spirit into the wider community.

I made my house available for tenants in October 2023. October 2026, it will evolve into a ceramic residency program designed to bring together a group of like-minded artists who support one another’s creative growth. The house and nearby studio are meant to function as a single, integrated live/work space—a place for makers to develop their craft, share ideas, and enrich both each other and the Truro Clay Works community.

At Truro Clay Works, we offer small, hands-on classes for local residents, inviting people to discover how creativity can enrich everyday life. As an artist in residence, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with this community—sharing your work, gaining visibility, and contributing to a growing culture of creative exchange. Your presence will serve as both inspiration and support for new makers learning to explore clay as part of their own lives.

If you are considering this residency, I warmly invite you to apply. Finalists will be welcome to visit, stay overnight in our guest accommodations, and take part in studio activities to experience firsthand whether this environment feels like a creative home for you.

Expectations and Exchange

Fees are $1,500 per month, which includes housing, utilities, full access to the studio and 50lbs of clay each month. Additional clay can be purchased at cost.

Residents are expected to contribute an exchange of 16 hours per month, approximately 4 hours per week, toward the shared operations of Truro Clay Works. Contributions may include:

Studio management such as loading and firing gas and electric kilns
Glazes mixing
General maintenance
Studio promotion for classes through outreach in the community and social media
Cleaning and organization
Participation in student engagement activities such as presentations critiques or demonstrations

Beyond this exchange, artists are encouraged to pursue their own studio practice without formal production or exhibition requirements.

Teaching classes in hand building are available, for which residents will be separately compensated.

Residents have the opportunity to sell work in our studio during group sales events and our in house display shelves.

Who Should Apply

We welcome ceramic artists of all backgrounds and approaches — from functional pottery to sculptural and experimental work.

Artists with experience in glaze chemistry, gas kiln oxidation and reduction firing and/or skills teaching hand building are particularly encouraged to apply.

This residency is ideal for those seeking dedicated studio time within a supportive, relaxed environment surrounded by nature. Applicants must be self motivated and independent in their personal studio practices as well as being community minded.

Facilities Include

24-hour access to a brand-new, fully equipped studio

Electric and gas front loading Bailey kilns

Slab roller

Pug mill

5 potter’s wheels

Multiple light and dark stoneware clay bodies for mid and high fire

Glaze materials

Communal workspace

Private storage

Communal home with private bedrooms

Wooded property close to Cape Cod beaches and the historic artist community of Provincetown

Free on-site parking

Opportunities to display and sell work inside our studio

Living and Working on the Outer Cape

Life on the Outer Cape follows a seasonal rhythm. Summers are busy with tourism and our population grows to 20,000. Restaurants and shops are open, and service work is plentiful. Winters are quiet and community focused, the population shrinks to 2,000, and job opportunities are limited.

Balancing outside employment with studio time can be challenging, so having some financial stability—through savings, remote work, or part-time seasonal work—makes it easier to focus on your own practice.

Provincetown offers year round cultural organizations such as The Commons, the Fine Arts Work Center and Provincetown Art Association and Museum. These organizations offer exhibition opportunities and free programing to deepen community involvement and connection in the colder months. Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill is another thriving ceramic focused campus just one mile from Truro Clay Works.

I want to be upfront about these realities while supporting residents in making the most of their time—immersing themselves in the studio, the landscape, and their work. Because this residency is newly established, this guidance comes from my experience living here and hosting tenants, not from prior residents.

We welcome residents who are ready to explore their work in this contrasting landscape of seasonal change. Year round there is incredible natural beauty to inspire artistic growth. I encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns about balancing studio practice, work, and life during your stay.