Life & Work with Jason & Audra Rainey of Baker neighborhood/4th & Broadway

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason & Audra Rainey.

Hi Jason & Audra, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Jason and I began as “clay-quaintances,” connecting over Instagram through the shared highs and lows of a serious clay addiction. My own relationship with the medium started early, when my mom signed me up for a wheel class at the Bicentennial Art Center in Aurora. An incredible teacher in APS helped turn that spark into a full-blown obsession, eventually leading me to earn my BFA in Ceramic Arts from CSU. While adulthood took me into a career in healthcare administration, a weekly pottery class is how I’ve found my center for decades.

Jason’s path to clay came later but just as deeply. An Army veteran who spent years in a high-pressure medical career, he found an unexpected sense of calm in working with mud. What began as a way to decompress quickly became essential. Drawn to the grounding nature of the process, Jason sold everything, transformed his garage into a studio, and committed fully to learning the craft.

As our individual paths began to intertwine, we found ourselves madly in love and deeply aligned in clay. We decided to move in together, merge our studios, and see what our combined forces might create. Our garage became a pocket-sized studio where we made our own pots and began sharing our love of clay with friends and family—hosting classes, clay nights, and gatherings centered around creating and connection.

Much of our story feels guided, as if the universe quietly did its work Enter Chroma Denver, selling our work introduced us to a vibrant community and carried us into the current phase of our lives and artistry. When the retail space where our pots had been glittering in the corner, and KaraKara outgrew their space at 17 E. 4th Avenue, we felt the pull to take a leap and elevate what began in a garage into a Denver brick-and-mortar studio. Today, that space is about more than pottery. It’s a place to build community, share our process, and continue showing up as learning, striving artists—inviting others to experience the grounding, transformative power of clay alongside us.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
LOL! That’s so funny, what road worth it, is smooth?

But in all seriousness… Our path has been deeply rewarding, but far from smooth. Building a life and business around art requires constant risk, adaptability, and trust—especially when you’re choosing creativity over stability. There were financial uncertainties, steep learning curves, and moments where we had to ask ourselves if the leap was worth it. Balancing love, partnership, and entrepreneurship added another layer of complexity, as did stepping into a public-facing role as artists and educators.

We’ve learned that progress often comes through discomfort. Every challenge forced us to refine our values, communicate more clearly, and stay grounded in why we started in the first place. Those struggles ultimately shaped the studio into what it is today—intentional, resilient, and rooted in community. Looking back, the difficult moments weren’t detours; they were necessary steps that helped us build something honest and sustainable.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our work is rooted in both tradition and storytelling. Jason is deeply passionate about the history, form, and function of clay across cultures and time. As the primary thrower, he draws from traditional ceramic forms and techniques, honoring the lineage of past makers while steadily honing a style that is distinctly his own. After years of working for and alongside professional potters, he’s developed a consistency in finish and refinement that makes each piece unmistakably identifiable—while still allowing for variation in shape that keeps the work alive and human. You can always tell whose hands made it.

Once the throwing and trimming are complete, my role begins. I’m the decorator on the team, tapping into my love of printmaking to approach surface. Using layered imagery, texture, and pattern, I build narratives directly onto the form. I’m interested in how images interact with shape—how a handle, a curve, or a rim can carry part of the story. Creating that dialogue between form and surface is where my creative fire lives.

What we’re most proud of is the way our practices merge into a single voice while still honoring our individual strengths. Our ongoing goal is to make pieces you have to have—whether it’s the feel of a handle, the balance of a form, the story told through the surface, or a color that pulls you in. These are objects meant to be lived with, used daily, gifted with intention, and loved over time. What sets us apart is that every piece holds both reverence for tradition and a contemporary, narrative-driven sensibility—work that feels grounded, personal, and impossible to ignore.

When you take a class with us, you’ll experience these same strengths and passions firsthand. Jason leads next-level throwing and form-focused classes, sharing his deep respect for tradition and precision. I tend to teach workshops exploring surface decoration, layering, and storytelling techniques. Together, our classes reflect our studio practice—helping students build skill, confidence, and their own creative voice.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I believe that clay is inherently risky—but that’s part of the magic. Every piece starts as a lump of wet, unpredictable material that could collapse, crack, or break at any moment. Abandoning object permanence is almost a rite of passage in the clay cult. You make something, and it might not survive, whether it’s in the kiln, or my favorite knocked off the table by a curious cat while you take a picture of your creation! Each stage of the process requires a willingness to let go, experiment, and embrace impermanence.

Beyond clay, Jason and I have taken bigger personal and professional risks, like leaving a stable career, merging our studios, and betting everything on our creative vision. Even now, every new line of work, class, or market comes with uncertainty. Over time, we’ve learned to manage the risk without letting it dominate—our mantra at the studio and markets is simple: “If you break it, we’ll make a new one!”

Pricing:

• Handmade ceramics – $5-200+
• Classes (6-weeks) – $325
• Workshops ( 1-2 days) – $50-100
• Clay & Chill (2 hours) – $60 per seat
• Private lesson/party – starting at $150

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.raineypottery.com
• Instagram: @RaineyPottery

Image Credits
Photos by McKenzie Bigliazzi