Our Teams
AMCAW is run by a team of over 50 volunteers, all metal clay artists who like sharing their talents to promote metal clay as a medium and help other metal clay artists. They are using the business and professional skills they developed outside of their metal clay work to help AMCAW become an organization that advances the medium we all love.
Join the team! It’s fun, rewarding, and you’ll build solid friendships with other metal clay artists across the globe. Take a look at the teams below to find the one where your talents might shine the brightest.
Advanced Studies
Do you have a passion for helping others learn? Or like to create or manage educational programs? Then the Advanced Studies team needs you! All about supporting advancement in metal clay, this team develops programs which challenge makers of all levels to strive for more, improve their skills, and tune into and develop their creative voice. They find ways to encourage both novice and experienced educators fine-tune their knowledge of metal clay, refine all aspects of their teaching methods, and learn to make an impactful presentation to their students. Let’s find ways together to make metal clay a go-to medium in the metals world!
Team leader is Lora Hart, supported by Patrice Baker
Communications and Marketing
This buzzing group creates the fun, engaging communications which connect the community to AMCAW and involve both members and the general public in our events and activities. If you like to design graphics, create conversations on social media, write or edit work about interesting metal clay activities, generate wildly creative marketing ideas, produce videos, or craft communication/marketing plans, this team is for you!
Team leader is Martha Vaughan, supported by Sue Lokaj
Curating for Excellence
This small team is passionate about nurturing the metal clay stars of the future and encouraging metal clay artists to get their work seen! Creating new opportunities where none exist, such as artist challenges, exhibitions and publications, this high-energy team is always looking for ways to help metal clay artists advance. If you are an experienced artist who likes encouraging others to push themselves to the next level, this team needs your talent and would love to talk with you!
Team leader is Julia Rai, supported by Robert Dancik
Education
Working in metal clay is a continual learning journey, and helping all skill levels along that journey with educational support is one of our top priorities. This team creates valuable online articles, videos, and other resources which tap into their collective years of experience and experimentation to deliver well-researched and experience-based educational content which is helpful to everyone working with metal clay. If you’re passionate about helping others learn, can write or edit metal clay articles, or have experience with video production, this is your sweet spot!
Team leader is Brandy Boyd, supported by Loretta Hackman
Finance and Risk
Do numbers tell you a story? You might just love working with the Finance and Risk team, which oversees the financial performance of AMCAW to ensure our mission and operations budget are well aligned. The team monitors the current and future financial health of AMCAW, creates and reviews budgets and develops and supports financial policies and procedures. If you love numbers and analysis, this team might be a great fit.
Team leader is Wendy Ernst, supported by Anne Acker
Fundraising
Working to create and develop lasting relationships with sponsors and foundations, this team also looks for creative ways to raise funds to support our programs. If you’re a creative thinker, good at building relationships, adept at writing grant applications, or experienced in sales, you’ll love this enthusiastic, upbeat group which is laying the groundwork for our future!
Team leader is Donna Giffin, supported by Paula McDowell
Grants & Awards
The Grants & Awards team’s mission is to promote the growth of the international metal clay community by providing grant opportunities to metal clay artists, entrepreneurs and inventors that assist in educating, inspiring and moving the metal clay community forward. If you’d like to be a part of helping to nurture budding efforts which can have a big impact, this might be the team for you.
Team leader is Pam Feindel, supported by Cindy Pope
Guild Support
Whenever two or three metal clay artists get together, magic happens! This team is all about creating more of this magic through our Community Guild Resources and the Virtual Guild, which connects artists across the globe in online meetings featuring experts, top artists, and trending topics in metal clay. If you’re a people person, good at organizing, a responsive communicator, or gifted at identifying new trends/techniques/ products which metal clay artists should know about, you’ll shine on this passionate team!
Team leader is Bronwyn Evans, supported by Stephanie Chavez
Instructor Member Benefits
Instructors are the first face of metal clay to most new artists and are instrumental to growing the metal clay community. This new team recognizes their importance by focusing on developing special programs, benefits, and support to meet their needs. If you’re an instructor, here’s your chance to get involved in the early stages of developing programs just for you!
Team leader is TBD, supported by Stephanie Chavez
Lis-el Crowley Vision Award
The Lis-el Crowley Vision Award (LCVA) team shepherds the process of honoring a deserving member of our metal clay community each year. The LCVA was created to honor and sustain the enduring legacy of AMCAW’s co-founder, Lis-el Crowley. The community is asked to nominate people who embody Lis-el’s contributions, and an anonymous jury is recruited each year to select the winner. Interested in being a part of this prestigious annual event? Learn more about the LCVA here.
Team leader is Wendy McManus, supported by Terri Hickey
Member Engagement
Members are the center of our universe! This team focuses on some of our most important questions: How can AMCAW meet the needs of metal clay artists like you? What are the benefits you want from AMCAW which would make your membership an absolute must-have year after year, and compel you to tell your friends, “you’ve gotta be part of this!’” If you’re passionate about metal clay, have a great sense of fun, are very active on social media and love interacting and sharing metal clay related stuff, this team will be excited to meet you!
Team leader is Anca Crahamaliuc, supported by Annemarie Klappe
Metal Clay Archives
The Metal Clay Archives Team is interested in preserving the history of metal clay since its introduction. If you enjoy research to find and preserve articles, publications and other historical moments in our metal clay journey, this team would be a perfect match for you.
Team leader is Barbara Rivolta, supported by Linda Kaye-Moses
Metal Clay Live
Team leader is Wendy Ernst, supported by Claudia Cooley
SINTER
What’s more fun than getting together with several hundred fellow metal clay fans? Planning all the fun! SINTER is AMCAW’s in-person learning event, held every other year, where you can meet up with your tribe, learn, laugh, and mix and mingle with today’s top artists! If you like to organize events, work with instructors and presenters, create a welcoming and fun event environment, or calmly manage the gazillion details of a large live event, you need to join this team!
Team leader is Julia Rai, supported by Paula McDowell
Volunteer Support
Volunteers are the heart of AMCAW! The Volunteer Support team is focused on building our volunteer team and helping to maintain long term sustainability, and growth. This team is responsible for identifying and onboarding new volunteers, retention, recognition, and succession planning processes. If you like working with people, check out this friendly and energetic team!
Team leader is Pam Feindel, supported by TBD
Website and Technology
A global community is an online community, and this team keeps us connected worldwide. Our web team develops and runs our website, creatively designing and organizing webpages to create the welcoming, engaging face of AMCAW online. If you understand InDesign, can edit and resize photos, speak SEOs, edit videos, or create pages with ease, please text, email or otherwise digitally contact this team asap.
Team leader is Sian Hamilton, supported by Paula McDowell.
Our Volunteers
Amy Newell
Anca Crahmaliuc
Anne Acker
Annemarie Klappe
Arlene Driscoll
Barbara Clow
Barbara Rivolta
Barbara Simon
Brandy Boyd
Cindy Faulk
Cindy Pope
Claudia Cooley
Donna Giffin
Fiona Ingram
Helen Drye
Jan Coussens
Jayne Roth
Joy Wignall
Julia Rai
Kathleen Clausen
Kathy Moon
Laura Roehl
Linda Kaye-Moses
Lisa M. Barnes
Lora Hart
Loretta Hackman
Louise Collins
Marianne Donohoe
Nancy Miller
Pam Feindel
Patrice Baker
Paula McDowell
Rae Evans
Rebecca Lockwood
Robert Dancik
Sara Johnson
Sian Hamilton
Steve Spurgin
Susan Gini-Jones
Susan Lokaj
Terri Hickey
Tracey Spurgin
Vanessa Weber
Wendy Ernst
Wendy McManus
Amy Newell
Anca Crahmaliuc
Anne Acker
Annemarie Klappe
Arlene Driscoll
Barbara Clow
Barbara Rivolta
Barbara Simon
Brandy Boyd
Cindy Faulk
Cindy Pope
Claudia Cooley
Donna Giffin
Fiona Ingram
Helen Drye
Jan Coussens
Jayne Roth
Joy Wignall
Julia Rai
Kathleen Clausen
Kathy Moon
Laura Roehl
Linda Kaye-Moses
Lisa M. Barnes
Lora Hart
Loretta Hackman
Louise Collins
Marianne Donohoe
Nancy Miller
Pam Feindel
Patrice Baker
Paula McDowell
Rae Evans
Rebecca Lockwood
Robert Dancik
Sara Johnson
Stephanie Chavez
Steve Spurgin
Susan Gini-Jones
Susan Lokaj
Terri Hickey
Tracey Spurgin
Vanessa Weber
Wendy Ernst
Wendy McManus
AMCAW Volunteer Vacancies
AMCAW’s current volunteer needs are:
Education Team
- Writers
- Editors
Web & Tech Team
- Individual with SEO experience (Rank Math as a preference)
- WordPress web experience specifically with the Divi Builder