New women-led business opens ceramic studio, gallery space

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Inferno Clay Studio and Gallery Space is a new women-led, artist-run, not-for-profit business ceramic studio in Rockford committed to the longevity of ceramic art and its artists in the Forest City.

Two Rockford area artists, Alyssa Noonen and Emily Rangel-Cascio, created Inferno with a mission of relieving the financial burden ceramic arts has on artists in the area.

Noonen earned a BFA in Ceramics from Northern Illinois University (NIU) in 2020. A couple months later, she survived an apartment fire. She spent over a year recovering. For Noonen, Inferno means journey. “It not only tells her own story, but also the journey that clay goes through to become ceramic.”

Rangel-Cascio earned a BFA and MFA in Ceramics from NIU 2015 and 2019. Opening her own ceramics studio has been a goal of her’s for several years. The space is something she wishes she had after college.

Inferno’s gallery space is a means to display artwork made in-studio and showcase art from across the stateline. Artists of any medium can show off and sell their work in Gallery Space.

Artists who are unable to create in a home studio or pay for an artistic space can use Inferno’s space, which is a complete ceramic studio. Inferno Clay Studio is also holding its first fundraising event on Tuesday, June 25 from 6-9 p.m. Money raised will go towards adding tools to the studio for the community to use.

For more information about Inferno Clay Studio, click here.

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