Orcutt resident and ceramic artist Naomi Lai creates functional and sculpted art in the form of decorative vases, plates, trays, and bowls. They are slab built or thrown on a wheel and embellished with decorative designs. Additionally, Lai is known for her ceramic wall art. Her images of ocean life such as fishes, octopuses, turtles, and jellyfish are popular at Los Alamos Gallery. Her prices are purposely affordable, says Lai. “I want regular families to be able to afford ceramic pieces that are traditionally expensive and out of reach for most people.” She speaks of her joy receiving photos of her work from customers. “They send me pictures of how they’ve placed my work in their home, and how happy they are. I live for moments like that.” Lai recounts how a teenager got a job to pay for a specific dragon sculpture he’d been eyeing. “If I’d known, I’d have given him a huge discount, but he was really proud of himself and told me I deserved every penny!”

          The joy in Lai’s pieces reflect her enthusiastic personality and her clear love of the medium. She says she puts 100 percent into what she is doing, whether as a classroom instructor or pursuing a new skill. Originally from Orange County, Lai moved here in 1988 with her husband, two sons and daughter. Lai, who graduated with majors in fine arts and counseling from Cal State Fullerton, got a job teaching art at Ralph Dunlap Elementary School. She returned to school for a masters in Curriculum Development and then taught at May Grisham Elementary School working with 3rd-5th graders. Upon retirement, Lai turned back to her love of art, joining a pottery class with Santa Maria Parks and Recreation followed by classes at Alan Hancock College where the “fantastic ceramic department teaching staff” encouraged her to create her own studio. Soon a small cedar shed behind her home housed her wheel and, with a kiln in the garage, she was on her ceramic journey. “It’s the passion of my life and I love working in my tiny studio,” says Lai.

          Lai’s daily schedule starts with a run on the Orcutt Community Park trails and weight training sessions. “My medium necessitates being able to lift heavy clay,” she says. Then comes she spends three hours in her studio. The second part of her day consists of her service work dedicated to a group called Indivisible Santa Maria, “which defends our constitutional rights, communities, and local values.” Lai says it’s important for her, as a minority, to reach out, “to give people a voice that do not have one.”

         As a third generation Japanese American, Lai was determined to “stand up and say something” with a handful of friends on the corner of Cook and Broadway in February. She recounts her father at 12-years-old, fleeing to Japan during World War II to avoid being one of the 120,000 American citizens that were “unlawfully interred.” Lai says, “We should all be aware that history is repeating itself. My passions are definitely ceramics and Indivisible,” and adds that every night she is back in the studio for glazing.

Lai’s work is available at the Los Alamos Gallery, 515 Bell St., Los Alamos, 10-5pm, Thursday-Monday. 805-344-3300. There is a “Meet the Artists” at the gallery on December 6 from 10-2pm.

Katy Jacobson reporting