Our vision
A home for makers on the Potomac.
We believe Northern Virginia deserves a place where craftsmanship, creativity, and community come together. We're building toward it in stages: starting in the park, earning a permanent home, and growing into The Guild.
Four stages
Start where we are. Earn each next step.
Potomac Made is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that exists today. Each stage below stands on its own, and each one builds the community, programs, and support for the next.
Stages 3 and 4 are long-term goals, not existing facilities. Their locations, scale, and timing will depend on the partnerships, philanthropic support, and property opportunities we secure. We're committed to pursuing them; we don't promise when, or exactly how, they'll be built.
- Stage 1 · Now
Holiday Market
Our first public event brings local makers and neighbors together.
- Stage 2 · Next
Art in the Park
Mobile workshops and demonstrations, held outdoors and in partner spaces.
- Stage 3 · Then
A permanent home
A dedicated building for teaching, with Art on the Potomac's hot shop as the signature program.
- Stage 4 · Long term
The Guild
A larger creative campus that grows from that home.
Stage 1 · Now
The Holiday Market.
Saturday, December 12, 2026, 11 AM – 5:30 PM, in Potomac Shores Central Park. Our inaugural artisan market is the first public step: it introduces Potomac Made, connects local makers, and starts a community tradition.
Market details →Stage 2 · Next
Art in the Park.
Before we have a building, we bring the workshop to people. Art in the Park is a series of mobile, hands-on workshops led by working artisans, in parks, community spaces, schools, and partner venues.
Mobile workshops
Portable, hands-on classes in crafts that travel well, from leather and wood to flameworking demonstrations.
Working artisans
Local makers teach what they know, and are paid to do it.
Proof of demand
Every workshop shows who comes, what they want to learn, and what a permanent home needs to be.
Stage 3 · Then
A permanent home, anchored by Art on the Potomac.
When the community and support are in place, we'll establish a dedicated home for teaching and making. It could be a building we lease, a space a partner provides, or a site within a larger development. Its signature program is Art on the Potomac: a professional hot shop where visitors watch molten glass become art, students take their first gather, and visiting artists push the craft forward.
Furnace glassblowing
A professional hot shop with furnace, glory holes, and annealers, built for teaching as well as making.
Flameworking & coldworking
Torch stations, cutting, grinding, and engraving: accessible first steps and finishing skills.
Studios & classrooms
Room for woodworking, metal, leather, textiles, and ceramics alongside glass.
Demonstrations
Public demonstrations that turn the hot shop into a stage and bring the community in.
Artist residencies
Visiting and resident artists who teach, exhibit, and raise the bar for everyone.
Education
Classes for youth, veterans, and adults, from a first paperweight to a professional pathway.
Stage 4 · Long term
Growing into The Guild.
Over time, the permanent home can grow into The Guild: a creative campus where working artisans, students, and visitors come together, with studios, a teaching kitchen, exhibitions, and a market for work made in Virginia.
The final form of The Guild will depend on available land, funding, partnerships, and development opportunities. It could be built in phases, through donated land, developer participation, philanthropic capital, or other partnerships. Potomac Made's role is the educational and artistic core.
Shape what comes next
We're starting by building the community that will bring it to life.
Our Holiday Market on December 12, 2026, is the first step. We're inviting donors, businesses, developers, artists, and community partners to help shape what comes next.