Isauro “Izzy” Elizondo is not shy about loving his job. After all, who wouldn’t like to work by the beach and get covered in clay?
“After I’m up to my elbows in mud, I go surfing,” he said.
Elizondo, now the owner of Falling Sky Pottery “” a collective of three ceramic artists (Elizondo, Troy McMullen and Ted Mabbatt) who use the studio and gallery to display their work “” came from humble beginnings in La Puente, an East Los Angeles suburb. Life wasn’t always easy but Elizondo remembers the fun times, despite having to work at a young age to provide his own school clothes and lunch money.
It was during junior high when he discovered the world of pottery. By the time he reached 11th grade at La Puente High School, Elizondo had been recognized as the school’s top ceramist.
Despite his passion for ceramics, Elizondo began studying engineering at a Los Angeles community college.
“At that time I was thinking I had to do something practical,” he said, “but then I decided you have to follow your heart and see where that goes.”
He then enrolled at San Diego State University (SDSU) to study fine arts; it was there that he caught the travel bug.
During his junior year, Elizondo lived for a year in Florence, Italy, where he studied art, history, literature and language (Elizondo currently speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Japanese). Elizondo took advantage of being in Europe and traveled all across the country, as well as the former Soviet Union and Morocco, Africa.
He went on to visit Japan, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.
After his journey, Elizondo returned to San Diego to complete a graduate program for bilingual cross-cultural educators. It was at this time that he found Falling Sky Pottery.
According to Elizondo, Falling Sky began in 1968 when Franklin Jude bought the building on Abbott Street and started a pottery school and production studio. In the 1980s, Jude later handed the business over to John Yuskiw, who met his wife at the studio when she began taking lessons. Two years ago, Yuskiw passed control over to Elizondo.
During Yuskiw’s reign of the studio, pottery classes lost their momentum and the school portion of the studio closed; however, Elizondo believes that it’s time to begin again.
“I’ve been handed the baton,” he said.
Elizondo hopes to begin offering lessons in the spring of next year in small classes of six students.
Despite the years of experience, Elizondo was looking for a new teacher “” or sensei, as he likes to say “” when he moved next door to artist and collector Isamu Kawaguchi.
“People always go on about how great your work is,” Elizondo explained. “You can’t have someone always telling you how great you are.”
Which is why Elizondo appreciated Kawaguchi’s critical eye and is now working with him to learn Japanese techniques, including Neriage, a marbling method using multiple types of clay in one piece.

Through Kawaguchi, Elizondo also began teaching as a part-time instructor at University of California, San Diego, where he is currently displaying work in their faculty exhibit.
The Falling Sky gallery displays the work of Elizondo, McMullen and Mabbatt, which consists of high-fired stoneware fired in a gas-fed brick kiln. All glazes used are lead-free and each piece is dishwasher and oven safe.
Elizondo explained that it takes approximately one month to create a piece from start to finish due to long periods of drying, firing and cooling.
While the shelves of the gallery are full of pottery, Elizondo wanted to utilize the wall space as well, which is why he has invited local artists to display their work.
On Saturday, Nov. 4, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Falling Sky Pottery will hold a reception to celebrate the work of Ocean Beach residents Michael Dormer and Donald Borthwick.
“It’s an honor to have their work here,” Elizondo said. “These are very prestigious artists, we’re lucky to have them here.”
Dormer, a cartoonist and entrepreneur, is best known for his 1963 sculpture, “Hot Curl,” of a shaggy-haired surfer constructed at La Jolla’s Windansea Beach, as well as a 50-year contributing illustrator for San Diego magazine.
In recent years, Dormer has concentrated less on commercial art and has focused more on fine art, according to a biography on the Almost Anonymous Web site.
Borthwick, who has had exhibits across California since the 1960s, will display his work as well.
Work from this season’s kiln firing will also be available for viewing and purchase at the studio, 1951 Abbott St. Refreshments and live music will be provided. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, call Falling Sky Pottery at (619) 226-6820.