Archived Articles

  • Throw Down at Standard

  • A Layered Approach: Philip M. Soucy and Brian Peters

    Two Pittsburgh artists will bring their work to ClayPlace@Standard for “A Layered Approach,” a joint exhibition this coming October.  Philip M. Soucy and Brian Peters share a similar technique of stacking clay coils but have a vastly different approach to the method.  Soucy’s organic works are built by hand; Peters’ precise pieces are created using a 3-D printer.  Each reveals a respect and affection for the material and creates pieces that challenge our ideas about humanity’s history of building and altering its environment.

  • Fabio J. Fernández Joins Greenwich House as Pottery Director

    Greenwich House’s new Director of the Pottery Fabio J. Fernández measures his life against the maxim, “Realize your values in your work.”   This immigrant son of a carpenter and a seamstress brings his desire to do good to an organization that has stood for over 120 years, doing good for countless New Yorkers.  Established in 1902 as part of the “settlement house” movement, Greenwich House served Irish and Italian immigrants, offering social services and education to help them assimilate into American life.  The art education programs grew out of training that provided young people with needed technical skills for employment in trades.  Drawing on Italian culture, programs in woodworking, stone cutting, and technical drawing were some of the first courses offered.  Pottery was introduced in 1909 and by the 1920s was an integral part of Greenwich House’s developing mission: to improve quality of life through creative work.  Fernández stands ready to carry on this tradition, bringing his fifteen years of experience as Curator and Executive Director of Boston’s Society of Arts+Crafts.

  • New Chapter at Contemporary Craft

    Pittsburgh’s Contemporary Craft begins its second half-century this year with a new Executive Director in a new facility in a new neighborhood, carrying on the tradition of what began as The Store for Arts and Crafts and People-Made Things in 1971.  Southwest Pennsylvania native Rachel Saul Rearick steps in to take her place among the leaders of the organization founded by Elizabeth Rockwell Raphael. Begun with the intention of providing support for artists working in craft materials, Contemporary Craft retains that mission, with fifty years of showcasing work, supporting artists, and encouraging the Pittsburgh community to explore creativity through craft.

  • The Future of Ceramics Education: Saratoga Art Center Resident Artists Paige O’Toole and Mark Tarabula

    The 21st century is emerging as a time of radical change in human interaction.  The digital revolution that brought us into the new millennium pervades every aspect of modern life, from our homes, our schools, and our workplaces, to our very sense of who we are and what we aspire to in life.  For young artists, navigating this new world requires reevaluation of historic norms and a keen sense of how the new artist stands as interpreter and philosopher for a new age. Mark Tarabula and Paige O’Toole are ceramic artists in residency at Saratoga Clay Arts Center in Schuylerville, New York.  At the beginning of what each hopes will be a long career in the arts, the artists recently shared their ideas about the current state of ceramic education, exhibition, marketing and purpose.

  • Smithsonian Announces Delphi Award Winners

    The Smithsonian Women's Committee announces the launching of the Delphi Award.  The Award will be presented annually to mid-career artists who demonstrate distinction, creativity, and exceptional artistry in their work and who are predicted by experts to achieve greatness.

  • Pandemic Zoom Group Becomes Forum for Potters

    When Deborah Bedwell transitioned from Executive Director to Trustee of Baltimore Clayworks, she made a point of continuing to teach one class each semester.  Her retirement at the end of 2011 from the organization she and a group of artists founded in 1980 did not curtail her enthusiasm for teaching.  For over a decade, Bedwell has continued to guide potters in a variety of topics in her Thursday morning class.  In March of 2020, she was doing just that when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Baltimore Clayworks.  The determination of Bedwell and her students not to be idled led to a response that transitioned from a simple on-line Zoom substitute for class to a generative forum that speaks to the collective nature of the origins of Baltimore Clayworks itself.

  • Contemporary Craft -50th Anniversary Celebration

    CC’s 50th Anniversary Bash will take place on Saturday, April 10, 2021 and will kick off a yearlong celebration of activities extending throughout ...

  • The Art League Reopening for Spring Term

    As wintery February draws to a close and the evening light is starting to look like spring, there is reason to be hopeful that the long pandemic of 2020 might be coming to a close.  At The Art League of Alexandria, Virginia, nine months of mostly shuttered doors is giving way to registration for a spring session that just might look normal.  Last autumn we featured The Art League and its Ceramics Chair, Blair Meerfeld, in a story about the effects of closures on art communities.  We spoke to him recently about the challenges of re-opening.

  • Lillstreet Art Center Stands Firm During Pandemic Year

     A city the size of Chicago offers a multitude of venues for the exploration of human creativity, with studios and galleries throughout the metropolitan area and its suburbs, but the city’s artistic nexus can be found at Lillstreet Art Center.  For over four decades, the center has provided a home for artists of all varieties.  Founded in 1975 by current Director Bruce Robbins and Martin Cohen, Lillstreet has stood as the gateway for the human need to interpret the world through art.  As we approach the one-year anniversary of a world pandemic, Director Robbins looks back on a year marked by innovative solutions to unique challenges.

  • Caitlin Wismer and Wyland Elementary School: A Clay Gathering

    When art educator Caitlin Wismer started her first year as a long-term substitute teacher at Wyland Elementary School in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh this past September, the year ahead looked challenging and uncertain.  Wyland is part of the Hampton School District, which made the decision to start the new academic year with a hybrid model, in light of the ubiquitous COVID-19 pandemic.  Students would be instructed through a mix of in-person and virtual learning. 

  • Wolf's Den Pottery Workshop this Weekend

    Do you want to make a gift for someone special this Valentine's Day and don't know where to start?  Amanda Wolf of Wolf's Den Pottery has the answ...