50 Years in the Making
Artwork
Rain Harris
Noir Buisson
Doug Herren
Turquoise Teapot
Description:
I came to TCS nearly 30 years ago to be a resident after completing a 2-year stint at The Archie Bray. I was making some interesting headway with a new body of work and was very happy to be able to continue this at TCS. Getting a 5-year residency was a very exciting thing to find and get accepted for! The studio really fostered growth for all residents, plus giving us all a community being new arrivals to a large city. While a resident I met another resident that would become my wife, a partnership that continues to this day, truly the best thing I came away with from my residency! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a resident and for all that came with my time there. I hope many other residents come to enjoy what I had the chance to discover while there.
Lisa Naples
2/1: Tenderness
Jindra Viková
Looking for Shelter
https://public.theclaystudio.org/public/shop/item/48824/Jindra Vikova/Looking for the Shelter
Sung Jae Choi
Bottle
Description:
As a ceramic artist who studied pottery in Korea, I spent a long time as a resident and guest artist in Canada and the U.S. for over two years from 1993 to 1994 and completed the journey at The Clay Studio.
From September 1 to November 6, 1994, I worked passionately as a guest artist at The Clay Studio, located on Old Street, and maid experimental and challenging works on the theme of human social relationships and life issues at the Nexuss Gallery. I vividly remember the happy days of my early 30s about 30 years ago when I had a solo exhibition called ‘Scene of Oblivion.’
Jimmy Clark was the director at that time, and not only was he a passionate mentor, but he also provided a lot of support for the creation of my work and helped me live in Philadelphia. I also remember encountering a variety of excellent contemporary ceramic works by American and many foreign ceramic artists at the Clay Studio 20th Anniversary Exhibition in 1994.
Even now, more than 30 years later, the time I met many passionate artists and shared thoughts with them at The Clay Studio gave me a lot of inspiration and a new perspective on the development of the world of my work, and I am sure that the experiments and challenges for creation have been the driving force for me as a artist to continue various attempts and works for change without staying in the present.
Jeanne Quinn
A Thousand Tiny Deaths
Description:
I loved my time as a guest artist at the Clay Studio. As someone who has been teaching at a university for almost 30 years, here is what impressed me the most: The Clay Studio serves kids and adults working with clay for the first time, long-term amateurs, professional artists working in other mediums who want to work in clay, artists just out of school, and long-time professional ceramic artists. They work with people at every stage of life, and at every stage of artistic development, and somehow they do all of it well. It was extraordinary to get to be a part of this organization that makes clay-centered creativity and joy available to everyone who walks in the door.
Aileen Castañeda
Never-ending Paths Entangled into One
Description:
The design of this piece, Never-ending paths entangled into one, is the result of two separate lines, each starting at different points, and moving around, in their own separate ways, until they reach their starting point. These separate lines intertwine creating a variety of linear forms on the surface of the double walled bowl. In a playful and intuitive way, I pick the forms Iwish to cut out to find another dimension to the forms created by the meeting lines, as well as the double wall form. The holes reveal the dark interior and the shadows of the cut outs when the light comes through the openings. The circular movement, the never ending lines, the connections, the darkness, the light that comes through, are like all, the twist and turns of our everyday life, that set our paths and lead us on new and unforeseen routes we encounter along the way, hopefully, with excitement and passion.
Arina Ailincai
Portrait
Description:
The Residency at Clay Studio was for me one of the richest and most fruitful experiences. Not because of the physical space and working conditions (some of my residences in Asian countries may have been better) but because of the warm, friendly atmosphere, with long professional conversations with the ceramic artist colleagues, who have remained my friends to this day. At that time Jimmy Clark was artistic director of the Clay Studio.
The opportunity to have a personal show at the end of the residency was a wonderful memorable experience, rich in surprises and proof of the chivalrous spirit of friendship and warm collaboration of the colleagues and staff there.
The charm of Philadelphia, the long walks in the evening, after a full day’s work at the Clay Studio, in the area of studios and art galleries around, are precious memories of mine.
Congratulations for what you have achieved in all these years, creating a valuable point of reference for ceramics in the world.
In my travels around the world I promoted and encouraged ceramic artists to apply for residencies at the Clay Studio, showing images and explaining advantages.
Brian R. Jones
Jar
Description:
It’s an experience as old as mankind—jamming your fingers into a lump of wet, red mud
scooped from the ooze of an ancient lake; as old as a preschool summer dodging wasps
in the muck under a kiddie pool, wet dirt and snails and grass. A pie. A pot. Kodachrome
dreams of watermelon reds and sno-cone blues, stuffing your fingers into a mound of
alluvium belched up from the belly of the earth; the masticated remnants of towering
sequoias, luffing seagrass, horsefly wings, bear hides, mastodon cud and nightcrawler crud.
It’s like a conversation. A jam session. Trading fours with Etruscan potters and stealing
licks from T’ang glaziers. Taking your own clay out for a spin. Looking back to ask, “How’d you like that?”
Mimi Logothesis
Urn 23
Description:
After my time at The Clay Studio, I decided to leave Philadelphia to pursue a dream which manifested in a shell of an historic farmhouse and land in North Carolina. I resurrected it’s broken bones, breathed life into it, and built a studio in which to work. This has been my art project for the last 23 years, as of the time I made this work, which I realize now, are urns commemorating my grief in leaving this place. This project is complete and I am moving on. The Clay Studio has also changed and moved and is a continuing work in progress. Cheers to the future!
Lana Heckendorn
Jar
Description:
The Clay Studio was a home for me in clay just when I needed one. For many years, in the Associate Program, I developed my work and learned how to set up a studio, learned to think critically about ceramics and how to navigate the many technical challenges it poses. It’s amazing to see the growth and change in this new incarnation of TCS. I’m so glad to be a part of it!
Lynne Dorman
Explosive Sky
Description:
The Clay Studio is a phenomenal place and it is exciting to see how it has survived and thrived over the last 50 years.
I arrived at TCS in 1999 as a student looking to take a few classes while settling into my new life in Philadelphia. A year turned into 21 years as I became involved as a student, clay camp instructor, board member and long time Associate Artist. l was thrilled to be part of a warm, wonderful creative community of countless friends and mentors. When I eventually left to pursue my ceramics work and private teaching in my own studio, I could not believe how TCS had fundamentally changed the course of my life.
I have to believe that it has and will continue to change the lives of all the thousands of people who pass through its doors.
Fiona Thompson
Bowl (From Altered Animal series)
Description:
My pieces are created in response to broad themes including nostalgia, memory, photographic ‘seeing’, museum display and commemoration. Recent work ‘The Altered Animal’ explores our complex relationship with the domestic farm animal.
The non functional vessels are usually coiled or slab built in stoneware, then painted and printed with coloured slips. Often I incorporate incised lines, lino-printed or mono-printed imagery. They are then glazed; at this stage I may include underglaze pencil or crayon, and oxides. Decals are applied to the fired glazed surface (made from my drawings and photographs), also metal lustres on some. I make work in series, often exploring variations within one form; usually a very familiar and everyday vessel. I like the challenge of making something unique and personal whilst exploring forms that have been made and reinterpreted by so many people and cultures.
Jae Won Lee
Still life for TCS’ 50th
Description:
It’s been great to revisit Philadelphia in 2024, the year TCS celebrates the 50th anniversary. While working in the new guest artist studio in March, I reflected on my time working in the previous Old City space many years ago and I wanted to make a specific still-life set, demonstrating my gratitude to TCS that has offered me wonderful opportunities to be part of.
Happy 50th to TCS and sincere thanks to all at TCS!
Patricia Kopicki
Melting Glacier
Description:
At the age of two I was a compulsive doodler. When I was five and old enough to play outside, I was mixing mud with tree sap. Around that same time, Iwas discovering fire. When I wasn't burning pens and orange peels in my Easy Bake Oven, Iwas setting fire to lawn furniture, socks and doll hair.
The sense I have of my working process is based on these beginnings. I continue to pursue this spirit of discovery, free from all the things I know.
Sasha Reibstein
Too Much, All of the Time
Description:
The Clay Studio holds a special place in my heart. Originally from Philadelphia, I returned to the city in 2000, fresh out of undergrad and excited to work at The Clay Studio as an assistant to the Guest Artist, Arina Ailincai. From there I began teaching in the Claymobile Program, an experience that continues to inform my pedagogy today. In 2015/16 I was on sabbatical and returned to the Clay Studio as a Guest Artist. This was like a dream. It felt like coming full-circle from my first experience there as an assistant and each day arriving to the vibrant mosaiced walls and bustling classrooms full of energy and creativity filled me with enthusiasm and inspiration. I am extremely grateful to the opportunities I have gotten at the Clay Studio from working with Jimmy Clark and Kathryn Narrow to Jennifer Zwilling, Josie Bockelman and Jennifer Martin alongside the many, many talented artists I have met, worked with and admired in the studios and galleries. The Clay Studio is a place full of heart with a true commitment to community, I am honored to be a part of its rich history.
Adam Davis
Corporeal Stones
Description:
The Clay Studio’s residency program operates as haven for artists in need of support. It provides community, resources, and assistance for prolonged and uninterrupted artistic pursuits. I was a resident in 2003, while drifting between piecemeal employment during my pursuit of a tenure track job in academia. Back then, it not only provided the time and space to keep up my practice, but also an invaluable opportunity to travel, network and share my practice with others. My gratitude goes out to all those involved with the institution and committed to its preservation.
Anthony Romero
Cosmic Emerald Rumble
Description:
The Clay Studio, put Philadelphia on the map for ceramics and now is a landmark for culture, community, and showing the world's best in clay. Every exhibition and event is worthwhile and with the new location is easily accessible and accommodating. 50 years of hard work and community building got The Clay Studio where it is today and I’m so excited for the next 50 years. The efforts of the wonderful people who run it and contribute are truly momentous. I am grateful to have played a role in it and continue to participate. I was an intern in 2017 and was an associate in 2020 and suggest taking advantage of those opportunities as they are amazing programs.
Carrie Reichardt
Love You Forever
Description:
My residency at the Clay Studio was one of the happiest and prolific times of my life. I treasured every day I spent there. What a wonderful place for artists to come and work together in. It was the best equipped and staffed ceramic studios I have had the pleasure to work in.
Clare McComish
Pressures Conflicted
Description:
The work symbolizes the unrelenting importance of continued dialogue during times of serious conflict to seek a way for resolution and peace. Having grown up in Northern Ireland during the 'The Troubles' conflict now living through peaceful times, one can attribute how continued efforts for peace can happen against all hope.
The two pots are an amalgamation of antique pressure cookers and traditional Parian-ware teapots. The artist was influenced by working in traditional techniques at Belleek Potteries, Northern Ireland then marrying digital technologies to design a unique positive of the artwork in dense rubber. The work is then slip cast in multipart plaster molds in Parian slip with the addition of ceramic decals.
Jihan Thomas
Fresh Yards
Description:
I have been working in clay since 2004; since that time I have been working within the art communities within Philadelphia and workshops I have The Clay Studio Grit because clay is no joy and Clay studio truly prepared me for working in this medium as a professional ceramicist. Clay Studio has been a very special relationship in my ceramic journey and career as an artist. .
Through the work exchange program, community outreach programming and various workshops I have sharpened my ceramic skills and I have met wonderful Philadelphia clay artists like Winnie-Owens Heart, Roberto Lugo and Robin Williams Turnage. The Clay Studio has been an important ingredient to my process and exploration of the clay medium and I am truly thankful to be a part of this legacy. Congratulations on 50 years! To many more! Thank you Clay Studio!
Katie Teesdale
Pitcher in Spring Green
Mami Kato
Shop Item!
Marian Pritchard
Consciousness
Description:
My Artist Residency at The Clay Studio during 1982-1985 was an experience of privilege. I gleaned what I had recently learned from art school to produce a body of individually conceived, but related porcelain vases. I honed my throwing skills and developed glazes appropriate for particular forms. I relished hard-fought successes from gas reduction firings and started a switch to electric oxidation for the future. In 1984 my experience culminated with my first solo exhibition in Philadelphia, an important personal achievement that included vases I still cherish.
In 1983 The Clay Studio Board hired me to replace the Director, who left for maternity leave. As the only employee, the Director managed the Resident and Associate Artist programs, school classes, and the monthly gallery exhibitions. I was also “Coordinator” for “American Clay Artists ’83,” an exhibition of 57 nationally prominent artists that was approaching its upcoming opening given the previous
hard work of Ken Vavrek, Resident Artists, Board Members, and gallery participants.
Residents worked alongside one another, similarly enthused about their individual quests. Vitality blossomed with the work of the Board and increasing outside funding. In Philadelphia excitement about Craft, including Ceramics, abounded given numerous educators, informed buyers, exhibition opportunities, and excellent artists. I chose to remain in Philadelphia, in part because the city valued the breadth of Craft.
With 50 years of hard work and vision The Clay Studio gloriously thrives and enjoys international recognition. I continue to be grateful for my past opportunities as Resident Artist and Acting Director. I am delighted now to be a part of the Alumni Exhibition in celebration.
Michael Moore
Aviator
Description:
'My time at the Clay Studio was a pivotal phase in my development as a Maker. My studio practice is underpinned with an architectural influence. So to be in the urban context of the city of Philadelphia was perfect for me.
Tetsuya Tanaka
KAGAYAKI Vessel of Lights-Cocoon
Description:
Congratulations for the 50th anniversary of The Clay Studio!
I was invited as a guest artist to The Clay Studio in 2015 Feb. It was my first A.I.R. in my life.
I remember it was so cold every day. But I could have many experiences during residency. After that I was invited for A.I.R. or Workshop as a guest artist from over the world. For me, The Clay Studio was a turning point to be an international artist. Thank you The Clay Studio. I hope to see you again!
Xavier Monsalvatje Vich
Cheesesteak Philly
Description:
I lived in an apartment just opposite the Clay Studio (CS) on 2nd Street from October 31st to December 22nd, 2012. It was the first time I travelled to Philadelphia, a city that captivated me with its history and architecture. The location of the ceramic workshop in the Old City neighborhood also provided me with remarkable insight into the cultural movement of the city at that time.
Having the opportunity to work with complete freedom and interact with the CS community was a superbly positive experience that enriched my creative and personal process. Additionally, I had the opportunity to make new friends.
Although my English was only at an acceptable level, the CS management and team assisted me to ensure my stay was optimal.
The raw materials they used differed from those I was accustomed to working with which always implies certain risks in ceramics. However, the technical guidance provided by the CS supported me constantly. At that time, the artistic director was Mr. Jeff Guido.
I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about the CS: its history, activities, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, and master classes that focus on teaching and training in ceramics. The support provided to students and ceramists, offering a place to work in and develop their creative process, along with the program for guest artists, which allows international ceramists to experience, exchange ideas, teach, and coexist in this space dedicated to ceramics in all its forms, is what makes the CS an essential cultural and educational hub in Philadelphia. It serves as an example to follow and support.
I treasure these fond memories and the unforgettable experience I had. My only wish is to live another 50 years creating community and ceramics at this exceptional level!
Therefore, the work I present is an exclusive tribute to Clay Studio.
Jill Meltzer
Rows and Floes and Ferris Wheels
Description:
As we celebrate The Clay Studio's Fiftieth Anniversary, I think of its profound impact on me. My years there were nothing short of transformative and the invaluable lessons I learned endure to this day. Swept up in the Studio's amazing creative energy, I felt challenged to dig deep and explore beyond my comfort zone. The studio became my sanctuary, a place where I could fully immerse myself in the wonders of clay and unlock my creative potential.
I'm grateful to The Clay Studio for good memories and lasting lessons.
May we celebrate milestones for many years to come!
Sergei Isupov
Game Changer
Description:
“My work is about contrasts and relationships. I explore contrasts
of human condition with my story lines such as male-female and human-animal relationships, and accompanying emotions of warmth and aggression, love and rejection, and nurture and abandonment. Dynamic and interactive narratives are developed using two and
three dimensions at the same time with the sculpted form and painted surface. I use a visual vocabulary and classic tools of design, proportion, perspective and silhouette to both sculpt and paint. Eyes show emotional relationships. Facial and figural gestures develop personalities. Illusionary objects and perspectives suggest motion. As a viewer moves around the work, they see each angle and focus point leading to new chapters and story lines. Combined, these clues tell an overall story.”
Colleen Toledano
Breaking Traditions (black)
Elaine Daniels
Untitled
Hirotsune Tashima
Venus of Monument Valley
Ibrahim Said
Flying Mosque
Kukuli Velade
Plegaria a Cackamensi Pachamama
Description:
The region where we are, Kensington, was first named Cackamensi by humans. This piece is a prayer to this land on behalf of my mother. The painting is a fresco translation of a cusquenian weaving she uses for offerings to the Apus and Pachamamas of Cusco, on it “kintus” of coca leaves are placed around a shell that contains elements representing the three kingdoms of nature. The objects inside are meant to be wishes for her or of hers.
Plegaria a Cackamensi Pachamama is part of the series De los Apus y las Pachamamas.
About DE LAS WAK’AS Y LAS PACHAMAMAS
I am researching Peruvian pre-colonial religious entities with the purpose of granting them the power of omnipresence, as a decolonial act, questioning western translations of “the
other.” The project acknowledges them, respectfully protecting and retaining memory, and takes the opportunity they offer for reinvention.
I have the belief that designation/recognition of beauty around us takes place after we embrace our physical features and name them beautiful. Then we observe the world from a place of confidence. In a colonization process, the aesthetic appraisal of ourselves and the world we create, is destabilized and eroded.
All “deities” are created equal, ubiquity should be granted to them all. The project finds/creates entities of Andean conceptualization in Philadelphia or any city of the world. Recognizing Pachamamas, Wak’as and Mallkis beyond Peruvian borders, it places their existence in our present. There was no concept in Andean languages similar to that of ‘sacred': something separated from the profane. The project aims to question classifications of cultural specificities through inaccurate western translations of “the other”. The project doesn’t intend to analyze or explain but to acknowledge and show respect.
Antonella Cimatti
Crespine Dish
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