Now Open! Registration for NCECA’s 59th Annual Conference, Formation, in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 26-29, 2025! Click to Register Today!
Join us virtually for the 2024 NCECA Members' Meeting on September 22, 2024, which marks the commencement of Cultivating Community Week, September 22 to September 29, 2024. Cultivating Community is a series of virtual programs that aim to inspire and empower ceramic artists and those related to the field to create a supportive and welcoming environment. The program emphasizes the importance of teaching, learning, and creative endeavors. Its goal is to foster accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and a culture of respect within the realm of ceramic art and beyond.
This program showcases passionate presenters who will explore various contemporary subjects, ranging from craftsmanship and collective action to leadership and innovation. Cultivating Community seeks to address maintaining an environment characterized by accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and respect in the field of ceramic art and related areas. We encourage all individuals interested in these topics to participate in this free week-long programming.
Cultivating Community is a series of live virtual meetings and on-demand video presentations that are accessible free of charge, although we welcome donations. 2024 Cultivating Community presenters include Troy Williams, Executive Director of Equality Utah, Bianca Velasquez, Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Allyson Gray, Anya Montiel, Sana Musasama, Valerie Cassel Oliver and 2024 Emerging Artists, Erika NJ Allen, Magdolene Dykstra, Gloria Jue-Youn Han, Robert King, Teddy Osei, and Isaac Scott.
Mark your calendars for Cultivating Community from September 22 to September 29, 2024. Follow us on social media as we share and release video presentations on @WatchNCECA YouTube Channel. Follow @NCECA on social media to stay informed about upcoming Cultivating Community programming and events! Join us in building a diverse, creative, and inclusive community.
Support NCECA by donating to support free future online educational resources for the Clay community!
https://nceca.net/donate
Support NCECA by signing up for a recurring monthly donation!
2024 NCECA Members’ Meeting
NCECA Annual Members’ Meeting:
Sunday, September 22th, 2024 at 3:00PM/EDT
Join NCECA Board and Members for the 5th annual virtual Members’ Meeting this fall to kick off a week of specially curated NCECA programming. Scheduled on Sunday, September 22, 2024, at 3:00pm Eastern, this is your opportunity to let NCECA know your thoughts, ideas, comments, and concerns.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Meet Bianca Velasquez
Join Bianca Velasquez for an exhilarating tour of Salt Lake City, where she shares her artistic journey, highlights the city’s top eateries and art spots, and explores the vibrant LGBTQ+ scene. Discover hidden gems and spark your excitement for an unforgettable adventure. Watch now!
-
Join Bianca Velasquez for an exhilarating tour of Salt Lake City, where she shares her artistic journey, highlights the city’s top eateries and art spots, and explores the vibrant LGBTQ+ scene. Discover hidden gems and spark your excitement for an unforgettable adventure. Watch now and start planning your 2025 Formation Conference experience in Salt Lake City! Watch now!
-
Bianca Velasquez (she/her) is a Salt Lake City local who has been involved with the arts and music community for over a decade. Velasquez is currently a freelance writer for several publications including Southwest Contemporary, Hyperallergic, and SLUG Magazine. As an artist, Velasquez works in acrylics, digital art, beadwork and more.
After working as SLUG Magazine's Managing Editor at 25, Velasquez has poured herself into her visual art, captivating her relationship to family, herself and the act of recording. Velasquez' beadwork interrogates the process of negotiating space, both physically on the canvas and emotionally as she carves out space within herself for the lengthy task of self realization.
Monday, September 23, 2024
Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
The Rise
-
The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. Part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis makes the case that many of the world’s greatest achievements have come from understanding the central importance of failure
-
Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is an art and cultural historian. Her books and edited volumes include The Unseen Truth, Carrie Mae Weems, “Vision & Justice,” and The Rise. Lewis was named a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, and has received the Arthur Danto/ASA Prize, the Freedom Scholar Award, and the Infinity Award.
-
Donate any amount to help support NCECA Communities!
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
2024 NCECA Emerging Artists
Engage with the 2024 NCECA Emerging Artists as they present their artistic practices at the 2024 Coalescence Conference in Richmond, Virginia.
-
Engage with the 2024 NCECA Emerging Artists! Explore the compelling work of Erika NJ Allen, Magdolene Dykstra, Gloria Jue-Youn Han, Robert King, Teddy Osei, and Isaac Scott—in this insightful video presentation from the Coalescence Conference in Richmond, Virginia.
Discover their innovative techniques and conceptual approaches that are redefining contemporary ceramics, and gain valuable insights into their artistic processes as they shape the future of the field!
-
Erika NJ Allen’s work embodies resilience, a healing diet, and newfound political awareness. From a hysterectomy during her time as a non-traditional BFA student to wrist injuries in graduate school, molded into tangible art. Clay is a vehicle that captures her experiences while innovating produce based glazes, merging art with identity, and propelling towards sustainable practices by pushing boundaries in ceramics.
-
Magdolene Dykstra works in sculpture, installation, and mark-making. Dykstra’s practice explores the tension between individuality and collectivity, visibility and anonymity, impermanence, and the embedded potential for transformation. Her methodology centers around the accumulation of small components within intricate ecosystems that embody a relationship with the Earth, its forms, and processes.
-
Gloria Jue-Youn Han complicates notions of what is traditional and contemporary and who gets to participate in either category. She studies Korean celadon ceramics as a case study of how traditions survive and evolve through diasporic peoples. Through craft, Han expresses devotion and love as an emerging artist and knowledge keeper.
-
Robert King is a self-taught potter who respectfully collaborates with wild clay, found rocks, minerals, sand, and wood ash, aiming to craft pottery that expresses the organic and natural environment where these materials have rested for millennia. He describes his current work as “a love letter to the high desert”.
-
Teddy Osei delves into the concept of delineating borders and the complex power dynamics that lie beneath. He tackles the implications of traversing these boundaries and the subsequent transformation that follows. He crafts ceramic sculptural vessels that defy limitations, weaving a compelling narrative that echoes his cultural odyssey.
-
Isaac Scott is a ceramic artist and photographer from Madison, Wisconsin, who is currently living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Scott received his MFA in Ceramic Art at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in 2021.
Wed., September 25, 2024
Innovator Award Recipient
Sana Musasama
NCECA is thrilled to introduce Sana Musasama as the first recipient of the 2024 NCECA Innovator Award.
-
NCECA is thrilled to introduce Sana Musasama as the first recipient of the 2024 NCECA Innovator Award.
Members of the award selection committee for this, the inaugural year of this honor include Holly Hannesian, Anya Montiel, Garth Johnson, Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Ife Williams, and Sequoia Miller with Shoji Satake serving as chair, and Rhonda Willers as co-chair.
Sana's work profoundly connects with our collective understanding of the power of objects in the universe, serving as agents to break down cultural barriers, educate us about our differences, and promote healing. Her innovative approach to community outreach is exemplified in her recent project, the “Apron Project,” where she collaborates with girls to develop entrepreneurial skills, enabling them to create products and earn income, thus achieving financial independence from the harsh streets of Cambodia. She integrates her lived experiences in the US, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, and Cambodia, using color, pattern, texture, and adornment to reveal life's deeper meanings.
Sana's entire practice is deeply influenced by her cultural traditions, as well as those of West Africa and Asia. Within the United States, she draws inspiration from urban and marginalized communities. Over more than 40 years, she has taught in neighborhood community centers, correctional facilities, and universities/colleges.
-
Sana Musasama earned her BA from City College of New York in 1973, and her MFA from Alfred University, New York, in 1988. Musasama received the 2018 Achievement Award from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts for her years of teaching and her humanitarian work with victims of sex trafficking in Cambodia. Musasama is the coordinator of the Apron Project, a sustainable entrepreneurial project for girls and young women reintegrated back into society after being forced into sex trafficking. In 2016, she was a guest speaker on “Activism through Art” at ROCA. A recently published article by Cliff Hocker, “If I can Help Somebody: Sana Musasama’s Art of Healing,” appears in the International Review of African American Art. In 2015, the Museum of Art and Design in New York selected four works from The Unspeakable Series for their private collection; Musasama was awarded the ACLU of Michigan Art Prize 7 and Art Prize 8. In 2002, she was awarded Anonymous Was a Women and in 2001, Musasama was featured in the 2001 Florence Biennial. Her work is in multiple collections such as The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina; The Museum of Art and Design in New York, New York; the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, New York; the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York; Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio; and in numerous private collections. Musasama lives and works in New York.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Troy Williams, Executive Director of Equality Utah
Troy Williams, Executive Director of Equality Utah, webinar on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 3:00 PM/MDT on the meaning and impact of House Bill 257, titled “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying and Women’s Opportunities."
Sharing insights into the work of Equality Utah and other like-minded activists, the webinar will allow participants to learn more about the vibrant LGBTQ+ communities in the Salt Lake City Region.
-
For the past two decades, Troy has been a community organizer for LGBTQ Utahns. In 2004, he became community affairs director of 90.9 FM KRCL. He was the executive producer and co-host of the talk show RadioActive. In 2010 the Salt Lake Tribune dubbed him "the gay mayor of Salt Lake City."
Troy's work has since been featured in the New York Times, Anderson Cooper 360, CBC Q, Democracy Now!, The Advocate, OUT Magazine, and Interview Magazine. In 2010, he co-wrote the award-winning play The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon and appeared in the Errol Morris film Tabloid in 2011. Troy also appeared in the HBO original documentaries Believer and Mama's Boy. In 2022, The Advocate Magazine named Troy as one of the 50 LGBTQ Champions of Pride.
Troy became the executive director of Equality Utah in the fall of 2014. In 2015 he helped pass Utah's historic LGBTQ non-discrimination protections in housing and employment. In 2016, he led efforts to rename 20 blocks of downtown Salt Lake City as "Harvey Milk Boulevard". In 2017 he worked to successfully overturn the state's 'No Promo Homo' law which prohibited discussion of LGBTQ issues in the classroom. In 2023 his team successfully passed legislation to protect minors from the dangerous practice of conversion therapy with unanimous votes in the Utah Legislature.
Friday, September 27, 2024
Join the Kaabo Clay Collective on NCECA's Instagram Live at Noon/EDT
Invited by the Collaboration and Engagement Committee
-
Kaabo means welcome in Yoruba. Kaabo Clay Collective connects African diasporic ceramicists worldwide and supports its members with resources, and opportunities generated through the group itself. Each member is empowered to initiate a project, event, scholarship or any other activity. The only stipulation is that the idea must involve or benefit other Kaabo members.
Membership also entails the sharing of resources with other Kaabo members. In short, we are a taking care of each other to build upon our ceramic skills and a joyful community of Black ceramic artists; for us by us. -
Kenya Moffett-Garner, also recognized as Kenya Cree, emerges as a ceramic sculptor and visionary storyteller. Her artistic narrative unfolds within "The Space In-between," employing the dynamic medium of clay to sculpt unconventional stories that elevate the visibility of the Black Diaspora and delve into the nuanced fragility of Black life. Drawing her influences from African artifacts, specifically west African Benin bronze sculptures, and recreating them in modern form. Kenya's innovative approach challenges the bounds of ceramic materiality. Her academic foundation includes a 2020 BFA from Governors State University, complemented by ceramic residency at Saint Heron, with works now featured in the private collection. Kenya has been featured in CBS Chicago's Black History Month Artist Series (2023), and Expo Chicago 2024 as a featured artist with the Museum of Science and Industry's Black Creativity Exhibition.
-
Dominique Marú is an art educator and community organizer born and based in metro Atlanta. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Dominique uses their art to preserve the living memory of the Black diaspora through movement, photography, and clay. Dominique sees their work as an act of self-portraiture as they provide an intimate lens of the world around them as richly as they experience it.
Through events like the Black Clay Meet Up hosted in collaboration with Kaabo Clay, Dominique aims to connect Black artists with clay by fostering a safe space for creative vulnerability, risk-taking, skill sharing, and connection to the natural world. With a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Southern California, their academic background informs their artistic and professional practice, imbuing their work with a depth of narrative and a keen understanding of the power of words and imagery to evoke emotion and connection.
-
Kaabo Clay Collective
Kaabo Clay Collective is a virtual social network that connects Black ceramic artists and encourages in-person initiatives by and for our members. The collective exists to decrease experiences of racial isolation and to claim our heritage and influence as African descended people within the field of ceramics. Our Annual Award for Black Ceramicists has paid out over $30,000 to our constituents since 2021 to fund projects, activities and aid that directly benefits our community. Membership is open to anyone identifying as a Black ceramicist regardless of skill level or educational background.
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Allyson Gray and Anya Montiel Pamunkey Pottery: Keeping Traditions Alive
-
The Pamunkey are an Indigenous tribe of the Chesapeake region who have made pottery for thousands of years. Pamunkey potter Allyson Gray will speak about traditional pottery methods and how the Pamunkey have continued to preserve their culture, artistically and socially. Moderated by Smithsonian curator Anya Montiel.
-
Allyson Gray, an enrolled citizen of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, has called the Pamunkey reservation home for most of her life. Her love of traditional pottery began in 2018 when elder potters reintroduced her to the artform. Along with practicing the craft, she ensures its cultural significance is preserved.
-
Anya Montiel is a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Previously, she was Curator of American and Native American Women’s Art and Craft at the Renwick Gallery.
Sunday, September 29, 2024:
Wonder Working Power with Valerie Cassel Oliver
-
This lecture explores the conceptual underpinning of ceramics in the African American South and their imprint on contemporary practices today.
Primary in this exchange is the work of Theaster Gates whose work will be on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
-
Valerie Cassel Oliver is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Prior to her position at the VMFA, she was Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Over the last two decades, Cassel Oliver has organized numerous exhibitions including the acclaimed Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005); Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art (2012) and major survey exhibitions for Donald Moffett; Benjamin Patterson, Jennie C. Jones, Angel Otero and Annabeth Rosen. Her debut at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was the critically acclaimed retrospective entitled, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen co organized with Naomi Beckwith (2018). In 2021, she opened the groundbreaking exhibition, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse that toured nationally. Most recently, she has organized the exhibition, Dawoud Bey: Elegy that looks at the artist’s preoccupation with histories of place. The work includes commissioned photographs of Richmond’s Historic Slave Trail. Cassel Oliver is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards including a fellowship from the Center of Curatorial Leadership (2009); the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Award (2011); the James A. Porter Book Award from Howard University (2018) as well as the Alain Locke International Arts Award, Detroit Institute of Art; the College Arts Association’s Excellence in Diversity Award; the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College; and Brandywine Workshop and Archives’ Lifetime Achievement Award (all 2022). She was recently presented with an award of distinction from the American Folk Art Society (2023) for her work to bring art from the African American South into the collection of the museum. In October 2023, she was also tapped to curate Spotlight, a section for the Frieze Masters Art Fair in London. Cassel Oliver holds an Executive MBA from Columbia University, New York; an M.A. in Art History from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a B.S. in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.
Welcome to the 2025 NCECA Formation Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, from
March 26-29, 2025!
-
NCECA’s 59th Annual Conference, Formation, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 26-29, 2025
Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center 90 S W Temple St, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84101
Formation, the theme of the 59th annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), invites us to dig deep into the historical and cultural significance of ceramics worldwide. Philosopher and educator John Dewey wrote, “The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.”
Formation is the rhythmic heartbeat that pulses within our construction of self, ever-present throughout nature and represents the beginning of all materials, things, and ideas. The Great Salt Lake region has undergone shifts in climate and geology that manifest formation in notable ways. Teaching, learning, and creation through clay involve continual engagement with formation as action, engagement, and analysis.
Formation orders and reconfigures our understanding of cultural identity, continuity, and change in times of environmental crisis and innovation. Formation is a moment of opportunity – a dynamic process of definition, vision, and determination within individuals, communities, the human-made, and the natural world. This event, centered on ceramic art, will explore formation through exhibitions and presentations by diverse creators and culture workers involved in pottery, sculpture, design and installation, and performance.
-
Item description