NCECA’s 60th conference, Volumes, takes place in Detroit, Michigan, March 25 - 28, 2026

Registration for the 2026 Volumes Conference opens in Fall 2025.

NCECA’s 60th conference, Volumes, takes place in Detroit, Michigan, March 25 - 28, 2026

Volumes, the 60th conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), explores diverse cultures, material-driven experimentation, and conceptual frameworks that animate art created through clay. The essential energy of voices and sounds of the Detroit region catalyzes this conference’s theme. 

Like the subterranean networks that connect trees in a forest, the meanings of words have roots that we can connect through etymology. Some of the earliest known artifacts containing writing were produced on scrolling spirals of papyrus that ancient Roman historians called volumen. The same underlying spiraling structure abides within pots, figures, and other forms fashioned from clay coils since ancient times. Today, neural networks carrying and harvesting volumes of information are generating Artificial Intelligence that will change how we learn, work, and create.

The meaning of volumes most integrally embodied in the 2026 conference theme lies within unseeable spaces of our clay works and the firing chambers that transform them. Volumes are forces that give power and shape to the world we experience. Detroit is a place that embodies this sense of interior energy. A real and metaphorical foundry of creative ambition and craftsmanship shaped by waves of migration, industry, and resilience, Detroit has volumes to teach us. 

Teaching, learning, and creation through clay involve continual engagement with volumes as action and analysis. Volumes give form to our cultural identities, continuity, and change in a time of environmental crisis. Centered on ceramic art, this 60th NCECA conference will expand access and deepen understanding of ceramic art. Creators of culture, educators, and students involved in pottery, sculpture, design and installation, and performance will be its engines.

2025 NCECA Lecture: Mata Ortiz Ceramics History and Stories, Carla Martinez miniatures, Diego Valles. Photograph by Jay Hemphill

2026 NCECA CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS! APPLY TODAY!

Now is the time to submit presentation proposals for Volumes, NCECA's 2026 conference in Detroit, Michigan.

The annual NCECA conference is dedicated to creation, teaching and learning through clay. Programming highlights stories, research, and experiential learning that represent the diversity of contemporary and historic ceramic practices featuring local, regional, national, and international presenters.

Your voice and vision can contribute to this diverse, inclusive, and engaging event. Community-generated presentations showcase future directions, best practices, influential collaborations, lessons learned, and solutions to emergent issues. NCECA welcomes submissions from those involved in all realms of ceramic art and education. Participation is generally limited to one presentation per conference.

2025 NCECA Multicultural Fellowship Exhibition, Astrid Guerrero, Gondolier of Portugal, 2024

APPLY FOR THE 2026 VOLUMES CONFERENCE EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES TODAY!

Submit an exhibition proposal for Volumes, NCECA's 2026 conference in Detroit, Michigan! The Call for Entries for the 2026 NCECA ANNUAL: Absence Takes Form  is now open on CaFÉ™. Exhibitions will run concurrently with Volumes, the 60th annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, Detroit, Michigan, March 25 - 28, 2026.

NCECA is committed to the exhibition and expansion of contemporary ceramic practice, including diverse approaches that range from utilitarian and designed objects to sculpture, installations, site-specific, and performance works.

Visit the 2026 NCECA Exhibition Opportunities website page for detailed information about each unique opportunity, and submit today!

Please read the full exhibition descriptions before starting your application. For questions about exhibitions please contact: exhibitionsupport@nceca.net.