Celebration of Clay 2024 
50 YEARS OF NMPCA

hosted by

New Mexico Potters & Clay Artists

and

Taos Ceramics Center, Taos, New Mexico

Exhibit Open from October 5 to November 16, 2024

Registration starts August 1, 2024. 

Read this Call for Entries carefully, prepare your ceramic work

As a member of New Mexico Potters & Clay Artists, you are invited to participate in our annual Celebration of Clay exhibit. Consider sharing a creation with your clay community. May you be inspired by this year’s theme: Celebration of Clay: 50 Years of NMPCA.

In 1974, a group of potters who had been meeting regularly in Albuquerque, formed the “New Mexico Potters’ Association.” The name, “New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists” was adopted in 2004 to represent the members’ wide range of expression in clay. Potters joined in from Taos, Santa Fe, Cuba, Socorro, Cedar Crest, Placitas, Dixon, Abiquiu, El Rito, and more. 50 years later in 2024, the organization supports 225 ceramic artists from the state of New Mexico and beyond. Hallmarks of this association include member get-togethers of annual meetings and member shows. We offer workshops at Ghost Ranch Conference Center, Clay Olympics held with NM Clay, field trips, raku firings in members’ backyards, juried shows at the Sunport in Albuquerque. We have awarded grants annually for ceramics education programs through our Bill Armstrong Grant, since 2002. Both current events and history are shared in The Slip Trail which is now a blog. Elected officers have continuously honed an organizational structure that has adapted to the times, resulting in a steadfast presence for the clay arts in New Mexico. We are celebrating ourselves, a distinctive and diverse clay community, with our 50th anniversary show!

Entries into the annual Celebration of Clay are accepted in order submitted by members, up to the maximum number of entries that can be accepted into the show.  This year, we will be accepting 62 entries. Not a member of NMPCA?  It is easy to join at  www.NMPCA.com 

Registration will be open from August 1-31. The Celebration of Clay committee chose to limit to one piece per member for our 50^th anniversary show in order to allow the maximum number of members to participate. The last day of submissions is August 31, 2024. Good quality digital image is required at the time of registration. 

AWARDS

Awards will be selected by an award jury.  Awards will be announced at the reception on October 5th.  

- Best of Show:  $250

- UNM Arita Porcelain Award for Beauty, Quality and Functionality: $100

- Coyote Clay Color Award: $100

- Three $100 Merit Awards

Entries are also displayed on our website, www.nmpca.com where we will again feature our interactive People’s Choice Vote.

Show Timeline

Registration opens	Aug.1
Registration ends	Aug. 31
Deliver work to collection points	Sep. 23-25
In Person Delivery to Gallery	Sep. 25-26
Show setup	Sep. 28 - Oct. 4
Show Duration	Oct. 5 - Nov. 16
Opening Reception and Awards Presentation	Oct. 5,  4:00-7:00 pm
People's Choice Voting	Oct. 5 - Nov. 16
Take down exhibit, repacking work	Nov. 17-19
Pick up entries from collection points	Nov. 25-27 for collection points

SIZE OF WORK and LIMITATIONS

Works in this show must not have been shown in any previous NMPCA exhibition.  All work must have an accurate digital image representation. No works may be substituted. 

Size of work must fit within an 18 inch square base and under 36” in height.  The weight should not exceed 35 pounds.  

Wall pieces are invited and must be submitted with secure hanging method and accompanied by hardware.  Weight not to exceed 25 pounds.  

It may be possible to install larger work providing space is available but artist will be required to install and remove the work themselves.  Advance approval by the committee is required. We will not accept work we deem unsafe or damaged.

SALES

The fee structure for the show is 65% for NMPCA artist and 35% for Taos Ceramics Center. Sales tax is added to the purchase, collected and reported by the gallery.

ENTRIES

Submit your entry by clicking "register" at left. Non-refundable entry fee is $26 per piece or $10 if you are a full-time student. Payment can be made online through our easy and secure online payment system.  

Enter the first entry by selecting Registration type "First Entry.” Be sure to follow-through the payment online.  Do this starting August 1st.  Registration closes August 31 or whenever we receive enough registrations to fill the show.  NOTE:  You must have your image ready when you register and it must meet the specifications described below.

On the registration page, enter the following:

1.    the title of the piece,

2.    a description:  clay, treatment, firing

3.    outside dimensions expressed as h x w x d (in inches)

4.    price as whole dollars, no cents, no dollar sign

5.    click “choose file” to select the image.  

IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS

A digital image of each entry is required. These will be used for publicity, show setup planning, and People's Choice voting. Images received early in the registration will be considered for use in publicity.  Image must be uploaded at the time of registration. If your image is not up to standard you will be contacted by the committee and provided an opportunity to resubmit a better quality image of the same work. If an acceptable image is not received, the work will not be shown and entry fee is forfeited. Instructions for preparation of image:  Your image must be a jpg file, 800 px high to maximum 1000px wide, not to exceed 1mb in size.  Important: The name of the file should be yourname_title.jpg.  No spaces, no punctuation in the file name except the underline used as a separator.  If you do not name the file properly, your image may be lost.  Be aware that it is extremely difficult to control the name of an uploaded file from a phone or iPad, so please upload the image from your pc or mac computer after you have renamed the file.  If you are not familiar with how to prepare images,  please read our help page for information on using a free tool to prepare the image.  

USE OF IMAGE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY

Because of the prevalence of social media in today's event publicity, we are planning to publish image(s) that you have uploaded as well as your name on Instagram and Facebook over the weeks before the show opening.  This is important publicity for the benefit of the show as a whole and for advancing your own work.  You are also requested to post announcements of the show on your own Facebook and Instagram accounts. Please use these hashtags when posting: #NMPCA #nmpca #newmexicopottersandclayartists #newmexicoartists #taos #taosceramics #contemporaryceramics #contemporaryceramicart #newmexicoceramics #contemporarypottery #newmexicoartist #newmexicoclay  

ARTISTS TO FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

Volunteers will be asked to post one artist per day, alternating with other volunteers, during the show dates. We will use FB Meta Business Suite page for creating posts to the NMPCA Facebook and Instagram pages simultaneously. 

25-WORD STATEMENT

BIO / ARTIST STATEMENT

A one-page bio / artist statement is requested from each artist. This should include anything you want the public to know about your process and background, as well as a photo of yourself or your piece. Please include this printed copy inside the box with your piece. It will be inserted in a binder to be displayed at gallery.

INSURANCE and LIABILITY

Taos Ceramics Center provides insurance for the work once it is installed at the Gallery up until it is taken down for sale or return to artist.  The insurance valuation of the work is 65% of the sales price to a maximum of $3000 ($5000 sales price) per piece. The Artist must provide any additional insurance. Sales prices must be in writing on the Artwork Label and signed by the artist.  Artist exhibiting work agree to hold the NMPCA and NMPCA volunteers harmless from any costs or claims arising out of any damages or losses in handling, transporting, packing, and/or unpacking of work. We will do our best to take care of the work.

  

VOLUNTEERS

Please volunteer in order to make this exhibit possible. We need your help.  See the confirmation email for special instructions about volunteer jobs. See the details soon and "register" for the task of your choice.   If you absolutely cannot help we understand and would still like you to participate, but ask that you contribute an extra $35 to help with the exhibition costs.

UPON REGISTRATION 

Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation that includes a labeling form. Please sign and print two copies.  One copy will go on the piece you are entering in the show, and one will be taped to the outside of the box that transports it.

 

DROP OFF & PICKUP OF WORK

We will have two collection points to deliver and pick up your work, see time-line.  You can also deliver your work directly to the gallery.  All work must be boxed and labelled as described in the confirmation email and described in this help article. 

 

Albuquerque: Leonard Baca - Drop off time 9:00 to 4:00, Mon-Fri

Business Printing Service
4316 Silver Ave. SE Albuquerque
505-480-8292  l   

Santa Fe: Luisa Baldinger - Call in advance to coordinate a drop off time.
880 B Chicoma Vista
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-471-9070

Taos: Gallery - Drop off time 10:00 to 4:00, Wed-Fri

Taos Ceramics Center

114 Este Es Road

Taos, NM 87571

575-758-2580  

  

You must deliver work to one of these locations or ship or deliver work directly to the Taos Ceramics Center to arrive no later than 2 pm on September 27. Shipped work must include prepaid return shipping label. Label shipped work: “For Celebration of Clay Exhibition.” 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

In order to clarify the basic provisions of the show, we have prepared this agreement page.  Please read before you submit your entry.

Contact the Celebration of Clay 2024 committee, if you have any questions. email coc@nmpotters.org 

Press Release