By Darla Graff Thompson (ceramic sculptor and member of NMPCA since 2010)
With photos by Leonard Baca (ceramic artist and member of NMPCA since 2011)
Part One
The opening reception for the New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists’ annual Celebration of Clay show was held Thursday, 05 March, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, at the Visual Arts Gallery at the Santa Fe Community College. The event was very well attended and you could hear the joyful buzz of the crowd as you approached from the hallway. I have been participating in Celebration of Clay exhibits for well over a decade, and in my opinion, the 80 pieces of this show are among the best I have seen. Almost every piece is singularly captivating and begs to be explored and enjoyed in person--- such talent and diversity of expression, taken collectively, the show is a real joy to experience. From the comments I overheard, many attendees felt this way. The show is a real honor to the contributors and organizers.
"Haven" by Lois Olcott Price. "Untitled I" by Kathy Bartlett. "El Camino Interior 1" by Diane MacInnes. "birch vessel" by Lindsay Iliff. "Body as Border" by Monica Devine. "Sad Oh My Country" by Lin Johnson. "Birth from the Sipapu" by Debi Smith. "Scent of Decay" by Lois Olcott Price. "Cocoon" by Joey Serim. "Chemical Explosion" by Sue Halpern. "La Vida en un Tronco" by Melissa Alexander. "Climbing to Soar" by Jennifer Lowell. "Untitled II" by Kathy Bartlett. "Where Am I Going, Where Have I Been, Home is Where the Heart Is" by Nicole Merkens.
This year’s theme is “Clay Speaks of Home” --- not a requirement, but definitely evident in many of the ceramic pieces and titles. The gallery space is beautiful--- large, open and welcoming, with pools of light directed down onto the scattered pedestals and showcases from the ceiling, inviting the viewer to traverse the room and focus individually on each piece or grouping of pieces. In the entryway, a large display case holds a variety of pieces and wall hangings and gives a first glimpse of the variety and quality of artwork waiting in the main gallery. The first piece in this case to catch my eye (and also one of my favorites of the entire show) is Nicole Merkens’ thoughtful and colorful sculptural portrait of a woman revealing her boxed heart and wearing a bright floral crown, titled “Where Am I Going, Where Have I Been? Home is Where the Heart Is.” For me, this piece set the stage for all to come. I like the conception of home in Debi Smith’s “Birth from the Sipapu,” where she brilliantly uses a saggar-fired vessel to convey an ancient stone kiva, complete with a wooden ladder leading down inside. Lin Johnson won an award of merit with her wall-hanging caricature of a man titled “Sad…oh, my country,” which was made “in response to our current political and cultural climate,” and I couldn’t help but note the contrast with Karin Bloom’s similarly political-motivated piece in the main gallery, titled “US Democracy 2025.” Lin’s sad and whimsical man and Karin’s unglazed ironstone monstrosity (which may be a nightmarish hint of a human head?) are two approaches to a thought-provoking and timely consideration of our national home and identity.
"US Democracy 2025" by Karin Bloom.
"Arden" by Doug Hein. "Can I Give You A Squeeze" by Andrea Pichaida.
Still in the display case, I find Sue Halpern’s “Chemical Explosion” fascinating, where an outer layer of the pot has apparently shattered and detached in large fragments, revealing a complex mesh of internal colors and textures. It is reminiscent of a seed pod, something captivating you might come across in nature, and in this sense similar to Kathy Bartlett’s nearby raku-fired pieces “Untitled I and II.” In the main gallery, Jenna Ritter’s “Sanctum,” a mysterious pit-fired shape of locally-dug clay, gives me a similar feeling of finding some strange and intriguing artifact of nature. Andrea Pichaida’s “Can I Give You A Squeeze” strikes me as abstractly organic and seed-like but whimsical in color and texture, the intimate halves producing a curious little tear in the internal fabric of the hole. The imperfection seems meaningful.
"Footprints in the Snow" and "My Dad's Dream Car" by Charlotte Ownby. "Sanctum" by Jenna Ritter.
Background clockwise to foreground: "Jestersaurus" and "Spiked Turtledon" by Stacy Pope Hein. "Nesting" by Ellen Mancini. "New Mexico Home" by Aurelia Gomez. "Gaia Calls in the Universe for Support" by Amy Burnham. "Teapot" by Lin Johnson. "Egypt" by Barbara Campbell. "rocksteady" by Jenna Ritter. "Terra Star" by Greta Ruiz.
In the main gallery, several enclosures house some of the smaller or more delicate entries such as Stacy Pope Hein’s playful and imaginative bone-and-clay constructs titled “Jestersaurus” and “Spiked Turtledon,” as well as Amy Burnham’s intricate “Gaia Calls in the Universe For Support” with its outstretched tree-like branches and roots.
Doug Hein’s “Arden” is an impeccably-constructed vessel in which I envision a man’s torso dressed in a button-up silk shirt for a night on the town. Jennifer Dunn’s “Bogue Sound Oyster” somehow combines an essence of sea and desert, frozen sand that has been rippled by waves and holds a few scattered barnacles. Nearby, Judy Nelson-Moore’s large seashell construct titled “The Long Road Home” reminds me of a queen conch-shell with a hardened outer layer protecting a delicate and tender internal foot that hints of soft, internally-layered depths. This sculpture is made of paper clay, and Judy tells me the remarkable texture of the rough outer shell is a direct imprint she made of the asphalt driveway that leads to her home. Made me have to look at it all over again!
"Bogue Sound Oyster" by Jennifer Dunn.
"The Long Road Home" by Judy Nelson-Moore.
Luisa Baldinger’s saggar-fired “Bowl” was made all the more interesting to me by her existential statement about a life-long fascination with vessels “as a metaphor for peace, plenty, a sense of well-being, but also emptiness, hollowness and expectation.” This piece could be displayed on a mirror so that the textures/colors on the undersurface could be fully appreciated alongside those on the top! Other saggar-fired pieces with their intricate color/texture included Baldinger’s “Jar” (winning Best of Show) and Leonard Baca’s “Mountains Shout for Joy”--- the latter of which made me think of pointed-tip Moorish minarets or Russian onion domes, solemnly directed heavenwards.
"Bowl" by Luisa Baldinger. "The Long Road Home" by Judy Nelson-Moore. "Ben" by Adam Emery.
"Jar" by Luisa Baldinger.
"To Be Stone II" by Madeline Hwang. "To Be Stone I" by Madeline Hwang. "Fisheye"by Harmony Martinez. "Restless Headspace" by Jasper Eyrich-Bingham. "Emperor Penguin Jar" by Lisa McEneaney. "Rooster Plate 2" by Judith Richey. "Mountains Shout For Joy" by Leonard Baca.
--- Part Two will continue this review.
In short, the exhibit is fantastic and not to be missed! There are many more exciting and inspiring pieces than what I have had space to mention here. The exhibit will run until 08 April 2026, and according to the SFCC website, gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Closed for Spring Break March 30-April 3.
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Writer & Clay Sculptor Darla Graff-Thompson entered her piece, "incompatibility" this year, shown here:
