NCECA is pleased to introduce 2020 candidates for two positions on its Board of Directors: Director at Large and Student Director at Large. Elections will open early March and will be conducted via SurveyMonkey. All current members prior to March 1 will receive an email invitation to vote. If you joined membership after this date, please notify [email protected] or [email protected] to receive your evite. All votes must be cast by 4pm ET, Friday, March 27, 2020.
To learn more about each candidate head over to the NCECA website for info and videos!
2020 NCECA CONFERENCE UPDATE
After an exhaustive process of due diligence conversations and staff preparation efforts, we have come to a difficult decision to cancel the 2020 NCECA conference planned for Richmond, Virginia. We know this message is not the one many of you were hoping to receive. For others, it may be the challenging and difficult decision you hoped NCECA might reach. Please know that all of you reading this message are in our thoughts and understand that while reported risk levels for COVID-19 infection may currently be low in the conference region, the unique challenges and responsibilities associated with staging large gatherings at the present time remain immensely complex.
Over the past weeks, NCECA has heard from many of you. Your messages both to stay the course with the 2020 conference and those urging us to cancel have been read, shared, and heeded. Fortunately, and unfortunately, communing in large groups is a huge part of what NCECA has been, is, and will continue to be. Hundreds of you in the Greater Richmond community have been busy planning for years, and we are aware of how disappointing this news must be. NCECA has and will continue to be an organization that values people. Our love and dedication to ceramic art is bound up in relationships, teaching, and learning. When considering all of the factors before us, we felt that the well-being of the people and communities that have led us through 53 extraordinary conferences needed to be paramount in our decision-making.
So, it is with both deep regret and faith in solidarity with all reading and affected by this most unfortunate of announcements that we invite you to read on and learn more about this decision and next steps.
In 2018, Alex Kraft and Melanie Shaw produced Critical Function, a stunning exhibition for the Pittsburg NCECA. Four internationally recognized critics and curators: Gail M. Brown, Janet Koplos, Paul Mathieu, and Anthony Merino each selected ten functional artists, whose work they admired. The exhibition engaged artists, students, collectors, and educators equally; making for a critical and commercial success. For 2020, Kraft and Shaw have kept the essential framework but reworked the selected guest jurors to reflect the NCECA theme: multiVAlent: clay, mindfulness, and memory. Bernadette and Neil Mansfield, Jill Foote-Hutton, Carole Epp, and Garth Johnson agreed to contribute their expertise and experience to this endeavor.
In the last 40 years there has been a continued pattern of exponential growth of engagement in the field of ceramic art. Without question, all four jurors have played important and mindful roles in promoting contemporary ceramics. Taking the main theme of multiVAlent into consideration—one characteristic connecting this diverse jury is the following: each person meaningfully expands the way ceramics are examined and promoted locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Each of the jurors pioneered new ways to promote ceramic art and ceramic artists. Bernadette and Neil Mansfield edit Ceramics: Art and Perception and Yarrobil, continuing Janet Mansfield’s vision of producing truly international ceramic journals. Jill Foote-Hutton, a maker in her own right, is Editor of The Studio Potter. She promotes social craft practice through www.whistlepigtales.com, sociallyengagedcraftcollective.org, and created the MJ Wood Residency as well as an Artists as Writer’s Residency at Red Lodge Clay. Carole Epp compiles the well-known Musing About Mud blog and Instagram feed, created makeanddo.ca to promote Canadian ceramic artists, and is an internationally celebrated artist (caroleepp.com). Garth Johnson is the Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum with writing contributions such as the blog extremecraft.com and 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse. All were early pioneers in the use of social media and the world wide web to promote ceramics. Each juror carries forward a personal mission that promotes contemporary ceramics through community-oriented educational outreach. They inform their audience of current practice in relation to historical tradition and technical memory in the field of ceramics.
As with the first iteration of the exhibition, none of the jurors were given directions as to how they should make their selections. The only restrictions placed were not to include any of the artists who took part in the 2018 exhibition, and to consider their own interpretation of “functional ceramics” in their decisions. Critical Function 2 takes the memory of the previous exhibition forward in this exciting new iteration.
NCECA Concurrent exhibition. Sponsored by Visual Arts Center, 1812 W Main St, Richmond, Virginia 23220
The annual ICAN Juried Exhibition at NCECA is back for its 10th year in 2020. ICAN hosts a juried exhibition of its members’ ceramic artwork to be presented at the annual NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) conference. The event attracts approximately 6,000 ceramic potters, sculptors, collectors, students, teachers, gallery owners, industry leaders, and other prominent leaders and makers in the field. This is an excellent opportunity for ICAN members to show their work in person to who’s who in the field.
This year’s members-only, juried exhibition theme is the teapot! All functional and sculptural teapots can be submitted! This year’s juror is Katie Sleyman, acquisitions and content editor of Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated.
In addition to the winning entries being displayed at NCECA, each piece will be showcased on the ICAN website for the remainder of the 2020 year. With your ICAN membership, you have a chance to share your work with the world!
Juror: Katie Sleyman, acquisitions and content editor of Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated
Juror’s Biography:
Katie Sleyman studied ceramics at the University of Mary Washington, where she graduated with a BA in studio art. Two years in the post-baccalaureate program at the University of Arkansas focused her studio practice and gave her the opportunity to work as a studio technician and instructor at a local community arts center. After completing her MFA in ceramics at Ohio University, Katie joined the editorial staff and currently works as acquisitions and content editor for Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, and Ceramic Recipes.
Outside of the office, Katie spends time making work in her home studio. Generally, projects are kept contained to the spare bedroom, but occasionally, to the dismay of her partner and cat, they spill over into other spaces. She enjoys watching competitive baking shows, exploring Columbus, and learning new crafts (most recently, small metals).
Dates to know:
November 7th, 2020: Call for entry opens
January 9th, 2020: Submission deadline
January 22nd, 2020: Acceptance notification
February 21st, 2020: Shipped artwork due at the ICAN office
March 25–28, 2020: Exhibition at NCECA
Contest policies & how to submit:
Entrants must have an active ICAN membership both at the time of application and at the time of the exhibition.
All entries must be submitted on Submittable (if you don’t have an account, it is free to join), and please use/reference the email your ICAN account is under.
Works submitted for consideration may be no larger than 8 x 8 inches. Works must be suitable for pedestal display in gallery setting.
Members can submit up to 3 high-resolution (300 ppi) digital images of different artwork that are at least 2500 pixels in the largest dimension, preferably square, on a neutral background. Photo quality counts!
Accepted entries must be shipped to the ICAN office by February 21st, 2020. ICAN will be responsible for the return of each piece following the close of the exhibition.
Absolutely no shipping crates will be accepted.
Entry Fee:
The cost of entering the 2020 ICAN Juried Exhibition is an administrative fee of $35 USD for up to 3 images. All major credit cards and PayPal are acceptable payments.
Questions about your application?
For questions about submissions, please contact [email protected]
MULTIVALENT: Clay, Mindfulness and Memory 54th Annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
Richmond, Virginia March 25-28, 2020
NCECA’s 54th annual conference in Richmond will explore ways that ceramic artists are charting new pathways from the complex meanings of our interwoven histories. NCECA is particularly interested in presenting programming that enriches the theme of this conference, MULTIVALENT: Clay, Mindfulness and Memory. Ceramic art’s diversity of expression and continuous invention generates affinities that extend human imagination. NCECA’s 54th annual conference will explore ways that ceramic artists are charting new pathways from the complex meanings of our interwoven histories.
2020 NCECA EMERGING ARTISTS DEADLINE: October 2, 2019 (11:59PM EDT)
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NCECA’s Emerging Artists program seeks to identify under-recognized artists doing extraordinary work in ceramic art and highlight them to an international audience during NCECA’s Annual Conference. Curator Sequoia Miller and artist Kevin Snipes will join NCECA Director at Large Julia Galloway as the panel to select Emerging Artists through a review of statements, images, and support documents submitted for consideration. Emerging Artists will receive a $3,300 honorarium, provide articles to be published in the NCECA Journal, exhibit their work, and make presentations during the 2020 NCECA conference in Richmond. Additional opportunities for promotion may occur through NCECA’s blog and other special programming. Exposure during the conference also includes participation in informal talks and special events.
NCECA believes that those creating work offering new/exciting/thoughtful perspectives on the ceramic medium, expanding upon genres of creative production and inquiry are qualified as candidates for its Emerging Artist awards. An Emerging Artist may be at the early stages of receiving recognition for his/her work but is currently underrepresented through exhibitions or publications that might otherwise bring the work to wide attention. The intent of the award is to recognize, cultivate and amplify vital, new voices of creative endeavor in ceramics. The award enables these artists to reach broader national and international audiences and impact discourse in the field.
Because the concept of emergence in the arts does not invariably correlate with a specific age, or other quantifiable terms, NCECA requires applicants to briefly describe why they perceive themselves to be at an emergent point in their careers and how they anticipate the award will impact the trajectory of their endeavors. The review committee, at their discretion, may eliminate candidates that are considered to be beyond “emerging.”
Contact Julia Galloway, NCECA Director at Large, [email protected] for questions about the Emerging Artists program and exhibition
