Meet our 2022 - 2023 Artists-in-Residence!

Every September for the last 25 years, the Clay Art Center community has eagerly welcomed the incoming Artists-in-Residence. This year is no exception, and we are excited for you to learn more about them. Please join us in welcoming two new artists-in-residence, Avery Wells (Rittenberg Artist-in-Residence) and Jon Green and our returning artist-in-residence Anny Chen along with our Westchester Community Fellow, Jess Levin. They will be teaching classes this year and will be a great addition to the Clay Art Center family! Stay Tuned for a Virtual Meet & Greet later this fall where our residents will each present a slideshow of their work to date, and discuss their work in progress.

Avery Wells received her MFA from SUNY New Paltz and also holds BAs in Art History and Ceramics from UNC Asheville. Her works have been exhibited in group shows and craft fairs through western North Carolina and the Hudson Valley. Avery’s vessels and botanical sculptures explore feminine histories in the decorative arts and seek an alternate route away from traditional standards of beauty and craft. She will be teaching Introduction to Wheel Throwing, Pottery for Beginners & Surface Decoration with Avery, this fall.

Jon Green (Rittenberg Artist-in-Residence) completed his BFA at the University of Montana with a minor in Art History, and worked as a studio assistant for Julia Galloway, Trey Hill, Casey Zablocki, and Anton Alvarez. Jon has attended Red Lodge Clay Center’s ASPN program, RLCC’s Long-term Residency, as well as an Artist in Residency at Medalta. Jon’s work pays homage to the craftspeople and merging customs of the Americas through aggrandizing objects and ornamentation. He will be teaching Introduction to Wheel Throwing, Pottery for Beginners, Introduction to Handbuilding and Handbuilding for All Levels this fall.

Anny Chen holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has studied at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China. She has been a studio tech at BKLYN CLAY. Her wheel thrown and handbuilt stools are influenced by traditional Chinese ceramic craft practices, the history of functional pottery and the domestic setting. Through her work, Anny questions what it means to belong to a family, a community, or a place. She was born in New York, New York, and raised in Nowata, Oklahoma interspersed with visits back to her ancestral home in Fuzhou, China. She will be teaching Wheel for All Levels, Intermediate Wheel: Throwing Bigger and Intermediate Wheel: Thrown & Altered this fall.

Jess Levin (Westchester Community Fellow) has earned a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase, NY, concentrating in ceramics with hints of fabrics to show the balance between the soft and the fragile. They use a bright, colorful, cartoonish sculpting style to bring to life a narrative of self-exploration and expression. They will be teaching as part of our community arts program with focus on afterschool clay classes for the Port Chester Community.

The Westchester Community Foundation has been funding the Westchester Community Fellowship since its inception in 2011. This fellowship was made possible by the Westchester Community Foundation, a division of The New York Community Trust.

Upcoming Exhibitions

25th Anniversary Celebration Exhibition: Homecoming
March 3 – April 10, 2023

Homecoming celebrates the 25th anniversary Year of the Artist-in-Residence Program at Clay Art Center. The artists in this exhibition represent the continuum of the program through their ongoing individual development and journeys as ceramicists. This exhibition will provide visitors with an opportunity to survey them collectively.

Concurrent Artist-in-Residence Exhibitions
June 22 – August 4, 2023

Avery Wells, Jon Green & Jess Levin will share the culmination of their work throughout the year in solo exhibitions in the Clay Art Center Gallery.

Clay Art Center’s Residency Program

For over 60 years, artists have been advancing their careers at Clay Art Center. This year marks the 24th anniversary of Clay Art Center’s nationally recognized artist-in-residence program, started in 1998 by Director Emeritus Reena Kashyap. Thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors, the past 24 years have seen over 50 young emerging artists get the chance to launch their careers and find their voices. Many of our past residents have gone on to careers in the ceramics field as artists, educators, and many continue their relationship with Clay Art Center through exhibition, shop and educational opportunities.

Our Residency program, which commences each year in September, is uniquely designed for emerging artists who need time and space to develop their voices. Residents gain invaluable experience working in a community environment, teaching classes, sharing their technical knowledge and expertise, and managing many jobs around the studio. Through a competitive process, these artists come to Port Chester from across the country and are now thriving in their careers around the globe. Learn More.