Coming Together: The Artists Behind the Exhibition

Clay Art Center Artists Sally Ng, Rose Foley, and Jane Neuss Cohen share about their inspiration and process.

Come Together is this year’s annual Clay Art Center Artist exhibition, featuring works made up of two parts that come together to form a greater whole. Guest curated by former Artist-in-Residence Kelli Stewart, the exhibition explores a variety of perspectives on connection, finding common ground, and the struggle between individual identity and shared experience. Each artwork represents the artist’s unique reflection on coming together - we caught up with Sally Ng, Rose Foley, and Jane Neuss Cohen to learn more about their approaches to the exhibition.

Sally Ng’s piece, Yum Cha, reflects treasured memories of gathering with loved ones, "Yum Cha, or tea drinking, is an important part of Chinese culture. Growing up in Hong Kong, we would say "let's go yum cha" when meeting relatives or friends. It's a way of keeping in touch and socializing… People chat, point to carts to select dim sum, and waiters pour tea into teapots. As a kid, it was exciting to search for bamboo steamers with my favorite foods. The carts hold many small dishes, each a surprise. When the basket opened to reveal pork buns, shumai, hargow, egg tarts, turnip cakes, sweet tofu, and more, it was fun and delicious to find and share dim sum with family and friends." The joy and abundance of these memories is brought to life in Sally’s minutely detailed picnic table laden with a selection of miniature dim sum. Her love of food is a source of both happiness and inspiration, and it sustains her through the many steps, tests, and experiments that are required to achieve the final works. With miniatures, this means working until all the details shine through, despite the tiny scale - which, for Sally, is a labor of love. "I love making miniatures because details matter to me. If you appreciate art, you appreciate details. When starting a miniature project, first think about a miniature that inspires and interests you and focus on the details of that work. I spent weeks visualizing and developing a picture of the final piece and its colors. Once I have a clear vision, I plan the piece and seek advice from experienced individuals to increase my chances of success. My father’s advice resonates with me: 'Make fewer mistakes by seeking advice from the experts’ experiences.''"

Fans of Rose Foley’s work will recognize her signature lifelike flowers in her Come Together piece titled The Vase and Its Blooms. Rose handbuilt the bouquet of flowers out of porcelain, which she prefers to work in exclusively, “I work in porcelain because I love the feel of it in my hands. It’s like cream cheese. I love how glazes turn out on it - they pop more. The final product is really why I love it. It’s fussy, but I’ve been working in it for so long that I don’t even notice the fussiness anymore.” Rose’s commitment to porcelain is showcased beautifully in The Vase and Its Blooms: the delicate glazing and petal-thin pieces of clay bring the flowers to life. In creating the piece, Rose wanted to engage viewers in a conversation about the nature of beauty, time, and preservation, “I love flowers. I think ceramic flowers speak to me because they’re everlasting. I’m not good at gardening, so this is my way to enjoy them.” Rose is currently working on a ceramic bridal bouquet for her daughter, which Rose notes will last forever so long as it’s well cared for.

Jane Neuss Cohen uses paper clay - a clay body which has added cellulose - to achieve her whimsical sculptures. Jane’s works are highly colorful, which she shares is in part a result of her tetrachromacy. As a tetrachromat, Jane sees two to three times as many shades as the average person, and she has always been drawn to color. Jane’s creativity and masterful use of color require close concentration, "People have asked me many times how I access my creativity, and I don't really know. I shut everything else out around me. I listen to audiobooks and it lets me access that part of my brain unhindered. I can quiet down the committee in my head - the part of me that says I'm not good enough. I have to give the committee something else to do, and it really seems to like audiobooks, especially mysteries." Interested in art from a young age, Jane has notebooks full of sketches that reflect her friends and family and the world around her. Jane shared that her piece Come on boy, wanna go to the human park? is also inspired by family, and specifically their dogs: "Many of my sculptures are inspired by family and people I know. My sculpture for Come Together was inspired by my brother-in-law. He has these two cranky dogs that he brings to the dog park every day. I asked him, 'Isn't that stressful?!' and he said, 'Yeah, but they're having fun.' Those dogs run the show."

Come Together is on view in the gallery and online now through April 5th.