2018 - A Record Breaking Year

Can we still say Happy New Year?

As we say goodbye to 2018 and begin a new year, we’d like to take a moment to say THANK YOU for a wonderful year at Clay Art Center. We are honored to say that we had another incredible year, thanks to our amazing community of artists, students, clay-lovers and friends.

We are kicking off the new year with a couple of exciting staff announcements. Our staff is growing! Starting next month, Adam Chau will transition from his role of Program Manager to a more focused position as our new Exhibitions Manager.  Also, we have promoted David Woehr, our current Assistant Program Manager, to take on adult education programming as our new Education Manager.  In addition, one of our current community arts educators, Regina Ferrell, will be joining our team in February as our new part time Assistant Program Manager. We are excited to start the year with a new staff structure to take on all that we have coming in 2019. But first, let’s celebrate 2018!

Here’s a quick look at 2018 at Clay Art Center

  • 837 adults unplugged at Clay Art Center this year! Just when we thought we didn’t have any more room at the inn, we had another 15% boost in adult enrollment, thanks to some maneuvering in the classroom to make room for a couple more classes.

  •   551 youth and teens got dirty in our classrooms this year. That means 31% more parents in our area were seeking artful mindfulness for their young ones this year. We couldn’t be happier to help more kids hone their creative problem solving skills while having fun and connecting with others.

  • 366 adults enjoyed our one-time wheel-throwing class Cladies Night this year, and 390 family members made sculpture, pots and ornaments in our Drop-in Clay classes on Saturday afternoons. Our best year yet for both programs!

  •   In community arts, we completed 4 major mosaic projects with Carver Center, Wartburg, Edgewood Elementary School and the City of White Plains.

  • We welcomed 3 new residents and 4 new CAC artists this year to our community of artists. Welcome Nikki Lau, Christine Fashion, Luke Wilde, Carole Bonicelli, Claire Cohen, Jon Townley and Steven Carlson.

  •   We explored topics of great importance in our 2018 gallery year, entitled 4 Degrees of Separation. Artworks in our gallery tackled issues such as identity, race, social connection, our environment, what it means to be an American, and together we examined how linked we are with each other and everything else in the world.

  • We held 9 workshops and events with some of the field’s brightest makers: Matt Hyleck, Roberto Lugo, Jason Bige Burnett, Jeff Shapiro, Arthur Gonzales, Novie Trump, Trisha Coates, Steve Lee, Lindsay Scypta and Andrew Coombs.

  •  We reached several milestones in our fundraising efforts this year, raising over $400,000 to support our organization and community programming.

  •  We awarded a record 160 youth scholarships onsite, and reached an additional 1100 youth and adults through our robust community arts programs around Westchester.

  •  Our 2018 Annual Benefit, which honored former Community Arts Director Ariel Edwards and community partner Carver Center, raised a record $125,951 with 230 guests attending, our largest gathering to date.

  • We had hellos and goodbyes in 2018 as well.  We said farewell to Studio Manager Josh Primmer and welcomed Brandon Schnur this past August. We also welcomed new Development Assistant Jay Oh in October, and Zeltzin Sanchez, who joined us in December as our Community Liaison, also a new position.

  • On the board, we welcomed Michele Oram in September. Rotating off our board this year was Judith Schwartz, who had completed her 2nd three-year term, co-vice president Bruce Fern who served on our board for 8 years, and Jim Turnbull, who has served for 5 years. Their board service has been instrumental in our growth and development, and we will miss them!

  • The following publications generously featured Clay Art Center in their editorial in 2018: Westchester Magazine, Serendipity Magazine, Greenwich Magazine, Artsy, Fairfield County Look, The Journal News, Rye Record, Scarsdale Inquirer and many more. We were also appeared in a feature story on News 12 and several radio programs. Thank you for helping us spread the word about all of our important work!

Again, thank you for another wonderful year. Enjoy a few pictures from 2018 below.



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