Living A Dream, Riding A Wave: Second-Year Residents' Exhibition
As Artists-in-residence Carley Holzem, Christine Raposas, and Stephanie Perez prepare for their group exhibition at Clay Art Center, they reflect on what’s changed since their first resident exhibitions.
Each year in September, Clay Art Center welcomes a cohort of artists as part of the Residency Program, first started in 1998 by Reena Kashyap and Ruth Berelson. Over the course of the year-long residency, these emerging artists become a part of our community, teaching classes, assisting with studio tasks, and honing their techniques as they create a body of work, which then becomes the centerpiece of the summer exhibition calendar. Residents also have the option of reapplying for another year, and the 2025-26 cohort includes three returning residents: Carley Holzem, Christine Raposas, and Stephanie Perez. For their capstone exhibitions, the three will present a group exhibition entitled Living A Dream, Riding A Wave, which brings together their different styles. Below, you can learn more about how each are approaching the upcoming exhibition, and how they’ve evolved since last year’s show.
Last year, 2024-2025 Rittenberg Artist-in-Residence Carley Holzem presented The Sunroom, a collection of thrown and altered functional ceramics with strong connections to the home and the ordinary daily life experience. All done in her signature thrown and faceted style in a bright pastel color palette, The Sunroom carried the viewer through the course of a quiet, comfortable day observing the changes in light. The show also featured narrative underglaze drawings, framed on both wall hangings and large vases, that depicted scenes from everyday life, particularly everyday queer life and love. For her part in the upcoming group exhibition, Carley decided to lean further into the narrative aspects of her work: “I’ve been doing more drawings and focusing on that over the functionality of the piece. It’s more about the people on the pots and the narrative they’re experiencing. It’s a different focus, rather than the everyday use, it’s more about the characters. Some of them are personas, of me or people I know, and I hope viewers are able to relate to those stories.”
Westchester Community Foundation Fellow Stephanie Perez presented Remnants of Cognition, an exploration of transformation and perception, as part of the 2025 concurrent Artists-in-Residence exhibitions. Drawing inspiration from her academic background, Stephanie’s body of work contemplated the interplay between familiarity and humanity, and challenged viewers to consider their own instincts for connection and repulsion. The sculptural work took influence from Stephanie’s background in psychology and sociology, and merged human-like features with ambiguous, organic structures, decorated with flesh-like texture, patterns of disease, or signs of decay. Whether hinting at infection, parasitism, or evolution, Stephanie’s work challenged the limits of what viewers would recognize as human and what they might instinctively perceive as other. For her part in the upcoming exhibition, Stephanie continues to examine ideas of identity, empathy, and discomfort with the unknown: “My work in Living a Dream, Riding A Wave is a continuation of previous ideas,” she shared, “but I’m pushing myself to try new finishes and techniques, like wood- and soda-firing and different glaze combinations and washes. I’ve been making a lot of test tiles.” Stephanie also noted that she’s excited to see her work and that of her fellow residents come together.
For her 2025 Artist-in-Residence exhibition, Opposable Thumbs, Christine Raposas presented a collection of her hallmark organic sculptures brought to life by the colorful gloop, lava, and lichen glazes that crack and crawl across their surfaces. Deeply inspired by the elements and oceanic landscapes, Christine achieved dynamic movement in her sculptures, aiming for an ironic weightlessness that seemingly defied the very nature of her medium. Tucked in and amongst the highly textured surfaces in riotous colors, viewers would also find unexpected hands, fingers, and eyes that created an experience that was both unsettling and fun. As Christine prepares for the upcoming exhibition, she noted that her work has definitely been affected by her surroundings at Clay Art Center: “Living by the water has brought fish into my work, so there are a lot of fish and coral that will be in the show. I’m very excited to see how Steph, Carley, and my pieces all work together in our show this year. I think all of our colors and forms together will be interesting.”