Clay Art Center Curator’s Choice Exhibition presenting ceramic sculptures and pottery by Jon Townley. On view in the gallery and online, April 25 - May 31, 2026
Clay Art Center is pleased to present Made in Earnest: Ceramic Work by Jon Townley. This solo exhibition presents handmade ceramic sculpture and pottery, and is the inaugural exhibition in Clay Art Center’s Curator’s Choice series.
In presenting this exhibition concurrently with Finding the Center, which highlights work from Clay Art Center’s archive collection, Exhibitions Director Regina Farrell-Fagan says, “Jon’s body of work has evolved into a perfect synthesis of form, technique, and mastery of ceramic media, without ever leaving behind that which inspired him from the earliest of days of his career. The work resonates with the Mid-Century aesthetics of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Ruth Duckworth, Brancusi, and others, where form comes first. Jon’s contemporary artistic voice speaks to the same forces that compelled artists in the earliest days of Clay Art Center to make, and to pursue a line of creative enquiry that can only be answered in clay.”
Artist Bio
Jon began throwing pots in high school at the age of fifteen and went on to receive his BFA in ceramics from Ohio State University, where he developed an understanding of form and technique through studying the Japanese ceramics tradition. Since 2010 he has maintained his studio in Katonah, New York, developing an original body of decorative and sculptural ceramics using the techniques of throwing and altering, coil construction, innovative slab forming, and carving. Jon has taught multiple workshops and currently teaches hand building and advanced throwing classes at Clay Art Center, Port Chester, New York.
Artist’s Statement
“Nearly everything I make has certain core themes in common. These include my fascination with how the forces of wind, water and erosion sculpt stone, my wonderment at the forms inside sea shells, my curiosity about the growth patterns of trees and plants, and my delight in the convolutions and articulations of bones. While I’ve spent much of my life working as a professional illustrator and designer, in my ceramics I rarely apply traditional decorative effects or graphic imagery, preferring instead to enliven my pieces primarily through form and sculptural gesture.”
About Curators Choice Exhibitions at Clay Art Center
Clay Art Center aims to support regional artists by offering gallery and shop opportunities, including smaller, concurrent exhibitions that complement our focal exhibitions, as well as cultural programming. These initiatives highlight the work of regionally based artists, particularly those from the lower, middle, and upper Hudson Valley, as well as the broader Tri-State area. Through these opportunities, we aim to raise awareness of regional talent, strengthen connections within local ceramics communities, and promote critical appreciation of the ceramic arts.