Please join us for an Opening Reception on Saturday, September 19th, from 5:00-7:00pm.
Clay Art Center presents the fourth annual Functional Fall exhibition: Handled With Care, guest juried by former Artists-in-Residence Lindsay Scypta and Mike Stumbras. The exhibition features small- to medium-scale handmade ceramic works that revel in surface, decoration, and detail. Small scale invites closeness and embraces the sense of touch, asking the viewer to slow down, to hold, to feel, and to repeatedly return. The work engages audiences with the tactile and visual possibilities of ceramic surface through the use of varied techniques, including layering, carving, stamping, slip, glaze, luster, pattern, and more. With pieces by 28 artists at all stages of their careers representing 14 states, the exhibition showcases the ways artists use scale and ornamentation to develop and amplify meaning across a variety of themes from the sheer celebration of ceramics making, to works that explore personal identity, nature, and human relationships.
Gallery audiences can also participate in the People’s Choice voting to nominate their favorite piece for a prize. Voting in the People’s Choice category either in-person or online begins September 14th and will be announced on Instagram (@clayartcenter) and in our newsletter. The People’s Choice winner will be announced on October 12th, 2026.
Participating Artists: Emily Albee, JoAnn Axford, Hayne Bayless, Angel Brame, Patricia Briggs, Stefanie Burdick, Julie Buyon, Jordan Coons, Sharon Greenwood, Kade Helin-Burnette, Samantha Hostert, Molly Johnson, Yutong Liao, Vasudha Maiya, Aimee Marcinko, Sam McCall, Philip Perry, Gina Pisto, Anna Price, Melodie Reay, Macayla Sandusky, Steve Sitrin, Bethany Slater, Noah Smith, Julia Steiman, Mark Tarabula, Angela Tilley, and Sofia Vidal.
Guest juror Lindsay Scypta holds a BFA in Art & Design from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and a MFA from The Ohio State University. She was an Artist-in-Resident at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY. Currently, she is making and teaching at a local college in Ohio. Lindsay’s accolades include solo shows at Morean Center for Clay and Hudson Gallery. Her work was published in New Age of Ceramics and 500 Vases. She received the Emerging Artist award from Ceramics Monthly in 2017.
Learn more about Lindsay Scypta
Guest juror Mike Stumbras was born in Chicago, Illinois. He received a BFA in Studio Art and a BS in Biology from St. Olaf College in 2007 and an MFA in Ceramics from Louisiana State University in 2017. He has completed residencies across the country, including 323 Clay in Kansas City, MO, Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY, and the Carbondale Clay Center in Carbondale, CO. Stumbras exhibits work nationally and internationally and is currently an Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Learn more about Mike Stumbras
Clay Art Center Gallery Mission
The Clay Art Center Gallery provides a platform for emerging and established artists to explore a wide range of topics that address materials, processes, and techniques, and to engage in critical dialogue through clay. We are committed to exhibiting a variety of work from artists around the country with unique and diverse backgrounds, as well showcasing our Clay Art Center artists and students.
