Each year, we welcome several talented emerging artists to Clay Art Center as part of our Artist in Residence program and Fellowship program. The program commences each September, and is designed to allow artists the time and space they need to develop their voices. Residents and Fellows teach classes, share their expertise, assist with studio responsibilities, and contribute greatly to the artistic vibrancy of the Center. Meet our 2023-2024 Artists, and look for their artwork in our Shop

 

Meet our 2023-2024 Artists In Residence and Westchester Community Foundation Fellow!

A photo of an artist in front of trees.

Schuyler Forsythe (she / her)
2023-2024 Artist-in-Residence

Schuyler Forsythe is a Hudson Valley native who received her BFA from SUNY New Paltz with a concentration in ceramics, and has worked as a studio assistant for artists throughout the country.

Her works have been exhibited in group shows in the Hudson Valley, as well as artist markets in NY and OR. Schuyler's work has mostly been inspired by bi-coastal living and the vast American landscape, though with this most recent body of work the artist is exploring ancestral narratives through sculpture and ornamentation. Schuyler's sculptural forms inspired by the natural world, push the traditional limitations of clay as she reimagines the world around her.

“In my current body of work I am examining the complex and fleeting qualities of a moment. These moments are exploring the intrinsic nature of the human experience, and how both our current surroundings and ancestral memory impact and question what it means to belong. Our histories continue to inform our present as our changing surroundings are a constant reflection of us. Through intuitive and explorative hand built sculptures, I am examining the inherent Intersection between self-identity and the natural world.”

 
An image of an artist in their studio.

Evelyn Mtika (she / her)
2023-2024 Rittenberg Artist-in-Residence

Evelyn Mtika has been working with clay for just shy of 3 years. Her work includes portraiture, figures, text, and is focused on exploring intertwined cultural connections and differences. She is interested in exploring how black femininity and culture is interwoven through hair, faces, and patterns. She pulls her inspiration from different aspects of her own background, having grown up within and between a Black and African diasporic household. She received her BFA from University of Hartford with a focus in ceramics and painting.

“My body of work is related to my understanding of how I navigate the world, holding myself to the close connections I make with my family and friends, and defining my experience of living within the Black and African diaspora and as a Woman. Through my work, I contemplate the nature of growing into my identity as well as the struggle of perceiving myself outside of internalized and negative stereotypes. My pottery is dedicated to pairing ornamental and painterly decorativeness with intense and powerful portraiture. I believe that the portraiture in my pieces, while changing in medium and style, all serve the same purpose; to remind me to always elevate the culture and heritage I grew up around and to respect the body I grew into.”

 

Jess Levin (they / them)
Artist-in-Residence, 2023-2024

Jess Levin earned a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase, NY, concentrating in ceramics with hints of fabrics to show the balance between the soft and the fragile. They were most recently the 2022–23 Westchester Community Foundation Fellow at Clay Art Center. They use a bright, colorful, cartoonish sculpting style to bring to life a narrative of self-exploration and expression.

“The colorful yet quiet animal-human hybrids I create communicate a sense of serenity and relationship between fauna and human. Imagination is an essential part of any child, and playing pretend as a child is a gateway into self-exploration. With this in mind, I have started to take a more mythical approach with my practice by taking these horned animals and imagining them in a more whimsical way. 

These friendly creatures act as guardians for the larger and more animated personified animals that they surround. The guardian character I continue to reimagine in my work acts as a protector, or even a worshiped deity, and becomes a connection between the viewer and the piece that they can lean on for comfort. I am currently living through a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, and yearning to keep a childlike wonder alive in myself, and provoke it in others through my work.”

 
An artist sits in their studio

Stephanie Perez (she / her)
2023-2024 Westchester Community Foundation Fellow

Stephanie Perez (Westchester Community Fellow) is an emerging ceramic artist and instructor with a BS in psychology and sociology from Fordham University. Drawing inspiration from her academic background, her artwork challenges established notions and invites contemplation about the interplay between familiarity and humanity.

While Stephanie's sculptures often portray exaggerated features and proportions, they never lose their profound humanistic essence. Through manipulation of facial expressions, sometimes even through the absence of a face, she evokes a wide range of emotions in her artwork. Stephanie's exploration extends to various glazing and finishing techniques, enabling her pieces to transcend boundaries, pushing the likeness to the human form. Stephanie strives to further push these boundaries of physical likeness, all while maintaining a strong sense of relatability to the human experience.

This fellowship was made possible by the Westchester Community Foundation, a division of The New York Community Trust. Westchester Community Foundation’s mission is to connect generous people to the causes they care about and invest in transformative ideas and organizations to improve lives and strengthen our community. WCF is a division of The New York Community Trust, one of the largest community foundations in the country, with assets of approximately $3 billion.

 
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