Radical Pots & Cooperative Hands: Katherine Choy and Clay Art Center
On view: October 18, 2023 – February 4, 2024
Greenwich Historical Society presents Radical Pots & Cooperative Hands: Katherine Choy and Clay Art Center, an exhibition of work by influential ceramic artist, educator and visionary co-founder of Clay Art Center, Katherine Choy (1927-1958). Featuring a selection of Choy’s distinctive and boundary-pushing ceramic vessels alongside never-before-seen photographs, letters, and other archival material, the exhibition charts Katherine Choy’s rapid rise to prominence and influence in the field of American studio ceramics in the mid-1950s, her indelible influence as an educator, and her dedication to forming a cooperative studio space for ceramic artists to thrive in Port Chester, N.Y.
“Katherine Choy was a pioneering figure in the emergent world of mid-twentieth century American studio ceramics, and her widely exhibited clay vessels explored many of the same formal ideas that were at play in the concurrent field of abstract expressionist painting,” says Historical Society Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Maggie Dimock. “Her technical proficiency, visionary style and personal charisma came together in the founding of the Clay Art Center in 1957, a life’s dream Choy realized with co-founder Henry Okamoto of Greenwich. This was all achieved at the young age of twenty-nine, and it is made more poignant by Choy’s unexpected death the following year. Greenwich Historical Society is privileged to partner with Clay Art Center to present this exhibition of Choy’s distinctive, groundbreaking works created during her time at Clay Art Center.”
Radical Pots & Cooperative Hands: Katherine Choy and Clay Art Center is organized by the Greenwich Historical Society with artwork loans and research support provided by Clay Art Center. The exhibition is generously supported in part by the Josie Merck Foundation.
Workshops/Lectures/Curated Tours
Public hands-on clay workshops and demonstrations, in partnership with Clay Art Center, will be offered throughout the exhibition’s run, beginning with a lecture and demonstration on wheel throwing in the style of Katherine Choy on Thursday, October 26 at 6:30 p.m., presented by Clay Art Center teaching artist Jeanne Carreau and Director Emeritus of Clay Art Center Reena Kashyap. A hands-on clay workshop dedicated to hand-building organic vase forms, led by Clay Art Center Studio Technician and past Artist-in-Residence (2022 – 2023) Avery Wells, will be offered Thursday, November 2 at 6:30 p.m.
Curator-led gallery talks will also be offered, beginning with Visionary Art Pottery and Studio Craft in Our Backyard: Leon Gambetta Volkmar and Katherine Choy, a discussion and guided tour takes place Friday November 10 at 11 a.m. The talk will explore connections between the lives and legacies of Greenwich-area ceramic artists Leon Gambetta Volkmar (1879-1959) and Katherine Choy. A prominent figure in the New York art pottery world, Volkmar’s handcrafted and sensitively glazed ceramic vessels were nationally recognized and collected broadly by connoisseurs, including the Bush-Holley House’s one-time resident Emma Constant Holley MacRae. A selection of Volkmar pieces from the Greenwich Historical Society Museum Collection will be on display in the Historical Society’s Permanent Collections Gallery for the duration of the exhibition.
For information about all public programs please visit www.greenwichhistory.org or call (203) 869-6899.
