Hand In Hand - Meet The Honorees

Honoring five artists from our Clay Art Center community.

This year we honor five exceptional Clay Art Center artists who have dedicated 25 years or more to our community. Read on to learn more about these talented individuals who have created stunning work, volunteered their time, and enriched the spirit of Clay Art Center.

Purchase Tickets for Hand In Hand
Bid in the auction
Donate to support Clay Art Center

Hand In Hand 2024 Honorees

Gloria Nixon-Crouch received her Master’s in Education from Fordham University and spent many years teaching in New York City. Her sculptures have been exhibited in venues throughout the United States. 

Gloria's sculptures have been exhibited in venues throughout the United States. She has had her work featured in Art News, Ceramics Monthly, Art in America, Westchester Arts, and various European publications. Gloria has recently exhibited at the lona College Council Of The Arts: She Voices, and placed first in the 15th annual Open Juried small works show from Mamaroneck Artist Guild. She received the Henry S.E. Cooper Memorial Prize for Sculpture from The Cooperstown Art Association 84th National Juried Art Exhibition and was awarded Special Recognition from the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts. Gloria retired from teaching for The New York City Department of Education in 2013.

Gloria states, “My sculptures are meant to evoke in the viewers an emotional response that transcends their physical presence.”

Bid on Gloria's donated cone 6 figurative sculpture "Reparation", with black copper oxide on a marble base.

Denis Licul, a ceramic and graphic artist, received her BA in Fine Arts from the Fine Art University in Rijeka, Croatia. For 25 years, Denis has been a vital part of Clay Art Center as both an artist, and Community Arts instructor for Cancer Support Community Greater NY & CT at Gilda's Club.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is included in several museums and private collections. She is featured in the books Contemporary Ceramic in Croatia and History of Modern Ceramic in Croatia, as well as Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times magazines, and other publications. She holds workshops and classes in raku firing and sculptural clay handbuilding in the USA and Croatia. Being a longtime yoga practitioner and teacher she integrates her spiritual practices with her artistic expression. She currently lives in Queens, NY.

Denis states, “I joined Clay Art Center as an artist-member a year after I moved to New York from my home country Croatia. For 25 years, Clay Art Center has provided me with a space to work and grow as a person, artist, and teacher and an inspiring community where I feel at home.”

Bid on Denis' donated raku artwork.

Kazuko Lee has been a Clay Art Center Artist for over 25 years, and was part of the artist community during co-founder Henry Okamoto’s time. Kazuko has been an instructor at Clay Art Center, a volunteer, and an exhibiting artist in the gallery many times. Kazuko works primarily in cone 10 clay, inspired by her Asian heritage, often making functional work with simple forms, and quiet, understated glazes.

Kazuko states, “Clay Art Center has been a wonderful learning place for me, especially the great community of people that one meets over the years. Reflecting on the good times, lucky for me, they were all on the positive side. It has been a place to grow as a potter and person, exchanging ideas, not only about pottery, but about people. Clay Art Center has been a wonderful place for me.”

Bid on Kazuko's donated bottle form.

Debbie Mawhinney is a ceramicist who works primarily in Cone 6 colored clays. She has also been a vital member of our artist community, our volunteers, and our fundraising efforts, helping to shape the future of Clay Art Center.

Debbie shares how she first discovered Clay Art Center, saying, “I was at a Fundraiser at the Neuberger Art Museum at SUNY Purchase that involved large, decorated plates. These plates had been thrown and bisqued at Clay Art Center, and after being decorated by the artist, had then been refired at Clay Art Center, then sold at the fundraiser. Since I had been involved with clay at various times before, I decided to investigate the where/how of the nearby facility.”

She goes on to say, “I work in clay because clay takes me away from the craziness of today, and because I believe art is good for the world. Clay Art Center has been a source of friendship, community, and learning. It has been an adopted family of artists, a constant source of creative inspiration and opportunity, ‘aha’ moments, and, now and then, a creative frustration or two. It has been SPECIAL.”

Bid on Deb's donated cone 6 bud vase.

Starting with classes and numerous workshops with leading sculptors and ceramists, Marilyn Richeda evolved into a full time ceramic artist. She has maintained a studio space at home and at Clay Art Center for over 25 years. 

Marilyn states, “My use of wagons, carts, wheels, boats and chairs place the figure in or on an object to transport them to another place. My creative process is based on working intuitively from feelings, memories and my imagination.“

“Clay Art Center has provided a community and venue for me to grow, evolve, expand and study the art of working with clay. Opportunities of having many promising, likely to succeed, talented artists share their techniques and talk about their practice in workshops at Clay Art Center were educational and motivating. How lucky was I to be at Clay Art Center for these experiences. I have met through the years people from all over the world with the same curiosities, passion, and high regard to explore and learn this medium. Lastly, I have traveled the world due to my connections to my studio mates. I thank Clay Art Center for all the opportunities made available for my wonderful and happy career in clay.”

Learn more about how your auction bids help shape the future at Clay Art Center.