Clay Art Center Artists Mara Gross, Janet Harckham, and Maria Spiess reflect on the inspiration behind their pieces in the Come Together exhibition.

Come Together is this year’s annual Clay Art Center Artist exhibition, featuring works made up of two parts that come together to form a greater whole. Guest curated by former Artist-in-Residence Kelli Stewart, the exhibition explores a variety of perspectives on connection, finding common ground, and the struggle between individual identity and shared experience. This week, Clay Art Center Artists Mara Gross, Janet Harckham, and Maria Spiess shared the stories behind their work, as well as their clay process.

For Mara Gross, the exhibition concept brought up thoughts of coming together during deeply polarizing times, and how the external world reflects our internality. Mara related that, “As I was working on this piece, I was thinking about the psychological concept of projection, how we project what is going on inside of us onto others. I kept hearing this phrase, ‘That which is within, is without.’ It echoes the ideas of Meister Eckhart, a theologian who died in 1227. I read him many years ago. He felt that religion focused too much on external teaching and rituals and wanted people to focus their spiritual life more on their inner subjective experience. What interests me is how the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ are always in dialogue.” In her colorful wall hangings, the internal figures of one wall hanging are projected onto the environment of the other. Even as the house people’s feet point away from each other, seemingly indicating different directions, their faces look back, possibly towards reconciliation. This reconciliation is Mara’s hope: "We need to come together to better understand ourselves. There's such a divide right now, we're so polarized - we can't live like this."

Mara paints wax on a series of carved test tiles in her studio space, in front of a large bank of windows overlooking Port Chester.

Mara's hands are shown using a tool to carve a clay test tile. Open jars of blue wax and green underglaze are also on the wooden work surface.

A series of 12 clay test tiles with small nature-inspired carvings sit on the work bench, wrapped in plastic.

Two plates entitled Inside, Outside, each with a person with a yellow head and a house for a body. One is surrounded with humanoid figures, while the other has the humanoid figures inside the house.

Janet Harckham’s piece, Bedside Water Pitcher and Cup, is a testament to her love of functional pottery and how it becomes a part of our everyday lives. According to Janet, "Everyone has a favorite mug. I imagine it’s because it is beautiful, functions well, feels good, and reflects who you are. Functional pottery enhances who you are whether it’s a vase to adorn a room or a bottle to highlight a single stem flower. You form a deep relationship with it." All of Janet’s functional work is made of porcelain, a notoriously fussy material that provides a beautiful smooth finish and a pristine canvas for glazing. The fussiness, however, doesn’t bother Janet, who sees the process of pottery as a learning opportunity: "It’s a such a multi-step process from conception to getting something out of the glaze firing that there always seems to be time to ruin a pot. However, I learn as much from my mistakes as I do from the successes. Each pot, good and not so good, helps me decide how to pursue the idea differently with the next one." Clay has been a teacher for Janet since she learned to throw at a kick wheel in high school.

Janet sits at her wheel in her bright studio, collaring up the rim of a piece of porcelain.

A side view of Janet at her wheel, throwing a porcelain vase. A red bucket of water stands in the foreground.

A head on view of Janet throwing a porcelain vase, with the bay of windows at the back of her studio visible.

A porcelain bottle-style pitcher with a black glazed top sits next to a half white, half black-glazed cup that fits as the top of the pitcher.

Maria Spiess also works in porcelain, and has created a series of wave-like wall hangings in blue and celadon. For Maria, this series has been deeply personal: "The person who started that line of work and way of thinking is my mom. She passed away when I was ten, and I started making art in grad school reflecting on how she continues to influence my life and move me. Each person in my life is a ripple, and they all squeeze together to form me." Another ripple in Maria’s life has been Clay Art Center; she started here as an Artist-in-Residence five years ago, and after her residency joined the Artist Program at Clay Art Center, as well as becoming a ceramics teacher with a local school. Maria credits the opportunities to teach and to learn from other artists as huge sources of learning in her clay journey.

Maria handbuilds with long porcelain pieces that will eventually form waves. The floor-to ceiling shelves of the studio are behind her.

Maria moves a board full of laid out porcelain pieces. Two shelves of vases and a large sink are visible behind her.

Maria's hands move a long, flat porcelain piece from the wooden work bench to a wooden board.

Maria’s wall-hanging submission to Come Together, entitled Before Collision, features two separate waves with ripples that tendril out, reaching towards one another.

Enjoy learning about the artistic process and inspiration behind the artwork? You can read more interviews with Clay Art Center Artists Sally Ng, Rose Foley, and Jane Neuss Cohen on the Clay Dish Blog. Come Together is on view in the gallery and online now through April 5th.

Come Together: Artists and Their Inspiration

Clay Art Center Artists Mara Gross, Janet Harckham, and Maria Spiess reflect on the inspiration behind their pieces in the Come Together exhibition.

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