Clay Art Center is pleased to present Concurrent Solo Exhibitions by Artists in Residence
Jon Green
Avery Wells
Jess Levin
In the Gallery & Online: June 22 - August 4, 2023
Opening Reception, Thursday, June 22nd, 6 - 8pm
We will be celebrating the artistic achievements of our current Artists in Residence Jon Green (Rittenberg Artist in Residence), Avery Wells and Jess Levin (Westchester Community Fellow) in concurrent solo exhibitions in the Clay Art Center Gallery.
Each year the residencies culminate in a year-end exhibitions that highlight the recent works from each artist. This is a great opportunity to view the work of these emerging talents.
The opening reception will feature gallery talks by all three artists in residence.
Jon Green is Clay Art Center’s Rittenberg Artist-in-Residence. Born in a Mexican-American family, Jon is entertained by the absurd nature of the American-Dream. Jon completed his BFA at the University of Montana with a minor in Art History, and worked as a studio assistant for Julia Galloway, Casey Zablocki, and Anton Alvarez. Jon has attended Red Lodge Clay Center’s ASPN program, an Artist in Residency at Medalta, Long-Term Residency at Red Lodge Clay Center, and is currently a Long-term Resident at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY. Jon’s work pays homage to the craftspeople and merging customs of the Americas through aggrandizing objects and ornamentation.
Artist Statement "This work represents a personal narrative as a second-generation Chicano, and is an homage to the elaborate and diverse Latin American Craft-traditions before and after colonization. My studio practice is explained as both a question and a statement; a curiosity of my ethnic identity and a pride in my Mexican-American heritage. Decorative patterning and bright colors are sourced from Mestizo prints of colonial Latin-America to represent the convergence of ethnic and cultural ideas that make up the Americas. This history is paired with personal symbolism that subverts traditional expectations of Latinx communities. I aim to explore the fragile boundaries of my blurred personal identity within the diverse multi-ethnic background of the Americas."
Avery Wells is an artist and educator who received her MFA in Ceramics from SUNY New Paltz. She also holds BAs in Art History and Ceramics from UNC Asheville. Avery’s vessels and botanical sculptures explore feminine histories in the decorative arts and seek an alternate route away from traditional standards of beauty and craft. She is currently an Artist-in Residence at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY.
Artist Statement "Drawing from historic domestic arts practices, I repetitively rework flat patterns into sculptural forms. I imagine these patterns peeling themselves off of wallpaper or puffing up from hand-stitched quilts, and in this act of growth is a sense of agency and empowerment. The women in my family have always been makers, and much of my imagery comes from textiles passed from mother to daughter for many generations. My work is a slow act of reflection, allowing me the time and space to consider what it means for me to carry on these traditions in my own way, and also to muse on larger questions of labor, gender, joy, beauty, and belonging."
Jess Levin is Clay Art Center’s Westchester Community Foundation’s Young Artist Fellow. They 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 use a bright, colorful, cartoonish sculpting style to bring to life a narrative of self-exploration and expression.
Artist Statement “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.”
Free Weekly Exhibition/Gallery Tours
Every Wednesday at 11:30am
Visitors to Clay Art Center will be able to learn more about the artworks currently on view in the gallery, including in-depth looks at some of the exhibition highlights with the Exhibition Manager or Gallery Staff. Additionally, visitors may also take a guided tour of Clay Art Center facilities, which will include artist studios, classrooms and kiln facilities. Learn More
View the Press Release
Clay Art Center’s Residency Program
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Clay Art Center’s artist-in-residence program, started in 1998 by Director Emeritus Reena Kashyap.
The Residency program, which commences each year in September, is designed for emerging artists to have the time and space to develop their voices. Residents gain invaluable experience working in a community environment, teaching classes, sharing their technical knowledge and expertise, and managing many jobs around the studio. Through a competitive process, these artists come to Port Chester from across the country and are now thriving in their careers around the globe. Learn More.
The Westchester Community Fellow is funded by the Westchester Community Foundation: The Emily & Harold Valentine and Evelyn Gable Clark Scholarship Fund Young Artist Residency.