Please join us for an Artist Talk & Studio Tour on Friday, February 16th, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, to meet the artists in person and learn more about their work, and their processes and visit their studios at Clay Art Center.

Clay Art Center is pleased to present Perspectives: An Invitational Exhibition Celebrating Black History Month by Clay Art Center Artists Earlene Cox and Gloria Nixon-Crouch. This exhibition delves deep into the realms of human experience, identity, and fragility, offering a profound exploration of these themes through the medium of clay. The exhibition serves as a testament to the power of clay as a medium in capturing the nuances and complexities of the human condition. Through their craft, the artists each invite us to reflect on our own experiences, identities, and vulnerabilities.

Earlene Cox is a Clay Art Center artist who splits her time between New York and North Carolina. Earlene is a lawyer and a former executive with IBM. Earlene has advocated using clay art as therapy to combat Alzheimer’s. Through her affiliation with the Westchester (NY) County Chapter of the Links, Inc., she created a clay art program for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients at the Wartburg Nursing Home in Mount Vernon. NY. For this advocacy work, she was named an Alzheimer's champion by the Hudson Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association

Earlene serves on the board of Clay Art Center and continues to make her work in her studios at Clay Art Center and in North Carolina. Earlene’s work is regularly exhibited in several regional exhibitions including the Carter Burden Gallery in NY, the "For the Love of Art" exhibition at Montclair Museum in NJ, The D’Art Center in Norfolk, Va., and annually since 2019 at the Harlem Fine Art Shows in NY and Washington, DC. Currently, the Franklin Gallery in North Carolina and the Just Looking Gallery in Maryland carry her work in addition to the Clay Art Center Gallery.

Earlene states, “Sculpting the human figure provides me an incredible way to capture the memories of people met during my life and to tell the story of the many experiences I have had as an African American in this country. I hope that when a person views the poses, gestures, and facial expressions of my sculptures they will not just see the story I am communicating but they will evoke some memories of their own life stories.”

Watch “America’s Enduring Burden” an emerging Artist Talk by Earlene Cox.

Watch “The Role of Art in The Fight For Social Justice” moderated by Earlene Cox, with guest panelists Paul Briggs, Vinnie Bagwell, and Wesley Brown.

Gloria Nixon-Crouch is a Clay Art Center artist who is based in New York City. Gloria received her Masters in Education from Fordham University and spent many years teaching in New York City.

Gloria's sculptures have been exhibited in various venues throughout the United States. She has had her work featured in Art News, Ceramics Monthly, Art in America, Westchester Arts, and various other 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, Larchmont, New York. 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 Dept. of Education in 2013.

Gloria states, “My sculptures are meant to evoke in the viewers an emotional response that transcends their physical presence. The advent of the black slave trade in the Americas laid the foundation for a myriad of ills, physically, psychologically, and socially for all Black and White Americans, before and since Emancipation. I use the plastic medium of clay to penetrate the observer's subconscious and to bring to its surface the undefined and sometimes ignored, pain of our human suffering. The lack of bright colors and the fragmented surfaces of my sculptural figures represent the fragility and vulnerability of life we've all inherited just by being human. I hope to convey through my work the subtle beauty and resiliency of our survival as Black people and of all humans suffering the vicissitudes of war, poverty, and discrimination.”

Clay Art Center Gallery Mission

Clay Art Center Gallery provides a platform for emerging and established artists to explore a wide range of topics that address materials, processes, and techniques, and to engage in critical dialog through clay. We are committed to exhibiting a wide variety of work representing diverse backgrounds, and we support our artist and student communities through gallery programming opportunities.