Northern Clay Center’s Board of Directors would like to share an announcement about a change in leadership in the coming year. It is with understanding, respect, and gratitude that we announce the upcoming departure of both Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp as the Executive Director and Tippy Maurant as the Deputy Director/Director of Galleries & Exhibitions. Both will remain on staff until qualified, enthusiastic, and highly skilled successors are welcomed onto staff and feel sufficiently trained.
Kyle joined the staff at Northern Clay Center in the fall of 2017 and has served the organization in various roles and capacities in that time. Drawing strongly from his connections within the local ceramics community, his passion for Education and artists services remained has remained an area of focus whether under his direct management or his mentorship of others in the roles while his focus was drawn to the broader organization in larger roles. His efforts, alongside those of Tippy Maurant, have been critical to the success of the organization as it came through some of its most challenging moments in the last five years. His drive, passion for the ceramic arts, and persistent provision of individualized attention will be greatly missed by his fellow staff, the Board of Directors, and the greater communities that he worked to diligently to serve.
Tippy began a nearly 30-year adventure with NCC as a student, then a studio artist and other part-time roles. In 2015, she was hired full time as the Sales Gallery & Special Events Manager, and in 2017, she added Exhibition Manager to her role. In February of 2020, she answered the call to serve as Interim Co-Executive Director alongside Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp, and at the end of that commitment, the Board of Directors generously accepted her request to shift to her current role as Deputy Director/Director of Galleries & Exhibitions. Throughout her tenure, and particularly through the most challenging time in NCC’s history due to the pandemic, her commitment to the clay community, her colleagues, and the organization has been rooted in service, creativity, inclusion, innovation, and strategy.
NCC has hired Arts Consulting Group to lead a national search, alongside a small team of board and staff members, for a new Executive Director in 2025. We will share the job announcement soon and will ask for your help in identifying candidates who can help Northern Clay Center continue along its successful trajectory. We are pleased that Kyle and Tippy will both continue to assist the Clay Center during this transition.
If you have any questions or concerns throughout this leadership transition process, please reach out to me directly at board@northernclaycenter.org.
Sincerely,
Mary K. Baumann, Chair, Board of Directors, Northern Clay Center
From Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp, Executive Director of Northern Clay Center
Having worked passionately to support and grow the ongoing development of Northern Clay Center, its community, and the greater field of ceramics, it is with mixed emotions that I announce my departure from the role of Executive Director at NCC. I am honored to have been part of such a focused and passionate organization and humbled by the incredible opportunities for engagement that my roles at the Center have provided over the course of my tenure. When reflecting upon my seven years at the Center, I am incredibly proud of all that has been accomplished and grateful for the trust that was placed in me to be a part of and to lead NCC, from the incredible experience as part of the 2019 NCECA conference under the directorship of Sarah Millfelt, to the incredible challenges that were overcome through the pandemic and all that came to follow.
I will remain forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve such a wonderful organization and community, the Center’s Board of Directors, and to have been able to work alongside so many talented and dedicated artists and colleagues. During my remaining time at Northern Clay Center, I look forward to both guiding supporting the organization as well as the efforts of the Transition Committee with all my focus and energy, and to ensuring a smooth and successful transition for my successor.
Respectfully,
~Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp
From Tippy Maurant, Deputy Director/Director of Galleries & Exhibitions at Northern Clay Center
It is with equal parts sadness and enthusiasm that I announce my resignation from Northern Clay Center in the first half of 2025. I am proud of what I’ve contributed to the greater clay community and, specifically, to the rare and entertaining world of NCC. Mostly, however, I am deeply grateful to all of you who welcomed me and offered the opportunity and support to earn a living in service to the arts, and with a humanitarian ethos, while making life-long friendships.
It’s simply time to make my departure and ensure the next group of leaders has the space to propel NCC into its future fineness. It’s also time for me to craft a life in which I serve my own creativity. And, as anyone who’s ever served a non-profit knows, this is a challenge in our line of work. I’ll always be connected to NCC and passionate about ensuring its future as a force for good, especially as the definition of that consistently evolves and improves.
All my best,
Tippy