Newsletter
Read our latest newsletter
ART@HAND Partner Spotlight: MSS
During the spring of 2025, Northern Clay Center’s outreach program, ART@HAND, partnered with MSS —previously Midwest Special Services— for a program with all seven of their locations across the metro area. Led by two…
Northern Clay Center Welcomes New Executive Director, Judy Hawkinson
The Board of Directors of Northern Clay Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Judy Hawkinson as our new Executive Director, effective August 27, 2025. Judy succeeds Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp, who after eight years…
Announcing the 2025 Recipients of the McKnight Fellowships for Ceramic Artists
Northern Clay Center is pleased to announce the 2025 recipients of the McKnight Fellowships for Ceramic Artists, Elizabeth Coleman (Minneapolis, MN) and Peter Jadoonath (Shafer, MN). McKnight Fellowships for Ceramic Artists The McKnight Fellowships for Ceramic Artists…
Announcing the 2025 Early Career Artist Award Recipients
Each year, artists from around the country apply for the Early Career Artist Awards at Northern Clay Center. These awards allow a group of emerging professionals to maintain the momentum they have developed through…
Carly “Car” Riegger’s WMAA Report
Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award Report2024 EXPLORING THE DISABLED BODY ON DISPLAY After traveling to the Mutter Museum, I still felt uneasy. I grew infuriated with the encapsulation of disabled bodies. This experience was the…
2025 Leadership Transition
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…
Seeking Instructors and Assistants for 2025 Clay Camps!
Northern Clay Center seeks individuals ages 18+ for our 2024 summer camp positions. Every year, NCC recruits paid Clay Camp instructors, volunteer Clay Camp assistants, and one paid intern. We offer over 40 four-…
ClayToGo Partner Spotlight: Anishinabe Academy
During the fall of 2024, Northern Clay Center’s outreach program, ClayToGo, partnered with Anishinabe Academy (Minneapolis) for an in-school residency. Anishinabe is located just one mile from Northern Clay Center, in the Longfellow neighborhood.…
Coming this Spring in the Sales Gallery!
Visit us in the Sales Gallery this spring for a sneak peek viewing of the work by our emerging artist residency grant recipients! During the months of April and May, we’ll represent the works…
ClayToGo Partner Spotlight: WISE
Let us take you on a journey through one year programming with one of our newer partners, Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE). WISE is a nonprofit with a mission to serve and empower…
Announcing the 2024 Recipients of the McKnight Fellowships and Residencies for Ceramic Artists
Northern Clay Center is pleased to announce the 2024 recipients of the McKnight Fellowships for Ceramic Artists, Maggie Jaszczak (Shafer, MN) and Ani Kasten (Shafer, MN). Also selected by this year’s panelists are the recipients of the McKnight…
Announcing the 2024 Early Career Artist Award Recipients
Each year, artists from around the country apply for the Early Career Artist Awards at Northern Clay Center. These awards allow a group of emerging professionals to maintain the momentum they have developed through…
ClayToGo Partner Spotlight: Valley View Elementary
From monster mouths to bobble heads, private islands to rattles, students at Valley View Elementary in Columbia Heights crafted nearly 500 pieces over the course of the 2023 – 2024 school year! This year…
ART@HAND Intergenerational Programming
Interest in Northern Clay Center’s intergenerational outreach programming has been steadily increasing over the past year. This type of programming is geared toward connecting aging populations youth and is offered through ART@HAND. ART@HAND is…
2023 Sales Gallery Panel Results
The sales gallery held its biennial panel (formerly jury) in May of 2023. The goal of the panel is to offer representation and opportunities to artists representing a diverse approach to technique and visual…
NCECA 2024
March 20 – 23, Greater Richmond Convention Center, Richmond, Virginia NCC’s sales gallery, exhibition, and artist services programs will participate in Coalescence the 58th annual conference held in Richmond, Virginia by the National Council…
Z. Cecilia Lu’s WMAA report
This past fall, I spent a month and a half in China supported by the Warren Mackenzie Advancement Award. First, I stopped in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. While there, I went to the Zhejiang Provincial Museum…
Winter McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists: Larry Buller
Join Northern Clay Center in welcoming our 2023 winter McKnight Artist Resident, Larry Buller (Lincoln, Nebraska). We look forward to supporting his creative practice while establishing new connections with our local ceramic’s community. During…
NCC Brings Visiting Artists to Local Schools & Colleges
During the fall of 2023, NCC placed four American Pottery Festival artists at local schools and colleges across the Twin Cities Metro—Chris Alveshere at Central High School (St. Paul), Bekah Bliss at Anoka-Ramsey Community…
2023 25th Annual American Pottery Festival Review
The American Pottery Festival weekend always, always, gives us new reasons to appreciate artists and all of you who support them during the weekend. This year was especially wonderful because NCC was finally able…
Announcing the Recipients of the 2023 McKnight Artist Fellowships and Residencies for Ceramic Artists
Northern Clay Center is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the McKnight Artist Fellowships for Ceramic Artists, Chotsani Elaine Dean (Minneapolis, MN) and Anna Metcalfe (Minneapolis, MN). Also selected by this year’s panelists…
ClayToGo Partner Spotlight: Hmong International Academy
What do you get when you take over 250 pre-kindergarten through fifth graders from Hmong International Academy and put them in a room with hundreds of pounds of clay? An absolutely magical experience! Long-tenured…
Announcing the 2023 Early Career Artist Award Recipients
Each year, artists from around the country apply for the Early Career Artist Residency (ECAR) Awards at Northern Clay Center. These awards allow a group of emerging professionals to maintain the momentum they have…
ClayToGo Partner Spotlight: Northrup Elementary
January kicked off numerous after-school programs with Twin Cities elementary and middle schools. At the time of the drafting of this newsletter text, NCC had deployed nine teaching artists to lead 15 weekly, afternoon…
Updates on NCC’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Work
We at NCC are on a continuous journey to develop programming initiatives and employ metrics that are fundamentally rooted and aligned in anti-racist practices and anti-oppressive principles in all areas of our internal and…
Sustaining Collaborations with Our Community
Creating experiential and lifelong learning opportunities is a goal of Northern Clay Center’s outreach program. While not always possible given the constraints of funding and the competing demands on our partner staff and teaching…
MN NICE: Year Nine
In November, we celebrated our eighth graduating class of Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education (MN NICE). The program is currently in its ninth year with another group of dedicated students. This exciting cohort…
Coming this Spring in the Sales Gallery!
Visit us in the Sales Gallery this spring for a sneak peek viewing of the work by our emerging artist residency grant recipients! During the months of April and May, we’ll represent the work…
NCECA 2023
NCC’s sales gallery, exhibition, and artist services programs will participate in Current, the 57th annual conference held in Cincinnati, OH by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). The conference will…
Partnership Spotlight: Southeastern Libraries Cooperating
This summer, NCC teaching artists were all over the southeastern corner of Minnesota, providing clay workshops to youth and aging adults through Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO). From Blooming Prairie to Le Crescent, Albert Lea…
2022 24th Annual American Pottery Festival Review
The American Pottery Festival weekend always, always, gives us new reasons to appreciate the artists and all of you who support them during the weekend, and this year was no different. Far from a…
You’ve Got Friends in Clay Places
Thank you for being a valuable part of Northern Clay Center and all that you have contributed to advance the growth and development of the organization. Your presence in, and support of, the community…
Director’s Report
As we near the end of another calendar year, we are provided with the opportunity to pause and reflect on both successes and areas for growth from the past year. I am excited for…
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