Curatorial Statement
Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, May 4, 2026 at 10 am MT
Clay as Place coincides with one of RLCC’s favorite programs, our ASPN residency. Guest Curated by our ASPN Mentor Holly Hanessian, this exhibition will feature artists who make work related to a sense of place, and who explore ideas about their geographic environment as an intentional response to the transient nature of clay. Included will be pottery and artifacts from projects where ceramics is a primary material. This exhibition will be on view during the ASPN residency, and Holly will use it as a teaching tool with our ASPN artists.
Participating artists include Osa Atoe, Bandana Pottery, Casey Beck, Amy Edler, Holly Hanessian, Yolanda Rawlings, Kristen Taylor, Casey Whittier and Rena Detrixhe, and more…
Holly Hanessian is an educator, scholar and studio artist creating artworks that inhabit the overlapping worlds of craft, design and contemporary art through creating socially engaged and installation artwork. She has taught, lectured and exhibited projects internationally and in the United States investigating contemporary ideas on social policies including the environment, social injustices as well as the importance of our haptic senses.
Holly recently retired as Professor of Art at Florida State University where she was the area head of ceramics. She has also served as President of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, a member of Socially Engaged Craft Collective, ArtAxis, and AccessCeramics.