Curatorial Statement
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Gallery Closing Reception: Friday, September 26, 2025 from 5-7 pm MT
Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, September 8, 2025 at 10 am MT
Juried National VIII
Red Lodge Clay Center’s Juried National VIII extends our mission by showcasing current relevant and diverse practices in the field of ceramics and provides a spotlight on the breadth of work currently being made that utilizes clay as a featured material. It is our hope that the Juried National will bridge emergent and established makers, and will include some of the best utilitarian, sculptural, traditional and/or experimental work being created today.
Calendar
- Submission Dates: February 1-May 1, 2025. Apply online at SlideRoom (link will be live on February 1). Applications due by the end of the day May 1, 2025.
- Notification no later than June 17, 2025
- Accepted work arrives to Red Lodge any time between July 9-August 8, 2025
- Exhibition dates: September 5-27, 2025 (all work goes online September 8)
- Gallery closing reception with jurors Friday, September 26, 2025 from 5-7 MT
Eligibility
- Open to all ceramic artists, 18 years and older, currently living and working in the USA (return of unsold work to USA addresses only)
- All Artwork submissions must be under 18 inches in any direction and less than 50 pounds. Artwork must be created with at least 50% clay. Work must have been created within the last two years. Work must be for sale
- NOTE: artists may submit one (1) to three (3) distinct works total, with no more than two (2) views per work, not to exceed six (6) total images (for example: one full view and one detail view per work). Please include dimensions of work, material info, and retail sale price with submission.
- All submissions must include a declaration of a monetary value for insurance purposes. This value may not be altered with us after acceptance.
Exclusions
- RLCC also reserves the right to refuse any work deemed excessively fragile or unresolved regarding installation, stability, dangerously sharp, cracked, or work otherwise not in saleable gallery quality, as well as work that exceeds our size and weight limitations. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
- If accepted work arrives and is larger than 18″ or weighs more than 50 lbs, work will not be included in the exhibition, and returned to the artist at their expense.
- Artwork that does not adhere to our rules and expectations will be ineligible for consideration for merit awards.
MERIT AWARDS
announced at the closing reception, Friday, September 26, 2025, 5-7pm
- Juror’s Choice Award: $1000
- Director’s Choice Award: $500
- Gallery Curator’s Choice Award: $300
2025 Jurors: Linda Sikora and Matt Metz
Matthew Metz has been a making his living as a potter for 25 years.He resides and works in Alfred Station, New York with his wife, potter, educator, Linda Sikora. Born in Kendallville, Indiana in 1961, he received a B.F.A from Ball State University and his MFA from Edinboro University, PA. From 1989 to 1991 he was a resident at Archie Bray Foundation and was awarded an Individual artist Grant from the NEA. In 1991 Matt and Linda moved to Houston, MN, where they worked for the next 14 years before moving to Alfred.
Matt received two McKnight Artist Fellowships through the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1997, 2005. Matthew shows his pottery throughout the U.S. and internationally- including the St. Croix Potter’s Tour, Old Church Pottery Show, and Pottery on the Hill. He is represented by Schaller Gallery, Trax Gallery and the mobile Artstream Gallery. In 2015 he was a founder of the Flower City Pottery Invitational in Rochester, NY. Matthew’s work is in private and public collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Erie Art Museum, Racine Art Museum, Alfred Museum of Ceramic Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, and Long Beach Museum of Art. He has presented professional pottery workshops at universities and craft schools across the U.S and Canada. In 2016 he and Linda were featured in the “Teachers” episode of the PBS series “Craft in America”.
Linda Sikora is second generation Canadian whose paternal grandparents left Eastern Europe, as political tides turned, to work in Western Canadian orchards and coal mines. Sikora’s mother was the oldest of 14 siblings (Scottish/French) in Eastern Canada. Secondary school education was a luxury not afforded her parents, but values of personal agency and industry were abundant. The furniture her father built for the family household and her mother’s acute aesthetic influenced the pursuit of an art/craft/design education.
Sikora resides with her family near Alfred NY where she has a studio practice and is a Professor of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University. Academic study in visual art (BA) and a ceramic-based apprenticeship in British Columbia was the foundation of her training that continued at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (BFA) and University of Minnesota–Minneapolis (MFA).
Professional activities are national and international: Artist residencies include: Archie Bray Foundation; Chunkang College of Cultural Industry, Korea; Tainan National College of The Arts, Taiwan; Clay Edge, Australia.
Public Collections include: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; Racine Art Museum, WI; Alfred Ceramic Art Museum; LA County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of the Arts; Everson Museum, NY; Campos de Gutiérrez Foundation, Medellin, Colombia; Huntington Museum of Art; Fuller Craft Museum; Gardener Museum, Canada; LSU Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Smithsonian Museum of American Art; National Museum of Sweden. Sikora was nominated and selected as a United States Artist Fellow in 2020.
Questions? Contact Jill, Curator & Exhibitions Coordinator
[email protected]
(406) 446-3993