EXHIBITIONS
CONVERGENCE
CALL FOR ENTRIES OPEN
DESCRIPTION
This juried ceramic exhibition invites artists working in clay to share work that reflects the meeting of many voices, ideas, and approaches within contemporary ceramic practice. Clay carries traces of place, memory, culture, and imagination, and in the hands of different artists it becomes something endlessly adaptable. Convergence celebrates the moment where varied perspectives, forms, and materials come together in one shared space. Rather than centering on a single aesthetic or narrative, the exhibition welcomes a broad range of work, allowing unexpected relationships and quiet dialogues to emerge between objects. Through this gathering of ceramic works, the exhibition creates a landscape where difference is not only present, but essential to the beauty of the whole.
Jurors: Bradley Klem, Stephanie Seguin, Penelope Van Grinsven
WHERE: Light Art Space
209 West Broadway, Silver City, NM 88061 https://lightartspace.com/
WHEN: June 4 - 20, 2026
Submission deadline: May 10, 2026 11:59 MST
Divergence
Divergence is a three-person exhibition featuring the work of Clay Festival’s headlining artists—Penelope Van Grinsven, Bradley Klem, and Stephanie Seguin—on view in the Flash Gallery at Light Art Space. Serving as a counterpoint to the juried exhibition Convergence, this exhibition traces a shared origin point: the artists studied together in graduate school and have since developed distinct voices and directions within their individual practices. Together, their work reflects both a common foundation and the varied paths that emerge from it.
WHERE: Flash Gallery at Light Art Space
209 West Broadway, Silver City, NM 88061 https://lightartspace.com/
WHEN: June 4 - 20, 2026
Open Thursday 11 am - 4 pm, Friday and Saturday 11am–5:00pm
Finding Flow:
Impressions and Silhouettes
Made in Silver City is proud to present this year's featured clay artist Mary-Clare Wilkinson with her art exhibit, Finding Flow: Impressions and Silhouettes.
Mary Clare creates hand built utilitarian vessels in earthenware and stoneware pushing the boundaries in form, surface, and design. She explores finding the tension between the graceful and the grotesque and between functionality and sculpture.
All the artists’ proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Clay which supports the ceramics program at Western New Mexico University.
WHERE: Made in Silver City
206 W. Broadway, Silver City, NM 88061
WHEN: June 5 - 27, 2026
CLAY Festival Reception Friday, June 19, 5-7 pm
Janet K. Burner Exhibition Opening Reception
Location: Blue Dome Gallery at Bear Mountain Lodge
Time and Date: Friday, June 19th 5-7pm
Join us for the opening reception of an exhibition featuring the work of Janet K. Burner, whose ceramics blur the boundary between craft and fine art through carving, texture, sgraffito, painting, and richly layered surfaces. Inspired by the human figure, personal experience, and the natural world, Burner’s work transforms clay into expressive, imaginative forms.
Sacred Architecture
Opening Reception with Patty Countryman
Location: Diana Ingalls Leyba Studio & Gallery
315 N Bullard Street, Silver City NM
Time and Date: Friday, June 19th 5-7pm
Artist Statement: In an increasingly dissonant world, physical and mental stillness is a rare commodity. My work utilizes the form of the altar to create dedicated environments for grief, the release of stress, and the transition of memories. By formalizing the act of 'shedding," seek to honor the human necessity of letting go and provide a sacred architecture for quietude.
Patricia Countryman is a Chicana artist and educator from the Southwest, whose work is deeply informed by her heritage and community. As a dedicated teaching artist, she blends her creative practice with a commitment to mentorship and arts education.
WORKSHOPS
CLAY IN THREE DIMENSIONS:
DEVELOPING CONCEPT, CONSTRUCTING FORM, AND ACTIVATING SURFACE
With Headlining Artists: Penelope Van Grinsven, Bradley Klem, and Stephanie Seguin
This workshop explores ceramic practice from idea to object, led by three artists working in active dialogue with one another. Rather than presenting a single methodology, the 5-day workshop week offers a layered conversation with three distinct perspectives examining how concept, construction, and surface intersect in contemporary ceramics.
Participants will engage learn and practice through coil building, wheel throwing and altering demonstrations. Students work in low fire terra cotta and high fire white clay bodies and will study surface approaches including, raw clay, mid-range glaze application, and China painting. Students will discover how different artists move through the ceramic making process in distinct ways, gaining insight into multiple approaches rather than a single prescribed path.
Introductory ceramic experience recommended.
Location: Western New Mexico University
Date and Time: June 15-19, 2026
10 am - 4 pm with break for lunch
Limit 20 participants.
Price: $535
Natural Plasters: Clay, Lime and Tadelakt Workshop
With Benito Steen and Danielle Felgenhauer
This is a four-day introductory workshop in the world of natural plasters, exploring a range of materials and techniques. Through hands-on practice and discussion, participants will begin to develop an understanding of different kinds of clay and lime plasters — how they are mixed, how they behave, and where they are best suited.
We will work with clay plasters in their many forms, from base coats to refined finish work, exploring how different clays, sands, and fibers combine to create surfaces that are as functional as they are beautiful.
We will also delve into the world of lime plastering — a material with a long and rich history — examining its properties, its application, and the way it transforms over time. The workshop will include an introduction to Tadelakt, the traditional Moroccan lime plaster technique known for its water-resistant, polished finish used in showers and bathrooms.
No prior experience with plaster is required, though participants with some background in natural building will find plenty to deepen their practice.
Location: Whiskey Creek Zócalo, 11786 US-180 East, Arenas Valley, NM 88022, USA
Time and Date: Jun 17, 2026 – Jun 20, 2026, 9:00 AM- 5:00 PM
Cost: $600
Creating Quiet Spaces
With Patty Countryman
A 3-Day Ceramic Exploration of Form and Negative Space
This hand-building workshop invites you to slow down, and construct altars, candlesticks and small trays designed to hold space for moments of quiet. Working with black clay, we will explore architectural forms that use negative space to draw the eye and create a sense of ease.
Date and Time: June 15th, 16th, & 17th 9am-3pm with an hour lunch break
Price: $350
Location: 315 N Bullard Street, Silver City NM
Contact to register: dianaingallsleybastudio@gmail.com OR 575-519-0548
CLAY AS ART WITH JANET BURNER
with Janet Burner
Janet K. Burner will demonstrate her various methods for elevating “clay to art." This will include such elements as carving, texture, sgrafitto, black wax, repoussé, and painting with slips & underglazes. Workshop participants will have hands-on experiences hand-building forms to apply these various techniques & may include making a slump mold & tile frame, engineering a whistle to become a sculpture, making animals & a piece to texture & paint with slips & black wax.
Limit 10 participants. Lunch included.
Price: $400.00
All are welcome.
PLEASE CONTACT BEAR MOUNTAIN LODGE TO REGISTER. 575-538-2538
Location: Bear Mountain Lodge
Date and Time: June 17-19, 2026
10am - 3:30pm, with lunch at 12:30
Events + Activities
Kate Brown Shard Wall + Talk
June 21 | 9–12 & 1–4 | Mimbres, NM
A collaborative shard wall installation inspired by the 1001 Pots project in Quebec, bringing the community together to transform broken pottery into a shared work of connection.
Kate’s Artist Statement:
As I keep saying, I have been a potter for 60 years now, 45 of those years in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico .
So of course I have a lot of pieces of broken pottery. It is the nature of the material to break. To soften this near inevitability, I hold that perhaps the clay, which doesn't care at all if it's broken or whole, absorbed a blow a sentient being didn't have to endure.
I have repaired some of the broken pots in an updated version of the Japanese method known as Kintsugi. They used the sap of a local pine tree and gold powder. I mix "food safe" epoxy and gold colored cosmetic grade powder. The ethos of Kintsugi is " Accept the brokenness and mend it with gold".
This leaves an estimated several hundred pounds of broken pottery shards that I won't try to reconstruct into wholeness.
I was directed to a site in Quebec called 1001 Pots. On their website I came across a photo of a shard wall they have installed in their garden there: Shard Wall Image
On Sunday morning June 21 form 9 -12, as part of the 2026 Silver City CLAY Festival, I invite folks to come help me assemble a shard wall here. This time we will accept the brokenness and mend it with community!
In the afternoon, we will admire our work on the shard wall and come into my studio and showroom from 1-4 for an Open House in my studio and showroom to celebrate my 60 years working as a potter. I will show photos, talk about my pots, share what this work has taught me, how it sustained me and my family through the decades.
Many of my patterns arise from sights in rural SW New Mexico: the sky night and day, clouds, birds, a nearby pond, vegetables in my garden, the wind in the trees,
Guests will find plenty of shady spaces to hang out and visit, and light refreshments
CREATE YOUR OWN MIMBRES-INSPIRED PLATE
Create your own Mimbres-inspired ceramic plate in this hands-on activity for kids and kids-at-heart. Participants will paint a Mimbres-inspired design using yucca brushes while learning about the region’s rich ceramic traditions.
This free, drop-in activity is perfect for all ages — come explore patterns, storytelling, and creativity inspired by historic Mimbres pottery.
Tuesday, June 16 & Thursday, June 18 | 10:00 AM–2:00 PM
Location: Western New Mexico University Museum (main floor)
Supplies are limited
Free — Donations encouraged
CREATE YOUR OWN CLAY MASK
Create your own clay mask in this hands-on, drop-in event for kids and kids at heart. Participants will shape and decorate small masks using simple hand building techniques and colorful underglaze. Come create with clay and make something uniquely your own. Parents, please plan to accompany children under the age of 10.
Finished pieces will be fired and available for pickup during the CLAY Market, June 20-21, in the ballroom of the Murray Hotel.
Free
Date: Saturday, June 6
Time: 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Location: Bayard Public Library
Clay market
INDOORS AT THE HISTORIC MURRAY HOTEl
The CLAY Market is an integral part of the annual CLAY Festival in Silver City, NM, allowing local and out-of-area artists to display and sell their clay-centric wares.
Shop a diverse selection of handcrafted ceramics from 20 clay artists across the Southwest region at this year’s CLAY Market. Free to attend, with live music on Saturday, June 20 from noon–2:00 PM.
LOCATION:
Silver City’s Historic Murray Hotel
200 W. Broadway St., Silver City, NM 88061
(575)-956-9400
www.Murray-Hotel.com
MARKET DATES/HOURS:
Saturday, June 20th - 10am-4pm
Sunday, June 21st - 10am-2pm
Application Deadline: April 3, 2026
Thanks to all clay artists who applied for the 2026 CLAY Market! Our deadline has passed and we are no longer accepting applications. If you would like to be placed on our list to receive email announcing the 2027 market, please send your request to: susan.mach@gmail.com
Tile mural Dedication:
Where the Mountains Remember
“Where the Mountains Remember”- a mural for all to experience, honoring our Chiricahua Apache Ancestors and acknowledging our continued presence as the descendants of the Chiricahua Apache.
Celebrate the mural with us on Saturday June 20th from 3-5 pm as part of the Silver City Clay Festival. There will be talks by the Artist and Youth mural students, along with native music and other cultural offerings planned.
A new mural envisioned by artist Delia deVer has been installed in Silver City, NM thanks to a grant from the local 30Something group. Using advanced, high resolution image transfer, kiln fired to porcelain tile processes, the mural features a composition by deVer. Featuring the beauty of the land, through her landscape photography, she overlays both contemporary and historic photos of Chiricahua Apache people, with visual details that symbolize their forced removal. The work represents the local Tribe’s past, present and future, as they return and reestablish their presence within their traditional territory. The overall mural includes a map showing the Chiricahua Apache’s Traditional Territory by Joe Saenz and Marion Mac Donald, the 4 directions and handmade ceramic elements by the Silver City Youth Mural program. The YCC team attended workshops by Chiricahua Apache cultural leaders and were inspired to portray Chiricahua Apache stories that includes cultural symbols and nature, along with creating a border inspired by Apache burden basket designs and Gahe dancers.
Date and Time: Saturday June 20th from 3-5 pm
Location: Century 21/Hacienda Realty
217 N. Bullard St, Silver City, NM
Mural is on Yankee between Bullard and Texas St.
Museum Tours: Mimbres- Collection
Discover one of the most significant collections of Mimbres pottery in the world at the Western New Mexico University Museum. Join volunteer docent Marianne Smith for a guided tour exploring the history, artistry, and cultural significance of these remarkable ceramics.
Each tour lasts approximately one hour and is limited to 20 participants. RSVP required.
Friday, June 19 | 10:00 AM & 1:00 PM
Location: Western New Mexico University Museum
Free — Donations encouraged
Tour Times: 10:00 AM & 1:00 PM
DEMOS & TALKS
HEADLINING ARTIST TALK
with Penelope Van Grinsven, Bradley Klem, and Stephanie Seguin
Wednesday June 17, 6 pm- 7 pm
Light Hall Theater
Mata Ortiz Demonstration and Sale
Friday, June 19, 11 am- 4 pm & Saturday, June 20th, 11 am- 3 pm
Light Art Space
209 W. Broadway
Featuring Mata Ortiz artists Ana Trillo and her son Adrian Corona.
Live Mata Ortiz Pottery Demonstration
Saturday June 20, 2026 | 10:00am – 3:00pm
Silver City Museum Annex
302 West Broadway
Master Potter Oralia Lopez from Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico will be demonstrating her world-renowned painting style throughout the day. As a second-generation potter, Lopez employs traditional methods established by Juan Quezada.
Oralia personally selected pottery from more than 40 artists, all available for purchase. Shop the large selection of pottery in all price ranges.
Pottery Demonstrations: Throughout the day
