Residence VIII

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will host the group exhibition Residence VIII April 27 through June 1. The exhibition features ceramic works by recent residents of New Harmony Clay Project: Tom Belden, Katie Botterman, Audra Lynn Clayton, Christie Cooper, Gary Greenberg, Alex Lewis, Autumn McKay and Greg Van Dusseldorp. An opening reception will be held from 4-6pm Saturday, April 27. Gallery hours are 10am–5pm from Tuesday – Saturday at 506 Main Street, New Harmony, IN.

Works on view indicate the rich span of contemporary artistic approaches to working in ceramics today. From life size sculptures to works embracing contrasting elements of abstraction and figuration, Residence VIII offers cutting-edge insight into the styles and techniques that contemporary artists working in clay have to share, as well as new concepts and frameworks for exploring how to push the media into new dimensions of exploration. 

Tom Belden After acquiring his BS in Art Education and MFA in Ceramics, Tom Belden taught for 41 years at the Collegiate and University level. He has taught Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Art History, Design and Sculpture. Belden has taught at Arizona State University, Kentucky State University, University of Colorado | Colorado Springs, Mesa Community College and Central Arizona College. Additionally he was the Department Head at two of those institutions and was the Director of the Art Galleries at two of those institutions. Belden is currently retired from teaching, but he continues to produce his own art works and do workshops around the country in ceramic art and kiln construction.

Katie Botterman is a ceramic artist and instructor working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She earned her BFA from Ohio University in 2021. Notable exhibitions include Rendered Fusion: Clay, Connection, Attention NCECA Annual 2024 at the Harnett Museum of Art in Richmond, VA, and ORIGIN, juried by Kensuke Yamada at Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD. Botterman currently works as a ceramics instructor in her hometown at the North Hills Art Center where she shares her love of clay with others while pursuing her own new works. In her spare time she loves adventuring outdoors: skiing, kayaking, hiking, and camping. 

Audra Lynn Clayton has been a practicing potter for over 20 years. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her supportive husband JP. She is excited about functional work, sculpture and atmospheric firings. Her sculptural work explores people and their places. She enjoys looking at peoples’ belonging and comfort within the settings of home, work and third spaces. She truly enjoyed her residency at the New Harmony Clay Project and the amazing town surrounding the studio. She is the Studio Arts Manager at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media, where she finds great joy in facilitating opportunities for the artists there to thrive. Christie Cooper received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011 at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. Cooper majored in Ceramics and minored in Art History. While at Indiana University she studied with Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Tim Mather and Christyl Boger. In addition to making and exhibiting work she has worked as a ceramics instructor since 2011. 

Gary “Greeny” Greenberg spent most of his formative years in the principal’s office, as his teachers didn’t appreciate nor understand the process in which he actualized his philosophy. Ceramics was pretty much the only thing Greenberg didn’t get sent to the office for doing. Greenberg has been involved with ceramics for more than 52years. This led him to pursue a BFA from Northern Illinois University and an MFA from Arizona State, which has resulted in his current position as Ass. Prof. Art/Ceramics and former department chair at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where he has been working quietly for the last 30 years on a variety of foil-fired, low-fired and wood-fired art objects and vessels. Although he is very serious about producing work, Greenberg feels strongly that it should contain an element of humor, reflecting the absurdities of life in general and of art in particular. 

Alex Lewis currently based out of Columbus, OH. He received his MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 2023. In 2021, Lewis received his BFA in Ceramics with a minor in Art History from Otterbein University, Westerville, OH. He has exhibited in the US and in Canada. 

Autumn McKay is a ceramic artist from Louisville, Kentucky. She received her BFA from the University of Louisville in 2017. Later in 2017 McKay was selected to be a part of the first cohort of the Hadley Creatives grant program in Louisville, KY. McKay would later receive a grant from the Great Meadows Foundation in 2019 that assisted her travels to Vallauris, France, where she was a resident artist at A.I.R Vallauris for three months. Upon her return back to the United States, McKay accepted a short residency at HOBA house in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville. In 2021, she was accepted into the post-bacc program at Indiana University Southeast. Currently, McKay is making and developing handbuilt pottery that stimulates the viewer through texture and imagery, often calling on memories of people, places or objects. 

Greg Van Dusseldorp is a studio artist that works in 2D & 3D formats, with clay and paint being the primary materials. He received his BA in art from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Greg received his MA & MFA in ceramics/drawing at the University of Iowa’s School of Art & Art History. He studied ceramics under the guidance of Chuck Hindes, Clary Illian and Bunny McBride. Greg has been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Red Lodge Clay Center. He has taught ceramics as a Visiting Professor at Kent State University for Kirk Mangus and as an adjunct at The University of Iowa’s School of Art & Art History. He was also an Assistant Professor of Art at Iowa Wesleyan College. Greg exhibits nationally and lives in Iowa City, Iowa.