Posts Categorized: General

Reflections from Ali Saunders

  Artist Ali Saunders spent seven months at Watershed creating plates for 2023 Salad Days. Here she shares the inspirations for her designs and reflects on the making process. I grew up in a home filled with textiles and handmade quilts sewn by my mother and grandmother. As two extremely active makers, their practices influenced… Read more »

Embracing Change: 2023 Summer Residency Preview

In this guest post, 2023 Summer Residency session co-organizers Frank Pitcher & JoAnn Schnabel share their inspiration and ideas for Session III: Embracing Change. Additional artists anchoring the session include Joe Bova, Linda Casbon, David East, Jim Lawton, Jane Shellenbarger & Holly Walker. Space in the session is available for artists interested in joining the… Read more »

Building Resilience: 2023 Summer Residency Session Preview

In this guest post, 2023 Summer Residency session co-organizers Holly Hanessian and Anna Metcalfe share their inspiration and ideas for Summer Residency Session II: Building Resilience. Additional artists anchoring the session include Julia Galloway, Tsehai Johnson, and Rachael Marne Jones. Space in the session is available for artists interested in joining the group at Watershed… Read more »

Clay in the Expanded Field: 2023 Summer Residency Session Preview

In this guest post, 2023 Summer Residency session co-organizers Emily Bayless and Britny Wainwright share their inspiration and ideas for Summer Residency Session I: Clay in the Expanded Field. Additional artists anchoring the session include Katie Coughlin, Brandi Lee Cooper, Meredith Habermann & Kelly O’Briant. Space in the session is available for artists interested in… Read more »

Embodied Perception: 2023 Summer Residency Session Preview

In this guest post, 2023 Summer Residency session co-organizers Bonita Kline and Marily Perry share their inspiration and ideas for Summer Residency Session IV: Embodied Perception. Additional artists anchoring the session include Hana Balaban-Pommier, Victoria Loe Hicks, Jenny Peace & Stephanie Rosendorf. Space in the session is available for artists interested in joining the group… Read more »

Farewell Message From Fran Rudoff

Dear Watershed Community, During the summer months, I walk the winding tree-lined road from my office to our main campus for lunch each day. Down the last stretch of driveway, a wonderful scene always emerges – resident artists and staff conversing, laughing, and enjoying a delicious meal. The magic that manifests from the simple act… Read more »

2022 Summer Residency Recap

As the golden light of September evenings gives way to shadows earlier each day, we find ourselves reflecting on a most memorable summer residency season. Over the past three months, nearly one hundred artists joined us from thirty-one states and eight countries. They ranged in age from twenty to seventy-two and brought a breadth of… Read more »

Executive Director Fran Rudoff to Retire

Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts Board of Trustees announces that Executive Director Fran Rudoff will retire in early 2023. Rudoff began her tenure as Watershed’s executive director in 2013. During her time leading the organization, she spearheaded substantial improvements and additions to the campus. Under her guidance, the Center’s Watershed NOW capital campaign has… Read more »

Interview with Grace Tessein

During the early days of the pandemic, 2022 Salad Days Artist Grace Tessein found herself seeking opportunities to spend time in nature. While hiking near her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she collected broken eggshells from hatched birds, feathers, animal bone fragments, flowers, and leaves. Tessein illustrated the surfaces of her ceramic work with the… Read more »

Bill Daley: A Remembrance

In this guest post, Watershed co-founder Lynn Duryea shares memories of artist William P. Daley and recounts his connection to Watershed. Daley passed away on January 16, 2022. When I think of Bill Daley, the word devotion comes to mind. Devotion to his family, his friends, his work, his teaching, his spiritual life. He was… Read more »