FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contact: Every Leclair, eleclair@watershedceramics.org
Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts
103 Cochran Road
Edgecomb, Maine
207-882-6075
Edgecomb, Maine, January 17, 2025—A continued partnership between Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and The Color Network (TCN) has been awarded a $30,000 Grants for Arts Projects award by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA grant helps to fund an artist residency focused on mentor-mentee relationship-building among artists of color who work in clay. A dozen ceramic artists who are part of TCN’s mentorship program will gather in person for a two and a half-week residency on Watershed’s 54-acre campus in Edgecomb, Maine, this summer.
TCN supports artists of color by providing resources, visibility, and professional development opportunities. A significant facet of their work focuses on building mentorship networks among experienced and emerging ceramists. With TCN’s mentors and mentees scattered across the country, most of their connections take place online. The summer residency at Watershed is an opportunity for the mentor and mentee artists to gather in person and participate in a deep, immersive experience centered on building cross-generational relationships and creative community while offering extensive studio time for artists to experiment and grow.
“Whether in community, studio, or academic settings, people of color are often minorities in the ceramic field,” explains artist and TCN steering committee member Magdolene Dykstra. “The strain of managing how they are perceived in predominantly white spaces is only one struggle for emerging ceramic artists of color.” At the Watershed mentorship residency for the TCN program, artists of color are welcomed into a space and community where they are no longer the exception. In addition to providing an intentional safe space, the residency is an important opportunity for artists who are geographically spread out to gather together in person, instead of TCN’s usual virtual platforms. The time together strengthens the group’s connections, as well as the relationship between mentee and mentor.
“I can attest to the impact Watershed residencies provide us personally but most importantly to the community development that is so needed for artists of color,” said Natalia Arbelaez, cofounder of The Color Network. “Many of the mentee artists are now mentors themselves.”
Initiated in 2018, TCN’s mentorship program has generated more than 112 mentor–mentee pairs of artists and continues to grow. The partnership between Watershed and TCN is now in its fourth year.
“We are so grateful for the NEA’s support in making this partnership with The Color Network possible,” said Watershed’s Executive Director David S. East. “Since 2021, Watershed has partnered with TCN in its vital work to change the future of the field of ceramics. TCN’s Watershed residency was the first group hosted in our new, state-of-the-art Windgate Studio in 2021 and because of the support from the NEA we have been able to continue this important work.”
“We intend that this mentorship residency will strengthen and sustain a national mentoring system that expands the number of artists of color with thriving careers in the ceramic arts,” added Watershed President Don Ridley, “thereby positively impacting the arts for generations to come.”
This past September 2024, twelve TCN artists gathered at Watershed for the mentorship residency. During their weeks together, mentees work with one or more mentors who are established artists, brainstorming and refining ideas to advance their artistic practices. Vital to the residency’s success is making a space for artists of color to express their authentic selves without the pressure to code switch or the fear of having their perspectives dismissed or misunderstood.
Isaac Scott, 2024 TCN facilitator and current mentor, shares, “Spaces and programs like this can be transformative to the participants as well as the broader ceramics community. For ceramics to grow into the diverse and talented field we want it to be, programs like The Color Network and its residency at Watershed need to continue.”
The NEA is awarding 1,127 Grants for Arts Projects awards nationwide, totaling more than $31.8 million as part of the recent announcement of fiscal year 2025 grants.
“This is some of the most radical programming I’ve ever been part of,” said 2021 TCN resident artist Gerald Brown. “So many artists of color struggle with money that they can never be fully immersed in a space. But when you remove that barrier, you tell them they are enough as-is. Imagine what a generation of mentorship residency cohorts would look like and what a massive impact it would have on the ceramics field.”
“The NEA is proud to continue our nearly 60 years of supporting the efforts of organizations and artists that help to shape our country’s vibrant arts sector and communities of all types across our nation,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including the partnership between The Color Network and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.”
“We are excited to continue and grow this important work and to strengthen the relationship between our two organizations. Watershed’s mission is fully realized through the simple but radical idea of making time and space for artists,” said Executive Director David S. East. “Through the support of the NEA, this important organization supporting artists of color can continue to expand its work, one that truly opens doors for artists of color to develop community and succeed in the field of contemporary ceramics.”
About Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts
In 1986 on the clay-rich ancestral territory of the N’dakina, Watershed transformed an abandoned brick factory into an incubator for creativity and community in contemporary craft. Internationally known for our residencies, which provide artists time and space to explore ideas with clay, we also offer ceramic workshops, gallery exhibitions, public programs, and our beloved annual festival, Salad Days. For more information, visit www.watershedceramics.org.
About The Color Network
The Color Network’s mission is to aid in the advancement of people of color in the ceramic arts. We aim to assist artists develop, network, and create dialogue while maintaining a place for a database, resources, and mentorship. We hope to foster a community of artists of all professional and skill levels that help each other grow. For more information, visit thecolornetwork.org.