Social Recession: 55th Annual NCECA Ceramic Art Invitational

CINCINNATI, OH—On Saturday, March 13, the Cincinnati Arts Association’s Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts will open Social Recession, a group exhibition of ceramic art presented in conjunction with Rivers, Reflections, Reinventions – the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) 55^th annual conference, which for the first time is being presented virtually from March 17-20, 2021 (for more information, visit www.nceca.net). In organizing the exhibition, Curator Shannon R. Stratton, Executive Director at Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency (Saugatuck, MI), chose to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social interaction.

The call for artwork for the NCECA Annual invited artists to consider the tension between together and apart, interdependence, belonging, hospitality, and modes of support that allow people to extend themselves with mindfulness and compassion towards each other and to the non-human world. As the list of untenable and ailing structures that have caused harm begin to crumble, what change can be supported through connection, compassion, and empathy?

Selected works reflect on personal and cultural experiences that explore themes of the social and how social connection, as a renewable resource, is a means for addressing the challenges we face both individually and as a society. In addition to ceramics, the exhibition includes photography, video, and wall graphics contributed by forty-three artists from across the Unites States and Canada.

About NCECA

The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts advances creation, teaching, and learning through clay in the contemporary world. Ceramic art connects us to physical and cognitive experiences that foster environments of cultural equity, diversity, access, and inclusion. A dynamic membership organization founded in 1966, NCECA fosters global education and appreciation for the ceramic arts. NCECA’s programs, exhibitions, fellowships, opportunities, resources, and public events promote and improve the ceramic arts through education, community building, research, and creative inspiration. Visit www.nceca.net to learn more. Exhibitions produced in coordination with this conference are supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.