Celebration of Clay 2025
Of Mind & Matter
hosted by
New Mexico Potters & Clay Artists
and
Light Art Space, Silver City, New Mexico
Exhibit Open from April 4 to April 27, 2025
Registration starts January 15, 2025. Read this Call for Entries carefully, prepare your ceramic work(s), and then
click "Register" at left to submit your entries.
As a member of New Mexico Potters & Clay Artists, you are invited to participate in our annual Celebration of Clay exhibit. Consider sharing a creation with your clay community. May you be inspired by this year’s theme: Celebration of Clay: Of Mind and Matter.
Consider your “matter” — your clay body, glaze chemicals, tools, kilns and the process of firing itself. What about considering those well used tools as receptacles of memory? And the chemicals and clays? What a privilege it is to craft such a personal relationship with what are basically the elements of the cosmos and provide us with infinite possibilities. How does the mind bend with these objects and processes?
Consider these ideas to reflect on your work.
Take a step back to view how you interact with clay. As we join again yet another year with our fresh oeuvres to show, let us consider our practice in terms of the materials and tools we use and how they affect what we make. We will choose a piece to share with our wider community that considers the ways matter influences mind and what we create.
Entries into the annual Celebration of Clay are accepted in order submitted by members, up to the maximum number of entries that can be accepted into the show. This year we will be accepting 50 entries. Each member can submit one piece. Not a member of NMPCA? It is easy to join on www.nmpca.com.
Registration will be open from January 15 – February 15 for submission. Last day of submissions is February 15, 2025. Good quality digital image is required at the time of registration.
AWARDS
Awards will be selected by an award jury. Awards will be announced at the reception on October 5th.
- Best of Show: $250
- UNM Arita Porcelain Award for Beauty, Quality and Functionality: $100
- Coyote Color in Clay Award: $100
- Three $100 Merit Awards
Entries are also displayed on our website, www.nmpotters.org where we will again feature our interactive People’s Choice Vote.
Show Timeline
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Registration opens
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January 15
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Registration ends
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February 15
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One piece
Entry finalized and image submitted
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January 15-February 15
at time of registration
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Deliver work to collection points or gallery
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March 24 to March 28 to collection sites/ March 30 to gallery.
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Show setup
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March 31 – April 1
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Show Duration
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April 4 – April 27
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Opening Reception and Awards Presentation
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April 4, 5-7 pm
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People's Choice Voting
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April 4-20
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Take down exhibit, repacking work
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April 28
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Pick up entries from collection points
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April 29 – May 4 for collection points
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SIZE OF WORK and LIMITATIONS
Works in this show must not have been shown in any previous NMPCA exhibition. All work must have an accurate digital image representation. No works may be substituted. Your piece should incorporate clay as a major material, but may incorporate other materials.
Size of work must fit within an 18 inch square base and under 36” in height. The weight should not exceed 35 pounds.
Wall pieces are encouraged this year with this gallery’s great wall options. Wall pieces must be submitted with secure hanging method and accompanied by hardware. Weight not to exceed 25 pounds.
It may be possible to install larger work providing space is available but artist will be required to install and remove the work themselves. Advance approval by the committee is required. We will not accept work we deem unsafe or damaged.
SALES
The fee structure for the show is 60% for NMPCA artist and 40% for Light Art Space. Sales tax is added to the purchase, collected and reported by the gallery. If your piece sells, and is priced at $1000 or higher, you will need to submit a W9 to the gallery.
ENTRIES
Submit your entry by clicking "register" at left. Non-refundable entry fee is $26 per piece or $10 if you are a full-time student. Payment can be made online through our easy and secure online payment system.
Enter the entry by selecting Registration type "Member Entry” or “Student Entry.” Be sure to follow-through the payment online. Do this starting January 15th. Registration closes February 15 or whenever we receive enough registrations to fill the show. NOTE: You must have your image ready when you register and it must meet the specifications described below.
On the registration page, enter the following:
1. the title of the piece,
2. a description: clay, treatment, firing
3. outside dimensions expressed as h x w x d (in inches)
4. price as whole dollars, no cents, no dollar sign
5. click “choose file” to select the image.
IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS
A digital image of each entry is required. These will be used for publicity, show setup planning, and People's Choice voting. Images received early in the registration will be considered for use in publicity. Image must be uploaded at the time of registration. If the image we receive is not acceptable you will be contacted and given an opportunity to submit a better-quality image. And, if an acceptable image is not ultimately received, the work will not be shown and entry fee is forfeited.
Instructions for preparation of image: Your image must be a jpg file, 800 px high to maximum 1000 px wide, not to exceed 1mb in size. Important: The name of the file should be yourname_title.jpg. No spaces, no punctuation in the file name except the underline used as a separator. If you do not name the file properly, your image may be lost. Be aware that it is extremely difficult to control the name of an uploaded file from a phone or iPad, so please upload the image from your pc or mac computer after you have renamed the file. If you are not familiar with how to prepare images, please read our help page for information on using a free tool to prepare the image.
A photograph that shows your piece at its best is the goal. Image requirements: absence of photoshop marks, no “cut-outs,” a neutral background or backdrop without lines. The light should be flat and even and the item should sit near the center of the frame. Questions may be directed to committee via email: coc@nmpotters.org.
USE OF IMAGE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
Because of the prevalence of social media in today's event publicity, we are planning to publish the image that you have uploaded as well as your name on Instagram and Facebook over the weeks before and during the show. This is important publicity for the benefit of the show as a whole and for advancing your own work. You are also requested to post announcements of the show on your own Facebook and Instagram accounts. Artists are encouraged to promote the exhibition through their social media adding the hashtags: #lightartspace, #visitsilvercity, #silvercitynm, and #fineartgallery, #nmpca, #newmexicopottersandclayartists, #celebrationofclay #newmexicoceramics
ARTISTS TO FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
We will use FB Meta Business Suite page for creating posts to the NMPCA Facebook and Instagram pages simultaneously. This work will be done by a team of participating artists for their volunteer job.
35-WORD STATEMENT
On the registration form you will be asked for a 35-word statement. Its purpose is to use on social media posts, or in other publicity, such as reviews. It is meant to reflect on the particular piece you are submitting, or on your general clay process. If you can speak to the title of the exhibition, Of Mind and Matter, please do so.
BIO / ARTIST STATEMENT
A one-page bio / artist statement is requested from each artist. This should include anything you want the public to know about your process for this particular piece – both conceptual and technical aspects. If possible, speak to the exhibition title, Of Mind and Matter, and how it relates to or inspires your piece. A brief bio, as well as a photo of yourself or your piece is also recommended. Please include this printed copy inside the box with your piece. It will be inserted in a binder to be displayed at gallery.
INSURANCE and LIABILITY
Light Art Space provides insurance for the work once it is installed at the Gallery up until it is taken down for sale or return to artist. The insurance valuation of the work is 60% of the sales price to a maximum of $3000 ($5000 sales price) per piece. The Artist must provide any additional insurance. Sales prices must be in writing on the Artwork Label and signed by the artist. Artists exhibiting work agree to hold the NMPCA and NMPCA volunteers harmless from any costs or claims arising out of any damages or losses in handling, transporting, packing, and/or unpacking of work. We will do our best to take care of the work.
VOLUNTEERS
Please volunteer in order to make this exhibit possible. We need your help. See the confirmation email for special instructions about volunteer jobs. See the details on the task event registration and "register" for the task of your choice. If you absolutely cannot help, we understand and would still like you to participate, but ask that you contribute an extra $35 to help with the exhibition costs.
DROP OFF & PICKUP OF WORK
We will have these collection points to deliver and pick up your work, see Show Timeline above. All work must be boxed and labeled as described in the confirmation email and described in this help article. Please call drop off contact in advance.
Albuquerque: Leonard Baca
Business Printing Service
4316 Silver Ave. SE Albuquerque
505-480-8292 leonard@bpsabq.com
Santa Fe: Luisa Baldinger
880 B Chicoma Vista
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-471-9070
Taos: Serit Kotowski
575-758-7029
serit@cybermesa.com
Please make arrangements for after 4:30PM any day
between March 24-28
Mesilla: Vickie Morrow, Agave Artists Coop
2250 Calle de San Albino
Mesilla, NM 88046
575-39-9870
Deliver during gallery hours 10 to 5 on Thursday March 27
and Friday March 28.
Silver City: Karen Hymer, Light Art Space
209 West Broadway
Silver City, NM 88061
Mailing: 2340 Hwy 180E #203 Silver City, NM 88061
Sunday, March 30 from 2-4 pm is drop off for local artists
Contact Karen for more info: 520-240-7075
karen@lightartspace.com
You must deliver work to one of these locations or ship or deliver work directly to the Light Art Space to arrive on March 31 by 4 pm. Shipped work must include prepaid return shipping label and be scheduled to arrive no later than March 31. Label shipped work: “For Celebration of Clay Exhibition.”
All work, whether delivered in person or to the drop-off points, must be boxed and labeled according to instructions you will receive in confirmation email.
In order to clarify the basic provisions of the show, we have prepared this agreement page. Please read before you submit your entry.
Questions? Contact the Celebration of Clay 2025 committee at email coc@nmpotters.org or the Committee Chair at cocchair@nmpca.com.
