These exhibitions are part of the The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ (NCECA) 59th Annual Conference, Formation, happening in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 26-29, 2025. Additional NCECA exhibitions running longer than the conference can be found in our general Exhibitions section.
At the heart of one of the numerous ceramic exhibitions currently in Salt Lake City, as part of the NCECA conference, is a simple but profound premise: to see people too often ignored. “My art stems from my innate desire to make connection with my fellow human beings,” […]
NCECA appears to have taken over every available meter of Utah exhibition space in order to accompany Formation, their 2025 annual conference. The only venues they appear to have missed were those belonging to organizations, like the Nora Eccles Harrison MoA, that have their own invaluable ceramic art […]
As part of NCECA, the Visual Arts Institute hosts Altar/Alter, a group show that explores themes of transformation, ritual, human experience and the evolving nature of belief. The exhibition dances between the sacred and the playful, inviting viewers to reconsider objects, materials and personal meaning. At its core, […]
Stephen Wolochowicz’s work, featured in one of several shows at the Visual Arts Institute as part of NCECA, invites viewers into a world of carefully orchestrated ambiguity. His sculptures, or “torps,” as he calls them, are purposefully vague, hovering between industrial relic, sci-fi artifact, and playful contraption. Each […]
What could be more sustainable than ceramics, right? Feldspar, the main component of clay, constitutes 60 percent of the earth’s crust. Water covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface (admittedly, most of it has salt). We’re not likely to run out of either anytime soon. Firing? Ok, that’s […]
Picture an event featuring the work of nearly 500 ceramic artists attracting thousands of clay enthusiasts. Some of these artists and visitors are local to Utah but many hail from across the United States and overseas. During the conference (and in some cases after) attendees and the public […]
When Shiya Zeng was invited by NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) to highlight her work for the Cultivating Community series, a striking absence became clear — the underrepresentation of queer ceramicists of color in Utah. This absence, Zeng observed, wasn’t due to a lack […]
At Phillips Gallery, as part of the NCECA Conference, Strike While the Iron is Hot showcases the work of Utah State University graduate students and faculty members, offering a dynamic and cohesive exploration of clay as both a functional medium and sculptural language. The exhibition is a testament […]
“As a sculptor, my concern is for form,” Larry Elsner wrote in 1977, “a maddening search for the unity of space and mass.” An Idaho native and longtime Utah State University (USU) professor, Elsner would always choose form over function, regardless of the medium in which he was […]
Since she assumed the role of Executive Director, Laura Allred Hurtado, along with her eight-member staff and accommodating docents, has seen to it that the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art’s six galleries present an unbroken parade of unforgettable exhibitions. While there’s no sign of flagging anywhere in the […]
At the entrance of the Kimball Art Center, visitors are greeted by a large wall painted in a warm terracotta tone, which could be a nod to the foundational material of their current exhibition: clay. Curated by the Kimball’s Nancy Stoaks and staged in conjunction with The National […]
There’s a moment in Gandhi where an Englishman asks the film’s hero what a sympathetic member of the ruling class can do to help those who are struggling (for equity, diversity, access, inclusion, and respect), whereupon Gandhi tells him to go home and work on behalf of his […]
Under the right circumstances, the entrance to an exhibition can be a portal to another reality. With good art, though, that strange land will soon reveal itself to be the one the audience sought briefly to escape, only transformed. Eugene Ofori Agyei, one of ten ceramic sculptors being […]
“Doomscroller invites viewers to reflect on whether our compulsion to engage with constant data streams is a survival strategy or a path to self-destruction.” These words, which conclude the introduction to Doomscroller, an exhibition currently at Ogden Contemporary Arts, posit an intriguing dilemma. The audience will likely identify […]
In The Second Sex, her indispensable survey of the status of women, Simone de Beauvoir dispenses with the romantic notion that once upon a time women ruled the world, pointing out that men were always larger and stronger, and a less civilized time in history than ours was […]
