Rene Murray’s work at her Gowanus studio (photo by Benjamin Sutton)
Chances are you have someone in your life who makes ceramics. (The contents of my kitchen cabinet are pretty much exclusively ceramics made by friends.) Whether explored professionally or recreationally, the medium of clay has had somewhat of a comeback in the past few years — especially in Brooklyn.
The artist-run Brooklyn Clay Tour inaugurates this Friday with over 225 participating ceramicists and around 25 events across the borough. To discover the historical roots of ceramics in Brooklyn, you can go on a walking tour with historian Geoffrey Cobb in Greenpoint — the first place in the US to produce porcelain. While ceramics is popular now, it’s been around, as artist Rene Murray will share in her demo at her Gowanus studio, where she’s been since the 1970s.
You’ll also have the chance to do plenty of hands-on learning, from a pit firing demo at Pioneer Works in Red Hook to a mosaic-making workshop in a nearby community garden. Various ceramic studios, including BKLYN Clay in South Slope and Choplet in Williamsburg, will be opening their spaces for demos and exhibiting work by their students that is at turns sculptural and functional. Or, if you’re not so crafty but have an eye for ceramics, you can go on a treasure hunt for 100 objects precariously hidden throughout Brooklyn.
When: Friday, September 8–Sunday September 10
Where: Various locations throughout Brooklyn
More info here.
