The Clay Studio

The Clay Studio inspires curiosity and discovery around the art and craft of clay through robust educational programs, artist residencies, and exhibitions. Founded in 1974, the organization is renowned for its unique ability to serve all levels of students while broadening ceramics as a contemporary art form and serving as a preeminent space where artists from across the country and around the world cultivate their careers. Past Center support funded the development of a three-year strategic plan, and a 2017 Discovery grant enabled the Studio to develop an exhibition plan for Making Place Matter, conceived in collaboration with community members in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. In 2019, The Clay Studio received a Center Project grant to carry out that plan and inaugurate its new Kensington home with an exhibition that features works by ceramists Molly Hatch, Ibrahim Said, and Pew Fellow Kukuli Velarde to reflect on the complex meanings of place. In 2021, the organization received a Re:imagining Recovery grant to modify the roof deck and street-level community pavilion at its new 32,500-square-foot Kensington facility to create more year-round usable space.