JAY — Norte Maar presents the 6th Annual Jay Invitational of Clay: an exhibition featuring a curated selection of local and regional works in clay.
Curated by Jason Andrew and Ali Della Bitta, the exhibition kicks off with an opening reception today from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., on the grounds of The Jay House, 35 Randy’s Lane, Jay and features performances on the barn stage by Jeffrey Dupra and Ursa and the Major Keys.
The exhibition will continue Friday, Saturday, Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will include a Morning Rave Dance Party with donuts and coffee, on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“I think the big concept here for us was bringing Jay Clay back,” Andrew said.
“It ran pretty regularly for five years, and then we ran into a little bit of a schedule change. The last Jay Clay was in 2018. Part of the enthusiasm about bringing it back was sort of uniting the various communities locally and also regionally of artists that work together either collectively or work in their own different parts of the world so to speak.
“To do that, we combined minds. Ali is a resident here in the North Country and also chair of the Art Department at Plattsburgh State. She had some fantastic connections, too. So, we sort of combined artists lists.
“We’re also entering the 20th year of Norte Maar in the North Country, which began in Rouses Point in 2004. We’re celebrating a lot of stuff all at once.”
ROLL CALL
6th Annual Jay Invitational of Clay Artists are: Nancy Armitage, Plattsburgh, Jordan Becker, Saratoga Springs, Nancy Bowen, Brooklyn, Ali Della Bitta, Peru, Contemporary North Collective (Nikki Blair, Jessica Sanders, Amanda Salov); Rebecca Goyette, Brooklyn, Billy Jones, Marshall, NC, Trevor King, Queens, Randi Renate, Rainbow Lake, Jeff Schwarz, Pittsburgh, PA; Peter Schrope, Saranac Lake, Richelle Soper, Maryland, Carol Marie Vossler, Saranac Lake, Lindsay West, Asheville, NC, Mollie Ward, Plattsburgh and Sue Young, Jay.
“We both had artists in mind which showcase different techniques and different viewpoints on how they approach ceramics or clay as a medium,” Della Bitta said.
“I focused mostly on artists from the region living here and working here. Networking here has me bringing in people from Plattsburgh all the way up to Rainbow Lake and Saranac Lake, and then also working with contemporary artists collectives and those artists are from Washington State and North Carolina. We kind of branched out just to do an overview of what ceramics is as a contemporary medium.”
Armitage and Ward are Della Bitta’s former students.
“Randi Renate, who recently moved here, she does a lot of outdoor sculpture,” she said.
“Peter Schrope and Carol Boxler work at The Station (Onchiota), which is an up-and-coming artist residency space. They do a lot of exhibitions. They have a clay studio that’s just getting going.
“Mollie works at the Strand currently. She’s head of the ceramics studio there. We do have artists who are just working in wood fire, who are working with bright colors, who are doing pit firing. So all these different techniques just show this large range of works and surface.”
Jay Clay is the longest running exhibition in the Adirondacks specifically focused on new works by local and regional artists working in clay.
“I also think that at the root of Jay Clay is to show that flexibility of the medium and also the concept around what clay was known to be like functional objects like cups and mugs. Yes, there is a 60-foot tent full of cups and mugs, but we also have this amazing selection of artists like Rebecca Goyette,” Della Bitta said.
“She sort of transforms this character that she’s been developing in performance and putting it into clay. The clay is very figuratively based and tells the story through these figures that she makes. Another artist that pours a bit of personality into their work is Jeff Schwarz. He is based in Pittsburgh. He shipped up one of these very large amphorae. It’s about 42 inches tall. We have this more historical approach to that Greek amphora form that he then personalizes with almost graffiti-like glazes and skull imagery that kind of comes out in some of the detailing.”
People in the North Country can get the greatest hits coming from artists like Jackie Sabourin.
“Jackie arrived yesterday with a 5-foot tall garden totem that’s totally ceramic that has a little bit of play with the way that the wind plays with it and makes noise,” Andrew said.
“Then, you’ve got Sue Young, of course, up the road and the Jay Craft Center is also involved.”
The landscape is bedecked with a stonework installation by Matt Horner.
“In the field, there are seven large granite sculptures out of granite stone that also complements the craft process around making,” Andrew said.