2024 Dig Deeper exhibition (Troy, NY)
Dig Deeper: [some] Art, Science and History of Troy Clay
September 27-November 16, 2024
Art Center of the Capital Region
In the Fall 2024, The Art Center of Capital Region in Troy, NY will host an exhibition titled, Dig Deeper: [some] Art, Science and History of Troy Clay which features work and research of a group of artists using local clays. We are super excited to show our work along with historians, soil scientists, curators, glaze chemists, engineers and others who helped us decipher, connect dots and tell the story. Starting with a commissioned work using clay from Sam Wilson’s Brickyard (Uncle Sam!), this meandering exhibition aims to share our processes of discovery, to incite viewer curiosity and to invite your own investigations.
We look at one soil profile, Hudson, which contains two distinct clays. One is the brick clay that built Troy and New York City, one is a glaze that was central to American ceramics for over 100 years. To share and learn more about this glaze clay in particular, we created a national invitational Little Brown Jug show within the larger exhibition.
The project and archive for Little Brown Jug reside at the Broken Mold Studio, a community pottery in Troy, NY. The studio claims its place in a long line of historic Troy potteries, dating back to 1799. Broken Mold is the steward of a small clay deposit that yields a close relative of (commercially unavailable) Albany Slip. Broken Mold does not seek to make this material commercially available, but would like to share some material and what we are learning about it with you. Check out the project, follow on Instagram at @schaghticoke_slip and if you are a potter, write to get some material, test it, tag to share your results… and send your pot to this show!
We are especially excited to connect with the New York State Museum and Chief Curator Jennifer Lemak for historic examples of Albany slip in their Weitzman Collection, and to collaborate on some great programming and events. Dr. Lemak together with potter and former Studio Potter editor Mary Barringer will be our jurors for the Little Brown Jug show, selecting some pots to travel back to the museum to be shown alongside their historic relatives.
The Dig Deeper exhibit will include a range of programming (in-person and online) created for both professional and recreational audiences. We hope this exhibit and the programming with be an opportunity to learn some history (ceramic and otherwise), to experiment with glaze chemistry, to make some pots, to learn some soil science, and to be curious about the earth beneath our feet.
The artists behind this project are Margaret Boozer (MD), Bianca Dupuis, Robilee McIntyre and Claire Sherwood (all of Troy, NY). We are all artists who take soil from the earth to make our work. This exhibition presents an opportunity for discussion about responsibilities of settler colonialists and of artists with extractive practice… of whom may we ask permission? What will we offer in return for what we take? We invite comments and discussion on the Instagram page @schaghticoke_slip and we will also be creating some programming specifically addressing this and other topics.
More info will be added here as it becomes available. See the beginnings of this project at…
2021 ongoing, Soil Profiles: Hudson