Category Archives: clay

art, art exhibition, art for sale, art gallery, art group, art venue, ceramics, clay, collage, color, design, drawing, encaustic, encaustic & collage, facces, fiberarts, jewelry, landscapes, mixed media, oil painting, painting, watercolor

Me & My Membership

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I am a member of the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (137 East Avenue, Rochester, New York 14604.  My encaustic & collage painting, “Girl”, is there (above).  It is from my Fan-Girl series.

The Rochester Contemporary Art Center’s thirty-fourth Member Exhibition is in full swing through February 14, 2026.  There are over five hundred pieces of art in this show and it is AMAZING!

All artwork is for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to the gallery.  This exhibition is a must see!  I think what happens is you will be drawn to a few things at eye level then you’ll step back and see that there is so much more.  Sculpture, ceramics, paintings, photographs, abstracts, realism – it is the most eclectic mix of talent.

To the volunteers who erected this art show- I commend you!  It must have been a giant puzzle to solve to place everything in such a way that each piece gets the respect it deserves.  It is a glorious achievement.

The gallery hours –

Wed. – Sun. 12-5pm
Fri. 12-9pm

  • It is $2 per visit and free for members.

From their web-site:

RoCo was founded as the Pyramid Gallery

In 1977, a small group of artists led by Tony Petracca, John Kavanaugh and Albert Robbins joined together to exhibit their artwork, present an alternative to museums and commercial galleries, and expand the cultural offerings in the region.

Early on, the crew faced considerable obstacles. Only days after the grand opening there was a significant fire that left the small Monroe Ave. storefront and many artworks damaged. Fundraisers were held and walls were rebuilt. Thanks to the perseverance of the founders and their fellow artists, the Rochester art community has been the beneficiary ever since. After formalizing the organization began to receive New York State and foundation funding and soon began to play a significant role in the artist-run space movement of the era. Still there was uncertainty and challenges. The Culture Wars and shifting foundation priorities altered the funding landscape. Through the decades and several different locations, RoCo’s individual members have provided a stable base for the organization. This significant community support has enabled RoCo to survive and thrive when other small art centers have struggled and even closed their doors. In recent years RoCo’s membership and stature has grown significantly. Now as we celebrate our 40th Anniversary, we’ve achieved outright ownership of our facility and are approaching 1,000 members for the first time in the organization’s history.

art, art for sale, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Lots of Clay!

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Chuck Hafner’s Garden Center (7265 Buckley Road, North Syracuse, NY 13212) is like a garden lover’s Disneyland.

If you head over there today, be prepared for the crowds.  I stopped by yesterday and I had to circle the parking lot twice before I found a parking space!

They will be open 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM for the second day of the Clayscapes Pottery Market.  Vendors are housed in the greenhouse portion of the store.

It is so amazing how well designed these little mini ceramics stores look.  It must take tremendous effort to install the shops for a two-day event and coupled with the fragility of the merchandise, I offer respect.

Oh, and P.S. – not sure what they will have left to sell today – there were a lot of transactions happening yesterday.  Many people mentioned they were there buying holiday gifts!

One of these days, I will splurge on a Peter Valenti bird themed piece.  Maybe in a few years once my Jamey decides he is bored with jumping up on counters and swatting things down (he has broken three pots and two glass shelves so far).

art, art exhibition, art gallery, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Currents & ReCurrents

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Last night I attended the latest art reception at Gandee Gallery.  So fun!

The gallery is divided into three sections:  the front room houses the gallery’s contributing artists, the middle room is home to the current exhibition, ReCurrents, and the back room is the art/ceramics studio.

Ceramics are the main attraction but the gallery also sells paintings, notecards, and jewelry.

(from the website)

ReCurrents: Contemporary Ceramics

This past summer, the Gandee Gallery curated Currents in Contemporary Ceramic Art at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Martha’s Vineyard. We are excited to now showcase a select number of ceramic works from this exhibition at the gallery in Central New York. ReCurrents features artists at various career stages, from emerging talents to established artists. Gandee’s curatorial vision brings together artists as diverse as their identities and narratives, creating a rich tapestry of contemporary ceramic expression. . It will be on view through Oct. 12th.

The Gandee Gallery is located at 7846 Main Street, Fabius, New York 13063. They are open 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM Thursday-Saturday and 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM on Sundays. Call (315) 416-6339 for more information.

(From the website)

ReCurrents: Contemporary Ceramics

Participating artists: Jen Allen (WV), Peter Beasecker (NY), Andrea Denniston (VA), Ruth Easterbrook (PA), Jee Eun Lee (KY), Shanna Fliegel (MA), Jen Gandee (NY), Chris Gustin (MA), Noelle Hoover (IN), Liz Lurie (NY), David MacDonald (NY), Andrea Marquis (PA), Matt Mitros (CA), Ted Neal (IN), Jeremy Randall (NY), George Rodriguez (PA), Shoji Satake – (RI), Isaac Scott (PA), Taylor Sijan (NY), Sorrel Stone (OH), Errol Willett (NY), and Renqian Yang (NY)

 

art, art exhibition, art for sale, art gallery, art venue, assemblage, clay, collage, digital art, drawing, fiberarts, installation, Karen Tashkovski, landscapes, mixed media, nature, oil painting, oil pastels, painting, pencil, photography, portraits, pottery, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor

Members Only 2025

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Joyce Hertzson, Pittsford, NY, The Fall Cometh, 2025, eco-print and watercolor
Jackie Dickinson, Aurora, NY, Shear Shape, 2025, found object in wood and metal
Steven Assmann, Auburn, NY, Niagara’s Plumes, 2025, oil on canvas
June Szabo, Trumansburg, NY, Common Ground, 2024, Sculpture

I had the opportunity to preview the Schweinfurth Art Center’s Member Show 2025, on display now through October 11, 2025.

I am a member of the museum but I did not participate this year.  They hang everything submitted.  It is really astonishing how cohesive the show is – a lot of artists using blue, for example.

Address: 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY 13021, United States.

 Phone: 315.255.1553

 Email: mail@schweinfurthartcenter.org

Adele Anderson, Rochester, NY, Big Apple, 2025, water-miscible oil on canvas

Click here for the list of exhibiting artists.

Robert Whiteside, Pittsford, NY, Uovo d’oro, 2025, oil
Faithanne Flesher, Syracuse, NY, Dark Spring, 2025, mixed media, ink, paper, watercolor

Sherry Allen, Syracuse, NY, Breaking the Circle, 2024, mixed media
Steven Strauss, Cornwall on Hudson, NY, 3 Pileated Woodpeckers, 2024, oil and spray paint on MDF
Helen Bishop-Santelli, Rochester, NY, Twister, 2025, oil on canvas
Symmes Gardner, Ithaca, NY, Plnetarium, St. John’s College, 2023, oil on canvas
Michael Delaney, Auburn, NY, Metal Works, 2023, metal

Diana Godfrey, Syracuse, NY, From Above, 2024, acrylic/mixed media
Christina Bang, Pittsford, NY, Quietly into the Woods, 2024, Sculpture

Regina Sweet, Millport, NY, Night Sky Stars, 2023, beaded embroidery

abstract, acrylic, art, art for sale, art gallery, art group, clay, clothing, cooperative, design, encaustic, jewelry, Karen Tashkovski, leather, mixed media, oil painting, pottery, retail, shopping, silk

Betsy Menson Sio

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On a recent visit to Cazenovia Artisans, 39 Albany Street, Cazenovia, New York, 13135, I met co-op member Betsy Menson Sio, a former art teacher in the Jordan-Elbridge School District, now working as a full-time artist and jewelry designer.  She is selling earrings made of vintage tins that speak of recycling paired with sterling silver.

The pieces are whimsical, meant to be worn for fun with everyday casual gear.  She calls her business East Street Tins.

This is a materials driven art form.  She must first find the vintage tins – soda cans, candy or coffee canisters, perhaps even motor oil containers – then decide on the shape and cut forming two symmetrical bespoke pieces.

She also creates necklaces and bracelets when not taking her weekly turn as salesperson at the gallery.

As mentioned, Cazenovia Artisans is a co-op.  Artist members must be voted in with the understanding that they will commit to retail sales as well as providing cohesive artwork for sale and paying a monthly fee.  There are other avenues as well – offering work on consignment or being considered as a guest artist.  All information is listed on their website.

Current hours of operation:

Mon

10:00 am – 06:00 pm

Tue

10:00 am – 06:00 pm

Wed

10:00 am – 06:00 pm

Thu

10:00 am – 06:00 pm

Fri

10:00 am – 06:00 pm

Sat

10:00 am – 05:00 pm

Sun

10:00 am – 04:00 pm

art, art education, art exhibition, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Children of the Clay

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The Feats of Clay competition will take place on May 2, 2025 at the Everson Museum of Art,  This is a school competition that includes wheel throwing and other fun timed sculpting events.

A juried exhibition of student work is currently on display at the Everson (downstairs in the auditorium atrium).  So fun!

Feats of Clay (from www.everson.org)

Opening April 12, 2025

Central New York’s Feats of Clay competition was established in 1987 to foster education in the ceramic arts for Syracuse-area high schools. Now in its 36th year, the event includes schools from as far away as the North Country and the Southern Tier and features a juried exhibition that recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in ceramic sculpting and vessel making.

On Friday, May 2, 500 students representing more than twenty-five schools will converge on the Everson Community Plaza to compete in a series of Olympic-style competitive events that involve (among other things) throwing blindfolded on the potter’s wheel, stacking wheel-thrown cylinders, and building towering constructions out of clay coils.

Feats of Clay is supported by Clayscapes Pottery and the Independent Potters Association.

art, art venue, Arts & Crafts, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Greenware in the Greenhouse

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Here are a few of my favorite vendors from the Clayscapes Pottery Market. It took place yesterday and today at Hafner’s Garden Center Greenhouse, 7265 Buckley Road, North Syracuse, New York 13212.

P VALENTI STUDIOS

CROPPERALT CERAMICS

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE POTTERY

KIMBERLY DAINO

LIZ STRATTON

KEN NICHOLS ART

SMOKE PAIL STUDIOS

Hafner’s has more events planned including a petting zoo, a hay maze and other fun activities for kids of all ages.  It is also a store that sells garden supplies and produce.  See their website for more details and hours of operation.

art gallery, art museum, art resources, Arts & Crafts, ceramics, clay, family, figurative, heritage, history, Karen Tashkovski, printmaking

Voting with Jen G.

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I’ve driven past the Matilda Joslyn Gage house a gazillion times.  You know how it is – you see the sign and say to yourself, one of these days I will investigate what that’s all about.  It is located at 210 E. Genesee Street, Fayetteville, New York 13066.

I mean, yes, it is about abolishionist Gage, and her connection to the Underground Railroad, friendship with fellow suffragette Susan B. Anthony AND she also happened to be L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law.

Small world.

My almost thirty year connection with Chittenango, New York and all things Oz should have brought me here sooner,  No matter because today I was invited to an open house and art reception for the fabulous Jen Gandee.

Jen has created an installation of pottery and digital imagery utilizing human silhouettes representing her experience with long lines at the voting booths during the 2020 election.  These figures are stenciled onto ceramic cups glazed in variations on skin color.  They are also superimposed on printed documents from the Library of Congress, papers that have historical significance to our voting system.

The show was made possible through a CNY Arts Initiative grant.  It will be on display until November 24, 2024.  Check the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation web-site for hours of operation.

Other rooms in the house display Gage’s connection to Native American tribes in the area, women’s rights and a historically accurate parlor room, as this house was her childhood home.  They’ve removed the kitchen and replaced it with a gift shop.  They can also accommodate physically handicapped via a small elevator.

P.S. I loved that they served cucumber sandwiches at the event.  I almost felt like I could fall through one of those Land of the Lost time doorways and find myself in 1924, but only because the rooms reminded me of the museum in that Christopher Reeve movie “Somewhere in Time” plus I’ve been falling into too many timey-wimey rabbit holes on YouTube lately.

Thank you, Jen Gandee for giving me a reason to explore this wonderful home and for being an inspiration as both artist and advocate.

8th grade art, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Something’s Fishy

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Some of my Art-8 students created clay fish using slab and hand building.

First day: use a rolling pin to make clay flat. Fill with crumpled paper towels and fold it like a burrito leaving one side open.

Second day: add extra clay to create the head and tail.

Third day: add fins, gills and eyes.

Fourth day: finish the fish. Add any other details and make clay smooth using hands and/or clay tools.

Next let all projects dry for two weeks before bisque firing.

We spent four days glazing. A dozen different glazes were available. Students were asked to use at least six – three coats of each.

8th grade art, art, art education, art teacher, ceramics, clay, facces, Karen Tashkovski, sculpture

The Clay Face Project

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My 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art students created these clay face masks (with Miller #10 clay purchased from Clayscapes). We used the slab technique over a plastic face form then added clay to shape the features. I poked holes at the sides to secure a Twisteezwire to the back. They can hang on a wall – I love that!

The glaze is called Mayco Jungle Gems. It contains glass bits! So cool.