Welcome to our Old Church Pottery Show! We are thrilled to present 26 renowned ceramicists from across the United States. If this is your first time participating, we are so glad you are here! If you are returning, welcome back! Individuals like you make Demarest a favorite destination for the international ceramics community. Last year more than 1,000 people attended this three-day event, making it our most successful fundraiser to date. On behalf of The Art School at Old Church, I want to thank Bruce Dehnert, Chris Gustin, and Aysha Peltz for creating a show that highlights the artists, processes, and forms that keep ceramics at the forefront of contemporary art. I also want to thank our sponsors, staff members, Board of Directors, and amazing team of volunteers for collaborating on this unique opportunity to experience and collect pottery. As Mikhail Zakin and Karen Karnes envisioned 51 years ago, the connections we make with art and artists this weekend will resonate long into the future. Make sure to talk with the potters, many of whom traveled long distances to be here. We know you will discover unique pieces to collect, use, and cherish. Thank you for celebrating ceramic artistry with us; and thank you for supporting our studio programs, cultural events, and financial assistance initiatives. Your participation enables us to make extraordinary arts and cultural experiences accessible to individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
Dr. Jerry M. James Executive Director
About the 51st Old Church Pottery Show Our Old Church Pottery Show turns 51 this year. The three-day gathering in Demarest, New Jersey, began as a fundraiser for The Art School at Old Church in 1974 when ceramicist Karen Karnes and our founding Director, Mikhail Zakin, combined efforts to connect a growing community of potters with our local area. The show quickly evolved to include as many as 3,000 works by up to 30 renowned ceramicists annually, inspiring similar events across the country. As envisioned, the event continues to be a unique opportunity to engage with artists, collect one-of-a-kind works of art, and support our programs, events, and financial assistance initiatives.
About The Art School at Old Church The Art School at Old Church (TASOC) was established in 1974 when a group of visionary artists transformed a 19th-century church into a nonprofit, non-sectarian, center for art and culture. Our mission is to provide art instruction and cultural experiences that enrich and transform the lives of individuals in Bergen County and beyond. We welcome individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to engage in lifelong learning in the arts. Every year, more than 4,000 people participate in classes, workshops, exhibitions, outreach programs, and community events.
Last year, The Art School celebrated 50 years of presenting The Old Church Pottery Show and Sale—and it was our most successful fundraiser since the very first gathering in 1975. Imagine the smiles on Karen Karnes’ and Mikhail Zakin’s faces if they could have been there on opening night—the Art School filled with people, shoulder to shoulder, enthusiastically looking at, handling, and discussing the compelling pots on display. That same energy carried through the entire weekend. When we left on Sunday evening, we were still vibrating with the vitality of another great show and filled with immense gratitude—for the annual exhibit itself, for the people who make it possible, and for the vision of its founders, Karen and Mikhail. We are thrilled to begin the second half of our century with another extraordinary lineup of artists. Potters from Texas to Maine—and many places in between—have loaded their cars and shipped their boxes to join us and make this another memorable year. The work on display represents a broad cross-section of what clay can offer as a functional medium. Among the hundreds of pieces, you’ll find stunning examples of wood, soda, reduction, and oxidation firings. Some pots tell stories through illustration and narrative metaphor, while others are more understated, their sensual surfaces emphasizing the elegance of form. These varied approaches to form and technique all come from the studios of dedicated artists working at the highest level, bringing their very best work to share with you this weekend.
Thank you for coming out to support this show. If this is your first visit, welcome! Take your time—handle the pots, talk to the artists, and enjoy the experience. If this is your second, third, or even fiftyfirst visit, thank you for continuing to support ceramic artistry and The Art School. You make this weekend truly special. The conversations you share with the artists are among the most thoughtful and informed they’ll have with collectors and connoisseurs anywhere. Finally, a big thank you to the staff, and many volunteers at The Art School at Old Church for presenting another outstanding show— one that continues to propel the world of functional pottery forward. Bruce, Chris and Aysha Old Church Pottery Show Co-Curators
Karen Karnes, Curator (1925-2016) Mikhail Zakin, School Co-Founder (1920-2012)
For more than 40 years, Karen Karnes curated the Old Church Pottery Show. On July 12, 2016, Karen died peacefully in her home in Vermont at the age of 90. Karen was an innovator, progressive thinker, mentor, and a dear friend. The Pottery Show lives on in her memory in honor of everything we loved about her - her forthright manner, indelible wit, her devotion to ceramics, and her legacy.
JEN ALLEN
Morgantown, WV
Inspired by sewing and patternmaking, I create slab-built pots from custom templates and handcarved stamps. These pots honor handmade imperfections to evoke nostalgia, invite touch, and enrich everyday rituals with lasting joy.
YAEL BRAHA Roanoke, VA
Inspired by Gestalt theory—which suggests that the mind instinctively seeks order and logic in what the eyes see—my work explores the dynamic relationship between minimalist forms and abstract surface designs..
PAUL BRIGGS Alfred, NY
Nature makes no aesthetic mistakes,' is a guiding principle of my pinch-formed vessels. though it was not the initial impetus. I attend to details with nature in mind developing essential transitions in each form.
RAY BROWN Oxford, MS
I make utilitarian pottery with the intent to provide the user with an entrance into a memorable and contemplative experience. I intend for the user to leave with a sense of thoughtfulness and curiosity.
PATTIE CHALMERS Carbondale, IL
I make pots that express the tactile quality of clay. The cups, plates and vases I create become canvases for drawings. These images are personal but are chosen for their familiar language: true loves, devoted siblings, best friends or the tenderness for pets, for example.
AUTUMN CIPALA Thomaston, ME
I aspire to make forms that quietly engage the viewer, inspire curiosity, and invite a sense of discovery. These are objects that ask one to slow down and to notice the subtleties of form, surface, and function..
BRUCE DEHNERT Maplecrest, NY
I am interested in making pottery for the dining table. I would like my pots to visually “explain” something(s) of the processes that they undergo. It is important that the person using my pottery be provided clues, through subtleties in surface and form, as to the nature of these processes. ... I alter my shapes so there is something different to consider at that point when a pot may inspire a dialogue.
TYLER GULDEN Walpole, ME
My work follows the tradition of salt firing, in combination with the contemporary process of soda firing, capitalizing on the unique color and surface variations that are a natural product of the process."
CHRIS GUSTIN Dartmouth, MA
Most of my work is of a much larger scale, yet the desire to make things that function in our daily lives still resonates deeply within me. It is a way for me to connect with the basics of functional ceramics and to touch the roots of utilitarian clay. Pots are small objects, but they have the potential to be a universe in and of itself.
SHIKHA JOSHI Round Rock, TX
Nature informs my work. Colors and textures of rocks, tree bark, water bodies and algae are some of the things that inspire me and I strive to emulate those surfaces on my pots within the constraints of an electric kiln.
YEONSOO KIM Exeter, NH
My work embodies consistency, precision, and meticulous craftsmanship, emphasizing the interplay between intentionality and spontaneity. ... Each piece I create serves as a canvas for a diverse cast of characters, engaging in silent conversations that speak volumes through their nuanced expressions. These characters, often bearing semblances to self-portraits, invite viewers into a world where implied images and narratives converge.
DAVID MACDONALD Syracuse, NY
The vessel is an important human artifact that transcends generations and cultures. I have chosen the vessel as my primary vehicle of expression because of its universality. The inspiration for my work is the celebration of my combined Western and African heritages.
MATTHEW METZ
Alfred Station, NY
I believe unapologetically in craft and skill. Through work and time, with attention, your own personal voice can emerge.
ERNEST MILLER Minneapolis, MN
My work is a partnership between achieving utilitarian ideals and aesthetic intentions. Concepts for my work are translations of visual elements from personal interests. I’m drawn to the interaction of the built environment, subdued by the natural world, for example, weathered paint, an aging barn, or a well-used farm implement.
SANG JOON PARK Highland Mills, NY
My intent is to express my thoughts through my vessels, which are mostly thrown on the potter’s wheel. For some of my pieces, I use traditional Korean techniques — inhwamun stamping/inlay technique to create floral patterns, and gwiyal slip technique to apply expressive color slips. I believe that the combination of these time-tested techniques and my modern forms create unique, artful pieces that are beautiful yet practical.
AYSHA PELTZ
Whitingham, VT
I use wheel thrown porcelain that has been folded, pushed, pressed, and ripped to make my forms. They are fired to cone 10 using fluid, translucent glazes, which preserves those actions in the fired clay.
KARI RADASCH Portland, ME
Kari aims to make celebratory pottery using earthenware clay and color as a metaphor for joy. She plucks nostalgic observations from her life and reassembles and reimagines these investigations onto functional dishes—a format that has the unique ability to hold a warm, sentimental place in our lives.
ELLEN SHANKIN Floyd, VA
My pots reflect the curiosity I feel about form and line. They make visible the evolving answers to my inquiries into the nature of energetic expression, vitality, and structured volume.
MARK SHAPIRO Worthington, MA
Endeavoring to make something useful and even beautiful seems a worthwhile project, honoring our shared humanity and meaningful labor.
MALCOLM MOBUTU SMITH Bloomington, IN
Fueled by a passion for Hip Hop and Jazz, Smith’s ceramics forms rely on wheel-thrown and hand-built elements, most commonly presented as abstractions of cups, bottles, and vases.
KEVIN SNIPES PA
Every piece I make carries a story, turning ceramics into conversation starters that celebrate art, craft, imagination and human connection.
DAVID SWENSON Clearwater, MN
I am a student of history. Folk art, traditional flower painting, medieval marginalia and work from antiquity have me captivated. My work channels that nostalgia and play, while offering a contemporary perspective. The gesture and line of my pots breathes and tells the story of the process.
MEGAN THOMAS Oviedo, FL
Bird pots make me happy. I think the experience of seeing a bird, feeling joy, and being inspired to make a bird is one shared across cultures and across time.
SUE TIRRELL Paradise Valley, MT
My pots employ mythic animal imagery, crisp design and riotous color to bring playfulness and storytelling to daily kitchen rituals.
JACK TROY Huntingdon, PA
Wood firing's vicissitudes continue their allure, and a new gas kiln enables my investigation of translucent porcelain."
CATHERINE WHITE Warrenton, VA
Inspired by my local landscape I aim for a poetic use of materials. Excited by the metamorphosis of clay in my anagama and gas kilns, evolving forms are guided by daily drawing and journaling.
51st Old Church Pottery Show T-shirt design by David Swenson Scan code to purchase Old Church Pottery Show merchandise.
THANK YOU to every Donor and Sponsor who supported the 51st Old Church Pottery Show! Marilyn Katz Charles & Sara Herbstman Lakshmi Bhaghat Margery Kirshenbaum Alisen Herman Susan Bogen & Grant & Jeannette Hobson Maureen Lostumbo Daniel Shapiro Carrie Ortiz & John Werner Teresa Huang Patricia Bouley Michael & Gail Rutigliano Scott & Angela Gins Jane Chang Peggy Schneider Bobbie Golden Kathy & Neil Eisler Monica Serra Dr. Jerry M. James Urvashi Joneja Anam Family
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2026 VISUAL ARTS CLASSES FOR ADULTS, TEENS & CHILDREN
Winter session jan 4 - mar 13
winter WorkshopS mar 28 & 29 Mitch Barry
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The Art School at Old Church acknowledges the following for their dedication and support:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Carrie Ortiz, President Judy Schaefer, Vice President Maureen Lostumbo, Chair Grant Hobson, Treasurer Gail Rutigliano, Secretary
Susan Bogen Ruth Borgenicht Jane Chang Bruce Dehnert Kara Fowler Anthony Iovino
Urvashi Joneja Zola Kendi Karen Stern James Turnbull Vivien Woodford
STAFF Dr. Jerry M. James, Executive Director Amy Dudash Robinson, Program Director Nancy Reilly, Administrative Director William Richichi, Facilities Manager Bella LaRiccia, Finance Manager Naho Kambayashi, Jewelry Studio Manager
Megan Carli, Ceramic Studio Manager Antonia Noonan, Ceramic Studio Manager Justin Lerant, Marketing Coordinator Christina Kim, Administrative Associate Sarah Sung, Administrative Associate Peggy White, Assistant to the Executive Director
VOLUNTEERS
To every To every volunteer volunteer who who hosted hosted potters, potters, transformed the transformed the school, school, and and worked worked tirelessly tirelessly before and before and during during the the show—thank show—thank you! you! This pottery This pottery show show exists exists because because of of you. you. Program design by Nancy Reilly