Mission
Our program cultivates the practical, conceptual, and professional growth of our graduate students by providing an environment balanced among technical skill development, critical and theoretical dialogue, and intensive studio research. Faculty guide students’ independent research and individual approaches to their practice while fostering independence, self-reliance, and confidence in an environment of peer to peer and student to professor support. The curricular structure challenges students to critically evaluate their work within a material-specific and an interdisciplinary framework, as well as in theoretical and professional contexts, which results in innovative, dynamic, and authentic outcomes ranging from objects and pottery to installation and socially engaged practice. Students are encouraged to work with methodologies that explore the boundaries of the field while demonstrating an understanding of historic and contemporary ecologies.
Faculty
Czibesz/ Madár Bögre, Nagyi, 2015
Bryan Czibesz, Assistant Professor
Bryan Czibesz is an artist and object maker who asks questions of authorship and authenticity by manipulating clay and other materials with a range of hand, digital, and mechanical processes. He earned his MFA from San Diego State University and BA from Humboldt State University. He has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions, lectured, and taught workshops throughout the United States and internationally, including Fondation Bernardaud in Limoges, France, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, the Demarest Pottery Exhibition, the Riga Porcelain Museum in Latvia, the Nelson Atkins Museum, Greenwich House Pottery, Peters Valley School of Craft, and the Honolulu Museum of Art. He is a founding member of the Hudson Valley Pottery Tour and has been Artist-in-Residence at The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, C.R.E.T.A. Rome, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has taught at SUNY New Paltz since 2011.
www.bryanczibesz.com
czibeszb@newpaltz.edu
(845) 257-3834
Zuckerman figure, 2017, porcelain 24x14x28 in
Lilly Zuckerman, Lecturer
Lilly Zuckerman is an artist and educator specializing in hand building and sculpting the human figure. She earned her MFA from The University of Colorado and BFA from The Pennsylvania State University. Zuckerman’s work has been made possible by residencies at The Archie Bray Foundation, The Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Clay Studio of Missoula, and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. She has exhibited nationally at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, The Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, The Clay Arts Center in New York, and in the ArtStream Nomadic Gallery. Her work has been published in Ceramics Art & Perception, Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, and most recently, Mastering Hand Building, by Sunshine Cobb. In late 2020 Zuckerman co-founded AboveBoardCeramics.com with Penelope Van Grinsven. This online ceramics gallery hosts "Above Board" a functional tableware exhibition occurring annually in March to coincide with NCECA. ABC is committed to actively addressing racial disparities in the clay community by working to build a more equitable exhibition that showcases a diverse group of makers. She has taught at SUNY New Paltz since 2022.
www.LillyZuckerman.com
zuckerml@newpaltz.edu
(845) 257-7834
Ceramics: Studio Space & Facilities
Graduate students are provided a private studio space adjacent to the program’s expansive 10,000 square foot facility. Graduate students have access to their studios seven days a week and have full access to both materials and all equipment. Our state-of-the-art facility gives students a wide range of technical opportunities and is fully equipped to accommodate both traditional and experimental ceramic practices. The well-resourced, ventilated, and brightly lit studios are designed to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the students and the curriculum. The facility is outfitted with a full range of equipment that is essential to all methods of clay fabrication, surface development, and firing, including computer aided design, 3D printing and prototyping, and manufacturing tools that support our students’ expanding production needs. Our generously equipped clay and glaze materials lab supports limitless testing and experimentation. Firing ranges from low to high temperatures in electric, gas, soda, and wood kilns. Large, mid-range, and small kilns are available for group and individual firings.
Learn more about our Ceramics facilities and equipment
Internships, Residencies and Fieldwork
Our students have access to a wide range of world-class institutions, organizations, and professionals for internship and fieldwork opportunities in the Hudson Valley and in New York City, which is a 90-minute bus ride away. Related experiences are highly encouraged as they expand and deepen the students’ understanding of the field and related professional goals, and provide invaluable networking opportunities. Students have interned with NYC-based practicing ceramic artists and designers as well as with curators and editors of ceramics publications and ceramics art centers.
Student Success
Our alumni have entered and sustained a broad range of successful careers as ceramic sculptors, studio potters, designers, independent studio artists, educators, and writers in the field. They exhibit and publish their work nationally and internationally and have received awards from international exhibition forums such as the Yingge Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, the Korean Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, and NCECA National exhibitions. Their work and writing is regularly featured in Studio Potter, Ceramics Art and Perception, Ceramics Technical, Ceramics Monthly, and many Lark Published books. Our alumni teach at highly regarded national and international institutions including Emily Carr, Kent State University, Harvard Ceramics, KyungHee University, Suwon University, Konkuk University in Korea, the National College of Art in Lahore, Pakistan, Skidmore College, Marymount Manhattan College, as well as community colleges and ceramics programs in prominent public and private schools. Many of our alumni direct programs in art centers sector such as Women’s Studio Workshop, Fall Kill Clay Works, Cornell Creative Studios, and Studio Potter. Our graduates have received competitive fellowships and residencies including at the Museum of Arts and Design; The Archie Bray Foundation; Township 10; The Clay Studio of Missoula; Anderson Ranch; The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary; and the Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency.
Visiting Artists
Our visiting artist programs are rich with lectures and weeklong workshops supported by the New Paltz Student Art Alliance, Student Association, New Paltz Ceramic Co, and Design Week. Recent Visiting artists and critics include: Glenn Adamson, Anders Ruhwald, Arlene Shechet, Ronald Rael, Roberto Lugo, Natalia Arbelaez, Peter Pincus, Ezra Shales, Annabeth Rosen, Roxanne Jackson, Del Harrow, Paul Sacaridiz, Claire Twomey, Julian Stair, Peter and Sally Saul, Gwendolyn Yoppolo, Kurt Anderson, Jennifer Allen, Kevin Snipes, Bobby Silverman, Judith Schwartz, Helen Drutt, Bruce Dehnert, Doug Peltzman, Ayumi Horie, Klein Reid, Marek Cecula, Akiyama Yo, Steve Montgomery, Beth Cavener, Richard Notkin, and Brian Harper.
