2025 NCECA Juried Student Exhibition

As jurors of the NCECA Juried Student Exhibition, we had the privilege of reviewing an inspiring and diverse collection of work from students across all higher education levels. This year’s submissions overwhelmingly included work of a personal nature. Students are, by and large, making work about their lived experience. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this—as educators ourselves, we realize that many of our own classroom assignments tap into identity, personal narrative, and the resonance of the clay body with the human body.

While reviewing hundreds of submissions, we gravitated towards work that is not only personal but also expresses beliefs, opinions, or a critical perspective. Most chosen works use the lens of the personal to engage with larger social, cultural, or political issues. We feel strongly that more critical voices are needed in the ceramics field, and we were particularly inspired by works that embody those voices. Students today are using the traditions of ceramics to bolster new approaches and explorations of the language of clay.

With great thought and care, our goal in selecting a minimal number of pieces is to create physical and metaphorical space around each work. Designed to encourage reflection, we invite viewers to engage with the art in the exhibition in a way that connects their own lived experiences with those of the artists. By doing so, the exhibition hopes to demonstrate that what is personal to the artist often has universal relevance – suggesting that collective human circumstances can be explored, understood, and challenged through individual expression.

—Adrienne Eliades and Nicole Seisler, Jurors

Juried by

Adrienne Eliades and Nicole Seisler

Participating Artists

Ryan Anderson, Drew Anstine, Emmanuel Asamoah, Randi Bachman, Sasha Barrett, Zoila Carrasco, Caleb Considine, Alondra Cruz, Brianna Davis-Valmont, Daniel Dobrow, Seraphina Gillman, Michael Hong, Ivy Jewell, Janet Macias, Keleigh McMullen, Joy Okokon, Jinblossom Kim Plati, Katherine Pon-Cooper, Matthew Skelly, Lucas Varnum, Jennifer Schumacher Waller, Alyssa Zavocki, Robert Zumwalt