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New Works in Clay

The Everson has a long history of working with important contemporary artists. Over the last 58 years, the Everson has produced solo exhibitions for Yoko Ono, Morris Louis, Joan Mitchell, Bill Viola, William Wegman, Carrie Mae Weems, and a host of artists who loom large on the world stage. No exhibition in the Everson’s history can compare to New Works in Clay by Contemporary Painters and Sculptors, a 1976 exhibition that involved bringing well-known painters and sculptors to Syracuse to produce a body of work in ceramics. The project was the brainchild of Margie Hughto, who served as both a professor at Syracuse University and as a curator at the Everson.

The Museum and the University shared a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to transform an old can factory into a working ceramics studio. Beginning in 1975, Hughto hosted artists like Helen Frankenthaler, Larry Poons, Anthony Caro, and Billy Al Bengston at the studio. Each artist was given a team of assistants, as well as access to technical advice from veteran ceramic artists. This flurry of activity resulted in the landmark 1976 exhibition New Works in Clay by Contemporary Painters and Sculptors.

For the first time in 50 years, the Everson will bring together ceramic works by the original 11 participants, as well as works by artists like Kenneth Noland and Mary Frank who participated in subsequent projects in 1978 and 1981. Five decades later, it is not unusual for clay to be a part of an artist’s repertoire. New Works in Clay explores how the Everson broke down barriers between art and craft and set the stage for the current ceramic renaissance in the art world.

Rich Harrington: Fissure

For many people, personal identity flows naturally from their families, the objects they grew up with, and the physical place they are rooted in. These small puzzle pieces connect to construct one’s personality and sense of self. For others, notions of self and identity are more fluid and mysterious—a sum total that is somehow different from its constituent parts. Artist Rich Harrington has spent his career grappling with his own identity and the ways it has been shaped by popular culture.

Harrington digs into his early life experiences by constructing physical and metaphorical spaces to understand his own developing identity and his search for place within the family structure and society. For Fissure, Harrington revisits preconceived notions of gender roles and the popular culture that reinforces them. By appropriating imagery and text that once affirmed conventional ideas of gender, Harrington disrupts their original context, creating a conceptual fissure: a space where the dominant narrative fractures, allowing overlooked, suppressed, or alternative narratives to emerge. The fissures encourage viewers to question inherited assumptions and reconsider the cultural narratives that shape identity.

About the Artist: 

Rich Harrington was born in Binghamton, New York. He earned a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University in 1980 and an MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1993. From 1978 to 1979, he studied in London with the partners of Pentagram Design Ltd. and faculty from St. Martin College of Art and Design. Harrington’s work examines how popular culture shapes identity, referencing toys, games, teaching materials, and icons from his youth. Using painting, sculpture, video projection, and assemblage, he reassigns familiar images and texts to reveal alternative narratives, creating intersections of memory, meaning, and belonging.

M&T Bank Senior and Student Sundays

Thanks to the generosity of M&T Bank, Seniors (65+) and Students (K-12 or College 18+ with a valid student ID) receive free admission to the Museum on Sundays.

This incredible opportunity will continue until December 27, 2026 (Festival of Trees & Light not included).