Projects

 

Partnership with Urbano Project

In the Fall of 2023 POW! collaborated with Urbano Project to facilitate an 8-session ceramics workshop led by AiR and POW! Founder Hannah Niswonger. In this workshop, students learned to build sculptural and functional clay forms. As a group, they considered places and spaces that are important to them while drawing inspiration from spoken word, poetry, or short essays by a variety of authors. They covered a range of basic clay hand-building and ceramic surface decoration techniques while exploring visual expression and form.

This workshop series is running again in the Winter/Spring of 2024.


NCECA 2023 Exhibition

Clay Holds Water • Water Holds Memory

In March 2023 POW! was a collaborating partner in an exhibit of work by Black women potters and clay artists titled "Clay Holds Water, Water Holds Memory" at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, NCECA. Clay holds Water, Water Holds Memory. Clay Holds Water showcased the work exclusively of Black female, female identifiying and gender non-conforming ceramic artists. This exhibit was a celebration — like electrical current moving from negative to positive — of work that has been brought about by the perseverance of these artists. The objects tell the stories of our histories, speak to our diverse identities, promote healing and community, and demand real action. Through this exhibition we asked, “What could real diversity, equity, and inclusivity in clay institutions, organizations, and curated exhibitions look like?”

Held during the NCECA 2023 conference in Cincinnati, this exhibit featured work from 19 makers representing the complexity and diversity of Black women, and Black nonbinary artists from the US and Nigeria. Artists included Sana Musasana, Syd Carpenter, Lydia Thompson, Osa Atoe, Yinka Orafidya, Joey Quiñones, Chostani Elaine Dean, Angela Drakeford, Ashlin Pope, Shea Burke, Victoria Walton, Olúbúnmi Atéré, Anne Adams, Chelsea McMaster, Issisa Komada-John, Nickeyia Johnson, April Adewole and Adero Willard. These artists represent a broad range of age and experience. This choice to include such a range reflects the commitment of this community to use the strength of their collective voice to raise up a new generation of makers in clay.

In conjunction with the exhibition, POW! Pots on Wheels provided community outreach programming. POW! programming is inherently interactive and community oriented. For this project, the outreach programming was developed in collaboration with artists from the exhibition, and provided opportunities for both the clay community and the broader community of Cincinnati to respond to the work and themes presented in the exhibition.

For more information about the exhibit clay-water-memory.com



July 13-23, 2022

A 4-day, intensive ceramics Workshop with POW! co-founder Hannah Niswonger, in collaboration with Urbano Project. In this introductory course to clay materials and techniques, Youth Artists learned a variety of hand-building techniques, and glazed and fired their work. They also designed a program which took place on the Greenway in Boston, where they shared the pottery making and decorating techniques they learned with members of the public. This program is funded by the generosity of our supporters, and with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

POW! on the Greenway in Boston!

Saturday, July 23, 2022.

POW! on the Greenway in Boston! Saturday, July 23, 2022.

The POW! truck was on the Rose Kennedy Greenway on Saturday, July 23rd from 11am to 3pm for a free public art-making event.

We taught visitors to make cups using a variety of techniques, and they were able to try throwing on the people-powered treadle wheel. Folks also decorated cups and toured the pottery gallery in the truck. This project was funded by the generosity of our supporters, and with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.


Past Projects

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Hilltown 6 Public Event

In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour in western Massachusetts, the POW! truck had a prominent place in downtown Northampton as part of the town's monthly Arts Night Out.

Free and open to the public, POW! staged its cup exchange, provided basic instruction on use of the potter's wheel and other techniques, and displayed work in the truck's mobile gallery. The event was held with support from the Artisan Gallery and the Northampton Arts Council.