Clay Art Center is happy to announce a Call For Entry to “Functional Fall: Handled with Care”, guest juried by Lindsay Scypta & Mike Stumbras.
Submission Period Begins: February 1st, 2026
Deadline: May 17th, 2026
Exhibition: September 1st – October 17th, 2026
Juror Prizes: $300 (Decided upon by jurors) / $100 (People’s Choice Decision)
Application Fee: None
Clay Art Center is proud to support artists with a no-fee entry to submit for consideration for this exhibition.
The Fourth Annual Functional Fall Exhibition at Clay Art Center calls for ceramic works that celebrate surfaces, decoration, and detail, and encourages submissions from artists at all stages of their careers. Guest Jurors Lindsay Scypta and Mike Stumbras invite artists to submit functional pottery that demonstrates how ornament can enrich, complicate, or transform a held object. Works must be functional and should engage with the tactile and visual possibilities of ceramic surface through the use of layered techniques including carving, stamping, slip, glaze, luster, and pattern among so many other possibilities!
Small scale invites closeness and embraces the sense of touch. It asks the viewer to slow down, to hold, to feel, and to repeatedly return. This exhibition seeks to showcase the ways artists use scale and ornamentation to develop and amplify meaning. Lindsay and Mike are interested in the ways that decoration can convey identity, ritual, play, or reverence in the space of the hand.
Open to ceramic artists at all stages of their careers working in clay. Works should not exceed 8 inches in any dimension. All submissions will be considered for awards (Juror’s Choice and People’s Choice).
Submitted by Regina Farrell-Fagan at Clay Art Center. For questions, contact regina@clayartcenter.org
Learn more and apply