The Skin of the Pot Works by Lily Fein

September 23 – November 5

Emily Galusha Gallery

Virtual Tour available September 28

Public Reception: Friday, October 12, 6 – 8 pm worked as a meat smoker in a factory to support his family. His legacy makes me cherish my ability and freedom in making art. I don’t take the privilege of being a fine artist lightly, and sometimes when I carve into clay I think about Zelman carving into rubber.” Fein continues to concentrate her creative voice into clay to “express myself and to fulfill my desire to be absorbed by what I am creating.”

As part of Northern Clay Center’s Emerging Curator Initiative, Lily Fein will act as artist-curator and create and curate a collection of her own works intended to explore the evolution of her journey as a young artist in the wake of a global pandemic. The resulting series uses the vessel as a metaphor for living bodies, and explores connection and touch through the forms and surfaces of the sculptures. As a part of the Emerging Curator relationship, NCC will provide educational opportunities that focus on writing, curation of works, marketing, exhibition architecture and design, community engagement, and gallery/artist relationship fundamentals.

Lily Fein earned her BFA from Syracuse University (New York) and was awarded several ceramic residency programs including The Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, Montana), Craigardan (Elizabethtown, New York), Northern Clay Center, ProjectArt (Brooklyn, New York), and The Society of Arts and Crafts (Gloucester, Massachusetts). She currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana where she shares a studio with friends.

Related Event

Artist Talk: Lily Fein

Join Lily Fein for an artist talk about her work and process. End the evening with a special preview of her exhibition work.

X18: Friday, October 13, 5 pm CT FREE, NCC Library and virtual

Fein has a 15-year history working with clay, but she has also experimented with other mediums including beadwork, drawing, and other materials. In her recent past, she has used clay to explore the relationship between her own empowerment and her family history. She shares, “I learned in my teens that my grandfather Zelman, a holocaust survivor who fled Poland, had used his fine motor skills to forge visa stamps out of the soles of his shoes to assist Jewish people in fleeing to other, safer, countries. Before the war he was gifted in drawing and accepted to the Beaux-Arts de Paris but could not attend because he had to stay to help his family. He came to America and Images, left to right: Lily Fein, Flower Pot, 2023, porcelain, glaze. Lily Fein, Blue Checkered Vase, 2023, porcelain, glaze.