Ceramics by betterArts Member Kari Zelson Robertson on Display through 10/31

Clay artist and betterArts board member Kari Zelson Robertson has a pottery show on display at the Thousand Islands Arts Center through Oct. 31 in Clayton, N.Y.

"Clay: Fold and Bend, Cut and Paste" is a gallery showing of Robertson's ceramics work, which includes pieces that have been cut and reconnected, repurposed, and otherwise reimagined. 

"It was great to be able to connect the dots between my work from my Penland Craft School residency during Spring 2014 to some pieces from before and after," Kari says. "An especially meaningful highlight for this show was to connect my work to the history of the Arts Center via interplay between my ceramics and Lucille Landis' textiles. Many of her pieces are included in the permanent collection at the arts center, which, for years, was called The Handweaving Museum. Lucille wrote a few books on weaving, but I have not been able to find very much information on her life. I do know that she found a passion, and learned as much as she could about it, and took the time to share with others. Might we all do the same."

Click here to see a video of Kari discussing her work.

Kari's background in clay began in the early 1980s during undergraduate work. "For me, clay is the perfect material," she says. "It is architectural, sensous, technical, useful, playful. By combining wheel throwing and hand-building, I have a toolbox of techniques from which to choose, depending on which will best help to realize the idea." Kari is a former public-school art educator whose studio is attached to her farmhouse in Northern New York. 

See Kari's work at the Thousand Islands Arts Center, located at 314 John Street in Clayton. For more information, call (315) 686-4123. To contact Kari about her work, email kari.zelson.robertson@gmail.com.