Past

Peters Valley School of Craft is pleased to announce its 2021 High School Student Exhibition, this year online only from April 11 – May 9. The show includes work by students in grade 9-12.

The exhibition features two- and three-dimensional artwork by students from participating schools in the area. It will include ceramics, drawing, painting, jewelry, sculpture, photography, and other mixed media. We are excited that 2021 marks the 11^th year of this annual event. This focus on showcasing the types of media represented at the school, and its national online audience, make Peters Valley’s exhibition unique among the many shows these schools participate in.

The exhibition includes work by students from Blair Academy, Byram Hills, Delaware Valley, High Point Regional, Kittatinny Regional, Montville, Randolph, Sparta, and Wallkill Valley Regional.

Award Winners

Best in Show, winner of a Huber-Weyer full-tuition workshop scholarship: Kaitlyn Czifra “Reckoning”
Second Place: Sophia Papadopoulo “My Imperfect Cracks”
Third Place: Kevin Dau “Chasing the Dream”
Honorable Mention: Cameron Minetti “Infinity”

From the Ground Up: Peters Valley School of Craft is the first major exhibition to trace the remarkable fifty-year history of this New Jersey craft school.

Founded in 1970, Peters Valley was the result of an experimental idea: a planned craft community set in the natural beauty of a newly-formed national park, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Resident artists in ceramics, wood, fiber, photography, blacksmithing, and fine metals have shaped the vital spirit of Peters Valley. Craft education has also anchored Peters Valley’s mission, making the school’s immersive materials-based courses a vibrant meeting ground for exchange.

Installed in the galleries of the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, NJ through January 10, 2021, the exhibition features historical and contemporary work and artist residencies. The show illuminates key moments in Peter Valley’s formation and illustrates its crucial impact on art and artists over the last five decades.

Artist residencies during the exhibition will include weaver Cynthia Alberto and her Brooklyn-based weaving studio Weaving Hand, jeweler Lauren Eckert and woodworker Janine Wang.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Hunterdon Art Museum is offering three free virtual artist lectures featuring each of the resident artists who will be in the 1st floor galleries October – December. Each artist has a connection with Peters Valley and will be sharing how the institution has shaped their careers, as well as describe their artistic process and current and upcoming projects. This program is free to attend but pre-registration is required to receive the link. See below for dates.

Cynthia Alberto, weaver and founder of Weaving Hand
Saturday, October 24, 11am ET
Register here:
https://hunterdonartmuseum.org/portfolio-items/resident-artist-lecture-cynthia-alberto-online/?portfolioCats=405%2C406%2C407%2C408%2C409%2C410%2C411%2C412%2C413

Lauren Eckert, multimedia object maker and illustrator
Sunday, November 29, 2pm ET
Register here:
https://hunterdonartmuseum.org/portfolio-items/resident-artist-lecture-lauren-eckert-online/?portfolioCats=405%2C406%2C407%2C408%2C409%2C410%2C411%2C412%2C413

Janine Wang, furniture maker
Sunday, December 6 11am ET
Register here:
https://hunterdonartmuseum.org/portfolio-items/artist-in-residence-lecture-janine-wang-online/?portfolioCats=405%2C406%2C407%2C408%2C409%2C410%2C411%2C412%2C413

 

Virtual Opening Reception

Making Matters: Fresh Perspectives in Fine Craft is an annual exhibition showcasing the work of the season’s visiting artist instructors and summer artistic staff. The variety of media, styles and techniques included reflect the diversity in the programming offered at Peters Valley. This year it features the work of artists who would have taught at Peters Valley had we been able to conduct our summer workshops.

The Virtual Artist Reception, watch it below to learn more about what’s behind the work of many of the exhibition artists.

Also check out this Panel Discussion from September comprised of 4 participating artist instructors: Jesse Bert (fine metals), Steve Cook (ceramics), Wendy Weiss (fiber), and Laurie Klein (photography) in conversation with our Studio Managers Bruce Dehnert and Beth Glauber. They discussed the preparation and experience of teaching a workshop at a craft school and the impact of immersive learning. 

This exhibition and accompanying catalog are made possible in part by the Windgate Foundation.

Introduction

“Peters Valley: Present reacts to the last two decades of ceramic programming designed by Peters Valley Ceramics Head and artist, Bruce Dehnert. Inspired by the school’s summer-course offerings and catalogs that share many approaches to the medium, this exhibition appreciates a myriad of ceramic-making methods. 29 artists who have instructed at the craft school in the past two decades are in assembly, displaying a survey of work across clay bodies, firing techniques, surface treatments, and concepts.

This exhibition was to be held in Richmond, Virginia concurrent with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference, an event where many ceramists convene away from home. To keep all safe during the first approaches of this pandemic, the NCECA conference was cancelled and the exhibition was postponed.

Originally, the choice of the exhibition title, Peters Valley: Present felt clever; what with its association to place, time, one’s response to an attendance rollcall, and even the feeling of being engrossed when in the ceramic studio. Now, the show convenes in a different way- not in a physical space but in a digital one. And, despite the associations that one may glean from working with such a tactile, traditional, or hands-on material, many of us ceramists find ourselves meeting and interacting with each other in new digital modes. Like so, the online adaption of Peters Valley: Present has leant new opportunities and meaning to this exhibition. It has invited more folks to interact with the show- much more than what was possible for the original three-day exhibition.

While we look forward to seeing one another again, in-person and on campus; this time has also offered a feeling that being present is not just about the physical presence. Instead, being socially apart can be a compassionate and communal act, offering us new ways to stay connected until the future.”

-Carolyn E Herrera-Perez

Incubation: Artists in Pursuit of Discovery showcases the work of a selection of our studio assistants from over the last ten years. Peters Valley Summer Assistants are an integral part of our summer workshop program and we’ve seen how, at times, the studio experience is like an incubation experience. This show will focus on where they are now, and the new directions they’ve taken since leaving Peters Valley.

Renowned curator of contemporary craft, Gail M. Brown, invited fifty female artists to each create a piece addressing contemporary issues of work, family, identity, domesticity and community, among other themes.