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Arts & Entertainment

Rye Artists Showcase Their Work in Clay Art Center Exhibition

The clay exhibition, featuring plates and platters created by local artists, will have its opening reception this Saturday.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

That’s the name for an exhibition that opens Saturday at the Clay Art Center.

The exhibition, which runs through March 5, features a display of plates and platters made by more than 100 clay artists, including Rye’s Reena Kashyap and Priya Tambe. The exhibition's opening reception will begin at 6 p.m.

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Rye artists such as Kashyap, the Clay Art Center’s executive director, and Tambe, the center’s treasurer, said working with clay has helped them unearth their own creativity.

“Clay made a big impact on me from day one,” Kashyap said.

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Kashyap moved to Westchester in 1986, began taking classes at a nearby studio in New Rochelle and found that “clay as a material is extremely versatile and profoundly intimate as it takes on the thoughts and feelings of the maker.”

But right from the start, she said, “my interest was not only in the material but in the community and the people that I met through my class associations.”

She joined Hudson River Potters in 1987 and found a resourceful networking group of clay artists. Initially, she was surprised to learn that there was a ceramic center in nearby Port Chester that was recognized nationally but not well known locally.

Kashyap said she began attending several workshops at the Clay Art Center, a 7,500 square foot facility that frequently showcases the work of many local artists and those across the country.

In 1997, she became executive director, and today the center is a hub of activity and a working studio for 50 clay artists.

“There is a need for supportive places like ours, where people come together, make connections and benefit and learn from each other,” Kashyap said.

The center’s programs serve more than 150 adults and children every week, and it features several solo and group exhibitions every year. Kashyap said the center is also committed to the local community. It organizes outreach programs every year for kids in Port Chester and those with special needs.

 “What drives me everyday is Mahatma Gandhi’s saying: ‘Be the change you want to see,’” Kashyap said. “I was struck by the possibility for that to be reality and embraced it passionately with a mission to be part of that change.”

Priya Tambe is also part of that change.

She has been passionate about sculpting since her teenage years, formally studied sculpture in high school and college, took what she calls a five-year break to work as an investment banker and then returned to being a clay artist around a decade ago.

Tambe, who is both a studio artist and board member at the center, said she loves the friendly environment it fosters among artists and its dedication to introducing local kids to the arts.

“It is a great resource not just for adults but also for kids in Rye, Greenwich and other neighboring communities,” Tambe said.

Tambe said she is inspired by art that is beautiful and timeless.

“My work is inspired by human relationships—with our natural environment, with each other,” she said.

In the sculpture series that she is currently working on, called “Metamorphosis,” she explores what she calls “our complex relationship with nature, and the resulting self-discovery that continually transforms and shapes us.” Her platter in the upcoming “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” exhibition is titled “Coming Out.” It is also part of her “Metamorphosis” series.

She has her own studio at home in Rye, has two kids at the Osborn School, and has had her work exhibited at galleries, art centers, and in private collections in the tri-state area. She also has participated in several art fairs, including One of a Kind at Pier 94 in New York City, the Stone Barns winter show in Pocantico Hills, and Art on the Avenue in Greenwich.

“I find clay is a very expressive and powerful medium for work that reflects strong emotions,” she said. “It allows me as an artist, not only to create a 3-D object, but also to transform the space the object sits in.”

Tambe may accomplish that aim this Saturday when her work—and that of nearly 100 other artists—is showcased in the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” exhibition.

For more information: Clay Art Center, 40 Beach St., Port Chester; phone: 914-937: 2047; www.clayartscenter.org; Gallery Hours: Mon-Sat, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

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