Opening Reception | In the Making: Contemporary Craft from South Carolina

Jim Arendt is a Professor of Visual Arts at Coastal Carolina University. He received his BFA from Kendall College of Art & Design and his MFA from the University of South Carolina. He has participated in residency programs including, The Vermont Studio Center, The Fields Project in Illinois, and From Waste to Art VI in Baku, Azerbaijan. He’s been invited to teach at Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Peters Valley School of Craft.

Recently, Arendt received First Prize during In the Round: UNC Ashville’s Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Competition, Fiberarts International 2019, was short-listed for the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art and a 2018 finalist for the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA. He has received the South Carolina Arts Commission Visual Artist Fellowship 2014 and his work received the $50,000 top prize at ArtFields 2013. His work was chosen for the 2013 Museum Rijswijk Textile Biennial, Netherlands, and he has work include in the Arkansas Art Center’s permanent collection of contemporary craft and the South Carolina State Museum's Permanent Collection.

Kristy Bishop is a Charleston, South Carolina–based fiber artist and educator whose practice centers on weaving, natural dyeing, and material-driven practices. A lifelong South Carolinian, Bishop’s work is deeply informed by the Lowcountry’s coastal landscape, waterways, and the tension between development and nature.

Working with techniques including rigid heddle weaving, hand sewing, indigo, natural dyeing, and reclaimed materials Bishop creates sculptural textile works that move between traditional craft and contemporary installation. Her practice emphasizes slow, tactile processes and an intuitive relationship to materials, often incorporating recycled industrial textiles alongside handwoven structures. Through these methods, her work explores themes of overgrowth, encroachment, reclamation, and environmental change, examining how natural systems and human infrastructure intersect and collide.

Clay Burnette has coiled longleaf pine needles for half a century. His baskets have been exhibited in more than 260 venues throughout the US and abroad and are included in many public and private collections and numerous print publications. He received the National Basketry Organization’s (NBO) Award of Excellence in 2013 and 2019 and the SC Arts Commission’s Craft Fellowship in 1988 and 2022. His Exhibition highlights include: 1983-1990 - Smithsonian Craft Show, created in 1983 to annually showcase 100 national craft artists; 2000 - Contemporary International Basketry, a book and exhibition that toured the United Kingdom for two years; 2000 - SC State Museum’s 100 Years/100 Artists: Views of the 20th Century in SC Art; 2011 - Art in Embassies Program, US Embassy, Dakar, Senegal, a 3-year exhibit contrasting African and American coiled baskets; 2013 - present

Katy Bergman Cassell was awarded a South Carolina Individual Artist Fellowship in 2026 for her enamel jewelry. She was introduced to enameling at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio in 1990’s, and earned a Master of Fine Arts from Kent State University.

She worked as an archaeological illustrator in India, a museum educator in New York, and college professor in Ohio before moving to Greenville, SC to teach metals at the Fine Arts Center. She balances her passion for education with her own studio art practice.

Career highlights include the international exhibition of her work in Taiwan and at nine US solo exhibitions, including at the Crutchfield Gallery in Spartanburg, and the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, AZ. She has been an SC State Parks artist-in-residence twice, and was awarded a National Artists Teachers Fellowship to travel to England to study rock art, fossils, and historical enamels at the British Museum.

Her work has been published in The Art of Enameling, 500 Enameled Objects, Metalsmith magazine, Cleveland Scene, At Home in the Upstate, and The Greenville News. She earned a doctorate in education in 2022 from Converse University, and enjoys exploring the Southeast with her husband and two daughters.

Bill Clark 

Bill Clark’s journey with clay began in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, where he apprenticed with the renowned potter Harding Black. He later studied ceramics at the Newcomb Art School at Tulane University. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, he began exploring these influences within his own designs. Bill taught pottery, drawing and painting for the City of New Orleans for four years and was eventually honored with the Key to the City for his artistic contributions. He also designed shirts for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

In 1979, Bill moved to Greenville, South Carolina, to raise his family while continuing his pottery. He participated in Art in the Park for years and became an advocate for the local arts community, including active membership in the Metropolitan Arts Council’s Open Studios. He has participated in the National Arts & Crafts Conference in Asheville, NC for 27 years. Throughout his career, he has remained committed to educating others about the craft of pottery.

In 2002, inspired by the work of George Ohr, the "Mad Potter of Biloxi," Bill dedicated himself to mastering the technical throwing methods required to create Ohr’s original light and unusual clay fold shapes. This passion led to the development of his own unique interpretations of these designs without ever becoming a copy.

This dedication resulted in a significant connection with George Ohr’s descendants. In 2009, the family invited Bill to speak at their family reunion in Biloxi, and in 2011, they formally welcomed Bill and Pam into their family. To date, the Ohr family has collected over 285 pieces of Clark House Pottery. This endorsement is a profound honor that continues to encourage his work.

Pam Clark 

For 35 years, clay has allowed Pam to express her ideas of the natural landscape, specifically inspired by the calm beauty of her garden and the woods surrounding Greenville in the foothills of South Carolina. Outdoors was her playground and her horse Shasta took her into fields and streams to explore nature, study design and dream about making beauty. 

After a career in the medical field, Pam completed an art degree to pursue her lifelong love of pottery, a passion that began in childhood. This passion began while helping her mother make items at a ceramics shop. The process of working with clay is both calming and creative for her, and she is continually inspired by the idea of making pottery pieces that can be used and enjoyed. She built a studio in her backyard under tall trees with her husband who is also a potter. 

Pam’s pottery reflects a connection to the physical world through design, form, and color. She utilizes various techniques—including carving, sculpting, hand-building, slip trailing, and glazing—to convey the feeling of nature. She particularly enjoys carving horses, flowers and birds on wheel-thrown stoneware vases. Pam treasures those wonderful memories inspired by Shasta, her horse, as she makes each wheel thrown body in stoneware and hand sculpts the remaining horse. 

She has participated in the National Arts & Crafts Conference in Asheville, NC, for 27 years, as well as local events like Art in the Park and the Metropolitan Arts Council’s Open Studios. Her work is included in the permanent collections of several museums, including the American Museum of Ceramic Arts in Pomona, CA, the South Carolina State Museum, and the McKissick Museum in Columbia, SC. Her pottery can be found in galleries and guilds including the SC Artisan Center in Walterboro, SC and the Southern Highland Craft Guild Gallery in Asheville, NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Charles Clary, he/him, was born in 1980 in Morristown, Tennessee. He received his BFA in painting with honors from Middle Tennessee State University and his MFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has shown in exhibitions at Galerie Evolution- Pierre Cardin in Paris, France, The Netherlands’ CODA Museum Paper Biennial in 2021, The Shanghai Paper Biennial in 2021, Art of Paper Fair in New York City, and many other international, national, and regional juried, group, solo, and museum exhibitions. Clary won Top Prize at the 2016 ArtFields Competition in Lake City, SC, and in 2019 he won both People’s Choice Award for 2D and the Merit Prize at ArtFields. He has also been named the South Arts 2024 South Carolina State Fellow and the South Carolina Arts Commission Fellow in Visual Arts for 2026. He recently sold three commissioned pieces to Google corporate oZices, and he was named the HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar at Coastal Carolina University in 2022, the highest award bestowed upon a faculty member by the university. Clary has been featured in numerous print and Internet interviews including, Create! Magazine, Candyfloss, This is Colossal, WIRED magazine (US and UK), Hi Fructose, Beautiful Deay, and Bluecanvas Magazine. He has also been featured in publications including Paper Art III, 500 Paper Objects, Paper Works, Paper Art, Papercraft 2, and PUSH: Paper.

Charles has exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally in numerous solo and group shows, is represented by Paradigm Gallery + Studio in Philadelphia, The Grand Bohemian Gallery in Greenville, South Carolina, Charleston SC and Ashville NC, and R02 Gallery in Dallas, Texas. Clary currently lives and works in Conway, South Carolina, where he is a Full Professor of Studio Art and Associate Chair of Visual Arts at Coastal Carolina University.

Jessica Downs received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from Utah Valley University in 2024 and is currently an MFA candidate at Clemson University, with an expected graduation date of May 2026. Her work has been exhibited nationally, with recent shows in the Clara M. Lovett Art Museum, the Gertrude Institute of Art, and the Utah Valley University Museum of Art. Downs has been the recipient of multiple awards, including Utah Valley University’s Outstanding Student Award for the entire Art and Design Department, was selected as an inaugural participant of the V. Douglas Snow Arts Mentorship Program in Torrey, Utah, and was the recipient of the Penland/Clemson University HEPP Scholarship.

Matthew Garton is a blacksmith and metal artist with over 20 years of experience in forged metalwork. He earned a B.A. (Honors) in Artist Blacksmithing from Hereford College of Arts, England, in 2012 and later apprenticed at one of the oldest continuously operating blacksmith shops in the country. Garton has worked internationally, training under eminent master blacksmiths and world leading firms. His work is rooted in traditional techniques, with a focus on forged iron and historic metalwork restoration. Garton’s forging has appeared in major film productions, including Beauty & the Beast, Snow White & the Huntsman, and Star Wars. He has led numerous demonstrations and conferences across Europe and the United States. He earned international recognition at the 2017 World Forging Championship in Stia, Italy, winning First Place in the Team Event and Second Place in the Individual Event.

Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Garton has been instrumental in revitalizing the Blacksmithing Program at the American College of the Building Arts where he is chair of the Blacksmithing Department. In 2024, he founded Sparkes & Co. where he continues his commitment to education, preservation, and excellence in the craft.

William “Bill” Harris is a highly skilled Catawba potter whose work advances one of the oldest continuously practiced ceramic traditions in North America. Catawba pottery dates back more than 4,000 years and has survived without a generational break. Harris’s work reflects cultural stewardship and artistic innovation within this living tradition.

Harris was trained by his grandmother, renowned Catawba potter Georgia Harris, learning the full traditional process including harvesting and preparing clay, hand-building vessels, burnishing with river stones, and open firing to achieve the distinctive surface of Catawba pottery. He has worked with Catawba clay for more than 25 years. In May 2025, Harris received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Davidson College recognizing his leadership as former Chief of the Catawba Nation and his contributions to preserving Catawba pottery.

Harris’s artistic practice expands traditional vessel forms through sculptural and narrative elements, particularly animal effigies rooted in Catawba culture and storytelling, demonstrating a balance of continuity and contemporary expression.

In 2026, Harris was honored as the Artist recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, one of the state’s highest recognitions for artistic achievement. He is a 2024 Taproot Fellow with the Taproot Artist and Community Trust and a recipient of the 2016 Jean Harris Laney Folk Heritage Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. In 2025, Harris won 2nd Place Overall in the 9/9 Native South Competition at the Museum of the Southeast American Indian. He has served as Artist in Residence at the Native American Studies Center at USC–Lancaster. His work has been exhibited at major institutions including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Columbia Museum of Art, McKissick Museum, and the South Carolina State Museum, and is held in collections nationwide. His work has been featured in American Craft magazine and regional media outlets.

Harris is also the founder of Blue Heron Clay and the Georgia Harris Foundation, which support teaching and preservation of Catawba pottery through apprenticeships, mentorship, and community education.

I am a woman who was brought up in the south learning the domestic arts of cooking and sewing. I grew to love the creativity in doing these things. Later, the study of architecture furthered my visual awareness for things in the built environment. The act of making or creating anything, whether it is a simple tile pattern, drafting a complex technical drawing, or making a quilt or garment has always been an artistic endeavor for me.  

I had the opportunity to live in Italy for an extended period of time. I began to notice the beautiful tile work that was everywhere throughout the country. I documented these tiles whenever I encountered them, attempting to create a visual library for myself. This study of tile design has given me a rich vocabulary for my work in textiles. Using vibrant, iridescent silks, I create compositions inspired by the patterns in Italy.  This study in combination with my design education has resulted in my interest in non-traditional textile work. 

Jennifer York grew up in rural Indiana in a creative, industrious family. She earned a BFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Fibers from the Savannah College of Art and Design. York operated Jennythreads Studio in Asheville, North Carolina, for 19 years, producing handmade artistic apparel, and she is the author and illustrator of Printing on Fabric: Technique with Screens, Stencils, Inks and Dyes. She has been a juried member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 2003 in both mixed media and fibers categories. Her mixed media quilts have been included in several Quilt National exhibitions, where she received the Award of Excellence in 2009, and one of her quilts is held in the Guild’s permanent collection.

In March 2020, York moved to Charleston. In 2021, she was a Visiting Artist at the Gibbes Museum of Art, where she also presented her first museum-hosted solo exhibition, New Histories, later that year. After more than 15 years of carrying her Jennythreads scarves in its shop, the Myrtle Beach Art Museum presented her solo exhibition Estuary Blues, which showcased her full range of mixed media work, including sketchbooks, carousel books, Tyvek paper cuts, and pop-up dioramas. This was followed by Constructed Realities at the Museum of Art–DeLand in Florida. Both museums now hold her suitcase dioramas in their permanent collections. In 2024, she was named Lowcountry Artist of the Year and currently serves as North Charleston’s Artist-in-Residence Ambassador through the end of January.

Valerie Zimany is department chair and professor of art at Clemson University. Her graduate study was immersed in contemporary Japanese craft and design, followed by an extended artist residency focused on traditional overglaze techniques. Her studio practice weaves influence from historic patterns and imagery of European porcelain and 19th-century Japanese export ware into detailed vessels, wall sculptures, large-scale drawings, and installations. Through intricate layers of sculpted form and surface, both handmade and digitally designed, Valerie explores the cultural convergence of her experience while challenging perceptions of beauty, value, and our relationship with the natural world. Her works are held in public institutions such as the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the National Museum of Slovenia, the Cluj Contemporary Ceramic Collection Romania, and the Taipei Yingge Ceramic Museum. She was the 2020 South Carolina State Fellow in Craft and has been recognized with awards at international exhibitions and competitive artist residencies. Her energetic florals merge real flora with the fantastic and consider our evolving natural landscape in the context of decorative arts history and her current residence in the lush foothills of upstate South Carolina.