“Creating with clay offers a way to connect with memory.”
- Marge Levy
Artworks by Marge Levy | Photos by Larry Lancaster
Member Spotlight
Marge Levy
Imagine a forever plastic clay body that would allow you to reform a sculpture or vessel in innumerable and unexpected ways over an expansive lifespan. Marge Levy’s uncoiling spiral of career path has led her on a remarkable journey. A deep sea diver who has explored endangered reefs around the world, Marge has worked as an artist, professor of art, academic administrator, executive director of a world renowned center for glass art, museum guide, and fierce advocate for the arts in society and education.
Based in Seattle, Washington, Marge started attending conferences of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in 1971 and became the organization's first woman president in the 1980s. She has only missed a few annual gatherings since that time.
“There is a generosity at the core of NCECA. The way people share what they do and know about. All that teaching and learning come from a deep place of sharing. I don’t see that in all of the art world.”
Marge’s influential graduate school mentors, Bill Daley and friend Coille Hooven, first encouraged Marge to attend the conference. Once there, she found a community of emergent leaders like artist and educator Dick Hay, and curator Diane Douglas. Marge was instrumental in establishing NCECA as a nonprofit organization, launching topical networking sessions, and reviving a dormant collectors’ program within the conference.
Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Creative Play writes, “The hand is in search of a brain, the brain is in search of a hand, and play is the medium by which the two are connected in the best possible way.” Marge relays, “Creating with clay offers a way to connect with memory.” Each touchpoint with clay grounds Marge’s works with senses of place and the fluidity of water.
Marge loves that when we experience ceramics not only with our eyes but through the sense of touch and use, we make a connection to other human beings.
“Clay objects have history in aesthetics and meaning. Even those who are not makers can sense this. The things we create have lives of their own.”
Artworks by Marge Levy | Photos by Larry Lancaster
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