Our Staff
Director: Lenny Dowhie
Lenny Dowhie is an internationally known ceramic sculptor and Professor Emeritus at University of Southern Indiana (USI). Dowhie holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana State University and a Bachelor of Art Education degree from Arizona State University. He has earned numerous grants and awards for his work in ceramics and has lectured at universities around the world. In the fall of 2013, he spent three months in Jingdezhen, China as one of three international visiting artists through a workshop program sponsored by the University of West Virginia. Dowhie has nearly 100 invitational exhibitions to his credit and his work is included in public and private collections, including the Smithsonian Institute of American Art, Renwick Gallery.
Lenny Dowhie and his wife, Anne Dowhie, are among a small group of founding partners of Expressions of Culture, Inc., producers of the Chicago International Exposition of SOFA (Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art) in Chicago. They currently are involved as producers of the new EXPO CHICAGO, an exhibition of more than 100 premier art galleries held annually at Navy Pier in Chicago. Dowhie was also instrumental in developing the ceramics curriculum and in planning for the USI Ceramics Center, opened in 2009. The ceramics studio bears the names of Lenny and Anne, who taught art at Evansville Central High School in Evansville, IN. Dowhie established the New Harmony Clay Project in the Fall of 2015. He has been instrumental in the program's development and success.
Program Manager: T Lance
Mx. Lance is an artist, educator, and gallery professional from Louisville, KY, currently working and residing in Posey County, Indiana. They received thier Bachelor of Science in Studio Art from the University of Southern Indiana (USI) in 2014. They went on to receive their Bachelor of Art in Visual Art Teaching with minors in both P-12 Education Licensure and Arts & Heritage Administration from USI in 2018. Mx. Lance is currently taking a break from pursuing a Masters of Public Administration at USI with an emphasis in Nonprofits.
Lance’s work has been exhibited nationally and published internationally. Lance has over seven years of combined experience working in university galleries and art collections. They are currently the Senior Gallery Associate at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art where they oversee the Gallery Shop and assist the curator, providing administrative support.
Lance has taught several workshops in various media. During their student teaching assignment, Lance instructed high school ceramics and received an Outstanding Future Educator Award from the Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) in 2018. They were also a substitute teacher for Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation 2018-2019 which included a four-month extended assignment teaching high school ceramics. Mx. Lance joined the NHCP as an instructor in 2019 and took over as Program Manager in 2023.
Vist T’s website to View more about T and see thier work or find t on instagram: @trlance92
ceramics technician: elizabeth garland
Elizabeth Garland is a ceramic artist from Albion, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Science in Art with a concentration in Studio Art from University of Southern Indiana (USI) and an Associate in Science and Arts from Wabash Valley Community College. Elizabeth currently lives in Evansville, IN, and works as the Ceramics Technician for New Harmony Clay Project and Studio Technician in Ceramics at USI’s Department of Art.
Elizabeth uses a variety of mediums to render the figure, including paint, graphite, charcoal, and clay. Her recent focus has been inspired by the passion she’s found for ceramics, leading to an exploration of the body as a vessel. Predominately using the potter’s wheel, the forms she creates are sometimes altered to further depict the female form as she experiences it. The introspection necessary to portray these images has led her to a deeper appreciation and understanding of women, both the space they hold and the space they fill in this world. Overall, she desires connection through her artwork. Knowing that others can see themselves in one of her drawings or in a figurative sculpture encourages her to continue in her consideration of the body.
See more of her work on Instagram: @elizabethkayegarland
SUMMER PROGRAM INSTRUCTORS
Alisa (AL) Holen | Minneapolis, minnesota
Al is an artist and educator who received an M.A. and M.F.A. in Ceramics from The University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, and her B.A. from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN. She has since taught ceramics and sculpture at numerous institutions including University of Iowa, University of Nebraska (Omaha), Augustana College, University of Wisconsin (La Crosse), and Mississippi University for Women (Columbus). She is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, IN.
Al’s ceramic work focuses on formal and metaphorical relationships, often staging forms in postures of dependency, elevation, support, aggression or comfort; it is functional but maintains a sculptural presence. Her work has been featured in over 100 solo, juried and group exhibitions internationally and across the US, winning numerous awards and featured in public and private collections. Recently in 2020, Al was invited to participate in and lecture for the exhibition “Women in Craft” at The Oxford Research Centre in Humanities (TORCH) in Oxfordshire, England.
Al strongly advocates using art to engage the community and is instrumental in organizing the yearly “Empty Bowls” events to raise money for local charities and to introduce people to working with clay. She has also contributed to various publications including Ceramics Monthly and NCECA Journal and locally in Evansville Living and Evansville Courier and Press bringing awareness to the ceramic arts.
Visit Al’s website, alholenceramics.com and find her work in various galleries and online such as clayakar, companion gallery, and belger arts
Ashley Banks | Washington, Indiana
Ashley Banks is a current mix media artist and future art educator from Washington, Indiana. They are currently working on their Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Studio Art and P-12 Art Education at University of Southern Indiana. Ashley currently lives in Evansville, IN, and works as the Gallery Assistant for New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, and Summer Studio Tech at the New Harmony Clay Project.
Ashley is a mix media artist and clay enthusiast whose work currently explores topics of childhood nostalgia and their fears of change and loss. Through using slabs, coils, and pinching pots, Ashley recollects their past experiences with bright colors and humor. As a child, they followed their maternal familial tradition of collecting things in the form of toys, stickers, and memories. As an adult, they are trying to recreate, reimagine, and rebuild those collections.
Instagram: @ashleybanksiscool and @ashleyeatsclay
JIM ALWORTH | duluth, Minnesota
Jim got his start in clay because he needed an art credit to finish his degree from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Immediately, he felt a connection with the medium. What started as ‘I can get dirty for a semester’ has turned into a 20+ year career exploring clay in all its glory. Being a curious person, clay has been the perfect medium for Jim to continually explore what it can do. Along with making pottery, he is passionate about teaching others the joy of being creative and curious.
With his partner Grace, Jim started “Studio 2 Ceramics” 16 years ago in Northeast Minneapolis, MN. This little studio grew from a side hustle in the basement to a full-fledged art center. In addition to making wholesale mugs, Jim has taught a range of clay classes from dates nights to weekly throwing classes. After moving to Paducah, KY, Jim works as a studio potter making their wholesale line of state mugs and his own functional work. His work focuses on the relationship between design, patterns, and glaze colors to highlight the ceramic form and the dynamics of the glazes. When you pick up one of his pieces of pottery, he hopes both the visual and tactile senses provide a small bit of art in your daily life.
You can find Jim and Grace’s pottery line at studio2ceramics.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Jessica Mason | henderson, Kentucky
Along with her husband Nick, Jessica owns, creates, and manages their ceramics studio “Make Stuff Masons” in Mount Vernon, IN. Jessica received her BS in Studio Art from the University of Southern Indiana (USI) and was introduced to clay during this time, under the guidance of our Director, Lenny Dowhie. Since then, her dream to be surrounded by the arts, particularly ceramics, began to form. To her, seeing how various people manipulate clay is inspiring and creating something beautiful, quirky, powerful, controversial out of dirt can be very cathartic.
Fast forward 14 years, Jessica and Nick create their dream: Make Studios. It is a home base for teaching ceramics, painting, and drawing classes, but also where one can find their handmade pottery. Their work has been featured at various art festivals and recently at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art’s national juried exhibition, “FILLED UP.”
“Make Stuff Masons” stemmed from a graffiti wall in their house that simply says “MAKE.” The sentence itself is a complete imperative sentence with an implied “You.” An imperative sentence is a command; essentially, the sentence reads “You make.” It’s a reminder. A reminder that creating is in the bones and an important part of existence. The wall in their house is a daily reminder to make something for the sake of their souls, and Make Studios is an effort to share this vision with the community.
Learn more about Jessica and Make Studios through their website, Instagram or Facebook.
cheyenne knox | Tennyson, Indiana
Cheyenne currently resides in Spencer County where she manages Lincoln State Park and works with her passions of clay and nature. She received her Bachelor of Science in Studio Art from the University of Southern Indiana. There she focused on metal work and sculpture while interning for three years as an artist assistant for William Leth. After college, she traveled to Montana where she worked as a Wilderness Forestry Technician, collecting data and maintaining remote backcountry mountain trails for the US Forest Service. She also continued to pursue art working part-time for a bronze art foundry in Livingston, MT.
Cheyenne found her way back to clay in 2009, realizing it as a great way to continue her love for sculptural objects while on a budget. She is inspired by natural objects like insects and wildflowers and uses them in her work. She also has a great deal of admiration for the bronze and glass works of Louis Comfort Tiffany and Clara Driscoll and strives to bring their influences into her work. Cheyenne has featured her work at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art as well as the semiannual YART event at Angel Mounds.
You can view her experiments, projects and work on her Facebook page.
John Reynolds | Indiana
John Reynolds is a potter and ceramic artist living in Southwestern Indiana. John has operated Diamond Island Pottery from 1982 to the present. He received his MFA in ceramics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1980 and his BS in art and philosophy from The University of Southern Indiana (ISUE) in 1977. John was an exhibiting member of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen from 1986 to 2016. His work has been shown nationally and internationally is in public and private collections.