Clay Festival 2024

Join us for the Academy Clay Festival, a celebration of creativity and craftsmanship, on Saturday, October 12, 2024, from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Academy Center of the Arts. This vibrant event will bring together potters, sculptors, wheel throwers, and hand builders from across the Piedmont Region and Eastern Shore to showcase and sell their unique works.

As a juried event, the festival promises a day filled with artistic inspiration, featuring live demonstrations and insightful lectures by participating artists. It’s also a special opportunity to meet the talented potters who contribute their work to our annual Empty Bowls event, supporting the mission of Lynchburg Daily Bread.

Don’t miss this chance to connect with the artists, explore their incredible work, and celebrate the art of clay in the heart of Central Virginia.

Juror: Laura McManus

Laura McManus is Curator of Education at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she facilitates use of the collection and special exhibitions for faculty and student coursework and collaborates with faculty to develop cross-disciplinary exhibitions and opportunities. She teaches courses in the Museum and Heritage Studies major and collaborates with the faculty team to build the program. McManus oversees student docents and the internship program and develops public programs that extend the educational impact the Museum.

Her work outside the college community includes training docents, developing/leading tours for school groups, developing educational and interpretive materials, and coordinating the volunteer program. Prior to joining the Maier in April 2016, McManus was the Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC where she managed and developed curricula for eight educational programs, curated large-scale family and community days, and trained docents on best practices in museum teaching.

Previously, she served as the Curator of Education at MOBIA in NYC, Director of Education at the Noguchi Museum in NYC, Director of Curriculum at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh, PA, teaching artist and studio coordinator at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and a museum educator at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Everson Museum of Art. She has created fifteen museum gallery guides and has curated numerous youth art exhibitions and educational exhibitions.

McManus is active in local and statewide arts and learning communities, most recently serving on the boards of Riverviews Artspace and the Virginia Art Education Association. McManus earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Fine Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science in Art Education from Syracuse University, where she also received her teaching certification in Art, K-12.

Key Dates:
August 31 – Deadline for artist/vendor application
October 12 – Academy Clay Festival!

For more information or to reserve tickets to this performance, contact our Bank of the James Ticketing Office at (434) 846-8499.