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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Spring Pottery Sale at The ADAMAH STUDIO

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

Alicia Benoist

On the weekend of May 3rd -5th, two very accomplished ceramicists, Alicia Benoist and Marsha Clark-Lind, displayed their beautiful wares for sale at the Adamah studio, which may be closing very soon, if the landlord has his way.

As the viewers can see for themselves, they are the high quality pieces one gets to admire at the most important Craft Shows.

Marsha Clark-Lind




Alicia Benoist highly decorated traditional pottery of earthenware or terracotta use themes from nature and historical pottery. Her very utilitarian art pieces enhance the simple pleasures of everyday life. Alicia specializes in majolica and the rare black majolica technique, and teaches workshops in the metropolitan area, including Earthworks NYC, which also carries her pieces in their gallery.


Born at the Jersey shore, Alicia became a music major at Goucher College, Maryland, where she found herself spending more time in the clay studio than the practice room. Upon moving to New York City, she enrolled as a student at the 92nd St. Y, and later became a teacher there, where she worked in stoneware, porcelain, raku and earthenware and studied with Byron Temple, Woody Hughes, and Bruce Winn. Additionally taking workshops with Toshiko Takezu, Andrea Gill and Walter Ostrom, who still is her mentor today. She also has studied in Japan and Italy.

Her work has been shown in many juried competitions, including the Decorative Arts Competition in Mino, Japan, and is in collections throughout the United States and Europe. It also has been published in Lark’s 500 Plates and Chargers. She maintains studios in New York City and Delaware County, NY.


Marsha Clark-Lind grew up in Chicago, having a grandmother that collected Asian furniture and ceramics, which made handling beautiful objects a normal everyday thing. There she studied dance and music, before moving to New York City to take a scholarship with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. After performing for a number of years with The Ailey family and others, Marsha returned to school and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.



Upon discovery that the corporate world didn’t agree with her, she took time off to refresh with ceramics at Baldwin Pottery, then in Greenwich Village. She got hit with the clay bug in a major way and when Baldwin closed she found her way to Parsons School of Design. She also studied at the 92nd St. Y and took many workshops in and around New York City. Marsha is a studio potter who experiments with glaze formulation and having an all round really good time with clay, making every day pots. Of her mugs, cups, bowls, plates and Vases, some are stoneware, some porcelain. She favors the colors, the clarity and serenity of Asian porcelains, with soft hues that are more inviting than intrusive, and the stolidity of ceramics from the Arts and Crafts movement. When working on the wheel, Marsha finds the rise and movement of the clay to be intoxicating. She teaches at Supermud Pottery on the Upper West Side, and seasonally at Chambers Pottery in Tribeca.



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