Archie Bray

Closed for Thanksgiving
2025-11-27 08:00 - 2025-11-28 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Bray will be closed for two days in observance of Thanksgiving.

Closed for Holiday Break
2025-12-24 08:00 - 2026-01-04 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Bray will be closed for a Holiday Break from December 24 to January 4. Please see below to see when each area of the Bray will be open again:

The Administration Office will open on January 5, 2026

The Clay Business will open on January 12, 2026

The Gallery will open on January 13, 2026

Bray Closed - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
2026-01-19 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)

For the Love of Art Sale
2026-02-03 08:00 - 2026-02-13 17:00 (America/Denver)
For a limited time, all work in the gallery will be offered at graduated pricing. This one-time, in-person opportunity invites visitors and collectors to browse a wide range of ceramic work, with increasing discounts as we consolidate inventory.

From February 3-6, all work will be 15% off.

From February 10-13, all work will be 25% off.

Please note that all artists’ earnings remain unchanged. The discount will come entirely from The Bray’s portion of the sale.

Community Bowl Fest
2026-03-15 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Denver) | Archie Bray Foundation, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
Create for a cause! Join The Bray for a hands-on opportunity to craft beautiful bowls that will be donated to Helena Food Share’s impactful Empty Bowls fundraiser. Come together, get creative, and help make a difference in the community. See you at the Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement on Sunday, March 15, from 11 am to 2 pm!

No experience or registration is necessary. Suggested donation of $5 helps us cover material and firing fees. Drip in for 1, 2, or 3 hours of fun with the community!

Exiting Fellows Exhibition
2026-04-09 08:00 - 2026-05-23 17:00 (America/Denver)
For the past two years, six long-term residents have been hard at work at The Bray, and it is time to celebrate all they have accomplished. Join us for the Exiting Fellows Exhibition Reception on April 23, 6-8 pm in the North Gallery of the Archie Bray Foundation. View the artwork and listen to the residents talk about their time at The Bray during gallery talks at 6:30 pm.

On View: April 9-May 23

Reception: April 23, 6-8 pm

View the exhibition catalog HERE

Artist Amplified; Eva Kwong
2026-04-09 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Join us for a dynamic evening as we gather in support of artistic inquiry and exchange with Visiting Artist, Eva Kwong. Don’t miss this meaningful opportunity to engage with Eva’s artistic trajectory, research, and contributions to the field.

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We look forward to hearing what Eva has to share and having you join us!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

Discover More About Eva’s Work Here!

Eva Kwong grew up in Hong Kong and New York. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the Tyler School of Art. Eva is known for her compelling, colorful and sensuous organic forms in her sculptures, vases and installations. Her work has been awarded fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council, Arts Midwest, National Endowment For the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She is a McKnight Fellow at the Northern Clay Center in 2017. Her work can be found in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Archie Bray Foundation, The Finnish Craft Museum, Cranbrook Art Museum, Fule International Ceramics Museum, etc.

Interested in learning more about event sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Pots & Plants Market
2026-05-09 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver)
Our annual Pots & Plants Market is back!

Join us on May 9 from 10 am–3 pm to browse a beautiful selection of planters and vases, all ready to go home with you. Whether you’re treating yourself or someone special, there’s something here for everyone — and with Mother’s Day just around the corner, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. See you there!

Artist Amplified; Bray Staff Showcase
2026-05-14 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

This special installment of our lecture series shines a light on some of our many staff members who are also active, practicing artists. Join us for an intriguing evening as they share their creative work and offer a glimpse into the studio practices that continue to shape and inspire them. We’re proud to celebrate the artistic lives within our own team and the vibrant creative culture that sustains our campus.

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We can’t wait to discover what our colleagues have to share and look forward to having you join us!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

Want to learn more about Sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Bray Closed - Memorial Day
2026-05-25 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)

Resident Artists Exhibition
2026-06-11 11:00 - 2026-08-15 17:00 (America/Denver)
Discover fresh voices and new perspectives in contemporary ceramics at the 2026 Resident Artists Exhibition! Bringing together work by 20 talented artists in residence at The Bray, the exhibition features both long-term and summer residents from across the globe. On view in The Bray’s Warehouse Gallery, the exhibition showcases a wide range of contemporary ceramic practices, offering a glimpse into the creativity, experimentation, and exchange that define the resident artist experience.

On view in the Warehouse Gallery from June 11 to August 15, with a reception on June 18, 6 – 8 pm.

VIEW THE ONLINE CATALOG HERE

Artist Amplified; Summer Residents Part I
2026-06-11 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Connect with this year’s Summer Residents (Part I!) through a fun and engaging presentation in the form of a lightning round panel discussion moderated by Bray staff. View each of our incoming summer residents artworks via slides while getting to know more about each of them as artists and individuals. Discover what their plans are for their time with us and hear what their thinking and working on in their studios!

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We can’t wait to discover what our summer residents have to share!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

About the Presenters:

Amy Sanders was born in Yueyang, Hunan, China and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. She holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with a concentration in Ceramics from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. In 2022, she completed a year as a post- baccalaureate student at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. From 2022-2024, she served as a long-term Artist in Residence at the Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, FL. She served as an invited artist at the 2025 winter Pentaculum short term residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. Recently, Amy attended a Resident Artist at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shiga, Japan. Amy has shown in exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her article “Harmonious Pouring Vessels” was included in the September 2025 issue of Ceramics Monthly. Currently, she is attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a Master’s of Fine Arts candidate. Discover More About Amy’s Work Here!

David Vuong is an interdisciplinary artist who creates sculptures incorporating ceramic, glass, wood, and metal. He is fascinated by how memory constructs the human and connects with his experiences of societal displacement. Through an interest in material and form, he explores the language of vessels for the human and how processes of bodily preservation appear in cultural narratives. He graduated from Alfred University with a BFA and completed a post-bacc in ceramics at Temple University. He is a recipient of the 2025 Haystack artist grant initiative and a former resident at Watershed and Wheaton Arts. He is also a multi-recipient artist grant awardee for material and glaze research. David currently resides in Providence, RI, continuing his sculptural practice as a long-term resident at The Steelyard. Discover More About David’s Work Here!

Faye Hadfield (b.1996) is a ceramic artist from the north east of England, whose work explores emotion, while blending Rococo aesthetics with crude handbuilt textures to create material dichotomies between surface and decoration. In Faye’s work memories of the British countryside resurface as motifs through gestures in the foliaged decoration, giving homage to the bucolic landscape of England where she grew up. Faye completed her BFA in Ceramics at Bath Spa University (Bath,UK), and the Kunst University (Linz, Austria), 2018. Faye holds an MFA in ceramics from The University of Iowa (Iowa, USA) 2026. Faye has exhibited her artwork internationally and nationally at: Collect (London), Le Delta (Belgium), Soho Review (London), Ceramic Art Fair (Paris), Culture Object (New York), HAGD Gallery & Galerie Worlfsen (Denmark),Nomad ST Moritz (Switzerland), Side Gallery (Spain), and annually at Paris Art & Design, in Paris and London. Faye has received international and national research grants to expand her research in ceramics and Rococo Ornamentation. Hadfield has been awarded residencies at Ceramica Suro (Guadalajara, Mexico), The Clay Shed (Bristol, UK) and CRICA exchange residency (Nebraska Lincoln, USA). Discover More About Faye’s Work Here!

John Shea (b. 1989) works with clay to examine the way objects form relationships and exist in the world. Incorporating geometric and organic forms, his work highlights the constructed boundaries between individual objects and the ways we differentiate between objects and ourselves, seeking to reveal the hidden structures of our world. Shea holds a Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally through prominent galleries, including HostlerBurrows and HB381 in New York and Los Angeles, Officine Saffi in Milan, and Carwan Gallery in Athens. Additionally his work has been featured in art fairs such as Design Miami, TEFAF, Collect, and Frieze New York. His most recent solo exhibition, full volume, opened in January 2025 at the Walton Art Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Shea currently serves as Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of Arkansas–Little Rock, where he has taught since 2021. Discover More About John’s Work Here!

Nanxi Jin (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist working with clay as a site of fragmentation and reconstruction. Born in Jingdezhen, China, the historical center of porcelain production, and now based in Chicago. Her practice examines how ceramic materials carry cultural memory across geographies. Her work begins with broken forms: shards, discarded vessels, and glaze residues. Rather than restoring these elements, she reassembles them into structures that hover between function and collapse. Through processes such as slip casting, handbuilding, and modular construction, she destabilizes traditional ceramic hierarchies of refinement and perfection, foregrounding the overlooked waste, excess, and residue. Nanxi received her BFA from Alfred University and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including NYCxDesign (New York), Woman Made Gallery (Chicago), SOIL (Seattle), Ceramic Art Avenue Gallery (Jingdezhen), and Paris Design Week (Paris). She has been awarded residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, Ox-Bow School of Art, Vermont Studio Center, and Anderson Ranch. Her work is included in the Guangdong Shiwan Ceramic Museum’s collection in China. Discover More About Nanxi’s Work Here!

Want to learn more about Sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Recent Acquisitions: The Bray's Permanent Collection
2026-06-12 08:00 - 2026-08-01 17:00 (America/Denver)
On view in The Bray’s North Gallery through August 1, 2026, the exhibition highlights recent additions to The Bray’s Permanent Collection while recognizing the impact these artists have had on the Bray community.

Artists Featured: Sarah Alsaied, Spencer Cheek, Colby Charpentier, Caleb Considine, Austin Coudriet, Corinna Cowles, Laura Dirksen, Rachel A. Donner, Avi Farber, Vincent Frimpong, Dante Gambardella, Jeanine Hill, Aida Lizalde, Tommy Lomeli, Simphiwe Mbunyuza, Carey Nathanson, Marcè Nixon-Washington, Austin Riddle, Jason Lee Starin, Kim Tucker, Eliza Weber, Maura Wright

Artwork in photo by Corinna Cowles and Marcè Nixon-Washington

Now, Next, Always: The Bray 2000-2025
2026-06-12 11:00 - 2026-08-02 17:00 (America/Denver) | Holter Museum of Art, 12 E Lawrence St., Helena, Montana, 59602
Guest Curated by Jenni Sorkin

On View: June 12-August 2, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, June 12, 2026, 6-8 pm

Bray Closed - Juneteenth
2026-06-19 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)

Bray Closed - Independence Day
2026-07-03 08:00 - 2026-07-04 17:00 (America/Denver)

Artist Amplified; Priscilla Dobler Dzul
2026-07-09 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Join us for an evening with Visiting Artist Priscilla Dobler Dzul as she shares insights into her background, studio practice, and current body of work – offering a closer look at the ideas and processes shaping her time on campus. Spend the evening in conversation with us as we celebrate the depth and range of contemporary ceramics through the lens of a working artist.

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We look forward to hearing what Priscilla has to share and having you join us!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

Discover More About Priscilla’s Work Here!

Priscilla Dobler Dzul is an interdisciplinary storyteller, from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico currently living between both borders. As a child, she spent her summers cleaning apartments with her mother. She witnessed first-hand physically forced evictions, domestic violence, racism, and sexism towards members of her community, family, and self. These themes recur in Priscilla’s artwork.

Priscilla’s Maya grandpa and Scottish-German grandparents took her to painting and pottery classes. Taught her how to garden while studying native plants. Her Scottish Grandma Ruby introduced her to the industrial rope Henequen and told her how shipping yards in Glasgow imported them from Yucatan. Her Maya grandfather gave her oral stories of Maya warriors and folklore. Her Maya aunties helped her with sewing projects.

It’s through these experiences of labor, love, and resilience that Priscilla understood the importance of community and how traditional folk art both shows our stories and our relationship to the ecosystems.

Interested in learning more about event sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Brickyard Bash
2026-07-25 18:00 - 22:30 (America/Denver)
Join us for The Bray’s annual summer celebration, bringing our community together for an evening of art, music, food, and fun on our historic brickyard campus. Enjoy delicious offerings from local food trucks, beverages, and live music from the band Big Sky Mudflaps while gathering with friends and fellow supporters of the ceramic arts.

The evening will also feature a live auction of one-of-a-kind collaborative artworks – unique pieces you won’t find anywhere else. Proceeds from the event help support The Bray’s mission to provide a creative environment where artists can live, work, and push the boundaries of ceramics. Join us for a lively summer night in the brickyard as we celebrate art, community and the artists who make it all possible!

Purchase tickets and register to bid HERE!

Artist Amplified; Summer Residents Part II
2026-08-13 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Connect with this year’s Summer Residents (Part II!) through a fun and engaging presentation in the form of a lightning round panel discussion moderated by Bray staff. View each of our incoming summer residents artworks via slides while getting to know more about each of them as artists and individuals. Discover what their plans are for their time with us and hear what their thinking and working on in their studios!

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We can’t wait to discover what our summer residents have to share!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

About the Presenters:

Chelsea McMaster is a ceramic artist who primarily works with coil-building, sculptural techniques, and traditional finishes. Her work transcribes unwritten and forgotten narratives that bridge history, craft, and storytelling through the ceramic medium. She completed her BA in Art at Millersville University (PA) and a MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University (NY). In 2023, she was awarded the NCECA Graduate Student Fellowship and the American Ceramic Circle Research grant. She is a Fulbright Scholar and a National Geographic Explorer whose focus is on the preservation, education, and expansion of Afro-Caribbean pottery practices. Her research-based practice centers matriarchal craft legacies and preserving oral culture and traditions through object-making. Discover More About Chelsea’s Work Here!

Abbey Peters is currently based in Denver, CO and serves as the Phipps Visiting Professor of Ceramics at the University of Denver. She holds an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Iowa and a BFA from the University of Arkansas. Her work has been exhibited in over forty group exhibitions across the US and Canada, in addition to recent solo shows at Berea College, and UIHC Project Art. Peters has received international research grants supporting projects on reproductive care, seed preservation, and beekeeping in London, UK. She has held technician and teaching roles at Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO), Lillstreet Art Center (Chicago, IL) and Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA). Peters has been awarded residencies at laRex l’Atelier (St. Raphael, France), the inaugural CIRCA Exchange (Boulder, CO), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), and the Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, MT). Discover More About Abbey’s Work Here!

Alexandra Barao is a potter and educator based in Western North Carolina. She was born and raised in Virginia and received her BFA in Sculpture + Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010. She then spent a decade in the San Fransisco Bay Area learning, teaching, and building community through clay. Since returning to the Southeast in 2022, she has been exploring new connections to this craft in a region where its history is deep and rich. She has been an artist in residence at Cub Creek Foundation in Virginia and Township 10 in Marshall, North Carolina, and has taught workshops on atmospheric firing at The Oki Doki Studio and the Clay Studio of Missoula. Discover More About Alexandra’s Work Here!

Alma Berrow (b. 1992, Dorset, UK) is a British ceramic artist creating intricate trompe l’oeil sculptures that reimagine the still life through a contemporary lens. Her work playfully occupies the space between adult and child, humour and unease, often depicting food, tablescapes and domestic scenes that feel both familiar and subtly disquieting. Berrow began working with ceramics during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Dorset, developing a self taught practice rooted in slow, highly detailed making. Her work has been presented in a number of solo and group exhibitions, including three solo exhibitions with Lamb Gallery in London, as well as presentations with Sotheby’s and Timothy Taylor. She recently presented her first US solo exhibition, What Slips Beneath the Sugar, with Megan Mulrooney in Los Angeles, and has undertaken an international residency in Guadalajara with Cerámica Suro. Her practice is increasingly expanding into larger, installation-based works that explore themes of community, ritual and shared experience. Discover More About Alma’s Work Here!

Corwyn Lund is Toronto-based visual artist. He received his MFA in Ceramic Art from Alfred University in 2022, after studying sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) with the support of a Fulbright Scholarship. Lund has participated in ceramic residencies around the world, including in Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, and China. In April 2024 his ceramic work was featured on the cover of Ceramics Monthly magazine, which contained an article on his practice. In 2025, he received the runner-up prize for the Winifred Shantz Award for Canadian ceramics. Corwyn’s ceramic work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Headstone Gallery in New York state, and Zalucky Contemporary in Toronto, and is held in the permanent collections of the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, and Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. Works in other media are held in several prominent Canadian corporate and private collections. Discover More About Corwyn’s Work Here!

Want to learn more about Sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Bray Closed - Labor Day
2026-09-07 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)

Artist Amplified; TBD
2026-09-10 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We look forward to having you join us!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

Interested in learning more about event sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Kolva Sullivan Exhibition
2026-10-02 08:00 - 2026-10-31 17:00 (America/Denver) | Kolva Sullivan Gallery, 115 S Adams St a, Spokane, Washington, 99201, United States
On view from October 2 to October 31 at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery in Spokane, WA, with a reception on October 2 at 5 pm.

Artist Amplified; Shalene Valenzuela
2026-10-08 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement, 2915 Country Club Avenue, Helena, 59602
In Person or Streaming Online!

Join us at The Bray for an evening with Visiting Artist, Shalene Valenzuela. Don’t miss the opportunity to spend time with a practicing artist and arts organization leader to gain deeper insight into the rhythms, challenges, and rewards of working in the field. Come on out and be part of a thoughtful and engaging evening as we gather to learn from and celebrate the visiting artists who enrich The Bray’s creative community.

Our Artist Amplified lecture and demonstration series allows artists and art enthusiasts to share their history, process, and conceptual motivations with the public through various presentation formats. We look forward to hearing what Shalene has to share and having you join us!

In Person: Frances Senska Center for Education and Engagement 2915 Country Club Ave Helena, MT 59602

JOIN VIRTUALLY! (Link goes live at the time of the event)

Discover More About Shalene’s Work Here!

Shalene Valenzuela was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She received a BA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts. In 2007, she moved from her longtime home of Oakland, CA to participate in a long-term residency at The Clay Studio of Missoula. She currently maintains a studio at home in East Missoula and serves as the executive director at The Clay Studio of Missoula.

Shalene has participated in short term artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation (2006), Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2004, 2011), and the LH Project (2016). She has taught a variety of classes at Flathead Valley Community College, University of Montana, Oregon College of Art and Craft, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula Art Museum, Richmond Art Center, ASUC Studios at UC Berkeley, and CCA Extended Education. Shalene has been a guest artist and speaker at a number of art centers, colleges, and universities. Her work has been featured in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and is in a number of private and public collections.

Interested in learning more about event sponsorship opportunities? Email liz.harrison@archiebray.org

Bray Closed - Indigenous People's Day
2026-10-12 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)

Educational Fellowship Exhibition
2026-11-06 08:00 - 2026-12-12 17:00 (America/Denver)
On view from November 6 to December 12, with a reception on November 12 (in conjunction with the Holiday Show).

Holiday Show Opening Reception
2026-11-12 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver)

Bray Closed - Thanksgiving
2026-11-26 08:00 - 2026-11-27 17:00 (America/Denver)

Bray Closed - Winter Break
2026-12-23 08:00 - 2027-01-02 17:00 (America/Denver)
