The Blaffer Collection |New Harmony Clay Project's Past Artists in Residence

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Last Updated: Jan 29, 2026, 03:50 PM

t Lance with ceramics by Caro Burks

The Blaffer Collection | New Harmony Clay Project’s Past Artists in Residence
September 9 - December 13 , 2025


This exhibition features a selection of works from various ceramic Artists-in-Residence from the New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP). These artists have the opportunity to create and experience the slower pace of the New Harmony, Indiana community that is home to two attempts at establishing utopia and the surroundings “that pay tribute to a blend of the past and future.” The Blaffer Collection will be on view September 9 - December 13, 2025 with an artist talk by NHCP Founder and director, Lenny Dowhie followed by reception on Friday, September 19, 5-9pm.


Situated off of the Wabash River, New Harmony Clay Project is an artist residency and educational center whose mission is to foster an environment that supports the investigation of new ideas and work in the ceramic arts. The Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation provides NHCP with year-round studio space at the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Pottery studio, and September-April of each year, it gives the “Gate House” as housing for the NHCP resident artists. This in-kind support makes the program possible.


The Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation was created to preserve, promote and support, financially, and otherwise, the various historic and educational attributes of New Harmony, Indiana, and the Part of Posey County, Indiana, that is immediately adjacent to and historically or culturally related to the Town of New Harmony. A 501(c)(3), the Corporation has been organized exclusively for charitable, religious, scientific, literary or educational purposes.


Ms. Jane Blaffer Owen, the daughter of Robert Lee Blaffer and Sarah Campbell Blaffer, was a firm believer in the ceramic arts. “In the mid-1950s, to channel her philanthropic efforts and to honor her late father, she established the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation. Grants from the Foundation were to be used to preserve and promote the town’s historical and educational attributes.” The clay studio was constructed in 1985.
In 2015, the Blaffer Foundation requested proposals for programming that utilized the ceramics studio facilities. Lenny Dowhie, Professor Emeritus at University of Southern Indiana (USI), developed and proposed a residency program that gave ceramic artists access to an immersive experience that could truly expand their creative ideas by eliminating any associated program fees, the typical concerns for work-life balance and the need for general sustaining income. This allows time for residents to fully commit to a serious focus on the development and execution of their ideas.