Current Exhibition
Coddiwomple: Material Girls in Conversation
On View: October 3–November 14, 2026
Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Schacht Gallery presents Coddiwomple: Material Girls in Conversation, a duo exhibition of ceramic sculptures and vessels by Leah Kaplan (Philadelphia, PA) and Yuko Nishikawa (NYC). Coddiwomple is an English slang that is defined as traveling in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. The word reflects the artists’ approach to making, which embraces exploration and discovery, unintended and surprises included, in the process.
About this exhibition and her approach to this exhibition, Yuko writes, “Our experience of time and the way our body engages with physical space: these ideas have been occupying my mind. Recently, I visited Leah’s Philadelphia studio in preparation for this two-person exhibition. Standing among her works, I remembered a garden in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Time travel, body forms, and the terra-cotta garden. I am exploring forms taking elements from all these things.
“Around 2017, I began exploring the idea of time and body forms. I was reading physics and science fiction to understand the mismatch between the time the clock measures and the time that I experience. Then I came across Time Travel: A History, a book by James Gleick. He suggests storytelling is the way we travel through time. Exploring this idea, I createdTime Vessels, a series of sculptures, by taking forms of our organs, our internal vessels sustaining our life, allowing us to tell stories, to time travel.
“I found internal organs mysterious then. Now, as I’ve aged, with my body’s increasing need for care and weakening functions, I find knees and eyes also intriguing. I see these forms as vessels that engage us with the physical environment and hold traces of our experiences.
“A few years ago, I visited a narrow street near the market in Chiang Mai. Moss-covered and weathered terracotta figures, including faces, animals, and architectural parts, adorned the garden. It felt cool and quiet, separated from the outside world, creating a contained environment textured in red. When I recently visited Leah’s studio, this experience in the garden came back to me, perhaps through the textures and movement in her porcelain forms, while the colors and the way her works interact with light is in contrast with the objects in the garden.
“I develop forms by observing the feelings the materials and forms seem to convey. Up close, I feel their reactions to my hands’ movements and my hands’ reactions to theirs. I walk away from the objects, seeing them in my peripheral vision when my attention is elsewhere. Forms develop through these interactions.”
Leah Kaplan creates sculptural vessels and objects made of porcelain. Her practice evokes a quiet, numinous presence through subtle relationships between light, texture and form. By applying novel approaches to traditional handbuilding techniques, Leah pushes the boundaries of ceramics, creating thoroughly modern work steeped in materiality. She draws inspiration from fiberarts, as well as photos she takes on her daily walking commute to her studio. She states, “About 12 years ago, I started working exclusively with porcelain, captivated by its whiteness, smoothness and translucency. I did not know it at the time, but that obsession sent me down a path where materiality became everything. I gradually dispensed with glazes and colorants. The more I narrowed my practice, the richer it became, with one discovery leading to the next and then the next. Above all, I realized I love incorporating an element of surprise in my work — as much for myself as for the viewer. I enjoy pushing porcelain to its brink: how thin and translucent can I get it? How do I capture movement? How do I make the inside of a vessel as important as the outside? A late bloomer, I have stored up a lifetime of questions. And when I stumble upon a satisfying resolution, it is addictive in the best possible way.”
More about the artists:
Largely self-taught, Leah Kaplan has worked in clay for nearly four decades, moving between studios up and down the East Coast, while pursuing careers in fashion, writing and international development. Prior to establishing her full-time art practice in Old City Philadelphia in 2019, Kaplan was an associate artist at The Clay Studio. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the US and internationally, including Homo Faber in Venice, Onna House in Soho and East Hampton, NY, the Chautauqua Institution, NY and Art Basel Miami. Her work can be found in both corporate and private collections.
Yuko Nishikawa’s paintings, sculptures, and installations evoke joy and wonder through color, movement, and a diverse materiality, exploring how our physical interaction with objects and surroundings influences our emotions and senses. Mediums like clay, wire, light, and industrial components and found objects like lenses and beach plastics compose her language. Yuko Nishikawa (b.1976, Sendai, Japan) has been living in New York City since the mid-90s. Trained in interior and furniture design, Nishikawa combines crafts, materials science, and spatial study to create transformative experiences. Her work has been exhibited worldwide. Some of her permanent installations can be found in Brooklyn, New York, Watertown, Massachusetts, Frisco, Texas, and Tokyo, Japan. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
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Monday - Saturday, 10am - 4pm & by appointment.
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Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
The Schacht Gallery features the breadth and depth of contemporary ceramics by local, regional, national and international clay artists. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday 11am - 4pm and by appointment.
