TODD ART GALLERY • CLAY COMMONS

Where Material Takes Form.

Located in the Todd Art Building, Clay Commons is a flexible exhibition, critique, and discovery space that highlights the creative processes of MTSU Art and Design students. Positioned near the department’s ceramics and sculpture studios, the space extends studio learning into a shared public environment where works in progress, completed projects, and new approaches to making can be encountered throughout the academic year.

Clay Commons serves as an ongoing display area for each semester’s critiques in ceramics, sculpture, 3D printing, and other three-dimensional practices. By allowing selected work to remain on view beyond the classroom critique, the space provides a continuing record of experimentation, technical development, problem-solving, and artistic growth. These evolving displays offer students opportunities to consider how their work functions outside the studio while giving the wider campus community a closer look at the department’s teaching and creative activity.

The space also supports pop-up exhibitions, temporary installations, class projects, demonstrations, visiting-artist presentations, and special displays. Its adaptable character allows Clay Commons to respond quickly to new ideas and opportunities, creating a visible connection between process, critique, presentation, and public engagement.

More than a traditional exhibition area, Clay Commons is a working showcase of material exploration, a place where objects move from concept to creation and from classroom conversation to public view.

Check back regularly for updated images featuring recent artwork, critique selections, and pop-up displays in Clay Commons.