2026 CONFERENCE
CONVERSATIONS IN CLAY
MAY 23-24, 2026
ART GALLERY OF BURLINGTON
The 2026 FUSION Conference took place May 23–24 at the Art Gallery of Burlington, bringing together three powerhouse voices in contemporary clay: Tony Clennell, Bruce Cochrane, and Kiefer Floreal from The Great Canadian Pottery Throwdown. This sold-out event brought participants a rare opportunity to learn directly from three artists shaping the field today and to connect with peers from across the province.
Art Gallery of Burlington
Meet the Presenters
AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSIONS
This year, we introduced afternoon breakout sessions as part of the conference experience. These expert-led sessions offered participants practical insights into professional practice, creative growth, and a behind-the-scenes look at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
1:30-3:30 PM
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Mayco Glaze Workshop with Todd Hickerson
Explore Mayco’s most popular products and how to build rich, layered surfaces. Participants will see demonstrations, test combinations and learn reliable application methods. Great for anyone wanting to expand their glaze vocabulary with confidence.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Pricing & Communicating Value with with
Naomi Clement
Let's be honest—talking about money is hard, and talking about pricing the pots you've literally poured your heart into? That's a whole other level of hard. In this workshop, Naomi Clement tackles both the practical nuts-and-bolts of pricing your work AND the trickier mindset and marketing side of communicating value to your customers. Drawing on her 25+ years of pottery experience and 8 years in luxury sales and marketing, Naomi shares strategies to help you price confidently and sell authentically—because selling is really just storytelling. Whether you're underselling your work or struggling to articulate why your pots are worth what they cost, this session will help you shift from "starving artist" thinking to building a sustainable creative practice. After all, we all make better work when we're fed well.
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Naomi Clement is a Canadian ceramic artist, educator, and creative entrepreneur based in Stratford, Ontario. She works in functional ceramics and helps makers grow sustainable practices through workshops, mentorship, and courses on pricing, production, marketing, and the business of clay. Naomi holds an MFA from Louisiana State University and a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University and has taught and exhibited across Canada and the US. She served on the board of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and was named a 2017 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Mentorships in the Clay World with Angelo di Petta and Susan Low Beer, RCA
Moderators: Stephanie Vegh, Head of Learning, AGB and Barb Banfield, who established the FUSION Mentorship Program
Angelo di Petta and Susan Low Beer lead an open conversation about training, growth and how artists build momentum in clay. Participants can ask about mentorship paths, portfolio development or navigating opportunities across Canada’s ceramic landscape. It’s a relaxed, supportive space for real questions and honest insight.
Susan Low-Beer RCA holds a BFA from Mount Allison University and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She received the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in Crafts in 1999 and was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2000. Susan has exhibited internationally, with work in major public collections including the Canadian Museum of History, the Gardiner Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Museum of Modern Art (Japan). Her retrospective Embodiment: 30 Years of Sculpture toured nationally in 2017–2018, and her exhibition Specimen has travelled widely since 2018.
Angelo di Petta has been making and exhibiting ceramics for over 50 years. His work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions as well as in magazines and books on ceramics. Angelo graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) in 1972 and began teaching there in 1973. Since retiring in 2012, he has continued to share his ceramics, mould-making and design expertise through teaching, lectures, workshops and mentorship. Angelo also serves on the FUSION Board and oversees the Mentorship Program.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
The Business of Clay — Trends, Innovations and What’s Next?
Leaders from Tucker’s, PSH, Mayco, Sandtastik and more share what they’re seeing in materials, tools and global market trends. The informal walk through showcases what clay suppliers are offering conference delegates. If you have an idea to bring to the marketplace, learn how in this casual setting which allows for shopping too.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Picture Perfect with
MP Guillot
In this session at the AGB photo studio, we explore why strong images matter. High-quality photographs set the context for your work, communicate your artistic point of view, and clearly capture texture, colour, and form in a professional way. Together, we’ll cover how to photograph work using limited equipment, simple techniques, and easy editing tools. You’ll leave with practical skills and a strategy to elevate your portfolio, juried submissions, and online presence.
MP Guillot is a multidisciplinary artist from Québec, based in Toronto. Ceramics has become her playground to be in relationship with her creative intuition. She loves to dream up otherworldly forms, bake colour, and explore the secret language of objects. With a background that weaves through design, fashion, and photography, she is also the owner of the creative agency Don’t Waste Your Genius, specializing in content strategy, branding, videography and photography. She works with clients around the world and across industries, driven by a mission to help others grow into their full creative potential.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Exhibition Tour with Suzanne Carte — Celina Eceiza: Tenderness
The Art Gallery of Burlington's Artistic Director & Senior Curator Suzanne Carte leads a thoughtful tour of Celina Eceiza’s exhibition, curated by Sylvie Fortin. She shares insights into the artist’s materials, themes and conceptual anchors. A great chance to engage with the work through a curatorial lens.
Suzanne Carte is a curator, cultural producer, and waste management coordinator whose two-decade career has been dedicated to expanding access, sustainability, and equity within Canada's arts sector. As Artistic Director/Curator at the AGB, she champions an institution that disrupts the binary between contemporary art and craft. Carte is the founder of Artist Material Fund (AMF), Canada's only material relocation service diverting cultural waste from landfills.
Her curatorial foundation was built over ten years as Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU), where she developed integrated approaches to exhibitions and public programming. Her independent practice spans artist-run centres, public spaces, and commercial galleries, consistently prioritizing community engagement and accessibility. A national advocate for circular economies in cultural production, Carte has lectured at universities and colleges, and spoke on panels for galleries, museums, and service organizations. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art History from Sotheby's Art Institute, New York, and a BFA from the University of Windsor.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS
1:30-3:30 PM
SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Mayco Glaze Workshop with Todd Hickerson
Explore Mayco’s most popular products and how to build rich, layered surfaces. Participants will see demonstrations, test combinations and learn reliable application methods. Great for anyone wanting to expand their glaze vocabulary with confidence.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Collecting Contemporary: Behind the Scenes with Christine Saly-Chapman
This session offers a glimpse into how collectors, curators and institutions approach contemporary ceramic work. Speakers unpack what drives acquisitions, how relationships form and what strengthens an artist’s presence in the field. Catch a rare look at the AGB collection from inside the vault.
Christine Saly-Chapman is the Collections Manager at the Art Gallery of Burlington and oversees the care of 4,000 pieces in the permanent collection. She has worked with a range of archaeological, historical and art collections over the past 15+ years. A graduate of the Masters of Museums Studies program at the University of Toronto, she also holds a Fine Arts Diploma in Cultural Resource Management from the University of Victoria and an Honours Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Opening the Gallery Door: Opportunities with John Gagné of Gagné Contemporary and Jennifer Kerbel Poirier of Vessels and Sticks
Moderator: Jonah Strub
Galleries share what they look for in submissions, proposals and studio visits. The panel covers how to prepare, what to avoid and how to build long-term relationships with gallery partners. Ideal for artists looking to expand visibility and professional opportunities.
Vessels + Sticks was founded by Jennifer Kerbel Poirier as a gallery dedicated exclusively to contemporary, material based art, with a primary focus on ceramics. Representing artists from around the world, the gallery brings clay into sharper focus, expanding the ceramic collector base in Canada and positioning ceramics within broader conversations in contemporary art and design.
John Gagné is the founder of Gagné Contemporary, a gallery focused on emerging and mid-career Toronto and New York artists. With two gallery locations in Toronto, he is an art advisor to collectors, often leading clients to artist studios and other commercial galleries across the city.
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SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
The Business of Clay — Trends, Innovations and What’s Next?
Leaders from Tucker’s, PSH, Mayco, Sandtastik and more share what they’re seeing in materials, tools and global market trends. The informal walk through showcases what clay suppliers are offering conference delegates. If you have an idea to bring to the marketplace, learn how in this casual setting which allows for shopping too.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Picture Perfect with
MP Guillot
In this session at the AGB photo studio, we explore why strong images matter. High-quality photographs set the context for your work, communicate your artistic point of view, and clearly capture texture, colour, and form in a professional way. Together, we’ll cover how to photograph work using limited equipment, simple techniques, and easy editing tools. You’ll leave with practical skills and a strategy to elevate your portfolio, juried submissions, and online presence.
MP Guillot is a multidisciplinary artist from Québec, based in Toronto. Ceramics has become her playground to be in relationship with her creative intuition. She loves to dream up otherworldly forms, bake colour, and explore the secret language of objects. With a background that weaves through design, fashion, and photography, she is also the owner of the creative agency Don’t Waste Your Genius, specializing in content strategy, branding, videography and photography. She works with clients around the world and across industries, driven by a mission to help others grow into their full creative potential.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON BREAKOUT SESSION
Exhibition Tour with Suzanne Carte — Celina Eceiza: Tenderness
The Art Gallery of Burlington's Artistic Director & Senior Curator Suzanne Carte leads a thoughtful tour of Celina Eceiza’s exhibition, curated by Sylvie Fortin. She shares insights into the artist’s materials, themes and conceptual anchors. A great chance to engage with the work through a curatorial lens.
Suzanne Carte is a curator, cultural producer, and waste management coordinator whose two-decade career has been dedicated to expanding access, sustainability, and equity within Canada's arts sector. As Artistic Director/Curator at the AGB, she champions an institution that disrupts the binary between contemporary art and craft. Carte is the founder of Artist Material Fund (AMF), Canada's only material relocation service diverting cultural waste from landfills.
Her curatorial foundation was built over ten years as Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU), where she developed integrated approaches to exhibitions and public programming. Her independent practice spans artist-run centres, public spaces, and commercial galleries, consistently prioritizing community engagement and accessibility. A national advocate for circular economies in cultural production, Carte has lectured at universities and colleges, and spoke on panels for galleries, museums, and service organizations. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art History from Sotheby's Art Institute, New York, and a BFA from the University of Windsor.
The Henry Goodman Exhibition for Emerging Artists
The conference kicked off on the evening of May 22nd with the opening reception of the inaugural Henry Goodman Exhibition for Emerging Artists at the Art Gallery of Burlington. The juried exhibition celebrated emerging ceramic and glass artists exploring themes of connection, community, and shared experience through the lens of GATHERING. The reception coincided with the AGB's Spring Exhibitions celebration, making for a truly special start to the weekend.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS, SUPPORTERS & PARTNERS
