Alfred Ceramic Art Museum
The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University houses nearly 8,000 ceramic objects ranging from small pottery shards recovered from ancient civilizations to modern and contemporary ceramic art. The primary mission of Alfred Ceramic Art Museum is to collect, preserve, conserve, research, interpret and exhibit ceramic art for aesthetic and educational purposes. The museum is a research and teaching facility, which offers an engagement in cultural history via ceramic art to the student, artist, scholar and collector as well as the local, national and international community. Tours of our collection are made by appointment only. The main gallery space on the 2nd floor is open to the public while exhibitions are on view during the Museum's open hours.
Museum Closure
The Museum will be closed December 15, 2025 - February 11, 2026 to switch exhibitions. We will reopen on February 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. for two exhibition openings and assume normal hours on February 13.
Virtual Tour
If you didn't get a chance to see our last exhibition, History: A Legacy in Motion, or would like to see it all again, you can now experience the show from the comfort of your own screen. Virtually wander through the collection of work by some of the amazing people who have made Alfred what it is today, stop for close ups, and read their bios. Experience the Virtual Tour here!
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Sharif Bey
Autoethnography
February 12 to July 19, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 12, 5-7pm
Sharif Bey moves through clay with rare ease, as comfortable making pots as he is conjuring poetic figures, commanding wall works, and the gargantuan necklaces of his Adornment series. His work can be read at many levels — as an exploration of layered experience; as an investigation of how meanings can shift according to context; as a ceramic practice that refuses to remain fixed in any one category, celebrating instead the endless possibilities of the medium. This show presents the diversity of Bey’s work, which nevertheless retains a united and utterly unique style, with an emphasis on the transitional space between vessels and sculptures. More information is available here!
Eugene Ofori Agyei
Fihankra (You did not say goodbye when you left home)
February 12 to July 19, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 12, 5-7pm
In this exhibition, Agyei borrows from the tradition of Adinkra symbolism native to his homeland of Ghana, in which a single symbol (like "Fihankra") can express a range of complex ideas. These symbols are the inspirational core of the works, but are then integrated with wooden benches (polyvalent forms remembered from his youth) and combined with batik fabric, yarn and occasional found objects to create rich assemblages. The resulting works are simultaneously metaphors for fragmented diasporic identity and playful experiments in aesthetic possibility. More information is available here!
The Museum is located on the northeast corner of Main and Pine Streets on the Alfred University campus. View more information on exhibitions or visiting the Museum. Museum membership information is available online, or by contacting Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Membership Office, Alfred University, Alfred, New York 14802. For more information phone 607-871-2421 or email [email protected].