Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Renwick Gallery of American Art of the Smithsonian Institute
Philadelphia Art Museum
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Swedish National Museum, Sweden
Montreal Museum of Art, Canada
Tang Museum of Skidmore College
Fuller Craft Museum, Boston, Mass.
James A. Michener Museum of Art, Doylestown, Pa.
Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pa.
Phila. Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum
Berman Museum of Ursinus College, Pa.
Flint Museum of Art, Flint, Michigan
Louis Tanner Moore Collection of African American Art, Penna.
Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, China
Frederick R. Weisman Collection, Los Angeles, Ca.
Muriel Newman Collection, Chicago, Ill.
Petrucci Family Collection of African American Art
Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Bell Atlantic Corp., Philadelphia
Swarthmore College, Permanent Collection

National Council of Ceramic Arts Excellence in Teaching Award, 2024

American Craft Council Fellowship, 2024

United States Artists Fellowship, 2023

Anonymous Was a Woman, 2023

National Council of Ceramic Arts Excellence in Teaching Award, 2023

Peggy Chan Endowed Professorship in Black Studies, Swarthmore College, 2020

James Renwick Educator of the Year Award, Smithsonian Institute, 2020

Leeway Foundation Fellowships, 1999, 2012

Eugene Lang Swarthmore Faculty Fellowships, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012

Pew Fellowship in the Arts, 1992

Leeway Foundation Artists Fellowship, 2011, 1999

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Master Fellowship in Visual Arts, 1990

National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic, Fellowship, 1989

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship, 1985

Southern Illinois University Clay National Exhibition Purchase Award, 1988

State Univ. of New York at Buffalo National Exhibition Best of Show Award, 1988

2027
“Weathering: Syd Carpenter, Sana Musasama, Lydia Thomson, Map Kinnord Payton,” California State Univ. at Sacramento
Syd Carpenter curates and exhibits with 4 other artists (TBA), The Clay Studio

2026
Three-part retrospective
“Syd Carpenter: Planting in Place, Time and Memory,” Woodmere Art Museum, Pa.
“Re-Union: Syd Carpenter, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Sana Musasama, Winnie Owens-Hart, Judy Moonelis,” MacQuire Museum at St. Joseph’s University, Pa.
“Syd Carpenter: Homebound in Wood, Steel and Clay,” Berman Museum at Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pa.
2025–2026, “State Fairs: Growing American Craft,” Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute

2025
Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, “State Fairs and Farms,” Washington, D.C.

2024
Vernon Filley Art Museum, “Dug Deeper,” Philadelphia, Pa.
The Clay Studio, “Founders and Foundations,” Philadelphia, Pa.

2022
“Shapes From No Where,” Robert Ellison Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.
Solo exhibition, Rowan University, Glassboro, N.J.

2021
Voices and Visionaries, Philadelphia Sculptors at the Cherry Street Pier

2020
“Women Working With Clay: Ten Years of Telling the Story,” The Valentine Museum, Richmond, Virginia; The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Roanoke, Virginia

2019
St. Olaf College, “Diversity Within Diversity,” Minnesota

2018
Society for Art in Craft, Pittsburgh, Pa., Nat’l Conference on Education in Ceramic Arts
Solo, Standard Ceramics, Pittsburgh, Pa., NCECA
Solo, Center for Established and Emerging Visual Artists, “Mother Pins”
Solo, Noba Gallery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

2017
Skidmore College Gallery, Guest Artists Exhibition
The Clay Studio, “Making a Difference,” Phila., Pa.
Physic House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2016
Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel University, “Shaping Minds: Philadelphia’s Clay Mentors”
Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Four Women in Clay, Hollins University, Roanoke, Va.
Fuller Craft Museum, “Faces of Politics: In/Tolerance,” Boston, Ma.

2014
Solo exhibit, “More Places of Our Own,” The African American Museum of Philadelphia
Catalog for “Represent,” Philadelphia Museum of Art

2012
“Earth and Alchemy,” Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Ma.
“Creative Hand, Discerning Heart,” James A. Michener Museum, Doylestown, Penna.
“Mahalia: Queen of Gospel Music,” Dallas Museum of African American Art, Dallas, Texas

2011
“Informed by Fire,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, Phila., Pa.
“Garden as Muse,” Walton Art Center, Fayetteville, Ark.
Syd Carpenter, Sarah McEneaney, Lois Dodd, Markus Baenziger, Sally Apfelbaum

2010
Solo exhibit, “A Place of Our Own,” Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.
“Fertile Ground,” Philadelphia Horticultural Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
Philadelphia Ceramic Sculpture, Delaware County Community College, Media, Penna.
“Catalyze This,” University of Delaware, Crane Bldg., Philadelphia, Pa.

2009
Solo exhibit, John Jay College, New York, New York
“Mass and Meaning: Clay Sculpture,” Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, Florida

2008
Invitational exhibition, August Wilson Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.

2007
“From Taboo to Icon,” Icebox Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.

2006
Solo exhibition, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, Delaware

2005
“Chemistry of Color,” Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
“Tour de Clay Afrique,” Baltimore Clay Works, Baltimore, Md.
Solo exhibition, Coppin University, Baltimore, Maryland
Solo exhibition, Sande Webster Gallery, Phila., Pa.

2004–2007
Travelling exhibition, “Shades of Clay: Cultural Look at Contemporary Clay”
Louisiana Art and Science Museum, Baton Rouge; Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock; Baum Gallery of Fine Art, Univ. of Central Arkansas; Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Wisconsin

2004
“Diversity in Unity,” Baltimore Clay Works, Baltimore, Md.

2003
Rush Art Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Impregnable Direction,” Selections from Hampton Univ. Museum
Syd Carpenter / Steven Donegan, two-person exhibit, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia

2002
Stella Jones Gallery, two-person exhibit
Syd Carpenter / Sonya Clark, New Orleans, La.
21st Century Philadelphia Sculptors, Samuel T. Freeman Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.
U.F.A. Gallery, Women in the Arts, New York, N.Y.
Everson Ceramic National, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Ca.
Pelham Art Center, “Innovations in Clay: American and Hungarian Ceramics,” Pelham, New York

2001
Solo exhibition, Ganser Gallery, Millersville University, Millersville, Pa.
Solo exhibit, Philadelphia International Airport installation
Everson Ceramic National, Samuel P. Harn Museum, Gainesville, Florida
Everson Ceramic National, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois
Howard University, “Reconstructing the Shards,” Washington, D.C.

2000
Scripps College Ceramics National, Williamson Gallery, Claremont, Ca.
Phila. African American Museum Biennial Exhibition
“Figures: Alone and Together,” Craft Alliance, St. Louis, Mo.
Solo exhibition, Sande Webster Gallery, Phila., Pa.

1999
“Thunder in the Cathedral,” Rush Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Processing the Signal,” Sharadin Gallery, Kutztown Univ., Pa.
Art Alliance, Leeway Foundation Fellowship Exhibition, Phila.
Denise Bibro Gallery, Clay Invitational, New York, N.Y.
“A More Perfect Union,” Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, Pa.

1998
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fleisher Challenge at Twenty, invited
“20 x 12: A Generation of Challenge Artists,” Fleisher Art Memorial, Phila., Pa.
“A More Perfect Union,” Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, Pa.
Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, “In Her Voice: Self-Portraits by Women”
Constructions in Multiple Hues, Painted Bride Art Center, Phila.

1997
Solo exhibition, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia
“Women Mentoring Women,” Westby Gallery, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, invitational
“Artists Selections: Six African Americans Select Six Emerging Artists,” Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, Penna.
“Urban Interpretations in Fiber, Clay, Photo, and Metal,” Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Co., invitational
27th Annual Ceramics Exhibit, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, invitational
“Altered States: Contemporary American Ceramics,” Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, Colorado

1996
“Exploring a Movement: Feminist Visions in Clay,” Wignall Museum, Rancho Cucamonga, California, invitational
“Art of the State,” The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Penna.
“Artists Select Artists,” Trenton City Museum, Trenton, New Jersey; Gallery at Craft Alliance, group invitational, St. Louis, Missouri

1995
“Contained, Uncontained: Syd Carpenter, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Magdalene Odundo, James Watkins,” Dallas African American Museum, Dallas, Texas

2028      Ballinglen Artist Residency, County Mayo, Ireland
2026      Residency, Haystack Mountain School, Deer Isle, Maine
2025      “Batsto Homestead,” Permanent Installation for Rowan Univ. Chamberlain Student Center
2024      “The Instrument,” Permanent Land Art Installation for Berman Museum at Ursinus College
2023      Brandywine Graphics Workshop Artist Residency
2018      Bennington College Guest Artist, North Country Winter Studios
2015      Presenter, Women in Clay Symposium, Hollins University, Richard Wetherall Visual Arts Center
              Panelist, “Land and the American Dream” Sustainability Conference, Delaware Valley University,
              Doylestown, Pa., “Black Farming in America: History, Art, Memory,”
              Panelist, Cultivating Passion Symposium, Artists Influenced by Gardens and Gardening,
              Barnes Foundation, Phila., Pa.,
1991 - Present      Professor of Studio Arts, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penna.
2012      Guest Artist, Clay Studio of Philadelphia
              Panelist, Ohio State Council on the Arts
2010      Presenter, National Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts
2006      Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Guest Artist
2004      Project Participant for Sustaining Indigenous Architecture and Pottery; Zaare, Northern Ghana
2003      Guest Artist, College of William and Mary, Fall
                Penland School of Crafts, Guest Artist, Summer
2002      Shawnee University Distinguished Guest Lecturer and Visiting Artist Residency
2001      Panelist, Howard University, “Reconstructing the Shards” Symposium
                Guest Lecturer, Millersville University
                Guest Lecturer, Ursinus College
2000      Guest Artist, Vermont Studio Center Press, 2000
                Guest Artist in Residence, Rhode Island School of Design
1998      Guest Artist, University of Wisconsin, Madison
              Guest Artist, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore
              Guest Artist, Watershe Center for Ceramic Art, Maine
1997      Guest Artist, University of Florida, Gainesville
              Guest Artist, University of Arizona, Tucson
              Guest Artist, Haystack School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine
1996      Guest Artist, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass, Colorado
1994      Guest Artist, Peter’s Valley Art Center, Layton, New Jersey
1990      Artist in Residence, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

               Artist in Residence, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale

1989      Artist in Residence, Manchester Guild, Pittsburgh, Pa.

               Guest Artist, Nat’l Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts, Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri

CATALOGS

2026 Syd Carpenter: Retrospective, Woodmere Museum

2023 “Clay Holds Water: Water Holds Memory,” National Conference on Education in Ceramic Arts, Cincinnati, Ohio

2022 “Earth Offerings: Honoring the Gardeners,” Rowan Univ. Art Gallery

2021 “Shapes From Out of Now Where: Selections From the Robert Ellison Jr. Ceramics Collection,” Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Garden as Muse,” Walton Art Center

Leeway Foundation, 2012, 1999 Awards for Artists

2000 Ceramic Annual, Scripps College 56th Ceramic Exhibition

20th Ceramic National, Everson Museum

Pew Fellowship in the Arts, 1992

Sex Pots: Eroticism in Ceramics, Paul Mathieu

Figurative Abstraction, California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles

Recherché, Levy Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design

Southern Illinois Clay Nat’l, 1988, Southern Illinois Univ. Edwardsville

Buffalo Nat’l, 1987, State Univ. of New York

Recherché / Den Flexible, 1985, Port of History Museum / Charlottenborg Museum, Phila., Copenhagen

Erie Clay National, Erie Museum, Erie, Penna.

From the Ground Up, Moore College of Art and Design

Clay Heritage: African American Ceramics, Phila. African American Historical and Cultural Museumo

Studios and Workshops of Black American Artists, Dennis Forbes

__________________________

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Ceramic Art and Perception Magazine

William Daley, “Vesica Explorations,” 2010

Julia Galloway, “Quiescence,” 2009

Ken Vavrek, “Assemblages: In the Company of Light,” 2008

__________________________

REVIEWS /ARTICLES

Syd Carpenter-Arte

My Home Garden – Syd Carpenter

Woodmere Art Museum, La Cresta: A Land-Sculpting Installation by Syd Carpenter

Syd’s Hugel Garden, Fine Gardening, June 2021

Ceramic Arts Network, Syd Carpenter: Earth Offerings—Honoring the Gardeners

The Daily Yonder Q&A: Syd Carpenter on the Forgotten History of Black-Owned Farms

Tang Teaching Museum: Syd Carpenter & Leah Penniman

James A. Michener Art Museum: Syd Carpenter—Portraits of Our Places

Featured in Private Gardens of Philadelphia, 2024, Nicole Juday / Rob Cardillo

Featured Artist, National Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts Bulletin, Tampa, 2011

Catalog Garden as Muse, Featured Artist, National Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts Bulletin, Tampa, 2011

Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, July 8, 2011, “Her Garden, Her Art in a Creative Symbiosis,” Virginia A. Smith

International Review of African American Art

Art Blog, 4/10/10, “Syd Carpenter Turns Clay Back to Earth at Sande Webster Gallery”

Art and Perception, “Remedy, Wuanda Walls,” 2006, Issue #63

Art and Perception, “Places of Our Own,” Janet Koplos, 2010

Artblog, 4/16/2005, 4/22/2005, 3/2010, Roberta Fallon, Libby Rosoff

Philadelphia City Paper, Aug. 2–Aug. 9, 2001

Philadelphia Weekly, March 15, 2000

The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 21, 1998

American Craft, Cover Article, Aug. 1995

The Studio Potter, December 1997

Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1997

The Philadelphia Tribune, April 15, 1996

Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, Dec. 9, 1995

Ceramics Monthly, Cover Article, Mar. 1993

American Ceramics, Spring/Summer, 2010, 1995, 1992