Sculptural vessels at the meeting of memory, instinct, and transformation.
Explore the work 2026 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow
Clearing out. Making space.
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RSVP by emailVessels that hold more than space. Explore form, surface, and the traces of the hand.
Artwork reference numbers identify the photographs. Titles, dimensions, and availability are available by inquiry.
The latest vessel, as it takes shape. Six moments of form, sculptural detail, and surface.
From birth and protection to voyage and memory. Ten continuing conversations with clay.
The vessel as a beginning. Ova explores birth, renewal, and the potential held within a form before it fully reveals itself.
For a complete series selection and artwork details, contact the studio.
A continuing life beyond the studio. Works that become part of a personal world.
Surface as a record of experience.From Armenia to Upstate New York, the vessel has remained a way of thinking about identity, movement, and belonging.
Born near Yerevan in 1976, Vartan Poghosian began working with clay at ten and entered an apprenticeship at thirteen. His practice has grown through decades of making, mentorship, and experimentation.
Travel, architecture, cultural memory, and the natural world inform his work. A form may begin on the wheel, then evolve through the hand. Layered surfaces and sculptural details give each vessel its own presence.
Based in Utica, New York, he is also the founder of 4 Elements Studio, a nonprofit arts space expanding access to creative life in the community.
Clay becomes a language for what we carry. Memory. Identity. A sense of belonging.
I founded 4 Elements Studio to create a place where people could make, learn, and feel that they belong.
Visit 4 Elements StudioFounder & Artistic Director · Utica, New York
4 Elements began with ceramics classes and exhibitions in a basement studio. As more people came through the door, the possibilities grew: new disciplines, shared resources, and opportunities for artists and neighbors to learn from one another.
Today, it is a nonprofit community arts center offering workshops, exhibitions, studio space, and equipment. Its work brings creative opportunities to people of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities, including people with disabilities.
Alongside my own ceramic practice, I continue this work as Founder and Artistic Director. Building a welcoming place for others to create is an ongoing part of my life as an artist.
A ceramics studio became a gathering place for classes, exhibitions, and a growing creative community.
4 Elements Studio became a nonprofit in 2019, extending its commitment to arts education and community access.
In 2024, the studio purchased 809 Court Street in Utica, creating room for its next chapter of classes, exhibitions, and artist spaces.
Through 4 Elements Studio, I created programs that connect artistic heritage, cultural exchange, and practical opportunities to make and share art.
Preservation & exhibitions
A program I created to preserve and share the work of artists who have helped shape the Mohawk Valley. By cataloging, digitizing, and exhibiting their work, the program keeps their contributions visible and connects the region’s artistic history with new audiences.
Explore the programPast program · Cultural exchange
A free, year-long program with the Utica Public Library, bringing ceramics and jewelry making together with the story of the Silk Road. Participants explored blue-and-white porcelain, cultural exchange, and self-expression while developing entrepreneurial skills and connections across different backgrounds.
Explore the programPast program · Youth arts
Created in collaboration with artist Audrey Forcier, this free arts program began with young artists from Utica’s immigrant and refugee communities and welcomed area youth from diverse backgrounds, including young people with disabilities. Ceramics and jewelry making were paired with the business of art—from photographing and selling work to shipping, managing inventory, and working with local businesses.
Explore the programAdaptive art & rehabilitation
A collaborative program developed with Inertia Occupational and Physical Therapy Services and artist Kayla J. Spivey, bringing art making into a rehabilitation setting. Through clay, customized adaptive tools, and guided creative exploration, people living with mobility loss after stroke or injury explore movement, materials, and personal expression.
Explore the programSelected artist grants supporting my community-based ceramic workshops, connecting clay with cultural traditions, music, and STEAM learning.
CNY Arts · GRACE
In 2024, I led a month-long workshop for children ages 6–13 at Midtown Utica Community Center, bringing clay making together with the history and visual traditions of Día de los Muertos. The work of Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada provided a starting point for exploring calaveras, or skull imagery, and creating individual clay interpretations.
The project connected cultural learning with hands-on making and a public exhibition of the completed work. It brought my ceramic practice into a community setting, giving young participants a way to encounter a cultural tradition through making and sharing art.
CNY Arts / NYSCA · Statewide Community Regrants · Individual Artist Commission
This month-long workshop for children ages 6–13 at Utica Public Library explored connections between music, visual pattern, and ceramic surface. Participants used music as a starting point for creating patterns on stoneware tiles, translating the experience of listening into a process of making.
Supported by a CNY Arts/NYSCA Individual Artist Commission, the project brought artistic experimentation into a public learning space. It reflects my interest in crossing disciplines and helping young people discover different ways to express an experience through sound, touch, and form.
CNY Arts / NYSCA · Statewide Community Regrants
Handmade Stoneware: Snowflake Study brought art and STEAM learning together in a month-long workshop designed for children ages 6–13 in rural communities. Snowflakes provided a starting point for considering natural patterns, texture, and variation through clay.
The project paired hands-on ceramic work with an exhibition of participants’ pieces, extending the experience from making to sharing. Supported through CNY Arts’ Statewide Community Regrants program, it connected my practice as a ceramic artist and educator with an opportunity for young people to explore the relationship between art and the natural world.
Alongside my ceramic practice, I curate exhibitions and displays that bring artists and audiences together.
My curatorial work at Westwood Gallery is part of 4 Elements Studio’s satellite gallery program, presenting local and regional artists in a contemporary gallery setting in downtown Utica.
Curating exhibitions is part of my work at the community arts center I founded. It creates opportunities for artists to share their work and for audiences to connect with it.
My curatorial work includes window displays through 4 Elements Studio’s partnership with the Resource Center for Independent Living. The windows at 131 Genesee Street, along Genesee and Bleecker Streets, bring artwork into the everyday life of downtown Utica.
Curatorial work at Reach Center Gallery in Rome, NY, 2016–2019.
Craft / Sculpture
Group exhibition · February 5–March 12
Invited artist
Featured ceramic artist
Solo exhibition · Opening June 8
Exhibitions, representation, curatorial research, and collaborations. Request a portfolio, artist CV, or a studio conversation.
Ask about an artwork, availability, dimensions, shipping, or a studio visit. Every inquiry is an invitation to look a little closer.