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Robert Silverman joined 92nd Street Y as director of the Ceramic Center in August 2007. He oversees a large and diverse program offering more than 20 classes and serving 1,100 students a year. The program encompasses after-school classes for children and teenagers and a variety of day and night classes for adults. Along with program development, Robert’s responsibilities include recruiting and managing a faculty of a dozen working artists and managing the professionally equipped ceramics studios.

Originally trained as a social geographer, Robert began his career as a ceramic artist more than 25 years ago while studying in Japan, where exposure to beautiful handmade objects used in daily life inspired him to pursue a career in the arts. He has exhibited internationally, and his work has been included in shows at The Museum of Art and Design in New York, the European Ceramic Work Center in the Netherlands, the Mint Museum in North Carolina and the Ramada Renaissance Hotel Corporation in Connecticut, among others. Robert came to 92nd Street Y from Louisiana State University, whose graduate ceramics program, under his leadership and that of his co-chair, was ranked among the top five such programs in the country. He has also taught at Arizona State University and the Massachusetts College of Art. He has been awarded a variety of grants and fellowships and his work has been included in gallery and museum shows across the US and in magazines such as Ceramics Monthly, American Craft Magazine and Studio Potter Magazine, as well as in the books The Craft and Art of Clay (Susan Peterson, Prentice Hall, 2004) and Post Modern Ceramics (Mark Del Vecchio, Thames and Hudson, 2001).

Robert holds a B.A. in Social Geography from Clark University, a B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute and an M.F.A from Alfred University.