Syd Carpenter

Philadelphia-based sculptor Syd Carpenter is widely known for her ceramic and sculpture work, which explores African-American farming and gardening. Her work is found in the collections of renowned institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Montreal Museum of Art, the Swedish National Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Tang Museum of Skidmore College, RISD Museum of Art, Fuller Craft Museum, James Michener Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum of Philadelphia, and the African American Museum of Philadelphia.

Syd Carpenter’s solo exhibitions include the James Michener Museum, the Rowan University Art Gallery, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, the National Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts,  the Center for Established/Emerging Artists, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art.

Guest artist residencies and workshops include the Rhode Island School of Design, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Watershed School of Crafts, Art Institute of Chicago, and Anderson Ranch.

Her awards include a United States Artists Fellowship, the Anonymous Was a Woman fellowship, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, multiple Leeway Foundation Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants.

She is a retired professor Emerita of Studio Art at Swarthmore College. In 2020, she was awarded the inaugural Peggy Chan Professorship in Black Studies at Swarthmore College and, in 2022,  a James A. Renwick Distinguished Educator award from the Renwick Museum.