Two standards of the Pittsburgh art scene, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and The Clay Place, mark milestones with fine ceramics exhibitions that show off long established artists as well as new faces.

Eva Kwong's "Bobtail" is part of "Ceramics Retrospective" at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild. Click photo for larger image. "40 UNDER 40: 40 Works by 40 Artists Under 40 Years of Age" Where: The Clay Place, 1 Walnut St., Carnegie When: Through Nov. 25; 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays Information: 412-276-3260 or www.clayplace.com "Ceramics Retrospective: 20 Year Commemorative Exhibition" Where: Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, 1815 Metropolitan St., North Side. When: Through Jan. 21, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and until 9 p.m. Tuesdays Information:: 412-322-1773 or www.manchesterguild.org.

The Clay Place inaugurates its new Carnegie gallery with "40 UNDER 40: 40 Works by 40 Artists Under 40 Years of Age," a sprightly lot that offers opportunity to see and compare a mix of clay expression.

The ceramists, spread from Pittsburgh to Taiwan and ranging from high school students to university faculty, have in common their relationship with gallery owner Elvira Peake.

CAPA students Julianne Sota and Cory Mastalski, for example, show figural sculptures -- "Carefully Made With Water" and "Torso," respectively -- that are experiments with color and form permeated with beginner's energy and enthusiasm. In contrast is the refined and concept-driven, burnished and smoke-fired "Circle" by Sharif Bey, a former Manchester student who now teaches at Winston Salem State University.

Other highlights include Yoko Sekino Bove's "Binky Pressure," a conceptual work about arranged endangered species mating; Brandon O'Hara's "Birdbath," wherein actual duck wings shelter a cluster of ducklings atop a mound of piled slabs; Justin Rothshank's "Oil Can Pots," inspired by his Midwestern boyhood and pertinent to today's politics; "Dear," Laura Shaffalo Vincent's stand of leggy 6-inch-high deer; and Ian Thomas' enigmatic "The Lazy Son," a preoccupied chicken head on a rusty metal base.

Among special functional pieces are Sara Patterson's elegant "Carved Porcelain Platter"; Hannah Niswonger's delightful "Sugar Bowls" with rattles in their lids; Joe Singewald's handsome, petite "wood fired teapot"; and Christy Hedman's bright, majolica-like "Punchbowl Set."

Most works are for sale, the prices ranging from $30 to $1,800.

Ian F. Thomas' "The Lazy Son" is featured in The Clay Place's "40 UNDER 40." Click photo for larger image.

Peake moved her gallery and ceramic supply shop from her longtime Shadyside location to Carnegie in April but coincidently still has a Walnut Street address -- in the Standard Ceramic Supply compound in Carnegie. She says that people were a little slow to find her sunny, earth-toned building, but that the number of visitors has been picking up. Advantages here, she says with a smile, include free parking and a monthly Friday pierogi sale at the blue-onion-domed church nearby.

Her next exhibition, which opens Dec. 1, will be "40 OVER 40," and is actually part one of three. When she began making up a list of artists to invite, Peake was surprised to end up with triple the number she needed to fill the gallery. Such is the reward to being in business as long and as conscientiously as she has been.

Manchester is marking its second decade at its North Side location with "Ceramics Retrospective: 20 Year Commemorative Exhibition," a show of 40 works by nine artists of national stature who have contributed to the legacy of the Guild through exhibitions, lectures and/or workshops.

Most have donated a work for a silent auction concurrent with the exhibition run that will benefit the Guild's Youth & Arts program.

Linda Christianson -- who will give a free public lecture at 6 p.m. Friday followed by a reception -- wood fires her stoneware pieces and offers at auction a four-sided "Striped Basket" with ceramic handle (minimum bid $100).

Val Cushing, a preeminent name in the studio art movement, makes functional ware with timeless form. His covered stoneware "Storage Jar" has highlights of blue and lavender with pale yellow ash runs ($100).

The spirited earthenware "New Mexico Landscape" by Eddie Dominguez, its surface incised with Van Gogh-like energy of line, sparkles with lustered greens, pinks, purples, yellows and blues ($400).

Pittsburgher Ed Eberle, who also shows his deconstructed figural sculpture, donated "Circumstance," one of the black on white, drawing-encircled porcelain vessels for which he's nationally known ($500).

Eva Kwong's 19-inch-high, polka-dotted, nubbed stoneware "Blue Acalephoid," a reference to ocean invertebrates, visually straddles abstract form and fanciful animal ($500).

David MacDonald also offers a covered "Storage Jar," but where Cushing's is quiet, the surface of this incised piece vibrates with yellow, green and black design on red earthenware ($350).

Somewhere between is Chris Staley's "Covered Jar," its serene pink to pale gold tones broken into subtle patterning by the kiln, with black lid and loosely triangular black markings on its body ($500).

James Watkins' large, bold, footed "Double-Walled Bowl" -- black with three crackled white circles inside -- is all the more remarkable for having endured a raku firing ($350).

Also, Kirk Mangus shows large sculpture with attitude made in his bulked, expressionistic, anti-finesse style; but also a curious figural pair, "Dog Boy" and "Cat Girl," which seem inspired by comics, and with markings more reminiscent of worked metal than of the artist's usual scarified surfaces.