“More like a poet than a potter,” the ceramics expert Ronald Kutcha said of the pioneering Katherine Choy. Born in China in 1927, Choy moved to the U.S. in 1946 to continue her education, studying under forward-looking artists and academics at Mills College. One of the early ceramicists to take clay beyond its practical uses, her experiments with bold shape, asymmetry, and critical color theory were radical. She expressed ideas and emotions in her work. Choy taught at Tulane’s Newcomb College before moving to New York to establish the Clay Art Center in Port Chester. And then she died suddenly at the age of 30. The artist left behind an impressive archive, innovative works that have not been seen in New Orleans since her memorial show in 1959. —Nyla Gilstrap