Cleota Rae Reed, celebrated Syracuse ceramist and art historian, dies at 90

For Cleota Rae Reed, ceramics was not just an art, it was a way of life.

Reed was a celebrated Syracuse ceramist and published art historian specializing in the Arts and Crafts movement. She died on Nov. 25 due to complications of pneumonia. She was 90.

“When she taught pottery, she would put a ball of clay on the wheel. The object was to work the clay until it was perfectly symmetrical, so the pot would turn our symmetrical. She called it ‘centering,’” said her daughter, Ragen Tiliakos. “She was not only centering the ball of clay, she was centering herself. Almost like a little bit of Zen. It wasn’t just pottery. It wasn’t just clay. It was part of her life.”

Reed was born in 1935 in Chicago, the daughter of Florence and Charles Reed.

When she was young, the family moved to a chicken