Xanthe Somers: Selected works, 2022-2025

Captions

• The Weary Weaver, 2024, Glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 28.4 x 28.4 in. | 100 x 72 x 72 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Solo exhibition at Southern Guild, Cape Town, 2024.
• Of Woof and Woe, 2024, Glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 in. | 110 x 64 x 64 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Solo exhibition at Southern Guild, Cape Town, 2024.
• Tales Untold, 2024, Glazed stoneware, nylon cord, 39.8 x 25.3 x 25.3 in. | 101 x 64 x 64 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Solo exhibition at Southern Guild, Cape Town, 2024.
• Become Undone, 2025, Glazed stoneware, 43.9 x 20.5 x 20.1 in. | 111.5 x 52 x 51 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Part of Wearing Thin, project for ANNA Award Winner 2024 with residency at Southern Guild, 2025.
• Behind My Mother’s Apron, 2025, Glazed stoneware, 33.9 x 20.1 x 18.9 in. | 86 x 51 x 48 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Part of Wearing Thin, project for ANNA Award Winner 2024 with residency at Southern Guild, 2025.
• Between Cloth and Clay, 2025, Glazed stoneware, 39.8 x 20.1 x 20.1 in. | 101 x 51 x 51 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Part of Wearing Thin, project for ANNA Award Winner 2024 with residency at Southern Guild, 2025.
• By the Pricking of My Thumbs, 2025, Glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 in. | 100 x 70 x 70.5 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Part of Wearing Thin, project for ANNA Award Winner 2024 with residency at Southern Guild, 2025.
• Pulling at Threads, 2025, Glazed stoneware, 33.5 x 21.3 x 20.1 in. | 85 x 54 x 51 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. Part of Wearing Thin, project for ANNA Award Winner 2024 with residency at Southern Guild, 2025.
• Working Class Femininity, 2023, Glazed stoneware, 40 9/10 × 19 7/10 × 19 7/10 in | 104 × 50 × 50 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild
• Fruits of Our Forefathers, 2022, Glazed stoneware, Fabric, 47 1/5 × 19 7/10 × 19 7/10 in | 120 × 50 × 50 cm, Image credit: Southern Guild

Jason Lee Starin: VISITOR Series, 2024-2025

A series of ceramic wall-hanging sculptures that combine abstracted architectural and organic forms, both in landscape and body.

Captions

• VISITOR_001, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 10D
• VISITOR_002, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 9D
• VISITOR_003, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 10D
• VISITOR_004, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 9D
• VISITOR_005, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 20H x 13W x 9D
• VISITOR_006, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 20.5H x 14W x 9D
• VISITOR_007, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 14W x 9D
• VISITOR_008, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 20H x 15W x 11D
• VISITOR_009, 2025, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 7.5D
• VISITOR_011, 2025, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 15W x 9D
• VISITOR_012, 2024, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 22H x 12W x 9D
• VISITOR_013, 2025, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 21H x 13W x 6.75D
• VISITOR_014, 2025, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 24H x 16W x 9D
• VISITOR_015, 2025, Ceramic stoneware, cone 5, oxidation glaze, 22H x 16W x 10D

Jason Lee Starin: SOL Series, 2020-2023

A series of ceramic and multi-media sculptures influenced by architectural detritus and varying landscape surfaces, suggesting the deterioration of structure, containment, as well as categorical reasoning as signified in the ubiquitous simple geometry of the cube as a false-solid or empty container.

Captions

• SOL_004, 2020, Ceramic stoneware, iron oxide, cone 6, oxidation glaze, 10.5H x 10.5W x 13.5D
• SOL_001, 2020, Ceramic stoneware, cone 6, oxidation glaze, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_002, 2020, Ceramic stoneware, cone 6, oxidation glaze, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_003, 2020, Ceramic stoneware, underglaze, cone 6, oxidation glaze, 10.5H x 12W x 13.5D
• SOL_005, 2020, Ceramic stoneware, cone 6, oxidation glaze, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_026, 2020, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_027, 2023, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_028, 2022, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_029, 2022, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_030, 2023, XPS foam, air-dry clay, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_032, 2023, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_033, 2023, XPS foam, papier-mâché, white glue, ink, acrylic, joint compound, and milk paint, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D
• SOL_034, 2023, XPS foam, papier-mâché, table salt, white glue, ink, acrylic, and joint compound, 10.5H x 10.5W x 10.5D

Katie Strachan: Selected works, 2021-2025

My work explores the fragile boundaries between preservation and decay, materiality and time. Using ultra-thin layers of clay—sometimes folded, sometimes powdered—I create forms that echo textiles, manuscripts, and relics. Influenced by boro textiles and the Japanese concept of impermanence, my process is rooted in quiet, repetitive gestures that leave behind traces of care and erosion. Through ceramic, wax, and other humble materials, I aim to hold fleeting moments in suspension, inviting viewers to pause and reflect on the quiet persistence of memory. My works function less as vessels and more as tactile documents—thresholds between presence and absence, stillness and transformation.

Captions

• Black swan, 2024, black clay and wax, 40x36x17H cm
• Envelop #1, 2024, terra cotta, 44x20x5.5H cm
  Envelop #2, 2025, porcelain, white clay, black clay and rutile, 17x47xH5 cm
  Envelop #3, 2025, porcelain and white clay, 27x40x5H
• Prolongation #1, 2021, porcelain & wax, 40x32x6H cm. Photo credit: Yuji Imamura
  Prolongation #2, 2021, porcelain & wax, 46.5x30x7H cm. Photo credit: Yuji Imamura
  Prolongation #3, 2021, porcelain & wax, 33x24x20H cm. Photo credit: Jason Goh
• Rhythm & Accumulation #1, 2025, white clay and porcelain, 27x50x2 cm
  Rhythm & Accumulation #2, 2025, terra cotta and white clay, 27x29x2 cm
• Subversive preservation #1, 2022, porcelain, terra cotta and wax, 10.2 x 20.3 x 10.2 cm
  Subversive preservation #2, 2022, porcelain, terra cotta and wax, 17x17x16H cm
  Subversive preservation #3, installation, 2022. Photo credit: Chin Chin Gallery
• with-out A ̶s̶ ̶o̶ ̶u̶ ̶n̶ ̶d̶ #1, Installation 2022, porcelain, terra cotta and wax and felt, 56x50x27H cm. Photo credit: Jason Goh
  with-out A ̶s̶ ̶o̶ ̶u̶ ̶n̶ ̶d̶ #2, Installation 2022, porcelain, terra cotta and wax and felt, 56x50x27H cm. Photo credit: Jason Goh
  with-out A ̶s̶ ̶o̶ ̶u̶ ̶n̶ ̶d̶ #3, Installation 2022, porcelain, terra cotta and wax and felt, 56x50x27H cm. Photo credit: Jason Goh
  with-out A ̶s̶ ̶o̶ ̶u̶ ̶n̶ ̶d̶ #4, Installation, 2022, terra cotta, wax, wood and iron, 140x35x70H. Photo credit: Jason Goh

Laura Dirksen: While at Archie Bray, 2024-2025

Captions

• Trio of Sculptural Vessels, 2024. Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• Composition with Teal and Orange, Ceramic, 31x 18x 14in. 2024. Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• Pregnant Sneaker Vase, ceramic, 13x 9x 8in. 2023 Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• Thoroughbred Sculptural Vessel, ceramic, 13x 10x 9in. 2024. Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• Loud Sculptural Vessel, ceramic, 13x 9x 8in. 2024. Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• Flying Cow, Ceramic and mixed media, 20x 14x 14in. 2024. Photo by Austin Coudriet.
• 2024 Resident Fellowship Exhibition, Edgar Lux Surprise, 49x 35x 27in. Ceramic and mixed media, Photo by Floating Leaf Studios.
• Flying Cow-White, Ceramic and mixed media, 15x11x15in. 2025. Photo by Artist.
• Faux Pony Trophy, Ceramic, 12x16x33in. Photo by Artist.
• Trophy Vase, Ceramic and mixed media. 17x18x35in. 2025 Photo by Artist.

Laura Dirksen: Strictly Bovine Series, 2021-2023

Captions

• Oil Rig, Ceramic and mixed media, 72x 30x 32in. 2022. Photo by Andrew Castaneda.
• Strictly Bovine, 52x 34x 41in. Mixed media, 2022. Photo by Andrew Castaneda.
• Too Tall, ceramic, heater, iodine livestock markers, bandaging and mixed media 40x 28x 30in. 2022. Photo by Andrew Casteneda.
• Strictly Bovine MFA Thesis Exhibition, 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Faux Pony Heads, 4 of 60 from 60 Impressions piece. Mixed media. 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Strictly Bovine, MFA Thesis Exhibition, 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Lux Tough, Ceramic and fabric, 13x 15x 9in. 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Baby Jabber, Ceramic, livestock bandaging, markers and mixed media. 24x 20x 13in. 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Riddled With It, ceramic with mixed media, 22x 18x 12in. 2023. Photo by Alexis Oltmer.
• Edgar Surprise Lux Tempo, ceramic, 49x 28x 26in. 2021. Photo by David Kruk.
• Fuschia Manure, mixed media, 19x 23x 11in. 2023. Photo by Andrew Castaneda.
• Nike Flight Forfeit, ceramic, 49x 34x 27in. 2022. Photo by Andrew Castaneda.

Finding Cherry Blossoms, 2024

Finding Cherry Blossoms was created during the 2024 summer artist residency in Japan, representing both a physical and metaphorical journey of resilience, gratitude, and quiet self-discovery. Cherry blossoms—long-standing symbols of renewal—bloom alongside archetypal houses and staircases, which have remained central to both daily life and my artistic practice. Since 2008, I’ve built and carved these structures by hand, inspired by childhood fantasies of dollhouses and the enduring labor of women in domestic spheres. Each etched line in the clay becomes a mark of time, capturing the essence of a fleeting moment or an entire century. The staircase, in particular, has become a symbol of the human struggle—an internal ascent toward self-actualization. In this work, a porcelain staircase, built from meticulously cut and assembled slabs, is coated in soft pink and bronze glazes—echoing cherry blossoms, the evening sky, and the rich cultural hues of Japan. The house and staircase together form a quiet architecture of memory, becoming a meditation on perseverance, hope, and the unfolding of new beginnings.

In parallel, Qissa-e Mukhtasir (Urdu for “Tiny Tales”) examines the culturally ingrained concept of the ‘dream house’ as it pertains to South Asian women. Each piece in this body of work is hand-carved and individually formed, paying tribute to the devotion and often-unacknowledged labor of women bound by traditional domestic expectations. While the structures may appear delicate, they speak to a deeper emotional richness and quiet resilience required in homemaking, a role frequently imposed yet deeply nuanced. The work critiques and honors the complexities of domestic life, reflecting on how home, often idealized, can also become a space of confinement, vigilance, and silent strength.

MASHQ (an exercise), 2021-2024

In Pakistan, the institution of marriage is deeply tied to tradition, with arranged marriages still regarded as the most respectable. Many girls and women spend their lives waiting for a suitable match, preparing dowries through embroidery and needlework, often confined to domestic roles from a young age.
MASHQ—an Urdu word meaning “exercise” or “practice”—represents the ongoing devotion of women to homemaking and domesticity. From the layers of hand-rolled porcelain strands to the finely crafted folded porcelain sheets, the meticulous and labor-intensive, repetitive process of these works becomes both a meditative ritual and a symbol of resilience. The hand-held mirror-like porcelain plaques reflect not only a woman’s pride and personal narrative, but also the deeper layers of her identity, self-assurance, and grace. Through its poetic lens, this series manifests the dedication women invest in their roles as stereotypical homemakers. It emphasizes the often-overlooked commitment of women who tirelessly uphold societal norms of labor and struggle, which remain integral to their cultural identity.

Fragments of Home (Memory Boxes), 2022

This series of mid-century household objects is drawn from my memories of watching my mother interact with them. It began as a memory box and later evolved into experimental forms. These coil and slab-built works are a tribute to my mother’s steadfast love and dedication to her prescribed domesticity and the idealized vision of a stereotypical dream house. Evoking nostalgia, I chose to depict the now-diminishing technological appliances of my childhood. Through this work, I seek to honor both the memories and the objects that once defined them.

Captions

• Finding Cherry Blossoms #1, 2024, Glazed Porcelain, 36 x 6”
  Finding Cherry Blossoms #2, 2024, Glazed Stoneware, 16.5 x 16.5 x 9”
  Finding Cherry Blossoms #3, 2024, Slab Bulit Glazed Porcelain, 9.5 x 5 x 5”
  Finding Cherry Blossoms #4, 2024, Slab Built Glazed Porcelain, 6.75 x 5.25 x 5.25”
  Qissa-e Mukhtasir (Tiny Tales), 2024, Hand Carved Porcelain, 20 x 20” (1.5 x 1.5 x 0.25” each)
• MASHQ (an exercise), 2024, Hand Rolled Porcelain Strands, 9 x 5 x 0.25” (each piece)
  Strange How We Decorate Pain, 2024, Unfired Earthenware and Tooth Picks, 21 x 7.5” and 15 x 6”
  Mashq (an exercise) #1, 2023, Slip Cast, Atmospheric Fired 2000 Miniature Porcelain Irons, 96 x 96” (8×8 feet)
  Mashq (an exercise) #2, 2023, Hand Rolled Earthenware Strands, 22 x 0.25”
  The Weight of Wait, 2021, Cone 10 Reduced Fired Porcelain, 60 x 19 x 9” (19 x 9” each)
  Mashq (an exercise) #3, 2023, Cone 10 Residual Salt Fired Porcelain, 10 x 9 x 6.5”
  Mashq (an exercise) #4, 2023, Cone 10 Reduction and Wood Fired Earthenware and Porcelain, 10 x 6 x 5”
  Mashq (an exercise) #5, 2023, Cone 10 Wood Fired Porcelain, 19 x 8”
• Fragments of Home #1, 2022, Earthenware Reduced Fire to Cone 10, 13 x 12 x 5.5”
  Fragments of Home #2, 2022, Earthenware Reduced Fire to Cone 10, 22 x 16.5 x 11”
  Fragments of Home #3, 2022, Earthenware, 20 x 10 x 5.5”

Fluid Boundaries, 2025

Exhibition at Galateea Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 2025

As I looked at Anca Vintilă Dragu’s works, I searched for the one word that might define her as an artist, as a woman. But I couldn’t stop at just one. Instead, I found a string of words that could go on endlessly: calm, serenity, spirituality, openness, beauty, normality.

Anca is one of those artists who, even if you don’t know her personally, reveals herself completely, without any mask, through her ceramics. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone so direct, so beautifully close and intertwined with their own works.

In these restless times, we gently step into the artist’s quiet, calm sanctuary, where she reveals to us a ritual of return, return to personal space, to the stillness of a gravitational moment, to that state of grace she describes as rare and precious, when everything aligns and the mind begins to float.

A visit to her creative universe immerses us in this world of silence. We are drawn to approach her pieces gently, to follow them with our eyes—from figurative forms to metaphorical ones that briefly transport us to the vastness of the sea. And there, through light, sound, and scent, we are held in a moment of introspection. Anca’s searches, her emotions and questions, become our own.

Text by Anca Boeriu, PhD Lecturer at the National University of Arts, Bucharest

The Wave, 2024

Works created at Blanc de Chine art residency, Dehua, China

My fascination for their endless, captivating movements, with lines, curves, reflections of light, their breakage at the shore inspires me always. The waves are like life moments, each is different, unexpected and unique. You can never hold them still, they come one after another, they never stop, they wash your soul, your memories.

Metamorphosis / The cry of nature, 2024

Earth, water, beings are all linked together in an inseparable circle. We all come from the same melting pot of nature that we should nurture and fight for. But the speechless living creatures, part of our bio and ecosystem, are helpless.

The claw, adorned in a man’s shirt, symbolizes the metamorphosis of a living creature into a human. It is a testament to the resilience and determination of nature, using every means other than speech to communicate its plea for survival and care.

The work serves as a reminder that humans and nature are intertwined, and our intelligence should guide us to foresee and nurture the future of our planet. My work is symbolic and narrative at the same time, the raising claw of a water creature stands for life, continuity and happiness.

My neighbour, 2020

My works are narrative, they tell stories. The series of helmets aims to create a bridge between my ancestors, the Geto-Dacians who wore these ceremonial gold or silver helmets and one of my latest themes: our addiction to technology. The helmet worn by the warrior kings symbolized the power conferred on them by the supreme Deity. My helmet suggests that Man is a God in this humanist era, through the infinite power provided by unlimited access to information and technology.

Anthropo-ciberneticus, 2019

An expression of the new paradigm of human attitude in public under the influence of technology. The characters are an alter ego of the contemporary men, archetypes of posture and attitude, recent mass behaviors, striking. Information flows also become vital flows of the technological man, information is a need, a new source of energy. This concept made me ask questions about the future, about the new human nature and I tried to answer them with a small dose of humor.

Captions

• Pearl Wave, 2024, translucent porcelain 1300ᵒC, 43 x 38 x 8 cm. Photo by Zheng Yongji
  Whale Wave, 2024, translucent porcelain 1300ᵒC, 40 x 37 x 6,5 cm. Photo by Zheng Yongji
  Engraved Wave, 2024, translucent porcelain 1300ᵒC, 40 x 37 x 6,5 cm. Photo by Zheng Yongji
  Lines Wave, 2024, translucent porcelain 1300ᵒC, 40 x 38 x 6,5 cm. Photo by Zheng Yongji
• Metamorphosis 1, 2024, paper porcelain, glazes, electric firing 1240ᵒC, Honorable mention at the 2024 Manises Biennial, Spain
  Metamorphosis 2, 2024, porcelain, glazes, electric firing 1240ᵒC
  Metamorphosis 3, 2024, colored stoneware, resin, electric firing 1240﮿ᵒC
• My Neighbour pink, 2020, stoneware, glazes, luster, hand built, 1200ᵒC, 30×24 cm
  My Neighbour black, 2020, stoneware, gold leaf & gold luster, hand built, 1200ᵒC, 30×24 cm
  My Neighbour color, 2020, porcelain, pigments, slip casting, ceramic collage 1200ᵒC, 30×24 cm
  My Neighbour white, 2020, porcelain, pigments, slip casting, ceramic collage 1200ᵒC, 30×24 cm
• 3 characters (#Anthropo-ciberneticus), 2019, porcelain, 1200°C, 33 x 26 x 16 cm
  Pink on Scooter (#Anthropo-ciberneticus), 2019, porcelain, glazes, 1250°C, 28 x 26 x 16 cm
  The Thinker (#Anthropo-ciberneticus), 2019, porcelain, glazes, 1250°C, 28 x 26 x 12 cm
  Anthropo-ciberneticus exhibition at Galateea Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 2019

Danielle O’Malley: Selected works, 2021-2024

My work is rooted in an environmental consciousness that derives from my concern for the Earth’s rapidly declining health. I use it to highlight the misuse and abuse that we (humans from Western industrialization through present day) inflict on local and global natural ecologies. My work is influenced by my everyday observations of landscapes (both naturally occurring, and human altered), environmental catastrophes, and how present-day society interacts with the natural world. I am passionate about green health because I grew up in a rural location where I learned from an early age to respect the natural world through acts of gardening; food preservation; and livestock care. As an adult, reflecting on these experiences that influenced my values and heightened my sensitivity to local environments, I am especially perceptive of our hazardous climate.

My materials and my process show my concern for natural ecologies through meticulous attention to turning earthen and upcycled materials into strong sculptural form. My monumental sculptures are made out of earthenware clay, handmade paper pulp, and upcycled waste materials (plastic bags, fishing line, electrical wire, and old clothing and bedding). I marry my earthen objects with industrial surplus that is re-contextualized through repetitive textile processes and the contrasting media charges my work with tension. The union of materials also serves as a metaphor for the complex relationship that humanity has with the natural world.

In addition to conscious material usage and impactful placement, I rely on strong formal devices and sensual form to create work that is symbolically charged. My forms are influenced by domestic and industrial objects that I experience in my daily life that are indicative of warning symbols and possible solutions for living more resourcefully. I use exaggerated scale, assembled mass, form isolation, and tension to emphasize my concern for the declining health of our planet.

My large-scale work offers my viewers a space to reflect on our hazardous environmental situation. I hope that my passion for making, my love for the earth, and my delight in observing the world around me in combination with my work will encourage people to join me in reconsidering our daily routines.

Captions

• Where the Deer and the Antelope Played, 2024, Handbuilt Earthenware Paper Clay, Unfired Adobe Clay, Bound Willow Branches (locally and ethically sourced), Woven Up-cycled Fabric (bedsheets) with Unfired Adobe Clay, Up-cycled Latex Paint, Up-cycled Tempera Paint, Oxides, installed in 15’ x 15’ gallery. This installation highlights iconography of the western landscape that is representative of the need for healthy boundaries with the natural world, so the Earth can heal from the wounds humanity continues to inflict on it. Fences, property markers, and scars on the land (from extraction processes) are as integrated into the western landscape as flora and fauna. They act as boundaries and barriers that protect, block, identify, guide and contain. They are also representative of colonization and the devastation that colonialist values bring to the land. According to Canadian researcher Max Liboiron, “pollution is not a manifestation or side effect of colonialism but is rather an enactment of ongoing colonial relations to the land.” This installation is a call for an anti-colonialist approach to the present-day eco-emergency.
• Sink or Swim, 2021, Handbuilt Earthenware, Porcelain, Stoneware, Woven Electrical Wire, Knit/Crocheted Fishing Line, Handmade Paper (Up-cycled Clothing + Locally Sourced Plants), Antique Hooks, Rust Dye, 7’ x 3’ x 2.5’. It is common to encounter piles of retired, discarded buoys in coastal regions – making one think of litter, pollution, and wastefulness. This piece references overconsumption and it symbolizes our need to be more resourceful with materials that are locally available (upcycle/reclaim) as this buoy-like cluster is lashed together with discarded materials.
• Smoke Stacks, 2023, Fired Paper Clay, Tempera & Latex Paint, Adobe Clay, 10’ x 15’ x 8’. By using iconography from the western landscape that is indicative of wide-spread carbon footprint, this installation will be a call for viewers to start relying on locally available resources in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
• Where the Buffalo Roamed, 2024, Up-cycled Glass Bottles (gathered from a local wine shop), Unfired Adobe Clay, Wood, 5.5’ x 14’ x 1.5’. The piece highlights the negative consequences of our consumeristic culture by showing how our waste products are becoming integrated with the land. Human-made substances outweigh natural materials.
• Tethered and Restricted, 2021, Handbuilt Paper Clay (Earthenware/Stoneware), Handmade Paper (Up-cycled Clothing + Locally Sourced Plants), Handmade Rope from Up-cycled Bedding, Rust Dye, 3’ x 10’ x 7’. This installation references public beaches with swim sections indicated by ropes and buoys. This installation incorporates a boundary-like sensibility; representing safeguarding and respect for nature. The space is literally roped off — making it symbolic of either a safe or contained space.
• A Precarious Situation, 2021, Handbuilt Paper Clay (Earthenware), Up-cycled and Crocheted Plastic Bags, Handmade Paper from Locally/Ethically Sourced Plants, Found Rocks, 5’ x 7’ x 2’. This piece is indicative of sensual form inspired by moorings I encounter in oceanic landscapes. A sense of tension is created as the sculpture leans, unbalanced, and the crocheted plastic constricts the earthen element – serving as a metaphor for the imbalance of the natural world.
• An Unstable Foundation, 2021, Handbuilt Paper Clay (Earthenware), Up-cycled and Crocheted Plastic Bags, Handmade Paper from Locally/Ethically Sourced Plants, 5’ x 13’ x 3’. This large, smooth, and voluptuous form was inspired by mooring forms found in coastal landscapes. The exaggerated the scale anthropomorphizes the form and alludes to a seed pod. The weight of the piece stretches and strains the support structure – showing that plastic is not sustainable.
• Materials in Motion #1, 2022, Up-cycled Fabric with Adobe Paper Clay woven on Willow Structures; Handbuilt Earthenware with Majolica and Up-cycled Electrical Wire; Handbuilt Earthenware/Stoneware Trestles with Rust Dye, Charcoal, Drawing Ink; Tracks lashed to Wooden Board, installed in 15’ x 15’ gallery. This piece utilizes iconography from the western landscape that symbolizes wide-spread carbon footprint (as trains and mining carts are used to move materials from their point of origin to world-wide destinations). It is a call for people to rely on locally available resources in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
• Materials in Motion #2, 2023, Handbuilt Earthenware with Majolica and Up-cycled Electrical Wire; Handbuilt Earthenware/Stoneware Trestles with Rust Dye, Charcoal, Drawing Ink; Tracks lashed to Wooden Board, 9’ x 6’ x 2.5’. This piece utilizes iconography from the western landscape that symbolizes wide-spread carbon footprint (as trains and mining carts are used to move materials from their point of origin to world-wide destinations). It is a call for people to rely on locally available resources in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
• Materials in Motion #3, 2023, Handbuilt Earthenware with Majolica Glaze, Up-cycled Electrical Wire, displayed on Hand-stitched Up-cycled Bedding Quilt, 2.5’ x 8’ x 8’. This piece utilizes iconography from the western landscape that symbolizes wide-spread carbon footprint (as trains and mining carts are used to move materials from their point of origin to world-wide destinations). It is a call for people to rely on locally available resources in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
• Caged, 2021, Handbuilt and Woven Paper Clay (Earthenware), Zip Ties, Up-cycled Draperies, Adobe Paper Clay with Oxide/Gouache, Sodium Silicate with Oxide Stains, Rust Dye, Coffee Dye, 5.75’ x 3.5’ x 3.5’. This monumental piece references traps that I find discarded and washed up on the beach. It alludes to the fact that we are as much the victim as the earth is through our misuse and abuse of the natural world.

Florence Corbi: Selected works, 2020-2024

Inspired by Mediterranean mythologies and the interactions between industry and nature, my creations are often built from raw forms that evoke industrial production. Boxes, knotted fabrics, cardboard, cubes, etc. are reused in an upcycling process. These raw structures are fully wrapped in porcelain, over which I create a myriad of delicate handmade motifs, freely inspired by plants, flowers, or corals. With their profusion, they express the energy of nature and the hope of its triumph, like so many precious stones of life set in the raw magma of forgotten, abandoned objects.

Florence Corbi’s creations reveal how porcelain lends itself to multiple elegant and refined forms.

Corals, flowers, and unexpected vegetation decorate various surfaces with a constant inventiveness dominated by a form of poetry. This artist multiplies the details, the cutouts, and the additions, making the most of the porcelain’s finesse. A vibrant light exalts these original works born of a constantly renewed imagination, while the white of the material gives a particular radiance to each model. We appreciate these milky creations, sometimes so fragile in appearance.

Florence Corbi sublimates this material with a powerful imagination. Her art inspires admiration for these lively and ever-changing plant decorations; each piece is a discovery.

Nicole Lamothe, Art Critic

Captions

• EVANTHE, 2022, porcelain, 35x35x9cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• CAMILLE, 2021, porcelain, 40x40x15cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• DEHUA I, 2024, porcelain, 7x12x10cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• DEHUA II, 2024, porcelain, 8x12x10cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• HYDASPE III, 2021, porcelain, 38x30x20cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• HYDASPE VII, 2023, porcelain, 42x35x35cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• HYDASPE VIII, 2023, porcelain, 42x35x35cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• NODUS I, 2020, porcelain, 40x22x10cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• NODUS II, 2021, porcelain, 33x20x8cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• ONDE BLANCHE I, 2024, porcelain, 63x30x18cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• ONDE BLANCHE II, 2024, porcelain, 35x31x15cm, Photo Pascal Luciani
• ONDE BLANCHE III, 2024, porcelain, 59x20x12cm, Photo Pascal Luciani

Studio FraJas: Waterfall series, 2024-2025

Studio FraJas’s latest production takes as its theme the similarity between the motion of a waterfall and the contours of a vase. Elongated necks stream into bulbous bellies, decorated with patterns that descend, crash and swirl, in a geometric interpretation of water. Methodical craftsmanship contrasts with the unpredictable behavior of clay and glaze during firing, giving each piece a dynamic quality.

Captions

• Baluster group, 2025, Glazed porcelain, various dimensions, photo by James K Lowe
• Baluster con Vaivén, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 13.75″ H x 10.5″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Baluster with Turbulent Flow, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 17.5″ H x 12″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Baluster with Drunken Cascade, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 15″ H x 10.5″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Baluster with Drunken Spiral, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 19.25″ H x 10.5″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Waterfall Vase with Serrated Crescents, 2024, Glazed terracotta, 15.25” X 7.25” DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Citadel Bowl and Waterfall Vase, 2024, Glazed terracotta, various dimensions, photo by James K Lowe
• Baluster and Bell Vase, 2025, Glazed porcelain, various dimensions, photo by James K Lowe
• Waterfall Vase with Drunken Diamonds, 2024, Glazed stoneware, 13.75″ x 8″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Waterfall Vase with Blue Whirlpool, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 13.25″ H x 12.25″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Waterfall Vase with Dancing Stripes, 2025, Glazed terracotta, 14.5” X 6.5” DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Waterfall Vase with Serrated Stripes, 2024, Glazed terracotta, 13.75” X 6″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Bell Vase with Blue Fanfare, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 11.75″ H x 7″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe
• Bell Vase with Hidden Vine, 2025, Glazed porcelain, 13.5″ H x 7″ DIA, photo by James K Lowe

Decoys and Ghosts, 2025

Decoys & Ghosts brought together new and retrospective work by Belfast-based sculptor John Rainey. Primarily working with Parian porcelain—a historical mimic of marble—and combining traditional casting with digital fabrication, Rainey creates artefacts that seem to have slipped in from an alternate reality: a space where the boundaries between authenticity and imitation, tradition and disruption, are blurred, and where the familiar often turns strange. His sculptures are not illusions meant to deceive, but rather forms that explore unsettling feelings, inviting viewers to question their perceptions of identity, history, and material truth.

The sculptures emerge from a practice preoccupied with transformation, where fragmented bodies shift into animal forms or blend with architecture, and plinths morph into theatrical installations and creaturely constructions. These altered display mechanisms amplify the sculptures’ strangeness, positioning them as relics from a place with different rules—where histories may have unfolded differently, and fixed identities dissolve.

Rainey’s work resists easy narratives, preferring instead to hold space for contradictions: ghostly yet tactile, elegant yet strange, historical yet speculative. In this realm, imitation becomes a tool not of deception, but of possibility—an invitation to imagine new states of being and to dwell in their uncertainty.

“Decoys and Ghosts leads us in a darker direction than Rainey’s previous work, reflecting our increasing disorientation, perhaps, with the world around us. Rainey deliberately leaves traces of digital creation, his modified copy, his version of what is seen, his own Frankenstein. A careful layering disrupts a stable acceptance of what ‘sculpture’ and installation should be when presented in a formal gallery. This wry commentary on art history, reproduction and contemporary ideals leaves us with a sense of uncertainty and even fear, prompting us to question what we are witnessing and what we might yet see.” Excerpt from John Rainey – Decoys and Ghosts, an exhibition text by Mary Stevens, Exhibtions Officer, Golden Thread Gallery.

OTHERLAND, 2024

OTHERLAND is a space occupied by alternative versions of classical archetypes, from Myron’s Discobolus to the Belvedere Torso. Rainey engages in what he describes as ‘acts of sculptural remixing’, using processes that range from the contemporary (3D printing) to the traditional (mould making and slip casting). His remixes disturb the familiarity of these well-known forms, exploring possibilities beyond expectations.

Rainey’s impulse to re-work, and destabilise established models shows itself clearly in his approach to the tradition of slip casting. As a process of mass manufacture in the ceramic industry, slip casting is fundamentally concerned with uniformity. Rainey hacks into this system of unvarying repetition to unlock the possibly of endless variation, using an extensive library of moulds to create composite casts. At times appearing to morph from human into animal, from solid into liquid, or mixing bodily with architectural motifs, the variations and reconfigurations Rainey creates celebrate their defiant difference. These scrambled forms reflect Rainey’s interests in concepts of shapeshifting drawn from Irish folklore, and the notion of the carnivalesque as a space in which conventional order is overturned. Both are explored as worlds in which states are flexible, forms are fluid, and social boundaries are unsettled.

STATE SHIFT, 2022

STATE SHIFT explores the historical movement of sculptural copies between materials, scales, and geographical locations. Through transformations and material illusions, Rainey reflects on the ability of these forms to shift associations and meanings in different contexts and time periods, with an emphasis on their existence in digital space and time.

While the Roman tradition of producing copies of original Greek sculptures implies repetition and same-ness, Rainey’s sculptures take inspiration from the slippages and variations that creep in during the act of reproduction and subsequent restoration. STATE SHIFT features five versions of the Discobolus, a sculpture which was copied numerous times (often with distinctive differences) after the Greek master Myron’s now lost original. In a British Museum Press publication focusing on the historical flexibility of the Discobolus, curator Ian Jenkins describes that ‘[t]o Nazi Germany, it was a trophy of the mythical Aryan race [whereas] on a London transport poster for the 1948 Olympic Games … it was emblematic of the triumph of democratic freedom over fascist tyranny’.(1) Rainey revisits this and other historical forms, and their shifting meanings, through acts of sculptural remixing – where digital scans released by museums are manipulated through a series of transformations and processes including 3D printing, porcelain casting, slicing, re-joining and surface printing.

STATE SHIFT presents us with states of uncertainty and disrupted expectations. Existing in a matrix of contradictions, disguise and disruptive patterns, Rainey’s re-configurations inject the possibility of alternatives and difference into classical forms usually associated with static ideals.

(1) Ian Jenkins, The Discobolus, London, British Museum Press, 2012, p. 5.

SLIP TANK, 2021

SLIP TANK is part laboratory, part playground, with sculptures and installations concerned with things not being as they seem. Exploring portals, post-internet worlds, and sculptural glitches, Rainey makes reinterpretations and remakes of familiar forms using both old and new methods of object making; a combination of traditional casting processes (using materials like porcelain) and digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing.

Within the exhibition, Rainey references the museum, the home, and the city, treating each as fluid and elastic. Presented in a state of non-fixity, and resisting the idea that things are only ever one thing, the sculptures in SLIP TANK are beacons of possibility. In deviating from their original and recognisable forms, they hint at alternatives, questioning what happens when we remove boundaries and disrupt expectations.

Rainey’s sculptures appear as if they are in motion, seemingly moving through the Naughton Gallery on specially designed pedestals that feature wheels and handles. An optical illusion to the rear of the space hints at an alternate realm where these works have originated from. This is a place between the physical and the digital, where playful experiments with a Greco-Roman sculptural aesthetic meet industrial fabrication and the language of machines.

Anaïs Lelièvre: Selected works – Porcelain, 2017-2024

Captions

• Solo show Chantier/Castel (idéel), 2023, centre d’art Le Garage, Amboise, France. © Ville d’Amboise
• Solo show Littera/Terra, Espace Jacques Villeglé, Saint-Gratien, France. © Yves Boucaux
• Fondements, 2022-2023, porcelain, ink, each piece 5-65 x 9,5 x 7,5 cm. Residency La Junqueira, Lisbon, Portugal.
• Terramoto, 2022, porcelain, earthenware, ink. Residency La Junqueira, Lisbon, Portugal. © Photodocumenta
• Archives (Lettres A), 2023-2024, porcelain, ink, c. 30 x 22 x 0,5 cm each piece.
• Fêlures (la gravure contre soi) 11, 2020, porcelain, 48,2 x 30,9 x 5 cm.
• Thaïs 1, 2024, porcelain, ink, 31 x 22,6 x 0,5 cm. Grant ADAGP.
• Thaïs 2, 2024, porcelain, ink, 30,8 x 22,7 x 0,5 cm. Grant ADAGP.
• Coquilles (le trait qui ne saisit rien) 11, 2019, porcelain, 8,7 x 26 x 13 cm.
• Alphabet culinaire 4, 2017, porcelain, 9 x 17,5 x 17 cm.
• Secousses 4, 2021, porcelain, 31 x 17 x 16 cm.

Anaïs Lelièvre: Selected works – Glazes, 2020-2025

Captions

• Gloc 21, 2024, stoneware, glaze, 65 x 197 x 83,5 cm. Residency Ensad Limoges.
• Caryopse 3, 2021, bricks, glaze, 5,6 x 12,6 x 9,4 cm each brick. Solo show Caryopse, Maison des arts Rosa Bonheur, Chevilly-Larue.
• Coquilles (flèches), 2023, earthenware, stoneware, glaze. Residency Le Garage, Amboise.
• Oikos-Littera-Fluit, 2023-2024, stoneware, glaze, 49,5 x 53 x 34 cm. Residency Musée de la Céramique, Lezoux.
• Oikos-Poros 15, 2020, porcelain, glaze, 28 x 20 x 6 cm.
• Coquilles (mur) 1, 2023, stoneware, glaze, 30 x 22,5 x 4 cm.
• Coquilles (flèche) 25, 2023, stoneware, glaze, 218 x 58 cm.
• Oikos-Fluit, 2023-2024, stoneware, local stones, 49,5 x 53 x 34 cm. Residency Musée de la Céramique, Lezoux.
• Altus-Fluit, 2025, porcelain, glazes. Residency Le CRAFT, Centre de Recherche sur les Arts du Feu et de la Terre / Musée National Adrien Dubouché, Limoges.

Anaïs Lelièvre: Poros – Iceland, 2016-2024

After the “Fresh Winds” residencies in Gardur, Iceland, 2015 and 2019.

Captions

• Gloc 4, 2016, earthenware, glaze, 15 x 41 x 19 cm, collection Frac Picardie.
• Gloc 20, 2023, stoneware, glaze, 59 x 120 x 60 cm.
• Gloc 21, 2024, stoneware, glaze, 65 x 197 x 83,5 cm. Residency Ensad Limoges.
• Poros 3, 2018, installation, printed paper, earthenware, glaze. Exhibition Terrain vague, Centre Tignous d’art contemporain, Montreuil.
• Poros 1, 2017, installation, printed paper, stoneware.
• Littera-Poros, 2017-2023, stoneware. Solo show Littera/Terra, Espace Jacques Villeglé, Saint-Gratien.
• Poros-Oikos 3, 2023, stoneware, 73 x 54 x 45 cm. Residency Musée de la Céramique, Lezoux.
• Oikos-Poros 17, 2020, porcelain, glaze, 31,6 x 23,9 x 7,5 cm.
• Oikos-Poros 4, 2022, stoneware, glaze, 53 x 42 x 15 cm.
• Oikos-Poros 5, 2022, stoneware, glaze, 58 x 41 x 16 cm.
• Oikos-Poros 6, 2022, stoneware, glaze, 57 x 49 x 16 cm.