NAPA, CA.- On view in di Rosa’s Gallery 1 through July 2021, Ceramic Interventions highlights new and recent works, demonstrating that clay is a vital medium for today’s emerging artists. Curated by Twyla Ruby with Kate Eilertsen, and Andrea Saenz Williams. An artist panel with the curator will be held May 22, 2021 from 4-6 pm. Tickets and information for all exhibition-related public programs, including artist walkthroughs, family programs, and community partnerships may be found at www.dirosaart.org.

What do you do when the corner of your large ceramic sculpture breaks? When this happened to Nicki Green, the artist commissioned a wooden prosthetic to stand in for the missing clay. Like the other artists highlighted in this provocative new exhibition, Green embraces a spirit of ceramic intervention, fashioning an innovative practice rooted in the Bay Area’s longstanding tradition of experimentation in ceramic arts.

On the wall and floor, Sahar Khoury explores the intersection of clay with other media in an improvisatory, materials-driven process that uses clay as a frame for hybrid compositions of paper pulp, textiles, steel, resin and found materials. When confronted, for example, with a cast-off bone holder used for archaeological study, Khoury transformed the object into a cement mould and used clay to join it with steel, resin and fabric into a striking assemblage. Her interventions to the age-old medium of clay create something new altogether, blurring the line between ceramics, sculpture and painting.

Self-taught, Chilean-born artist Maria Paz brings large, hand-built floor pieces and hanging vessels painted with recorded histories both personal and political—ceramic objects imbued with layers of ritualistic and archival meaning. Gauged finger holes, rings of sand and brightly colored electrical wire add texture and depth to an installation that is celebratory, mournful and timely.