Divergent Forms
By Artists: Jennifer Martin, George Taylor & Ben Pranger
On view: Jan 10 – Feb 7
Opening: Sat, Jan 10 | 3-5pm
Exhibition statement:
Artist statement:
Jennifer Martin
Our bodies remember for us. Scars, small flaws, and softened edges become quiet archivists, holding the moments that have shaped who we are. My work begins in that place—where memory meets the physical world—and invites both the tenderness and the ache of lived experience to surface.
I move within ceramic tradition but do not allow its lineage to bind me. Clay, in its sensual responsiveness, becomes a partner in dialogue. Using the tools of a traditional potter, I lean away from symmetry and toward forms that echo the body’s own asymmetry—its gestures, its vulnerabilities, its truths. Each mark left on the surface records the rhythm of my hand, yet these traces also stand in for the histories we each carry, ring by ring, layer by layer, like a tree quietly growing its story. Through repeated lines and patterns, I build a language that speaks of memory, gender, identity, and the winding paths of personal journey.
Scale and arrangement deepen this exploration. I seek to lift the vessel beyond function, offering it instead as a site for contemplation—of relationships, of lineage, of the narratives that shape us. Whether in paired forms that echo one another, grids of cups that reveal both unity and distinction, or large works shaped from the measurements of the human body, each composition becomes a constellation of possibilities. Viewers are invited to find themselves within these forms, to trace their own stories through the spaces between them.
As a final gesture of devotion to the human form, I turn to traditional glazes or exposed clay, allowing them to stand in as the skin of the piece—an echo of flesh, a quiet reminder that our bodies and our histories are inseparable.
Website
Instagram
George Taylor
I have focused on my own image intently for some time now, most recently in the form of portraits, either on slabs of clay or slab built bottles. More recently I have pulled away from the image of my face and am instead incorporating the entire figure. These images feel more universal to me, especially ones viewed from the back and side.
As my practice has evolved, so too has my awareness of politics and representation. My portraits reflect both personal presence and a sense of exclusion—images that feel unwelcome within an art world where I often find myself marginalized. Making this work is both an act of acceptance and a battle: to claim space, to challenge erasure, and to transform clay into a record of persistence.
Website
Ben Pranger
My wall based constructions slowly grow into emergent forms. Small pieces of wood are stacked and glued, drifting off course to traverse the space in front of the wall. The work follows simple rules that unfold organically to create entangled, rhizomatic structures. Many of the constructions suggest futuristic cities rising out of the rubble of their own destruction. Fragments from previous work coalesce into stairways, passages, apertures, enclosures and pyramids, leading the viewer through labyrinthine architectures. These indwellings map a recursive mental space that morphs into evolving worlds.
Website
