Still from Brie Ruais’ “Four Phrases,” 2024, video

At the entrance of the Kimball Art Center, visitors are greeted by a large wall painted in a warm terracotta tone, which could be a nod to the foundational material of their current exhibition: clay. Curated by the Kimball’s Nancy Stoaks and staged in conjunction with The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ conference in Utah this month,  Traces is a ceramic-centered exhibition that explores transformation, memory, identity, femininity and materiality through the work of nine artists. The show navigates a spectrum of personal, cultural, and historical narratives, engaging with clay not only as a medium but as a conceptual framework for reflecting on impermanence and resilience.

One of clay’s inherent qualities is its malleability when wet, and its strength when fired. Its ultimate vulnerability to breakage creates a poignant tension in the work of Brie Ruais. Her film, “Four Phrases,” opens with the artist dressed in white, kneeling in a desert-like landscape, applying clay to the soil with her hand in deliberate yet organic gestures, using her whole body to connect with the landscape. The scene is solemn and immersive, the minimal soundtrack allowing viewers to focus entirely on the quiet intensity of her actions. In the second phrase, Ruais is in a coastal setting, working at the water’s edge, manipulating a clay form as waves lap dangerously close, heightening the tension. Then, as Ruais swims out to sea, the clay is washed away. In the third phase, Ruais is surrounded by a circle of stones, manipulating a red earthen clay in a dry environment. The clay is transformed from a cross-like form into a radiating sunburst. As she digs into the ground beneath the clay, a quiet heartbeat emerges in the soundscape, gradually accelerating and drawing viewers into the intimacy of her actions. The final phase unfolds in a snowy landscape as Ruais drags a clay-filled pillowcase across the snow, leaving behind a red stained path. The soft crunch of footsteps and the scraping of the bag create a stark, visceral experience. The stain spreads in an almost circular, X-shaped pattern, reminiscent of a wound or scar. This quiet yet powerful conclusion invites reflection on memory, permanence, and the lingering traces we leave behind.

Beside Ruais’ video installation hang two massive circular ceramic pieces that seem to defy gravity as they cling to the wall, their surfaces marked with layers of glazes that progressively soften and fade toward the center. The glazes vary in texture and intensity, some cracked and fragmented while others remain smooth and deliberate. Finger marks and drag lines suggest Ruais’ physical engagement with the material, reinforcing the relationship between her body and the clay. Each piece weighs 130 pounds, the equivalent of Ruais’ own body weight, a deliberate mirroring of mass that evokes a powerful sense of presence. The pieces feel simultaneously strong and fragile, their thin ceramic bodies holding the memory of Ruais’ labor. Ruais offers a physical manifestation of those memories, capturing the connection between presence, place, and the fleeting nature of time.

Brie Ruais, “Uncontrollable Drifting Inward and Outward Together (130 lbs times two),” 2021, glazed stoneware, rocks, hardware

Detail from Galia Linn’s “Come With Me VI,” 2018, mixed clay, glazed stoneware

The physicality and scale of Galia Linn’s “Come With Me VI” commands attention while its quiet presence invites contemplation. Anchored on a solid wooden base that appears to be cut from the core of a tree is a sculptural form that resembles a humanoid figure, its folds and contours evoking muscles and abstracted bodily shapes. The surface is layered with natural glazes, mingled with bold streaks of a red oxide, drawing the viewer’s eye to an orifice carved into its hollow interior. This opening, both inviting and mysterious, feels like an entry point into something deeply personal. While the structure appears robust, Lin’s work reveals a quiet vulnerability. Cracks at the base and uneven edges lend the piece a raw, unrefined quality. Rather than attempting to conceal these imperfections, Lin emphasizes them, transforming the flaws into markers of resilience and survival. The wooden pedestal—simple, unpolished and unassuming—further grounds the work in humility rather than grandeur.

The material realities of creating such a piece underscore this balance between strength and delicacy. The size alone demands constant monitoring from controlling moisture content to ensuring an even drying process before firing. Despite its seemingly solid presence, “Come With Me VI” is the result of countless delicate, intentional actions—a testament to patience, care, and endurance.” It stands as a powerful reminder that even what seems sturdy and immovable may hold within it layers of tenderness, history, and emotional depth.

Installation view of Nicki Green’s “Perforated in the Night (Uriel),” (front) and “Crock for Unrecognizables 2 & 3,” (rear) 2024, glazed earthenware with cotton and elastic

In her powerful and intricate work, Nicki Green creates sculptures that blend complex symbolism with deeply personal narratives, offering a poignant meditation on cultural tradition, queerness, and spirituality. Green’s work embraces a duality that is both physical and symbolic, exploring themes of purification and inclusion within the context of traditional Jewish rituals (particularly those often seen as excluding transgender identities). “Perforated in the Night,” a large-scale ceramic sculpture, depicts a two-headed angel figure kneeling in a state of reverence, holding a vase adorned with intricate patterns. The angel’s two heads suggest multiplicity, the coexistence of seemingly opposing identities or ideas. The vase, resting on mosaic-like tiles, recalls traditional clay practices while serving as a vessel for themes of cleansing and renewal.

In her series of pots titled “Crock for Unrecognizable,” Green furthers this exploration of identity and spirituality. Each vessel feels simultaneously crude yet deeply considered, with surfaces that shift between intentional design and gestural marks that resemble sketches or journal entries. The pots are adorned with patterns like pyramids, flowers and the star of David, blending cultural references with personal symbolism. One vessel prominently features the word “Rebus,” a term drawn from alchemy meaning “double matter,” reinforcing themes of multiplicity and transformation. In one particularly captivating piece, a two-headed angel figure cradles a sun, a balloon, and a flag, symbols that seem to merge celestial and earthly realms. Another pot bears the Star of David, its surface punctuated with scrawled text that feels intimate as though Green’s thoughts are etched directly into the clay. Green’s work possesses a rough yet intentional quality that feels refreshingly unguarded. The deliberate imperfections uneven textures, scrawled writing, and raw ceramic surfaces evoke a sense of vulnerability. These pieces reject conventional notions of refinement in favor of honesty, mirroring the lived complexities of identity and self-discovery.

Still from Ashwini Bhat’s video about her work “Agnija, Born of Fire.”

Ashwini Bhat, originally from South India, blends her cultural heritage with material exploration and digital media. Her towering sculpture commands attention with its dark, mesmerizing presence. With rich blacks, deep purples, and earthy textures, its gleaming surface could be mistaken for bronze or metal, but it’s clay, punctuated by yellow and red nodules that resemble embers flickering across its textured form. Inspired by the 2017 Tubbs fire in California, this piece reflects on fire—its destructive force, regenerative power, and the unexpected beauty that emerges in its wake. Accompanying her sculpture is a video in which Bhat speaks of resilience, describing the renewal of life she witnessed after the fire’s devastation, and Bhat’s experience moving to California informs this layered narrative, merging personal history with broader ecological concerns.

The sculpture evokes the form of termite mounds, known in India as “cathedrals” and believed to house the Cobra God. Its porous texture, punctuated by nodules and small openings, mimics these natural structures, while the interplay of light and shadow imbues the piece with organic vitality. The work appears to breathe with its surroundings, bridging natural architecture with sacred space. To achieve the piece’s monumental scale, Bhat constructed a custom kiln to envelop and fire the sculpture. The result is a surface that feels both raw and refined, reminiscent of fire-scorched monuments or ancient pottery kilns. Despite its imposing presence, the work carries a sense of quiet reflection. It stands as a meditation on resilience—a testament to how destruction can give rise to renewal and how traditions, landscapes, and memories intertwine.

Installation view of Traces, at the Kimball Art Center with, from left, Ashwini Bhat’s “Agnija, Born of Fire,” (2023, glazed ceramic), Jenny Hata Blumenfield’s “Nude Metamorphosis,” (2021, stoneware and Kintsugi), Ashwini Bhat’s video work and Jenny Hata Blumenfield’s “Vessel of Unknown Name or Origin,” (2023, stoneware).

What first becomes apparent in Jenny Hata Blumenfield’s work is the deliberate dissection and separation of form. Each of her two vessels is carefully divided into halves, joined by a flat form that connects both sides. This plane, seemingly slicing through the vessel, challenges our understanding of the traditional pot as a continuous whole. Adding to this tension is an optical illusion created by a glazed image of a vase, rendered across the divided surfaces. When viewed from certain angles, this glaze creates the illusion of a complete vessel, whole in appearance yet fragmented in reality. This visual trickery offers a compelling interplay between perception and materiality. The optical vase, though pristine and seemingly intact, is ultimately unusable. It cannot hold, contain, or fulfill the practical purpose of a vessel. Conversely, the physically divided sections the true containers are imperfect, fractured, and unrefined. This dynamic between functionality and visual completeness suggests deeper themes within Blumenfield’s work. It evokes a sense of dissonance a reflection, perhaps, of her own identity as a Japanese-American woman. The fragmented yet connected forms seem to parallel her experience of navigating a dual identity, where neither side fully defines her, yet both are inseparable parts of her whole.

Beyond this personal reflection, Blumenfield’s vessels also reference broader cultural associations. In many Eastern traditions, vessels are symbolic of care, nurturing, and domesticity. By reconfiguring this historically familiar form, Blumenfield seems to question societal expectations surrounding femininity and domestic roles. The fractured yet connected structure may speak to the pressures of conforming to traditional norms an exploration of control, containment, and the compartmentalization of women’s identities. Regardless of from what angle one views these works, they never quite resolve into a singular whole. This lingering tension between unity and division reflects a strong exploration of identity, tradition, and expectation.

Anabel Juárez, “Señal de los dioses” (left) and “Papalomeh,” 2021, glazed ceramic.

Anabel Juarez’s compelling works command attention with their charismatic presence. Her sculptures, both large and inviting, exude a sense of nostalgia while remaining fresh and innovative, largely due to her masterful use of bold, beautifully pure colors. “Papalomeh” and “Señal de los Dioses,” sit confidently on pristine white pedestals, their forms both accessible and abstract. “Señal de los Dioses” (Sign of the Gods) features the Mexican imagery of the eagle and serpent,  symbols deeply rooted in Aztec mythology and the founding of Tenochtitlán, (today’s Mexico City). Despite the delicate craftsmanship and visually inviting colors, there is an undeniable strength in this piece. The beautifully entwined “Papalomeh” resembles a cluster of monarch butterflies. The butterflies, with their delicate yet persistent nature, evoke themes of change, growth, and transformation. Their remarkable migration pattern, spanning thousands of miles from the southern United States into the pristine Oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, is one of the longest in North America. Juarez’s depiction of these butterflies feels deeply personal, emphasizing endurance, adaptability, and the continuous navigation of identity over time.

What further distinguishes Juarez’s sculptures is their unexpected materiality. Though expertly crafted from ceramic, they possess a surprising visual softness reminiscent of papier-mache. This textural quality enhances the emotional impact of her work, evoking a sense of childhood wonder and memory. Through her vibrant sculptures, Juarez invites viewers to reflect on symbols of strength, change, and the formative experiences that shape who we are. Her work captures the delicate balance between vulnerability and resilience, weaving together heritage, identity, and the enduring power of collective memory.

Heidi Lau’s, from left, “Rorschach Test Tile I,” “Humming From Within the Void,” and “Celadon Clouds,” 2023-24, glazed ceramic.

Heidi Lau’s trio of works exists in a space between the familiar and the enigmatic, immediately drawing the viewer into a realm that is both ritualistic and otherworldly. Her sculptures feel like relics from a future archaeology artifacts of a mythology yet to be written, whispering prophecies that remain just beyond our grasp. These works invite the viewer into a space where boundaries between past and future, tangible and intangible, collapse into one another, urging us to reconsider endings and beginnings, to see the porous nature of time, history, and belief.

“Rorschach Test Tile 1,” a skull-like shape hovering on the wall, evokes the impression of an alien relic, It bears an uncanny resemblance to something recognizable yet unplaceable, as if excavated from a forgotten mythology. The glaze shimmers with a mesmerizing variety of textures and hues, shifting from pseudo-transparent celadons to small palladium orbs or pearls that punctuate its surface. The play of light casts delicate, butterfly-like shadows, adding an ephemeral quality to its presence. There is something disorienting about the piece its simultaneous familiarity and ungraspable origin create a sense of tension. It resists categorization, floating between the natural and the supernatural, the biological and the spiritual.

“Celadon Clouds,” while similar in color, offers a more organic and identifiable form. Its structure is composed of soft, undulating shapes that bring to mind something simultaneously natural and otherworldly. The interplay of celadon hues, with their soft translucency, adds a dreamlike quality, making it both grounding and ethereal. There is a comfort in its shapes, yet Lau ensures that it never fully resolves into something entirely known, leaving space for speculation and discovery.

At the center of these two, “Humming from Within the Void” is a towering totem-like ceramic structure adorned with deep black metallic glazes. Its surface is punctuated by intricate openings and organic orifices, creating a dynamic landscape of passageways that Lau describes as a labyrinth for spirits in the afterlife. The piece teeters between sculpture and architecture, an elaborate vessel of transformation. Its intricate detailing hands, orbs, pearl like formations contributes to an eerie sensation of presence, as if it is an active participant in a cosmic ritual. The totem carries an almost gravitational force, pulling the viewer into its dark corridors and suggesting the lifting of veils between worlds. There is an overwhelming sense of depth, both literal and conceptual, as one contemplates the infinite recesses within its layered surfaces. Lau’s references to Taoist ritual objects and zoomorphic forms become fully realized in this work, merging history with a newly imagined mythology.

Bari Ziperstein, from left, “Melting Flowers,” 2023, stoneware and glaze and “Twisted Arms,” 2024, stoneware and glaze

Bari Ziperstein is also represented by a trio of pieces. Her engagement with themes of consumerism, Soviet propaganda, and the constructed environments we inhabit becomes evident through her precise craftsmanship and conceptual rigor. “Melting Flowers” and “Twister Arms,” while appearing as vessels, resist traditional functionality, operating instead as satirical commentaries on Viennese design, a style known for its lavish floral patterns and decorative excess. “Melting Flowers” is composed of a geometric framework intertwined with organic and structural patterns. The surface is richly adorned with intricate glazes, layering both imagery and texture in a way that suggests narrative depth. In her statement, Ziperstein reflects on the fragility of flowers and their impermanence over time. This theme manifests in the surface details of these works, where flowers seem to succumb to entropy, their brilliance fading under the invisible weight of time and external pressures. There is a deliberate balance between meticulous control and the opulent excess of consumer culture, resulting in objects that are simultaneously beautiful and dysfunctional. By pushing past utility, she sharpens her critique of capitalist extravagance, rendering it excessive to the point of collapse.

Her larger piece, “Flowers for Ashes (Kiev),” reinterprets Brutalist architecture through intricate contour drawings that were initially inspired by Soviet-era textile patterns. These designs, often created by overlooked female designers, raise critical questions about authorship, recognition, and historical erasure. Through this lens, Ziperstein not only examines aesthetics but also critiques systems of control and oppression embedded in both political and design histories. Her broader practice challenges capitalist consumerism while bringing to light narratives that demand deeper engagement with the past and its lingering influence on the present.

Nicole Seisler, “Thoughts on Holding Patterns,” 2019-present, porcelain, terracotta

Nicole Seisler’s “Thoughts on Holding Patterns” spans a large wall, meticulously arranged with ceramic chips and charcoal lines that interconnect like an intricate circuit board. Each ceramic piece feels deliberate, even purposeful, despite being composed largely of studio remnants scraps, cuts, fragments of slabs, and other discardable debris. Seisler breathes life into these fragments, transforming them into carefully imprinted ceramic chips, each fastened to the wall with precision—a sense of order emerging from chaos. The result is a visual mind map—words and ideas branching outward in charcoal, forming a web of connections that would otherwise remain unseen. Words like “insisting,” “desiring,” “gripping,” and “hiding” punctuate the work, suggesting emotional undercurrents tied to our instinct to collect, protect, or discard. “Thoughts on Holding Patterns” raises a deeply relatable question: Why do we hold on to certain objects, even those seemingly devoid of purpose? The piece challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries between what is precious and what is disposable, to reimagine our throwaway culture, evoking questions about consumption, permanence, and our relationships with material objects.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, Seisler’s video work, “Breathe Through It” is a quiet yet profound meditation on process, documenting her worktable as she molds and reshapes fragments and discarded materials from past creations. Through the repetitive act of making and remaking, Seisler embraces a rhythm that mirrors life itself one of transformation, introspection, and continuity. Her work calls attention to the cyclical nature of creation, asking us to consider our own habits of doing and undoing, of moving forward while carrying echoes of the past.

The Traces exhibition as a whole is thoughtfully curated, and leaves a lasting impression, prompting reflection on history, materiality, and the invisible forces that shape our world.

Traces, Kimball Art Center, Park City, through May 18.

All images courtesy of the artist.

Nolan Flynn

Raised in a creative Michigan household, Nolan Patrick Flynn developed an early passion for art. He moved to Utah to pursue an MFA at the University of Utah and continues to create art out of his Salt Lake City studio and teach high school art at Stansbury High School.