FOCUS GALLERY 

Of Hand and Earth  | Hitomi and Takuro Shibata

March 11 – April 12, 2025
Rescheduled from Fall 2024 due to Hurricane Helene

Of Hand and Earth features work by ceramicists Hitomi and Takuro Shibata. Originally from Japan, Hitomi and Takuro relocated to Seagrove, North Carolina in 2005. Their focus is to make simple and functional wood fired pottery and sculpture using locally sourced wild clays from North Carolina.

Hitomi and Takuro rely primarily on their hands, simple tools, locally harvested clays, and wood firing methods which are renewable and sustainable in the North Carolina region. They choose hand processes and natural or non-toxic materials as much as possible. Firings take place in their hand-built wood kilns after many days of cutting and splitting firewood. Glazes are made from washed wood ash gathered from wood kilns and wood stoves. Rain water is collected for use in the studio, and pots dry in the sun. As a result of this intentional work, the Shibata’s pottery and sculpture captures a natural, sustainable energy where process and form are one.

 

JOHN & ROBYN HORN GALLERY

EL PUENTE

April 1 – June 7, 2025
Rescheduled from Fall 2024 due to Hurricane Helene

A metaphorical bridge, El Puente, exists between Puerto Rico and the US, which share a complex and often misunderstood political and cultural relationship. How do we express El Puente through the lens of Puerto Rican artists?

This exhibition centers on legacy and culture, focusing on multi-generational artists in dialogue with the US through their education, residencies, and career opportunities. Co-curator Cristina Córdova characterizes this phenomenon as a continuous loop of communal encounters and mutual influence, followed by a momentary respite in which the encounters are assimilated and transformed within the artistic community. This pattern has taken place over many years and generations, moving back and forth between two territories inextricably connected yet distinctly separate, sometimes with intention and at times unconsciously. What are the influences of this bridge on the insular art community in Puerto Rico and how do the experiences evolve in the vacuum of an underresourced arts community?

Through the lens of Puerto Rican artists who have cultivated long- and short-term connections with the US throughout their formative and professional trajectories, El Puente offers insights into how these connections shape and inform the artistic practices, perspectives, and creative trajectories of Puerto Rican artists and consequently feed into the broader landscape of contemporary American craft in an evolving and continuous dynamic.

Participating artists: Cristina Córdova, Ada del Pilar Ortiz, Luis Gabriel Sanabria, and Jaime Suárez