Member Preview: 5pm to 6pm
General Public: 6pm to 8pm
Suggested Donation: $10
Join us for the opening reception of two incredible exhibitions.
In the Main Gallery:
Paula Jean Rice: Transformation & Transcendence is a retrospective exhibition of visionary ceramic sculpture. The collection includes four decades of Rice’s work from public and private collections, offering a comprehensive survey of the artist’s complete oeuvre. Presented as a multi-media exhibition, the three-dimensional sculptures and relief wall-mounted pieces are accompanied with recent audio recordings of Rice sharing the stories and inspirations behind each series. The artist’s captivating recollections provide the audience with poetic insight on her life’s work.
Paula Jean Rice is a nationally renowned ceramic sculptor and educator, whose interests include the nature and mystery of the human body and our place in the cosmos. Rice is Professor Emerita of Art at Northern Arizona University, where she has received myriad awards for excellence in teaching and creative work. Living at 7000 ft elevation in Flagstaff, Arizona—location of the discovery of the dwarf planet Pluto—she is a passionate observer of the clear night skies.
In the Project Gallery:
Jihan Gearon’s TRICKY includes and builds on the artist’s November 2022 exhibition SURRENDER: Quarantine Questions | Pandemic Wisdom. Surrender – to surrender, to give oneself up – was the key theme of that body of work. In surrendering, Gearon is learning to believe in herself; give and receive love more deeply; foster excitement instead of fear; and transform bitterness, isolation, and ego into compassion, wisdom, and awareness that all is connected.
But surrendering can be tricky. What about all those parts of ourselves we don’t want to be, let alone surrender ourselves to? What of doubt, jealousy, pride, fear? How can we navigate those chaotic waters? Previous and new paintings will offer guides, warnings, and experiences through tricky situations.