Work by Jennifer McCandless is featured in the New England Now: Strange States exhibition. The show, at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT, runs through October 20, 2024. The exhibition features twelve multidisciplinary artists from the region. They tap into a rich tapestry of mediums and techniques to create their perceptions of the ethereal grounded in topics of mythology, environmentalism, the ideals of beauty, transformation, and gender and cultural identity. McCandless’s work is a “collection of ceramic sculptures using humor and satirical narratives to challenge the viewer’s perspectives on constructions of identity and societal norms. The pieces offer a social critique of how we interpret the ills of the world, how we interact with one another, and how we see ourselves.”

Karen Russo has an exhibition at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, OR. The exhibition, The Transcendent Landscape, runs through July 9, 2024. Russo is a ceramic sculptor who has chosen clay as her medium due to its “malleability, capacity for transformation, and direct connection to the earth.” She sculpts visual narratives through her entrancing, emotive figures, each immersed in the landscape they emerged from. Shaping and carving the clay, she wraps her figures in textured whorls of water, foliage, and clouds, adding color with painted underglazes, casein and acrylic. Her sculptures are paired with paintings by Robert Gamblin.