In its ninth iteration, Radius Gallery's 2024 Ceramics Invitational features the work of ten artists from across the country—a brilliant array of fully conceptualized, superbly crafted functional and sculptural artworks that collectively demonstrate the extraordinary potential and versatility of the medium.

 

This year's invited makers are:

Marissa Childers,  Sarah Conti,  Kelly B. Justice,  Kyle Scott Lee,  Didem Mert,  Janina Myronova,  Jill Oberman,  Debra Oliva,  Justin Paik Reese & Kate Schroeder 

 

WARNING: Simply putting an artwork in your shopping cart does not mean it is reserved. The item is not yours until you place your order and pay for it. Another person may “scoop” your item if it sits in your shopping cart unattended.

 

These works will be available for pick up or shipping after April 27th.

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MARISSA CHILDERS

Oklahoma City, OK • BIO

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SARAH CONTI

Boise, ID • BIO

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“Like other ladies, the little feathered brides have to bear their husband’s names, however inappropriate. What injustice! Here an innocent creature with an olive-green back and a yellowish breast has to go about all her days known as the black-throated blue warbler, just because that happens to describe the dress of her spouse!”

 

-Florence Merriam Bailey, Birds Through an Opera Glass

“Race-based zoning policies, such as redlining in the United States, are associated with racial inequity, adverse socioeconomic levels in income and education, and disparate environmental characteristics including tree canopy cover across urban neighborhoods.”

 

- Diego Ellis-Soto, Historical redlining is associated with increasing geographical disparities in bird biodiversity sampling in the United States

 

 

“Often the interests of other species and marginalized humans align. It’s very much a colonial perspective to think about humans and wildlife as separate. We need to start thinking about humans and wildlife together in the landscape and mitigate things that will help both.”

 

- Dr. Madhusudan Katti, Why Warblers Flock to Wealthier Neighborhoods, New York Times

“House Sparrows were restricted to Eurasia until about 200 years ago, when they tagged along as Europeans colonized the world.”

 

- Hannah Waters, How the House Sparrow Conquered the World Is Encoded in Its Genes, Audubon

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KELLY B. JUSTICE

Rochester, NY • BIO

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KYLE SCOTT LEE

Brooklyn, NY • BIO

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DIDEM MERT

Sebastopol, CA • BIO

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JANINA MYRONOVA

Helena, MT • BIO

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JILL OBERMAN

Red Lodge, MT • BIO

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DEBRA OLIVA

Okemos, MI • BIO

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JUSTIN PAIK REESE

Youngstown, OH • BIO

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KATE SCHROEDER

Kansas City, MO • BIO

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ARTIST BIOS

 

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MARISSA CHILDERS

My work explores moments of connection and intimacy while celebrating femininity and craft. Pottery plays such an important role within our society—it has a way of enriching everyday objects with purpose and beauty. Whether I’m creating dishes to celebrate a meal or building a vessel that decorates a room, my work is made to honor and enhance the domestic spaces around us. I strive to make functional pieces that are elegant yet inviting to touch and can be easily woven into the lives of others.

—Marissa Childers

 

Marissa Childers is a ceramic artist living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She was born in Florence, Alabama, where she earned her BFA from the University of North Alabama. Upon graduating she interned at Anderson Ranch Arts Center and soon after pursued her MFA at the University of Oklahoma. Childers has exhibited her work at numerous galleries and has received various grants and awards to support her research, including support from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). She was chosen as one of Ceramics Monthly’s Emerging Artists of 2022 and an Emerging Artist for NCECA in 2023.

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SARAH CONTI

In my sculpture practice I convey that climate justice is social justice. Birds are particularly vulnerable to the deadly effects of climate change; similarly, environmental issues will first impact the most vulnerable humans—those who don’t have the ability or resources to escape impending natural disasters, despite contributing the least to climate pollution. I use birds literally to reference the dangers they face now and in the future, and metaphorically as stand-ins for people to discuss historic and current social issues. Birds have wisdom and warnings to convey if only we can listen.

—Sarah Conti

 

Sarah Conti is a ceramic sculptor who is passionate about ecology, conservation, and social matters, as well as sparking conversations about climate change and the impact humans have on the earth. Conti is from western Washington and received her BFA with an emphasis in sculpture from the University of Idaho. She did post-baccalaureate work at Oregon College of Art in Portland and the University of Montana in Missoula. With a group of four other ceramists Conti co-founded Wildfire Ceramic Studio in Missoula and ran the in-house gallery. She now lives in Boise, Idaho.

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KELLY B. JUSTICE

I find alluring shapes, patterns and textures in all kinds of things: vintage glassware, old light fixtures, plastic food canisters, silicone mats for rolling out cake fondant. Through the processes of mold-making and slip-casting, I alter these objects and compose them into new forms. Using intensely colored porcelains and glazes, I superimpose patterns over textures and contrast glossy surfaces with sensually smooth matte finishes. The bold surface imagery—floral motifs, sunbursts, geometric and radial designs—paired with the symmetry of the forms, serves to elicit a sense of lightheartedness and play, abundance and multiplicity. I create vibrant wares, confident and assertive, designed to brighten the living space and add a bit of joy each time they are used.

—Kelly B. Justice

 

Kelly Justice is a full-time practicing artist in Rochester, New York. Originally from Marion, Arkansas, she received her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University. She has been an artist-in-residence at Genesee Center for the Arts and Education in Rochester, where she later worked as the in-house Ceramic Studio Manager. Her work has appeared in group and solo exhibitions throughout the country.

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KYLE SCOTT LEE

My work is inspired by artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Piet Mondrian. I’m also drawn to principles of simple design with directional fine lines, as well as the freeform movement of abstract design. I like bold color, depth and the imperfection of abstraction combined with traditionally shaped forms that are at once functional and sculptural.

—Kyle Scott Lee

 

Kyle Lee lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, New York. He creates voluptuous vessels and well-turned cups that provide the canvas for his unique hand-painting and applied surface treatments. For many years Lee's practice has included teaching at the Educational Alliance Art School and other institutions. He has studied ceramics in multiple studios throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, and has exhibited in solo and group gallery exhibitions in New York and abroad. His work appears in private collections in London, Paris, New York, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and beyond. He is a founding and active member of BKLYN Clay and the first recipient of the BKLYN Clay artist residency.

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DIDEM MERT

I’m a first-gen American, daughter of a Turkish woodworker, and was raised in a design-rich environment that has influenced who I am and my current body of work. Geometry, texture, play, symbolism, color, and functionality all emanate from the artistic environment in which I was raised. I draw upon my cultural heritage to bring a unique, imaginative sensibility to my work.

—Didem Mert

 

Didem Mert was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH. She received her BFA from Northern Kentucky University and her MFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Mert's work was published in Ceramics Monthly’s 2014 Undergraduate Showcase, and she was featured on the cover of Pottery Making Illustrated’s Jan/Feb 2016 issue as well as CFile’s list of 15 Potters to Watch in 2016. Mert was also featured in Architectural Digest’s 10 Ceramic Artists Giving Pottery A Modern Update, and was honored as one of Ceramics Monthly’s Emerging Artists of 2018. She has been an artist-in-residence at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts as well as the Archie Bray Foundation. She currently lives in Sebastopol, California, working as a full-time studio potter and artist.

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JANINA MYRONOVA

The story of every person has different colors. My characters are a bit clunky, chubby, anatomically misshapen, often embellished with doubles or hybrid silhouettes. Each sculpture is a different personality, a personal story, a graphic novel featuring my favorite visual motifs: family relationships, parents and children, partners, pets. My emotions are etched into them—humor, wonder, anger, fear and joy all present.

—Janina Myronova

 

Janina Myronova has an MFA from the Department of Ceramic Art at Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts (Lviv, Ukraine), as well as an MFA and PhD from the Department of Ceramics and Glass at The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Wroclaw, Poland). Continually developing her work and practice, Myronova has held residencies at institutions worldwide, including the New Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei, Taiwan), Lefebvre and Fils (Paris, France), the Polish Sculpture Centre (Oronsko, Poland), the International Ceramic Research Center (Guldagergaard, Denmark), Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and, currently, the Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, Montana).

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JILL OBERMAN

This body of work highlights the natural world and the elusive space of the horizon—the contact point where the earth meets the sky, or the sky meets the water. I’m exploring the idea of an "absent presence” where what is most important is perhaps that which is no longer there. This work attempts to express a feeling of optimism and hope through inevitable absence and loss, and to convey a sense that the horizon might be a point of restoration: a space where there is a convergence between expectation, destiny, desire, hopelessness, distance, and vision.

—Jill Oberman

 

Jill Oberman earned her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts, and her BA from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She has been a resident artist at numerous art institutions, notably Anderson Ranch, the Archie Bray Foundation, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Oberman currently lives in Red Lodge, Montana, where she works as Curator and Gallery Coordinator at the Red Lodge Clay Center. Her ceramic sculptures have been widely exhibited throughout the United States.

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DEBRA OLIVA

Much of what I create has its roots in the utilitarian pottery tradition where functional concerns are paramount. However, it is my belief that aesthetic considerations and functional concerns should share equal importance. Achieving a good balance between the two is my challenge. The objects I most enjoy creating are those that beg to live outside of the cupboard as objects for contemplation and enrichment, until called into service.

—Debra Oliva

 

Debra Oliva was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. She attended Northern Illinois University, earning a BFA in Drawing and Painting. After graduating, she went on to work in the printing industry for more than a decade. She began taking classes at an area potter’s guild and continued her education attending dozens of workshops. She has now been working in clay for more than 30 years. Oliva's work has been awarded prizes in several national and international shows, and was selected for inclusion in Lark Books' 500 Pitchers and 500 Teapots II. She maintains a studio at her home in Michigan.

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JUSTIN PAIK REESE

Growing up in a dilapidated town full of architectural genius, and often traveling to South Korea at a young age to visit my mother’s family, my memories offer up a beautiful clash of opposites. Living through the chaos of the 90s and experiencing pop culture through the lens of two different worlds, I find ways to embrace that turbulence and integrate contrasts into my work, evoking thought and question, tugging at the viewer to experience something odd. I am in pursuit of what makes a thing truly memorable, attempting to forge confusion into beauty.

—Justin Paik Reese

 

Justin Reese has a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. His passions and inspirations involve 90s pop culture, retro video game collections, old school sports figures, and architecture, all of which serve to inspire his current work. He currently lives in Youngstown, Ohio, where he has a family and personal studio. Justin fires his work to cone 10/11 in soda-fired reduction inside of a downdraft kiln that he built in 2017.

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KATE SCHROEDER

My work is inspired by the emotional impact of collecting objects—why we collect them, and the significance of the ones we choose. I celebrate the domestic home and the integral use of nature within our living spaces. Throughout my art career I have added light media into my work. I have always been impacted by light and how it affects the world around us. More recently I have rediscovered how important it is to my creativity and mental health. My lamp series reflects my interest in domesticity while concurrently showcasing the importance of sunlight within our spaces and our lives.

—Kate Schroeder

 

Kate Schroeder is a ceramicist and professional artist residing in Kansas City, Missouri. She earned a BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from the University of Central Missouri and an MFA, also emphasizing Sculpture and Ceramics, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Schroeder has work in collections around the globe. Before transitioning to a full-time artist, she spent nearly a decade as an educator working for universities, art institutes, and community colleges.

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