New Show: “Between The Leaves” At The Compound Gallery (Emeryville)

The Compound Gallery

Please join The Compound Gallery as it begins the New Year with a gorgeously introspective show by beloved Bay Area sculpture artist Ben Belknap January 18, 2025 during an artist’s reception.

“Between The Leaves,” which is Belknap’s ninth show at The Compound Gallery, showcases work Belknap has worked on in the past year, exploring timely themes that invite viewers to ask: Where might we go to retreat from the oppressive din of our modern world? Where are the edges softer? Where are the hard noises muffled? Where are our chattering and slightly obsessive thoughts quieted? Is there a balm to soothe our sadness, to quiet our catastrophizing? What can hold us, cushion us, hide us, revive us, school us in perspective?

Belknap’s richly glazed ceramic figures lie in leaves, and peek out from behind them, asking us to ponder each subject’s secrets, their passions, their burdens, and their need for retreat. The lush colors of the work and delicately sculpted curves of the figures and their surrounding foliage contradict the fixedness of their medium, giving the illusion of buoyancy and of a fluid impermanence. Viewers are invited to seek solace and safety in a place of impermanence – between the leaves.

A popular Bay Area artist who got his BFA in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts, Belknap teaches around the Bay Area and develops glazes for Laguna Clay and Glaze Co., both in Los Angeles and Berkeley.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.