HIGHLIGHTS
Just as a solitary action can cause a ripple effect, the sharing of unique ideas can inspire and transform existing systems to include and support different communities. The exhibitions this month demonstrate genuine curiosity and meaningful activation, leading to a trend of revisionist histories in art, institutional displays, or familial archives. Curators Jennider Zwilling and Nicole Pollard reinvent how gallery exhibitions should be interacted with and ask the question of how clay can assist in caring for mental health at The Clay Studio. Artists Mahsa Attaran, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, and Anna Schwartz create a language to describe the power of memory as they mine through personal photographs and materials at Automat Collective. Calero Rodríguez establishes her own History of Art, incorporating Latino, Afro, and Carribean imagery in masterly assembled collages at Taller Puertoriqueño.
Clay as Care at The Clay Studio @theclaystudiophl
On view through December 31
Curated by Jennifer Zwilling and Nicole Pollard
Featuring Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Ehren Tool, and Maia Chao.
The working of clay usually implies the creation of functional objects: cups, bowls, and other vessels made to hold and to withstand time. Curators Zwilling and Pollard bring forth new and more abstract possibilities that clay can bear, especially as a catalyst for healing. Part exhibition, part sanctuary, part rest area, part play area, Clay as Care boasts multiple avenues for engagement, curiosity, and meditation through the lens of four distinct artists. These artists address and tackle different personal battles, such as developing postpartum scars, mapping out the African diaspora, or witnessing the increasing tension in the American political climate.
While the sculptures, installation, and video work on display extract the intimate stories and practices of each artist carried through clay, the exhibition also reminds viewers of the space and time needed to digest heavy subjects. The multiple spaces designated for lounging allow for slow looking, but also for reflection on material, time, and communal archives in either open air or safely behind a curtain of hair. The most striking part of the curation were the multiple areas inviting collaboration and feedback from visitors, reminding us that healing can be a communal experience. It lifts the intimidating barrier that institutions usually bear, allowing visitors that their experience informs the space just as much as the curator’s intentions do. As they leave the exhibition, mental health and personal histories are at the forefront of the viewers minds, inviting all who visit a chance to rest.
Hold Fast at Automat Collective
@automat_collective
On view through October 24
Featuring Mahsa Attaran, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, and Anna Schwartz
The power of memory seeps throughout the photographs, installation, paintings, and sculptures that stand on guard at Automat. Although four different voices are being presented, there is a natural flow and harmony throughout the collections while building a contemporary visual language for memory. They establish it not just through objects, but the working of materials: the melting of wax, the tangling of thread, or the arrangement of cut photographs. The work softly seeps into a transcendent space where the collision of different textures becomes cohesion like velvet ribbon on metal wire or a photo transfer of a portrait on a blade. The gentle working of these objects displays a reverence for images and for the substance it evokes, demonstrating how Attaran, Hamilton, Kashani, and Schwartz are delving into their own histories in an attempt to find hope and joy despite past trauma and uncertainty.
Rodríguez Calero: yux·ta·po·si·cíon / jux·ta·po·si·tion at Taller Puertoriqueño
@tallerpr
On view through November 15, 2025
Featuring Rodríguez Calero
Puerto Rican artist Rodriguez Calero presents a new and exciting version of the history of art, inspired by motifs from the Italian Renaissance, historical genre paintings of Northern Europe, and politically-charged Post-Modernist artworks, all leading the viewer to the contemporary art of today. Calero’s timeline is dominated by figurative collages woven with Caribbean textiles and botanical textures, creating an alternate anti-colonial narrative within Art History. Although the classical references are the basis of the works, Calero addresses and reinterprets enough to create distinct pieces through her layering in a blowout display spanning the entire gallery.
This purposeful warping of perspectives centers women with bodily autonomy without losing their femininity, poetically moving as Calero plays with paper textures and fabric patterns. Although the collection welcomes humor and spontaneity, it seems as if Calero is firmly reminding us of how conquest and imperialism are involved in histories of art, politics, and fashion. This statement is complemented by a series of monumental portraits that scream texture even from across the room. Labeled as acrocollages, layers of printmaking techniques, fiberous paper, painting elements, some found objects are expertly assembled to create immersive works. Their complexity inspires moments to figure out is it, painted, printed, or embossed? The illusion of dimension engulfs the solitary figures, pushing them to be part of the environment and overall landscape.
About the writer: Jessica Aguilar is a writer and arts professional from Hyattsville, MD. She holds a BA in Art History from Temple University, where she fell in love with the murals, mosaics, and wheatpastes of Philadelphia. She was a 2023-2024 participant of the Arts Writing Incubator at The Black Embodiments Studio, in Seattle, WA and has been published in several art publications across the U.S. Guiding both her writing and creative processes are interests in nostalgia, identity, and gender expression through Latine perspectives. She aims to make the art world accessible to all communities while working at Paradigm Gallery + Studio. @jesswiththe_mess