New York

This installation of functional ceramic pieces is presented as an exercise in iteration and accumulation. Over the course of the next two months, the shelves will gradually fill with vessels that change incrementally from piece to piece, the spacing between them likewise intermittently expanding and contracting. The work embodies the concept of spanda as framed in Tantra yoga philosophy. This Sanskrit term has as its root spadi, meaning “to move a little,” and is used to describe the microcosmic pulsation of universal energy made manifest in tangible form. The installation mirrors this essential dynamism of stillness, potentiality poised in the contained space of each vessel. 

Kelli Rae Adams utilizes clay in various states of permanency—sometimes employing additional materials—to create both functional objects and installation-based works that examine prevailing economic systems and probe our relationship to labor, currency, and value. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in venues such as the David Winton Bell Gallery (Providence, RI), the Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), the Museum of International Ceramic Art (Denmark) and the Contemporary Urban Centre (Liverpool, UK), and she recently completed a residency in the design studios at Vista Alegre in Portugal. Her study of ceramics began in Japan, where she apprenticed over a period of five years with Tetsuro Hatabe, a master potter in the Karatsu tradition. Kelli holds an MFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA in Visual Arts and Spanish from Duke University and has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is also a certified yoga and meditation teacher and a longtime student of contemplative traditions.

www.kelliraeadams.com