The Valley is pleased to share a solo presentation of new works by Amelia Lockwood for the 21st edition of NADA Miami. Our presentation showcases the artist’s continued explorations in worldbuilding spaces of mystic romance through an intuitive intervention with our material world and the otherworldliness that surrounds us. 

From June through August 2023, Lockwood was in residence at The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, an internationally acclaimed non-profit educational institution and artist residency in Helena, Montana. While at the residency, she produced the body of work which will be exhibited. These ceramic sculptures develop on her signature visual language- loose, floriate forms and richly textured surfaces, with the addition of new firing methods made possible by access to soda, salt, and wood kilns at the residency. These atmospheric firings involve introducing specific minerals into a blazing hot kiln. Following the currents of the flame, chemical reactions occur—an alchemical dance of minerals, heat, ash, and vapor. Much like a river's current, the flames flow around and under the clay,  leaving behind a unique glaze on the surface. An imprint of the specific conditions of each firing, which can never be exactly recreated. 

In this body of work, the privileging of chance becomes a collaborative tool. Lockwood relinquished control of the process, handing it over to the elemental relationships of earth, air and fire.  Chemical reactions take  place within the kiln that  blush, char, and burn the surface of the clay. A metaphor for our relationship with the unpredictability of nature. Fire, a dually destructive and regenerative force, brings catastrophe and chaos, but ultimately gives rise to rebirth. Salt, often used as a preservative, becomes a mechanism to cement the ethereal sculptural gesture. Imagery of sweeping and twisting wings, influenced by elemental beings like sylphs, come to life as salt and wood ash flow through them, creating singed surfaces that encapsulate the kiln's dynamic activity—an earthly process reflecting otherworldly action. 

Working intuitively is at the core of Lockwood’s practice. These atmospheric firing methods rely heavily on fortuitous conditions within the kiln, bringing her even closer into alignment with the spirit in her material.  Welcoming uncontrollable transformation through collaborative action, Lockwood amplifies the imagery she works with: candelabras with multitudes of flame points, towering architectural wonders, and interstellar fantasies. Through Lockwood’s mastery of ceramic processes, she creates utopic, alien spaces constructed to escape the conventional.