Above Bone refers to what is beneath, the layers, and what emerges. Clay sculptural vessels of heads and body forms explore death, regeneration, new growth, and what is hidden. Adero wrestles clay into expressive forms and creates surfaces dense in color and pattern: thick clay and delicately etched vines and flowers. The forms are camouflaged, as if growing from or being returned to the ground. Layered colorful patterns, resists, and luster build up over multiple firings. Pattern is masked, peeled back, and built up again, so each surface both hides and reveals. The work is rooted in the earth and in a mixed ancestry: ancestors from this land and from lands never touched, removed from the land by history and time. It reflects a search for grounding, authenticity, and belonging. These pieces hold quiet conversations with personal history, our current history, and ancestors.

The exhibition moves through memory, death, decay, and renewal. Patterns are hidden, revealed, and peeled; color surfaces from shadow. Drawing on textiles, flowers, plants, and insects, the work asks what grows from decay. New work appears alongside pieces making their Sacramento debut." "Adero Willard (they/them/she/her) is a ceramic artist, educator, and curator whose work explores surface, identity, and cultural memory through clay. Born in New York City, Willard earned a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada. They have exhibited and lectured nationally and internationally and have been featured in numerous publications and books on contemporary ceramics.

About Adero Willard

Currently Assistant Professor of Ceramics at California State University, Sacramento, Willard is also a co-founder of Pots on Wheels!, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to clay through community-based programs across the U.S. Willard’s artistic, teaching, and curatorial practices are grounded in a commitment to equity and to advocating for more inclusive institutional and cultural frameworks that reflect the richness and diversity of the field.

About Axis

Join us at Axis Gallery, located at 625 S Street in Sacramento’s historic R Street Corridor, within the Verge Center for the Arts building. The gallery has exhibited innovative contemporary art for over 35 years and continues to serve as a vital space for artists to explore, connect, and share work outside the commercial sphere.

Gallery hours: Friday–Sunday, 12–5 PM