Ceramic artist Allison Reho will showcase her new exhibit, ‘There are no Nests in the Pines,’ at the Art Studio, Inc., Oct. 4-24.
Reho said she has been working on the exhibit since 2015. The clay pots showcase the complexities of women as vessels, while also highlighting how women are a literal nest and the expectations that are put on women by the outside world.
When Reho was in college — she graduated with a BFA in art from Lamar University in 2012 — her specialty was painting. Reho said she was exposed to both pottery and painting, but she always saw that they held similarities.
“My painting was always kind of sculptural to begin with and painting was always predictable, while pottery, there’s a scientific part to it,” she said. “Although I didn’t study the scientific part to it, I really liked the inevitability of it.
“I got a little bored with how predictable painting was and painting is also very lonely, while ceramics, there is a whole community.”
The pieces in the show are the result of 10 years of work. Over the decade, Reho said she’s had to change the way she approaches her projects.
“It’s way different now than when I started working on the pots, because now I have an 18-month-old son, so I can work in the studio when he’s taking a nap,” she said. “I have to be more particular in the decisions I make now. There is less room for trial and error.”
Although this is her third solo exhibition, Reho said this one is special because it will be her first solo show at the Art Studio. Her first show was 11 years ago at the High Street Gallery in Victoria House and her second was in New Orleans’ Aquarium Gallery two or three years ago, she said.
Reho said the pots represent her different relationships and the mark they left on her life.
“Each pot is about what I was going through while I was making the pot and how that imprints on it,” she said. “I’ve always liked coil pots because you can make irregular forms, and I love the way painting looks on irregular forms. So, I knew I wanted to work on that medium for that reason.
“From there, they became these female vessels, and my different relationships became imprinted on them. I was thinking of how vessels are used to hold something like as women we use our own bodies to carry our young.”
Reho said she is nervous about the reaction to the show.
“I’m worried that people won’t understand — what if people can’t see the vision?” she said. “What if the vision doesn’t come to fruition? What if I didn’t take it far enough to convey it?”
Reho said she keeps up with her teachers and her friends from Lamar.
“One of my good friends was a few years ahead of me, yet we still became good friends — she helped me price the pieces for my show,” Reho said.
She still has a close connection with the art faculty as well, Reho said.
“Xenia Fedorchenko, Donna Meeks and Linnis Blanton, I still consult them even though I graduated 13 years ago,” she said. “I have an adult relationship with them now.”
Being an art student was an experience Reho said she looks back on fondly.
“Everyone was always really supportive,” she said. “I liked being in this utopia world of art.
Everyone is making art when you’re in the art department, and being immersed in making art all day, every day is amazing.”
The Art Studio, Inc. is located at 720 Franklin St. in Beaumont. For more, visit artstudio.org.
For more on Reho’s art, visit allisonreho.com.