The Material Image
Clay Studio and Partners and Son
Philadelphia
Showing through Aug. 30, 2026
It's the last weekend to catch a special exhibition showing in two locations: The Clay Studio and Partners and Son are both hosting "The Material Image," a show curated by artist Ian M. Pietrie to “celebrate the connection of graphic images and pottery in the work of several Philadelphia artists” and display “two art practices [that] both explore duplication and iteration.”
Repetition, as described in the exhibition text and as learned through life experience, is key to developing a rounded understanding of something. It’s necessary for us to grow comfortable; there’s a magic in doing it over and over and over again. Maybe over time the process will be perfected; certainly through mistakes one will learn something. This routine can - if you allow it - grow the confidence to experiment and discover what might reveal itself if we try things a bit different next time.
I visited The Clay Studio's portion of the show first. There, The Material Image lives mostly on a small gallery wall, with additional ceramics and printed materials from each artist highlighted in the window and on nearby shelving.
The installation of Arista Wilson’s work beautifully complimented her meditation on finding the perfect pebble with plate ceramics hung asymmetrically, mimicking the natural arrangement of rocks on a shore. The works were slow and pensive, all sticking to a limited, primarily blue palette.
Around the corner were additional works from Jeremiah Ibarra, a collection of minimalist gritty culture jammed onto ceramic vessels, cheeky in their hand painting of big brand iconography onto individual pieces of dishware.
At Partners and Son near South Street, there were more 2D works from each artist spread throughout the space in addition to a few wall hanging ceramics. Here, both Soso Capaldi’s and Ian Petrie’s pieces had a bit more room to breathe, with additional 2D illustrations from each artist on display. Soso’s work was highly detailed and kaleidoscopic, but full of humor and self-reflection.
The curator, Ian M. Petrie, boasted work that was introspective and realist, his comic on display telling a story of finding creativity after discovering an unexpected natural source of clay. The shopkeeper at Partners pointed out to me that the works in Ian’s comics were the same ceramics on the shelf nearby.
Celia Feldberg’s work displayed well in both spaces — her whimsical watercolor illustrations sharing fun facts about octopi shone brightly as individual pieces inside and outside of the context of their zine, "A Tangle of Tentacles."
The variety of discipline and display didn't take anything away from any of the artist’s shine; rather, it emphasized their particular skills and approach. Each space’s unique curatorial choices lent its own charm to the artists' work.
It’s worth the effort to try and make it to both parts of The Material Image if you can. Despite sharing many iterations of the same or similar works, each exhibition held its own voice — a lovely showing of how style can come through the practice of repetition.
