Aggregate Bodies
MFA Thesis Exhibition by Kendall Traylor
March 20 to 28 | Step Gallery
Opening reception | March 20 | 6 to 9 p.m.
“Aggregate Bodies” presents large-scale sculptural installations formed from reclaimed ceramic waste. Clay is used both as a medium and an archive, creating terrazzo-speckled bodies from discarded ceramic, paper, drywall and other community remains. Embedded fragments are visible within the surfaces, holding traces of their past lives and revealing layered material histories.
The work emerges through labor-intensive cycles of breaking down, drying, pulverizing and reforming waste into new clay bodies. Each mixture produces a unique material composition, allowing fragments to persist within the surface like scars. The sculptures develop through intuitive movement as clay is layered and folded across growing volumes, leaving seams, bulges and raw textures as records of the process. During firing, heat further transforms each work as reclaimed materials fuse and shift.
The unapologetic forms occupy the gallery with weight and presence, echoing bodily and geological systems through swelling volumes and accumulated surfaces. A wall display of collected ceramic fragments functions as an open material archive, revealing the scale of accumulation and the ongoing cycles of breaking, memory and transformation embedded within the work.
Image courtesy the artist. "Kohler Stout" (Detail), 2025, recycled paper clay & various ceramic aggregate, 14.5" x 9.5" x 4".
Gallery Hours
Thursday to Saturday | 12 to 5 p.m.
First and third Fridays | 6 to 9 p.m.
Closed Sunday to Wednesday and university holidays