JANUARY 30, 2021 — MAY 8, 2021

Working between Houston and Southern California, Anna Mayer explores humanity’s impact on the environment, focusing on the proliferation of petroculture. In Forms of Inheritance , Mayer mourns for the environment using craft processes that create a raw and visceral visual language. Through bronze sculptures, ceramics, and fiber murals, she exposes the lasting effects of an individual’s lifetime on the future state of the planet. Mayer also counters the suggestion by early Land Art that nature is something that can be fully captured. Rather, she believes that there is no singular or complete understanding of nature and draws on personal experiences and her craft to examine how humans form relationships with the land.

Mayer’s artistic practice incorporates her memories tied to the landscapes where she has lived, while also confronting the legacy of America’s colonization. Mayer says, “I try to engage with what is below the surface to acknowledge that consciousness has many blind spots. My craft practice is an experiment in exposing those spots, an important endeavor in a contemporary culture that emphasizes autonomy to the point of supreme alienation.” By accelerating the erosion of her materials, melting down bronze, and sifting flecks of porcelain dinnerware, Mayer raises questions about the value of the objects left behind for others to inherit. She also highlights issues related to extreme weather events and overdevelopment. Like a canary in a coal mine, Mayer’s work does not present a solution but instead provides a call to witness.

Selected Programming

Ceramics + Geologic Time Panel Discussion: April 27, 2021, 6:30 – 8:00 PM

Selected Press

Sherry Cheng, “Forms of Inheritance: Anna Mayer Goes Meta at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft,” Arts + Culture Texas. February 12, 2021.

Laura August, “Anna Mayer Reconstitutes Loss in Houston,” Momus. April 20, 2021.

Photography by Katy Anderson