What Holds: Ceramic Boxes and the Language of Containment is on view at Vessels + Sticks, Toronto
September 25 – October 22, 2025
Vessels + Sticks, a newly opened contemporary ceramic art gallery is pleased to present its exhibition What Holds: Ceramic Boxes and the Language of Containment. On view from September 25 to October 22, 2025, the exhibition explores the enduring allure of the ceramic box and lidded form – not merely as utilitarian objects, but as vessels of meaning, ritual, and artistic expression.
Across cultures and centuries, the act of containment has carried profound significance: from the practical need to store and protect, to the symbolic safeguarding of memory, identity, secrecy, and spirit. In contemporary ceramics, the form continues to provoke: precise and imperfect, functional and symbolic, concealed and revealed. What Holds invites viewers to pause at that threshold: to consider the moment of opening, of looking inside, and how it shapes our perception, our rituals, and our relationships with the objects around us.
“What excites me most about this exhibition is how a seemingly simple lidded form can be transformed into something profoundly meaningful,” says Jennifer Kerbel Poirier, Founder and Director of Vessels + Sticks. “These works carry layers of history, emotion, and imagination, inviting us to reflect on what we choose to protect, conceal, or reveal – a question that feels particularly resonant in our everyday lives today.”
The exhibition brings together the work of six invited artists – Marissa Y. Alexander, Zimra Beiner, Bruce Cochrane, Jess Riva Cooper, Marc Egan, and Janet Macpherson – collectively, their practices span decades of research and experimentation. Additionally, 25 artists were selected through an international open call, presenting a wide range of interpretations to the exhibition statement and the box form. Selected artists include: Byron Ashley, Chloe Begg, Ariel Bullion Ecklund, Camila Capra, Sepideh Chegini, Wei Cheng, Rikki Cooper, Carolina Delgado Duruflé, Valentina Guevara, Ido Ferber, Loren Kaplan, Noe Kuremoto, Joshua Lue Chee Kong, Alexandra McCurdy, Tamarin Makarov, Colleen Dwyer Meloche, Zsuzsa Monostory, Vince Montague, Frances Neish, Ricca Okano, Abbey Peters, Bex Shaw, Talia Silva, Ulrika Strömbäck and Marlene Zagdanski.
“It is a privilege to present such a diverse group of artists whose practices push the boundaries of ceramic traditions while connecting to deeply human themes,” notes Jennifer.
With the recent opening of its Toronto gallery space at 112 Avenue Road, Vessels + Sticks, originally an online gallery, is committed to presenting exhibitions, both in-person and online, ensuring accessibility for its growing international audience of artists, collectors, and contemporary art enthusiasts. The gallery aims to expand the ceramic art collector base internationally, engaging new audiences and elevating clay within the broader conversations taking place in contemporary art and design.
From October 23 to 26, 2025, Vessels + Sticks will be participating in Art Toronto, Canada’s Art Fair, with an exhibition titled, “Constructed in Clay: Form and Structure” which examines the dynamic relationship between clay and architecture through sculptural ceramic works.
Contact
info@vesselsandsticks.com
Vessels + Sticks
112 Avenue Road
Toronto, Ontario M5R 2H4
Canada
Photos by Seth Stevenson
