Studio Sessions
The Leaking Body
with Kelly Devitt
January 2026
About the Studio Session
Skin is a site of vulnerability and resilience–a surface that leaks, holds, resists, and remembers. We are protected and betrayed by our outermost layer.
In this Studio Session we explore clay as a sensuous, abject, and reflective body capable of exposing our own fragility and durability. By working with clay’s capacity to crack, mend, and endure, we will explore parallels between material and flesh, asking how our bodies reveal and withhold meaning, how they enact care, and how they simultaneously decorate and defend.
About the Lead Artist
Kelly Devitt is a ceramic artist whose work explores the physical expression of emotion through the human form. Using the ceramic vessel as both a direct and abstract representation of the body, her sculptures investigate the relationship between surface and sensation—inviting viewers to consider what lies beneath the skin. Her forms often appear familiar, evoking a sense of recognition and curiosity about the threshold between external presentation and internal experience.
Originally from central Iowa, Devitt received her BFA in Integrated Studio Arts from Iowa State University in 2017 and her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2022. She currently lives and works in Creston, Iowa, where she is an Instructor of Art at Southwestern Community College.
Devitt exhibits locally as well as nationally. Recently her work has been shown in spaces such as, PS1 Gallery, Octagon Center for the Arts, Mainframe Studios (IA), Fresh Eye Gallery (MN), Historic Yellow Springs (PA), Center for the Visual Arts (WI), and Woman Made Gallery (IL). In 2025, she was named an Iowa Artist Fellow. As part of her fellowship, she is curating an exhibition focused on the theme of the body, showcasing Iowa-based artists whose practices engage with corporeal narratives. Devitt is also an active member of the Iowa Mothers Artist Group and is committed to building creative opportunities and fostering artistic engagement within her local community.
Logistics
This session is scheduled for Sundays, January 4, 11, 18, & 25 from 10am-noon PST (that’s Los Angeles time).
Registration is $320 and includes all four sessions.
Participants gather via Zoom.