Notch for the Heart
Ben Skiba
April 3 - 26, 2026
Opening Reception
Friday, April 3, 5-8pmOpen Hours
Sat-Sun 12-5 pmdrop in or by appointment
Email info@carnationcontemporary.com
to schedule a visit
EXHIBITION
Building upon a connection to clay's continuous teachings, Notch for the Heart is Skiba’s first show of ceramic works since 2018. Glazed wall sculptures merge with carved wooden limbs while others are connected and wrapped in bandages of colorful tape. The same carved hands that shaped and supported the ceramics through their process extend from the wall in a split gesture of offering and withholding. On the floor, a knotted snake-form and an inverted jar point towards both a career of exploring the ceramic line and the human capacity for love, pain, curiosity & fear.Handbound, on a bench for reading, is a one-of-one copy of “Notch for the Heart”, Skiba’s first collection of poems intermixed with excerpts from texts by Annie Dillard, Jack Whitten, Jasper Johns and a few others. Alongside the sculptural works are paintings in house paint, oil, grease pencil and pastel. These paintings join their sculptural kin to form a group of objects functioning as “The things and the people. / The signal and its noise.” (Peter Gizzi, Findspot Unknown from ‘Fierce Elegy’, 2023)
ARTIST
Ben Skiba was raised in the St. Croix Valley of Wisconsin and received his BFA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He lives and works out of his home studio in Portland, Oregon, working primarily with clay, paint, tape, canvas and paper. Also a poet, his studio centers around the connective tissue between his writing and a growing cast of shapes & forms that both need and provide support.In 2023, he started HIDE & SEEK, an open home gallery project focused on curatorial projects that extend from his studio work. Friday lunch gatherings occur weekly at his home/studio/gallery, hope you can join sometime.
@benskiba / @hideandseekgallery
benskiba.com / hideandseekgallery.com