Aaron Becker, Firm Foundation, stoneware, 22” x 12” x 9”
The first piece of art that I purchased was a small, molded cement sculpture by Thomas Zaroff from Kavi Gupta’s Vedanta Gallery. It was the mid-nineties, and I was at the beginning of my art career. When I saw the piece, I was enamored. The subject was a brick-sized male figure lying on his back, resting on his elbows with his knees raised—as though reclining on a beach looking at the ocean. I left the gallery without making the purchase but couldn’t stop thinking about the form. The following week, I returned to purchase the sculpture. Thirty years later, it sits on a ledge in my bedroom and still makes me smile.
This weekend, Timeless Bodies: Midwest Ceramic Exhibition opens at Oliva Gallery in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. The exhibition—juried by Chicago artist and curator Nancy Pirri—serves as both a regional survey of ceramic sculpture and an invitation to consider how three-dimensional art can be seamlessly incorporated into our personal environments. The exhibition is curated as a series of vignettes—sculpture grouped on pedestals, tables, shelves, and freestanding pieces, complemented with wall-mounted works. The gallery becomes a living environment of ceramic, alluding to how one might live with sculpture.
There is an inherent intimacy in ceramic sculpture—each form shaped by the human hand and displaying the tactile evidence of its creation: the subtle impressions of a fingertip or the surface of the palm. These works are not necessarily intended to dominate a space, but rather to coexist harmoniously within it, enriching daily life by transforming space, reshaping light, and—most importantly—inviting deeper connection through contemplation. Whether positioned on a pedestal, arranged in a bookcase, or placed on a tabletop, a ceramic form possesses the capacity to transform its surroundings, quietly inviting meditative reflection.
Timeless Bodies explores the enduring power of the human form as expressed through ceramic art, featuring a dynamic range of sculptural works that span realism and abstraction. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the beautifully thought-provoking ceramic art being created throughout the region.
Aaron Becker’s Firm Foundation loosely reinterprets the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf through a contemporary lens, drawing upon the ancient figure’s exaggerated, bulbous forms while presenting only the lower half of the body. By isolating this segment, Becker emphasizes the grounding and stability implied by the title, transforming a symbol of fertility into a commentary on endurance and cultural layering. The sculpture’s muted tones contrast the subtle defacing marks that cover the form. In this fusion of prehistoric reference and urban intervention, Firm Foundation becomes a unique dialogue between past and present, permanence and impermanence.
Dawn Liddicoatt’s Trappings #6 presents a fragmented female torso that appears to be dissolving. Muted in color and finished with a rough yet molten texture, the sculpture evokes a sense of erosion and transformation, as if the figure were succumbing to time itself. The work suggests the destruction or disintegration of the human form, yet within the decay lies a quiet beauty—an echo of endurance. Consistent with Liddicoatt’s ongoing exploration of connection, time, place, and history, Trappings #6 reflects the fragile relationship between humanity and the environment, blurring the boundary between body and landscape.
Susan Volk’s Iris stands as a meditation on grace and quiet strength—a vision of the sacred feminine rendered in sculptural form. The head of a woman rises with an elongated neck, its surface carved in flowing, ornamental patterns that echo the organic elegance of Mucha’s line. Her eyes are gently closed, as if turned inward toward reflection, while fragile glass tears descend along her cheeks, catching the light like prisms of emotion. Muted yet radiant, the sculpture balances poise and vulnerability, beauty and sorrow. In Iris, Volk weaves together themes of human nature, and reverence, transforming the female form into an emblem of timeless serenity and spiritual resilience.
Aaron Becker aka BaBBLEoN is a recording artist and trained ceramicist that has manifested an evolving art practice creating a truly unique interdisciplinary way of life. Born in Wisconsin, grew up in Minnesota and now resides in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, Becker has held down a ceramic business, teaches classes, created art collectives and recently launched Asif1111.com which will serve as a multimedia hub for himself and other teaching artists. Becker creates expressive works of art around the idea of spirit and human experience with strong sense of technique and aesthetic.
Dawn Liddicoatt is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is on creating hand-built ceramics and figurative sculpture in clay. Her work explores themes of connection, time, place, and history—particularly as they relate to geologic processes and the human relationship with the environment. Drawn to the tactile nature of working with clay, she often constructs representations of the human form, especially the female figure. This interest has led her to revisit the origins of such imagery by reinterpreting Paleolithic Venus figurines and developing her own contemporary versions. Her Venus on Horseback, for example, possesses greater agency than the traditional Venus figures, which are typically depicted without hands or feet—this Venus moves through the world with purpose. A committed anti-racist, Liddicoatt also uses her art to explore, document, and illuminate issues of race and social justice, while emphasizing the shared bonds that connect all people.
Susan Volk is a Chicago based artist who works in oil paint, ceramic sculpture and mixed media. Beginning her academic career at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she later attended the Art Institute of Chicago where she received a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting and sculpture. Her current work explores the themes of human nature, archetypes, and the sacred feminine. She works on both private and public commissions including public murals for Oak Park, Evanston, Chicago’s Italian Village Restaurant, and sculptural work for the corporate headquarters of Turtle Wax Company. Her work has been featured in the 35th Annual Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Designer Showcase House, the celebration of Women’s History Month in the Chicago Public Library System, displayed on billboard for Expose NOLA French Quarter/Jazz Festival in New Orleans, and at the 6th Annual Central Time Juried Ceramics Exhibition. She is currently represented by Edward Montgomery Fine Art Gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, Blue Sky Art Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and Inner Haven Gallery in Grayslake, IL.
Oliva Gallery is dedicated to showcasing exceptional work by contemporary artists with roots in the Midwest and beyond. Through exhibitions spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media, the gallery fosters critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exploration, and inclusive cultural engagement.
Aaron Becker’s Firm Foundation loosely reinterprets the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf through a contemporary lens, drawing upon the ancient figure’s exaggerated, bulbous forms while presenting only the lower half of the body. By isolating this segment, Becker emphasizes the grounding and stability implied by the title, transforming a symbol of fertility into a commentary on endurance and cultural layering. The sculpture’s muted tones contrast the subtle defacing marks that cover the form. In this fusion of prehistoric reference and urban intervention, Firm Foundation becomes a unique dialogue between past and present, permanence and impermanence.
Dawn Liddicoatt, Trappings #6, Stoneware, 12” x 9” x 9”
Dawn Liddicoatt’s Trappings #6 presents a fragmented female torso that appears to be dissolving. Muted in color and finished with a rough yet molten texture, the sculpture evokes a sense of erosion and transformation, as if the figure were succumbing to time itself. The work suggests the destruction or disintegration of the human form, yet within the decay lies a quiet beauty—an echo of endurance. Consistent with Liddicoatt’s ongoing exploration of connection, time, place, and history, Trappings #6 reflects the fragile relationship between humanity and the environment, blurring the boundary between body and landscape.
Susan Volk’s Iris stands as a meditation on grace and quiet strength—a vision of the sacred feminine rendered in sculptural form. The head of a woman rises with an elongated neck, its surface carved in flowing, ornamental patterns that echo the organic elegance of Mucha’s line. Her eyes are gently closed, as if turned inward toward reflection, while fragile glass tears descend along her cheeks, catching the light like prisms of emotion. Muted yet radiant, the sculpture balances poise and vulnerability, beauty and sorrow. In Iris, Volk weaves together themes of human nature, and reverence, transforming the female form into an emblem of timeless serenity and spiritual resilience.
Susan Volk, Iris, Stoneware, glass, 21” x 9” x 11”
Timeless Bodies is on view at Oliva Gallery from November 7 through December 13, 2025. An artist talk is scheduled for Saturday, November 15th from 3–5pm.
Artists Participating in Timeless Bodies include: Nikki Renee Anderson, Monica Bâlc, Lynn Basa, Aaron Becker, Sharon Bladholm, Debbie Burk, Lisa Farris, Autumn Horwath, Lynda Lawson Karr, Jayne King, Dawn Liddicoatt, Linda Marcus, Johannah Tomita Martin, Amber Matthews, Suzanne Mauro, Carole McCurdy, Bobbi Meier, Arny Nadler, Andryea Natkin, Alexis Lee Ortiz-Duarte, Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira, Susan Volk, Christopher Williams, Runhui Xu, and Thomas Zamiar.
Oliva Gallery is located at 3816 W. Armitage Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60647. Learn more at olivagallery.com
Aaron Becker aka BaBBLEoN is a recording artist and trained ceramicist that has manifested an evolving art practice creating a truly unique interdisciplinary way of life. Born in Wisconsin, grew up in Minnesota and now resides in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, Becker has held down a ceramic business, teaches classes, created art collectives and recently launched Asif1111.com which will serve as a multimedia hub for himself and other teaching artists. Becker creates expressive works of art around the idea of spirit and human experience with strong sense of technique and aesthetic.
Dawn Liddicoatt is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is on creating hand-built ceramics and figurative sculpture in clay. Her work explores themes of connection, time, place, and history—particularly as they relate to geologic processes and the human relationship with the environment. Drawn to the tactile nature of working with clay, she often constructs representations of the human form, especially the female figure. This interest has led her to revisit the origins of such imagery by reinterpreting Paleolithic Venus figurines and developing her own contemporary versions. Her Venus on Horseback, for example, possesses greater agency than the traditional Venus figures, which are typically depicted without hands or feet—this Venus moves through the world with purpose. A committed anti-racist, Liddicoatt also uses her art to explore, document, and illuminate issues of race and social justice, while emphasizing the shared bonds that connect all people.
Susan Volk is a Chicago based artist who works in oil paint, ceramic sculpture and mixed media. Beginning her academic career at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she later attended the Art Institute of Chicago where she received a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting and sculpture. Her current work explores the themes of human nature, archetypes, and the sacred feminine. She works on both private and public commissions including public murals for Oak Park, Evanston, Chicago’s Italian Village Restaurant, and sculptural work for the corporate headquarters of Turtle Wax Company. Her work has been featured in the 35th Annual Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Designer Showcase House, the celebration of Women’s History Month in the Chicago Public Library System, displayed on billboard for Expose NOLA French Quarter/Jazz Festival in New Orleans, and at the 6th Annual Central Time Juried Ceramics Exhibition. She is currently represented by Edward Montgomery Fine Art Gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, Blue Sky Art Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and Inner Haven Gallery in Grayslake, IL.
Oliva Gallery is dedicated to showcasing exceptional work by contemporary artists with roots in the Midwest and beyond. Through exhibitions spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media, the gallery fosters critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exploration, and inclusive cultural engagement.
Thomas Zaroff, 1995, Private Collection
