ACRE Projects presents the Chicago launch of Call for Clay, a publication cataloging the results of E. Saffronia Downing’s crowd-sourced clay project, which explores wild clay as a material embodiment of place and memory.
On Sunday, September 20 at 3pm, join the artist for a tour of her solo exhibition at ACRE Projects, Pressed Flower, and a discussion about her publication, Call for Clay, to celebrate its launch.
About Call for Clay:
Through public open calls in 2023 and 2025, Downing invited participants to send her samples of foraged clay along with letters describing the places where the clay was gathered. Forty contributors from nineteen states and three countries responded, mailing parcels of clay alongside stories that describe deeply-held relationships with the land. Presented as a scrapbook and archive, Call for Clay demonstrates collective attention toward our shared earth.
Downing remarks that, "foraging wild clay is an opportunity to unearth stories held by people and places. Although the earth is a source of healing, the land also holds histories of harm in its sediment. Sometimes these histories are visible in the clay, like the traces of lead, cadmium, and barium that leach from industrial landscapes and settle in clay strata. Often, these stories require conscious digging to bring to the surface."
Call for Clay is published by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Purchase your copy online or at ACRE Projects.
About the Artist:
E. Saffronia Downing (she/they) is a ceramic artist whose research explores material studies and ecological thought. Downing works with wild clay to create sculptures and installations that map relationships to place. She received her MFA in Ceramics from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2020. Downing has been a recipient of awards, fellowships, and residencies such as the Future Bodies symposium at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON, and a studio session at A-B Project, Los Angeles, CA; grants from SPACE American Rescue Plan and Buck Lab for Climate and Environment; fellowships at College of the Atlantic, Lunder Institute of American Art, and Oxbow School of Art; and residencies at PADA, ACRE, and Tokyo Arts University. Recent exhibitions include Terrestrial Extra at the Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY; A Beautiful Experience; The Midwestern Grotto Tradition at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI; Tracks and Other Signs at Old Friends Gallery, Chicago, IL; Clay-In-Place at Triangle Projects, Los Angeles, CA; and Field Dug Over at Bad Water Gallery, Knoxville, TN.