A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats Panel Discussion

Join the artists participating in A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats as they explore the ways that their practices intersect with one another and the core themes of the exhibition. Enjoy this discussion guided by Exhibitions & Collection Manager, Lauren Tucci. 

Friday, March 6, 4:30 pm CT, FREE
Main Exhibition Gallery

Katayoun Amjadi is an Iranian-born, Minneapolis-based artist, educator, and independent curator whose work delves into the complex social systems that shape our perceptions. Her practice often considers the binaries of Self and Other, navigating themes of religion, gender, politics, and nationalist ideologies. Amjadi is deeply interested in blurring these boundaries to create a balanced, hybrid style that reflects both her life and her art. Her work serves as an inquiry into the relationship between past and present, tradition and modernity, and the tension between individual and collective identity. By exploring these “tangled roots,” she seeks to spur broader discussions about our understanding of time and history. She holds an MFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Minnesota and currently teaches at Normandale Community College. A recipient of the 2015 and 2019 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, her work has been exhibited at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Weisman Art Museum, the Beijing Film Academy, Karlsruhe Art Academy and 7Samar Gallery in Tehran among others. She maintains a studio in the Q.arma building.

Misty Gamble’s ceramic practice is inspired by the human figure and its infinite capacity for communication. This focus is rooted in her childhood, where she was immersed in her father’s world of puppetry and performing arts—an influence that continues to shape her sculptural narrative. In 1998 she received a historic invitation to be the first American to perform at the International Puppet Festival in Tehran, a testament to her lifelong commitment to global artistic exchange. Her current work, featuring life-size ceramic figurative sculptures and installations, draws attention to issues surrounding femininity while challenging conventional standards of morality and normalcy. Gamble is the co-founder of Studio Nong, an international sculpture collective that conducts residencies in China and Europe. She has been awarded prestigious fellowships at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and C.R.E.T.A. Rome. She is the recipient of a number of honors including awards from the Martin Wong Foundation, National Conference for the Education of Ceramic Arts and the Ellice T. Johnston Foundation. Currently an Assistant Professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, Gamble’s work has been widely published in Ceramics Monthly and exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Claudia Poser is a German-born, Minneapolis-based ceramic artist whose work is deeply informed by a unique synthesis of scientific rigor and European aesthetic traditions. Born to a mother passionate about art history, Claudia was immersed in the visual languages of Modernism, Scandinavian design, and Gothic architecture from an early age. This eclectic foundation eventually led her to transition from a ten-year career as a polymer scientist in 1989 to the world of fine art, a shift that allowed her to translate her understanding of material properties into a dedicated ceramic practice.

Her work often explores the intersection of the natural world and structural form, a pursuit refined through decades of study at the Northern Clay Center under the guidance of luminaries such as Warren MacKenzie and Paul Soldner. Claudia’s practice is further shaped by her involvement in prestigious local cohorts, including the WARM Mentor Program (2006–2008) and the Women’s Art Institute (2017). Her transition from science to clay has resulted in a style that balances technical precision with organic fluidity, often seeking to capture the “transitory patterns” found in the environment.

Claudia’s work has been commissioned for major public and corporate spaces, including the Mayo Clinic Hospital, United Healthcare Corporation, Great River Energy, and the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Her exhibition record is extensive and international in scope, with recent juried appearances at the White Bear Center for the Arts, Two Bridges Gallery, and the MSP Airport. Her work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly and Studio Visit Magazine, a juried selection of international visual artists. Since 2008, she has maintained a professional studio practice in the historic Northrup King Building in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats recontextualizes a familiar adage to explore the vital intersections of community, climate, and the collective power of presence. In this exhibition, the phrase is reimagined as an ecological and social imperative: the belief that our resilience—and our visibility—is inextricably linked to the strength of the systems we cultivate together.

Working within the tactile, earth-bound medium of clay, these artists investigate the “tangled roots” of identity and eco-anxiety. Their works facilitate a dialogue between the individual and the aggregate, treating the human form and the natural landscape as a single, interdependent entity. By interweaving symbols of ritual, scientific rigor, and biological form, the collection moves away from extractive perspectives in favor of an undercurrent of mutual care.

In an era of shifting environmental and social protections, this exhibition asserts that no voice exists in isolation. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats serves as a testament to the strength found in a shared ecosystem, suggesting that when we anchor ourselves in reverence for the earth and each other, we create a rising tide capable of elevating the whole.

Participating artists include: Katayoun Amjadi, Misty Gamble, and Claudia Poser.