Paul Briggs: Gravity
September 9 - October 16
Paul Briggs: Gravity will be on view in the Upper Traylor Gallery from September 9 through October 16, 2026. Paul Briggs will give an artist talk on Wednesday, October 14, at 5:00pm in the Upper Traylor Gallery in the Rogers-Traylor Art Building. All are welcome; no RSVP required. For more information, visit our Events page.
Briggs’ Gravity series revolves intrinsically around Black perseverance. The work in the exhibit dramatizes resisting the seeming inevitability of being pulled in specific directions by external forces.
Briggs works primarily using pinch-forming and slab building processes and overall, his work is about art making as inner development, broadly understood. He creates distinctive, high relief pinch-formed ceramic vessels and penetrating slab-built sculptural forms, both genres often have interior space. The former is his meditative practice, and the latter offers him opportunity to philosophize concretely and assess traditions that impede the possibility of ongoing equanimity in individuals and communities. Briggs was a 2024 NCECA Demonstrating Artist. He teaches at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and resides in Alfred, New York.