The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
“A rebel is someone who goes against the grain. That can manifest itself in many ways.”- Lydia Thompson
“I feel like we’re living in Ken Land,” commented Rebekah Bogard, curator of “Rebel Girl: You are the Queen of My World,” a featured exhibition at NCECA in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2025. I was in conversation with Bogard after the exhibition. She was talking about how the show came about. “Our rights [the rights of women] are regressing, to the point where people are not wanting women to vote . . . remember the film, Barbie? It had just come out, and at the Oscar Awards, only the men won!” Ultimately, this exhibition questions where America stands in terms of cultural identity, continuity, and change within the volatility of the shifting political landscape.
Digging Deeper
The title of the exhibition references the anthem of the feminist Riot Grrrl Movement written by Bikini Kill, who were pioneers of the underground movement in the early 90s. Exhibition participants were asked to “bring their A game.”¹ She had been listening to a PBS radio show based on the notion of “paying it forward,” and it just kind of clicked in her head that what she needed to do was invite the women who had given her opportunities in the past, and ask them to invite other women to ‘pay it forward.’ The selection process was like a ripple effect chain reaction. Bogard chose Kim Dickey; Stephanie Hanes chose Cathy Lu who chose Kirsty Moreno; Sana Musasama chose Stefani Threet. Lydia Thompson chose Adero Willard, who chose Io Palmer; Anna Calluori Holcomb chose Joy Okokon. Stefani Kantor came in at the end, and rose above a number of logistical challenges to be a part of the group.
When I spoke to Bogard, she was emphatic in her assertion that “Beauty is not trivial, it’s vital, it’s actually crucial.” Bogard makes dreamscape, fantasy work centered on an idyllic animal kingdom in impossibly bright and playful colorscapes. Bogard’s compassion and yearning for peace could indeed seem trivial—“pie in the sky” ideals in a world where war, famine, and genocide are at risk of being normalized. Yet, Bogard subverts beauty by digging deeper into the meaning of her posed animals. In Lost in a Dream, dreaming is not only a biological imperative, but it is also an invitation to be vulnerable, to trust—a jarring cognitive dissonance to the world in which we are living.
Representation
Bogard asked Kim Dickey early on in the process of exhibition design and curation. She served as a sounding board and advisor on the project. The two had never met. Dickey encouraged Bogard to include female-identifying artists, and they worked together, aware of their privilege as white women, to bring a diverse representation of artists to the project.
Dickey’s work, Brooding, Gleaning, alt: Still Brooding, is from her Auguries series, which aims to subvert predictive expectations where men are given the podium. In the artist’s words, “The birds have landed and now observe us; they are roosting, brooding, gleaning, and claiming the space of speech, the space of men.”² The gold/bronze glaze references the golden eagles associated with the crests of male-dominated hegemonies. The hens are a nod to her upbringing on a farm where the hens would occasionally “go on strike in an Animal Farm/Orwellian protest.”³ It is powerful and disturbing work, center stage with the title didactics, and sets the somber underpinnings of the show.
Overriding Initial Impressions
I am ashamed to admit that my knee-jerk reaction to this exhibition was, “Give me a break, haven’t we been down this road?” Feminism is not a new cause. The second wave of feminism, in which many of the senior artists in Rebel Girl actively engaged, is over. Aren’t women on the stage to stay? This is a common misconception. Many of us are duped into a kind of complacency. I was stunned to realize the stark reality of recent statistics. The National Museum of Women in the Arts in the US cites a mere 2% representation of female artists in the arts market.⁴ Dickey affirms that “Today, women’s erasure in almost every field is increasing at an alarming rate and even institutions that traditionally serve the needs of women in all sorts of arenas are removing the term ‘women’ from their very mission statements due to the pressures of this administration, so it is a frightening time in our country.” ⁵
Anna Calluori Holcomb typically steers clear of women’s shows, similar to my own initial bias, citing that she feels “they have had their place in the past.” However, this exhibition was created in the spirit of rebellion against gender suppression in our current times and political moment, an imperative that overrode initial instincts. The work Calluori Holcomb chose to exhibit is a set of high-fired plates sporting joyous abstract decals. Always the shapeshifter and consummate lifelong teacher/learner/experimenter, Calluori Holcomb was inspired to create this wall series by decals she came across in Jingdezhen.
Calluori Holcomb chose to give Joy Okokon, originally from Ghana, a place at the table. Okokon boldly and beautifully fashions a living legacy that relates to taming, tressing, binding, and celebrating Black women’s hair in her works, Koju Soko ati Afro Comb and Koroba ati Afro Comb. I love the abstract symmetry and monolithic architecture of her renderings.
Another member of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Sana Musasama, exhibited I See Me Doll, two works that stand as powerful symbols affirming women’s rights. If you haven’t heard of Musasama, look her up. She is an activist and ceramic artist who explores themes of healing, trauma, and social justice, and has worked internationally and hands-on with female survivors of sex trafficking. Not only was Musasama the closing keynote at NCECA in Salt Lake City, touching the souls of the artists and educators in the room, but she was also the recipient of NCECA’s inaugural Innovator Award—deservedly so.
Multiplicity and Immersion
Lydia Thompson is another doyenne of Black rights activism channeled through the meaning-making in her art. The three works by Thompson in the show, Flocking, Resilient, and Flocking Exile, seem delicate, pretty, comfortable, accessible art. Thompson upcycles pre-made ceramics she gleans from antique shops, yard sales, and retail stores. In an email exchange, Thompson revealed to me her conceptual framework where “Birds serve as powerful symbols, carrying meanings of intimacy, liberation, resilience, loss, restoration, transcendence, and the rebalancing of the world.” Furthermore, “their migrations—driven by the search for food, warmer climates, and opportunities to reproduce—mirror . . . in particular the Great Migration of African Americans from the Deep South to northern cities . . . instinctual movement toward greater access to resources, including employment, education, and safety.” Thompson creates multiples that accumulate into dense, immersive installations. Through this process of repetition, she reflects the vast number of individuals who have journeyed across spaces and generations.⁶
Thompson chose Adero Willard, who presented her work BlokashGi (flesh, blood, bone). Willard’s expressionistic work draws on a multiplicity of reference points: flowers, body, clothing, jazz, Harlem Renaissance, femininity, Afro-Futurism, and textiles.⁷ Willard’s work has been prominent on NCECA platforms in recent years. In 2026, she was a demonstrating artist. This is how glass ceilings are shattered, how the marginalized become the mainstream; how Black youth and emerging artists of color learn to see themselves and internalize the confidence and quiet knowing that ‘this could be me.’ Now it is time for Willard to pay it forward. Notably, Willard curated “Clay Holds Water” at NCECA 2023 in Sacramento, California, providing a platform for Black female and female-identifying ceramic artists at all stages of career development.
I have to give a nod to Yolanda Spears Power to the Pu$$y, comprised of multiple luster-laden, neon-spectrum female torsos. They were installed across the heart of the main room, almost as if custom-made for the space. The sheer repetition of the body— feminine, bold, and unapologetic—speaks volumes.
The work that truly blew my mind was the gravity-defying wall-installation by Io Palmer. The work lit up the main space of Finch Lane Gallery, invariably inciting wonder and curiosity from the makers and viewers who visited. Sometimes constellation-like work can read as over-the-top. Turns out Palmer seeks to highlight societal excess, a feat she successfully renders in Meander. Inspired by home décor aesthetics, the work reads as cosmic mystery, expertly executed.
Bogard’s vision is to pass the torch with Rebel Girl—for this exhibition to continue, with the last person in the chain extending an invitation forward to the next, propelling the concept forward ensuring that advocacy for women’s equal rights continues to tip the scales.
the author Heidi McKenzie is a Toronto-based ceramic installation artist and arts journalist. To learn more about McKenzie, visit www.heidimckenzie.ca.
1 Conversation with the curator, Rebekah Bogard, March 18, 2026. 2 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026. 3 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026. 4 As cited in NCECA Exhibition Press Materials, 2025. 5 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026. 6 Author in email correspondence with Lydia Thompson, April 11th, 2026. 7 Author in email correspondence with Adero Willard, April 4th, 2026.
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The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
“A rebel is someone who goes against the grain. That can manifest itself in many ways.”- Lydia Thompson
“I feel like we’re living in Ken Land,” commented Rebekah Bogard, curator of “Rebel Girl: You are the Queen of My World,” a featured exhibition at NCECA in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2025. I was in conversation with Bogard after the exhibition. She was talking about how the show came about. “Our rights [the rights of women] are regressing, to the point where people are not wanting women to vote . . . remember the film, Barbie? It had just come out, and at the Oscar Awards, only the men won!” Ultimately, this exhibition questions where America stands in terms of cultural identity, continuity, and change within the volatility of the shifting political landscape.
Digging Deeper
The title of the exhibition references the anthem of the feminist Riot Grrrl Movement written by Bikini Kill, who were pioneers of the underground movement in the early 90s. Exhibition participants were asked to “bring their A game.”¹ She had been listening to a PBS radio show based on the notion of “paying it forward,” and it just kind of clicked in her head that what she needed to do was invite the women who had given her opportunities in the past, and ask them to invite other women to ‘pay it forward.’ The selection process was like a ripple effect chain reaction. Bogard chose Kim Dickey; Stephanie Hanes chose Cathy Lu who chose Kirsty Moreno; Sana Musasama chose Stefani Threet. Lydia Thompson chose Adero Willard, who chose Io Palmer; Anna Calluori Holcomb chose Joy Okokon. Stefani Kantor came in at the end, and rose above a number of logistical challenges to be a part of the group.
When I spoke to Bogard, she was emphatic in her assertion that “Beauty is not trivial, it’s vital, it’s actually crucial.” Bogard makes dreamscape, fantasy work centered on an idyllic animal kingdom in impossibly bright and playful colorscapes. Bogard’s compassion and yearning for peace could indeed seem trivial—“pie in the sky” ideals in a world where war, famine, and genocide are at risk of being normalized. Yet, Bogard subverts beauty by digging deeper into the meaning of her posed animals. In Lost in a Dream, dreaming is not only a biological imperative, but it is also an invitation to be vulnerable, to trust—a jarring cognitive dissonance to the world in which we are living.
Representation
Bogard asked Kim Dickey early on in the process of exhibition design and curation. She served as a sounding board and advisor on the project. The two had never met. Dickey encouraged Bogard to include female-identifying artists, and they worked together, aware of their privilege as white women, to bring a diverse representation of artists to the project.
Dickey’s work, Brooding, Gleaning, alt: Still Brooding, is from her Auguries series, which aims to subvert predictive expectations where men are given the podium. In the artist’s words, “The birds have landed and now observe us; they are roosting, brooding, gleaning, and claiming the space of speech, the space of men.”² The gold/bronze glaze references the golden eagles associated with the crests of male-dominated hegemonies. The hens are a nod to her upbringing on a farm where the hens would occasionally “go on strike in an Animal Farm/Orwellian protest.”³ It is powerful and disturbing work, center stage with the title didactics, and sets the somber underpinnings of the show.
Overriding Initial Impressions
I am ashamed to admit that my knee-jerk reaction to this exhibition was, “Give me a break, haven’t we been down this road?” Feminism is not a new cause. The second wave of feminism, in which many of the senior artists in Rebel Girl actively engaged, is over. Aren’t women on the stage to stay? This is a common misconception. Many of us are duped into a kind of complacency. I was stunned to realize the stark reality of recent statistics. The National Museum of Women in the Arts in the US cites a mere 2% representation of female artists in the arts market.⁴ Dickey affirms that “Today, women’s erasure in almost every field is increasing at an alarming rate and even institutions that traditionally serve the needs of women in all sorts of arenas are removing the term ‘women’ from their very mission statements due to the pressures of this administration, so it is a frightening time in our country.” ⁵
Anna Calluori Holcomb typically steers clear of women’s shows, similar to my own initial bias, citing that she feels “they have had their place in the past.” However, this exhibition was created in the spirit of rebellion against gender suppression in our current times and political moment, an imperative that overrode initial instincts. The work Calluori Holcomb chose to exhibit is a set of high-fired plates sporting joyous abstract decals. Always the shapeshifter and consummate lifelong teacher/learner/experimenter, Calluori Holcomb was inspired to create this wall series by decals she came across in Jingdezhen.
Calluori Holcomb chose to give Joy Okokon, originally from Ghana, a place at the table. Okokon boldly and beautifully fashions a living legacy that relates to taming, tressing, binding, and celebrating Black women’s hair in her works, Koju Soko ati Afro Comb and Koroba ati Afro Comb. I love the abstract symmetry and monolithic architecture of her renderings.
Another member of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Sana Musasama, exhibited I See Me Doll, two works that stand as powerful symbols affirming women’s rights. If you haven’t heard of Musasama, look her up. She is an activist and ceramic artist who explores themes of healing, trauma, and social justice, and has worked internationally and hands-on with female survivors of sex trafficking. Not only was Musasama the closing keynote at NCECA in Salt Lake City, touching the souls of the artists and educators in the room, but she was also the recipient of NCECA’s inaugural Innovator Award—deservedly so.
Multiplicity and Immersion
Lydia Thompson is another doyenne of Black rights activism channeled through the meaning-making in her art. The three works by Thompson in the show, Flocking, Resilient, and Flocking Exile, seem delicate, pretty, comfortable, accessible art. Thompson upcycles pre-made ceramics she gleans from antique shops, yard sales, and retail stores. In an email exchange, Thompson revealed to me her conceptual framework where “Birds serve as powerful symbols, carrying meanings of intimacy, liberation, resilience, loss, restoration, transcendence, and the rebalancing of the world.” Furthermore, “their migrations—driven by the search for food, warmer climates, and opportunities to reproduce—mirror . . . in particular the Great Migration of African Americans from the Deep South to northern cities . . . instinctual movement toward greater access to resources, including employment, education, and safety.” Thompson creates multiples that accumulate into dense, immersive installations. Through this process of repetition, she reflects the vast number of individuals who have journeyed across spaces and generations.⁶
Thompson chose Adero Willard, who presented her work BlokashGi (flesh, blood, bone). Willard’s expressionistic work draws on a multiplicity of reference points: flowers, body, clothing, jazz, Harlem Renaissance, femininity, Afro-Futurism, and textiles.⁷ Willard’s work has been prominent on NCECA platforms in recent years. In 2026, she was a demonstrating artist. This is how glass ceilings are shattered, how the marginalized become the mainstream; how Black youth and emerging artists of color learn to see themselves and internalize the confidence and quiet knowing that ‘this could be me.’ Now it is time for Willard to pay it forward. Notably, Willard curated “Clay Holds Water” at NCECA 2023 in Sacramento, California, providing a platform for Black female and female-identifying ceramic artists at all stages of career development.
I have to give a nod to Yolanda Spears Power to the Pu$$y, comprised of multiple luster-laden, neon-spectrum female torsos. They were installed across the heart of the main room, almost as if custom-made for the space. The sheer repetition of the body— feminine, bold, and unapologetic—speaks volumes.
The work that truly blew my mind was the gravity-defying wall-installation by Io Palmer. The work lit up the main space of Finch Lane Gallery, invariably inciting wonder and curiosity from the makers and viewers who visited. Sometimes constellation-like work can read as over-the-top. Turns out Palmer seeks to highlight societal excess, a feat she successfully renders in Meander. Inspired by home décor aesthetics, the work reads as cosmic mystery, expertly executed.
Bogard’s vision is to pass the torch with Rebel Girl—for this exhibition to continue, with the last person in the chain extending an invitation forward to the next, propelling the concept forward ensuring that advocacy for women’s equal rights continues to tip the scales.
the author Heidi McKenzie is a Toronto-based ceramic installation artist and arts journalist. To learn more about McKenzie, visit www.heidimckenzie.ca.
1 Conversation with the curator, Rebekah Bogard, March 18, 2026.
2 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026.
3 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026.
4 As cited in NCECA Exhibition Press Materials, 2025.
5 Author in email correspondence with Kim Dickey, April 14th, 2026.
6 Author in email correspondence with Lydia Thompson, April 11th, 2026.
7 Author in email correspondence with Adero Willard, April 4th, 2026.
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