FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mandy Wilson, 412.465.1637 | mwilson@contemporarycraft.org
BRIE RUAIS SOLO EXHIBITION ANNOUNCED AT CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
PITTSBURGH, PA (January 2024) – Contemporary Craft is excited to announce Oneness: BrieRuais, the first in its new Tomayko Solo Artist Elevation Series. Featuring the work of New Mexico
based ceramic artist Brie Ruais, the exhibition will open on Friday, February 2 and will be on view
through May 4, 2024.
In her work, Ruais focuses on ideas around mapping places geographically, psychologically, andexperientially. Each work starts with clay equal to Ruais’ body weight at the time. From there, sheuses her body as a tool to push and shape the clay into its final form, completing the work in under
15 minutes. Through this process, her work inherently addresses the experience of embodiment:
movement-based artwork that forges an intimacy with the viewer’s experience.
Oneness is a large survey of work, spanning eight years and exploring the idea that memory, place,and experience are based on an individual’s perception and haptic experience. Each work
resembles a microcosm in documenting time and place through a human lens and humans’intervention on nature.
Ruais’ sculptures address the dichotomies within existence – that there is both an inner world and aworld outside your body, that humans live in a state of relatedness and are parts of a whole, as wellas what it means to acknowledge and respond to nature. Oneness, a philosophical term thatinterweaves through Ruais’ work, represents a sense of interconnectedness – a transcendence ofboundaries.
Opening Reception and Related Events
Opening Reception: Friday, February 2, 5:30 – 8:00 PM. Free and open to the public.
Artist-Led Guided Tour with Brie Ruais: Saturday, February 3, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Guided Tours: Saturday, March 2, April 6, and May 4, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
The open reception and all guided tours are free and open to the public. For the tours, registration isrequired at https://contemporarycraft.org/exhibition/oneness-brie-ruais/news-events/
About the Artist

Brie Ruais (b. 1982, Southern California) lives and works in Santa Fe, NM. Ruais received her
MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in 2011. Her practice is legible through thescrapes, gouges, and gestures embedded in the surfaces and forms of the ceramic works.
Through her immersive engagement with clay, Ruais’ work generates a physical and sensorial
experience that explores a new dialogue between the body and the earth.
Ruais’ work has been exhibited at public institutions including the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas,
TX; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles,
CA; The Everson, Syracuse, NY; Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette, Québec, Canada; the Museum

of Fine Arts Boston and others. Awards and residencies include The Virginia Groot Foundation
Grant (2021), and The Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant (2018), among others.
About Contemporary Craft
Presenting contemporary art in craft materials by regional, national, and international artists since1971, Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity andcontemporary art, as well as a range of artist-led studio workshops, community engagement
programs, and a store featuring work by top artists from across the country. Located at 5645 Butler
Street in Pittsburgh, PA, Contemporary Craft’s gallery is free and open to the public.
Oneness is made possible by the Tomayko Foundation, the Lydon Innovation Fund, JENDOCO
Construction Corporation, and Aesthetic Plastic Surgery of Pittsburgh. General operating support isprovided by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Heinz Endowments, Cathy Raphael, Opportunity
Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of The Pittsburgh
Foundation, Anonymous Foundation, the George G Fund, Giant Eagle Foundation, and by private
donations.