Review: Ceramics as Cultural Memory at Supermarket Gallery

Sarah Ferrer, “Neighborhood Kids,” 2025, stoneware, glaze, is part of the Supermarket Gallery’s exhibition “Eso No Se Toca” (“Don’t touch that”) at La Sala at Hoy Como Ayer on Calle Ocho through Friday, Aug. 15.  (Photo courtesy of the artist)

The ceramics group exhibition at Supermarket Gallery at La Sala at Hoy Como Ayer on Calle Ocho positions itself at the junction of domestic culture, ancient memory, and artistic labor. “Eso No Se Toca” has a variety of styles from six Miami-based artists and is an example of the diversity within which we live.

Overall, it combines the old and new, the functional and decorative, the serene and dramatic, both imagery and abstraction, as well as the tension between seriousness and humor.

With work by Hannah Banciella, Noah Farid, Sarah Ferrer, Samantha Ferrer, Brett Olivieri, and Victor Urroz, the exhibition is varied and thoughtfully curated.

Victor Urroz, “Untitled” (“The Belly Button Series”), 2024, stoneware and glaze, reduction fired, 6.5 x 5.5 x 5 inches, (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Supermarket Gallery is a nomadic entity, a new iteration within the art market. To have a gallery, a pricey lease, and expensive, extensive renovations, a permanent brick-and-mortar space is not crucial. This is a product of the fluidity of spaces in a post-COVID society and, importantly, the internet, which loosened the grip of stationary locations.

The exhibition’s format is modest in scale, installed vertically on shelves along a single wall and integrated into an open-plan space that also serves as a space for private events, pop-ups, and has a café and nightclub. A disco ball hangs above, and much remains on display from the venue, such as books, a framed Erté print, and various paintings. This deliberate choice challenges the expectations of normative exhibition display, where monumental scale and digital interactivity often dominate. “Eso No Se Toca” instead rewards close viewing. It requires patience and engagement, offering nuance rather than spectacle.

Samantha Ferrer, “Hasta Que Se Seque el Malecón,” 2024, ceramic and glaze, 17 x 9 x
8.5 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

When examining ceramics, there is an awareness of detail and texture that can often supersede coloration. Image making on three-dimensional objects has not yet had a Renaissance.

Perhaps this is the medium amenable to integrate the flat and the dimensional with fluency, to function as a pictorial window and an object simultaneously.

The title, “Eso No Se Toca” (“Don’t touch that”), recalls a familiar phrase often heard in childhood. It signals protection, value, and boundaries, particularly around objects that carry cultural or emotional weight. In this context, the phrase becomes a framework for viewing handmade ceramic pieces that reference daily life, history, and aesthetics. Artists draw directly from their own lives, incorporating the narrative of personal histories.

Many of the works here appear functional, but they contain embedded meanings that complicate their utility. This is expressed through both form and imagery, as well as a near impossibility of their implied function.

Sarah Ferrer, “Body Shot Glass,” 2023, stoneware, glaze, luster, 15.5 x 12 x 7 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

This is most prevalent in “Body Shot,” by Miami’s Sarah Ferrer, a spring break-sized shot glass shaped like a dismembered female torso. Its title is a play on words, and its exaggerated size, glossy iridescence, and ornamental gold detailing reflect Miami’s aesthetics of spectacle, the largesse of the party here. The absence of limbs and a head invites interpretations around objectification via the Feminist lens in critical discourse, but the work presents itself as a mix of humor and aesthetics, a high art kitsch.

Ferrer’s twin, Samantha Ferrer, incorporates figurative imagery, popular iconography, and narrative elements. This is particularly evidenced in the two “Neighborhood Kids” figurines. “In Otro Verano Sin Ti” (“Another Summer without You”) and “Hasta Que Se Termine el Malecón” (“Until the Malecón /Seawall is Finished”), the Miami-born Ferrer references Cuban cultural symbols such as coffee pots and roosters. “Sailor Planet Attack,” a visual citation of Matisse’s “The Dance,” signals the presence of art history alongside autobiographical experience.

Victor Urroz’s vessels explore the aesthetic possibilities of imperfection and unpredictability. Subdued glazes and an intentional absence of narrative elements foreground the material itself. By embracing technical “mistakes” and minimal embellishment, the Nicaraguan artist based in Miami aligns his practice with a history of wabi-sabi and other philosophies that value irregularity and humility.

Hannah Banciella, “Something Sacred,” 2024, porcelain, glass, print block paint, thread, 13.5 x 5.5 x 16.5. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Hannah Banciella’s contributions reference many traditions, employing techniques such as sgraffito and craquelure. Recently referenced as the youngest member of the Ceramic League of Miami in an ArtburstMiami article, Banciella work hides and reveals imagery in layers, producing forms that appear historical, yet are newly constructed. Pieces such as “Rats Spelled Backwards is a Star” collapse textual play and symbolic layering, demonstrating the potential for ceramics to act as coded archives.

Only in Miami since 2022 after moving from Portland, Oregon, Brett Olivieri introduces humor and regionalism through lamp sculptures and a frieze decorated with alligators, palm trees, and tropical flora. These pieces echo tourist art and regional craft while pushing into Art with a capital “A.” “We Never Left Eden,” a lamp series that serves as both an object and an image, touches on themes of nostalgia and paradise as aesthetic concepts.

Egyptian-American and based in Miami visual artist Noah Farid’s work is characterized by delicate glaze work and gestural marks. The surface quality of his pieces suggests a tension between control and spontaneity. Through texture, color variation, and restraint, Farid accesses a personal voice within traditional processes.

Noah Farid, “Untitled,” 2025, glazed porcelain, 7 x 7 x 9 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

In a broader art historical context, ceramics have often been relegated to the category of craft, particularly in the Western canon. Figures such as Dame Lucie Rie and Hans Coper helped to shift that perception in the 20th century, but ceramics remain subject to biases surrounding utility and value.

Supermarket Gallery’s nomadic and experimental model is highly appropriate for this exhibition. By relocating art from traditional venues to accessible, informal settings, they underscore community involvement and material literacy over institutional prestige. Their mission, which opposes market-driven narratives in favor of authenticity and collaboration, is reflected in the presentation of “Eso No Se Toca”: a casual, intimate exhibition, with a pronounced emphasis on fine craftsmanship.

Ceramics, as a medium, are tied to functionality, ritual, and daily life. The use of clay began around 29,000 BCE, an astonishing 30,000 years ago. 24,000 years later, in 4000 BCE, people began to use decorative glazes and to consider pictorial aesthetics or two-dimensional design.

Its transformation from earth to hardened vessel represents one of the earliest and most enduring technologies developed by human beings.

Brett Olivieri, “We Never Left Eden (Collection)” ceramic, from left,10.5 x 10 x 15 inches, 5.5 x 8.5 x 5 inches, 14 x 23 x 12 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

While contemporary fine art has traditionally distanced itself from craft traditions, ceramic practice retains close ties to utilitarian design, regional identity, and the human body through its scale and tactile qualities. The downside of this wide availability is the low price point compared to other materials, such as steel or bronze, an unfortunate bias for ceramic artists.

Collectively, these works illustrate the broad expressive potential of ceramics, particularly when tied to the cultural complexity of South Florida. The artists, all connected to Miami, reflect the city’s layered identities and its particular blend of Caribbean, Latin American, European and North American influences. While the pieces share a common medium, they diverge widely in style, form, and reference, ranging from figurative to abstract, from appearing functional to symbolic.

WHAT: “Eso No Se Toca” featuring Hannah Banciella, Noah Farid, Sarah Ferrer, Samantha Ferrer, Brett Olivieri, and Victor Urroz

WHERE: Supermarket Gallery at La Sala at Hoy Como Ayer, 2212 SW 8^th St., Miami

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday. Through Friday, Aug. 15.

COST: Free. 

INFO: (786) 222-0179 and supermarketgallery.com. Shoppable catalogue available online.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.