Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle presents an exhibition Form Follows Language by ceramist Sylwia Tur. Join Sylwia at the artist reception on September 1 between 6 and 8 pm. Below is an intro written by the artist

Dear All,

I would like to invite you to my third solo exhibition at Linda Hodges Gallery: “Form Follows Language”, where I continue my sculptural work of giving physical dimension to language. In my recent exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum, I showed this new direction for the first time, and I’m only getting started.
By creating a set of unique shapes and mapping them to the letters in the alphabet, words become sculptures. Sealing the connection between art and language, I have chosen phrases that are personally meaningful to me to become titles of my pieces. In turn, each of my sculptural works is composed of the letters in that phrase, signifying a meaningful thought, idea, or a transformative process (there is also one referencing a song by Metallica :)).
All but one work in the show have English titles and are based on the 26-letter English alphabet. However, there is one sculpture in Polish language, a translation of the show’s title: “Forma idzie za językiem”. This signifies and introduces the next steps in my alphabet explorations, with more languages and more sculptural translations coming in the future.

It is possible I will be giving an artist talk/walk through the exhibition. Please check my Instagram profile for updates or simply contact me [email protected], if you would like to attend.

Sylwia Tur was born and raised in Poland. She received MA and BA degrees in Linguistics from the University of Washington in Seattle, followed by post-Baccalaureate studies in Studio Art (Ceramics) also at the UW. Tur is interested in language, architecture, and design, distilled to their basic components of organization, grid, proportion, and reduction. Modernism, minimalism, and brutalist architecture, growing up in communist Poland, seeing the rise of solidarity and observing the country undergoing political, social, and economic changes, have all shaped her perception and aesthetics. Sylwia’s work has been exhibited locally at Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle, Foster/White, Gallery4Culture, Museum of Northwest Art, Francine Seders Gallery, Monarch Contemporary, and CoCA. She is a recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from 4Culture, Artist Trust GAP Grant, and the Regional Exhibition Award from the National Council of Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Her artwork is in private and public collections around the world. In addition to her art practice, she works as a linguist, a field from which she continues to draw inspiration.

More: Linda Hodges Gallery, Sylwia’s website