Two complementary art exhibits will be on view in the Social Hall beginning Sunday, Oct. 23, and running through Nov. 27. An Artists Reception will take place in the Social Hall after both services on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Ceramics by Pratibha Gupta
The ceramics exhibit showcases the talents of artist Pratibha Gupta. She has been a potter and painter for more than 25 years, and her artful vessels exhibit this interdisciplinary work. A native of Mumbai, India, she migrated to the U.S. in 1984 and has been a resident of Minneapolis since then. Her experience as a painter and former sculptor influences the shape and design of her pots. She treats clay as an opportunity to have a visual adventure and is always coming up with new forms and combinations. She likes her work to be beautiful as well as useful. Pratibha Gupta writes: “The usefulness of the bowl lies in its being empty, only then it can be filled with anything. To me this is akin to spirituality. Only when we are empty of ego can grace fill us.”

Textiles by Barbara Harman
Stitch by Stitch is a series in which artist Barbara Harman expresses her long fascination with the beauty of the natural world, embellishing works on fabric with hand embroidery and beadwork. Throughout her art practice, now approaching 45 years, and through long forays into many media including printmaking, artist books and painting, she has been inspired by the beauty that is all around us. She builds images using stencils, hand-carved stamps, numerous textural elements, brushes, and rollers. Each piece in this exhibit began with a painting on fabric. Some also include archival inkjet prints from her photographs onto additional fabric, usually silk. Barbara writes: “More than 15 years ago, I mentored several textile artists. These experiences helped to empower me to bring what had previously been only utilitarian textile skills into an expression of my art. It has been an inspiring journey, one that allows for slow work that is meditative as well as expressive. Unlike painting, which (not incidentally as my body is aging) requires standing, stitching allows me to take time. The decisions are incremental, sometimes minute, at the same time they are momentous. Color; thread choices; stitch length, direction, and type; appliqué; and, how each, separately and together, speaks to the underlying painting.”