BRAHM exhibition explores care and memory - published July 11, 2025

Slumber, Andréa Keys Connell, 2024, ceramic.

BLOWING ROCK — Sculptor and educator Andréa Keys Connell debuts her latest body of work in Pattern Mapping, now on view at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) through Nov. 29.

Known for her emotionally charged ceramic sculptures, Connell uses form, surface and pattern to explore questions of memory, resilience and care. Connell’s clay sculptures fill the gallery with color and detail, each piece inviting viewers to reflect on its meaning.

Connell, a full-time professor and artist based in Boone, described the deeply personal process behind the work, much of which was created during a sabbatical when she found clarity through daily walks.

“I was walking through a season into a new season,” she explained. “Like walking through the winter into the spring, and I was observing the change in the season from this time filled with grey and cold, to spring, and that cycle was really uplifting to me.”

Connell, who serves as associate professor and program coordinator for clay at Appalachian State University, draws deeply from personal and family history.

“All of the work that I have is work that has come since… I think everything that’s down there has been made within the last three and a half years,” she explained. “There’s a cycle of bodies of work, but they all kind of work together.”