Studio Open House featuring ceramic art and pottery

Celebrate the season by giving the gift of local pottery! Indianapolis artist Barbara Zech will open her studio on Saturday December 12th from 4pm-8pm for her fifth annual winter open house in this location. This show will feature handcrafted ceramics with gift giving in mind – such as hand thrown mugs, vases, serving platters, ornaments, and more. Also on display, examples of handmade tile available for commission, for kitchen backsplashes, fireplaces, or any other residential and commercial tile projects. Guests can inquire about custom handmade tile while visiting the studio.

Barbara Zech creates a variety of ceramic work from functional pottery to public art, with her primary focus on handcrafted tile. Her artwork can be seen throughout Indianapolis, in large scale mosaic murals on the Downtown Canal Walk, a series of ceramic paintings in Community North Hospital and Simon Cancer Center, tile art collaborations with The Children’s Museum, sign language gateway made with students at Indiana Deaf School on the Monon Trail, and a 20 ft. wide panoramic mosaic mural at Joys House adult care in Broad Ripple.

Barbara has made a living as a professional artist and educator in Indianapolis for several years. She has been involved in building ongoing art programs for organizations in Indianapolis and abroad. Her career has taken her around the world for social practice in the arts, to Japan and East Africa to teach, exhibit, and research ceramics and papermaking. Zech is a two-time recipient of the Indiana Arts Commission grant, a former Creative Renewal Fellow, and recipient of Smallbox Nice Grant. Recently, Zech teamed up with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, to create a 10 ft. tall tiled marker for the historic Fletcher Place Neighborhood. And she is currently preparing for her (seventh) trip to Kenya, where she will stay for 6 weeks to work with HIV+ artisans on a large handmade tile mural for a new hospital in Kenya. You can also find her work at Editions Limited Gallery in Broad Ripple. 

Described by Joanna Nixon, in Sky Blue Window Blog: “Barbara Zech is a contemporary ceramic artist who creates unique sculptural wall installations and tiles out of clay.  What I really like about Barbara’s work is the way that she incorporates vibrant color in her clay pieces and how she threads interesting textural elements and patterns into her work.”  http://www.skybluewindow.org/SkyBlueBlog/archives/2013/07/24/barbara-zech-qa

Zech Clay Studio is located in SoBro Arts studio complex

SoBro Arts is located in a mixed-use business center on East 54th Street. Two other artists will be open on December 12th for a mini studio tour. Due to its location, SoBro Arts is not part of the usual studio tours in Indy such as IDADA’s First Friday, or the Broad Ripple Gallery Tour.