smoke the moon is thrilled to announce Garden Gnome: Protector of My Heart, an exhibition of ceramics, textiles and sculpture by multi-disciplinary artist, Lindz Redd. The exhibition will be on view in the gallery’s casita space from August 25th through October 1st.  

Brimming with whimsical narratives, vibrantly pigmented glazes, and intricately sculpted patterns and adornments, Lindz Redd has created an immediately-recognizable visual language that welcomes all with open arms. The artist’s work expresses the universal desire for love and acceptance intermingled with a highly personalized vision and use of symbolism, including an obsession with the color purple.  

Redd was born in Temecula, California and received their BFA in Ceramics from California College of the Arts in 2020. They create sculpture in the form of functional vessels. Insects and plants inhabit ceramic surfaces harmoniously, emerging from bold quilt patterns and idyllic gardens. Bees buzz, flowers sprout and fairies frolic through the saturated and mysterious worlds of an imagined genderless reality. Examining family, community, and their own role in relationships, Redd’s vessels are conductors of big ideas expressed through love and care and the desire for utopia. 

Garden Gnome: Protector of My Heart will incorporate stoneware, hand-embroidered textile pieces, quilting, carved wood and various other media. Redd is interested in slowing down the artistic process, making time for introspection. The artist does not fear a laborious and tedious project, but rather leans into it. Sewing, embroidery, carving, and dyeing are meditative processes and their repetition allows time and space for daydreaming

Resistance to the norm is a daily practice for Redd, who, as a queer artist, strives to uplift others oppressed by dominant patriarchal society. After visiting Germany last summer, Redd became fascinated with the history of the garden gnome–the central inspiration of their upcoming exhibition. The garden gnome was a symbol of expression and resistance during the period of the Berlin Wall, where culture and life was heavily censored and restricted. The artist also often incorporates quiltmaking, another medium with a history of resistance. Creating work that provides space for pleasure, levity and joy is essential to Redd’s work, not only as a means of expressing their own identity but also as a way of building community.

Please join us from 6:00 to 8:00pm on Friday, August 25th, 2023 to celebrate the  openings of Painting from Life, new work by Daniella Ben-Bassat and Garden Gnome: Protector of My Heart ceramics by Lindz Redd.

Above installation photos by Ellie Chappelle.