The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi, is presenting "Alice Ballard | Finding Solace", an exhibition of ceramic sculpture by the South Carolina artist Alice Ballard, in its Pod 4 gallery from 7 October 2026 to 20 February 2027.
Born in 1945 in Florence, South Carolina, Ballard grew up travelling and living abroad, including in Paris, with her Air Force family, and now lives in Upstate South Carolina. In her artist's statement, she describes her life's work as observing the natural world and interpreting its many life forms in sculpture that speaks of the interconnectedness of all things. Much of it, she writes, is a form of self-portraiture concerned with healing after trauma.
The museum's page traces several bodies of work. The "Tree Totem" series consists of ten vertical, organic sculptures that respond to personal loss, to the period around 11 September 2001 and to healing. Her "Ming Rose" series was inspired by her garden and by a dream in 1984, and a group of Yixing teapots grew out of a summer spent studying in China. She has also made a "Wall Pod" series, a "Wild Garlic" series and "Walk Remembered", an ongoing ceramic garden installation that is rearranged for each venue.
Ballard holds a master's degree in art from the University of Michigan and taught for five decades, including artist residencies in southern Alaska and posts at craft schools such as Penland and Arrowmont. She received a Fulbright grant to study in India, was one of eight ceramicists invited to the International Ceramic Colony in Resen, Macedonia, and has had solo exhibitions at the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the Greenville County Museum of Art. Her work is in collections including the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, and Wofford College awarded her an honorary doctorate in the arts in 2019.
The exhibition is supported by the Mississippi Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and the R & B Feder Charitable Foundation.
