Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Olivia Pi’ilani’s practice is a spiritual and hyper-personal meditative experience, seeking to unravel the intimate relationship between one’s hands and the earth. Drawing from both indigenous coil-building methods of southwest North America and the ancient pottery traditions of China, this synthesis of classical techniques serves not only as a technical process, but as a form of honor and conversation with the lineage of craftsmanship that precedes her. Olivia’s goal as a potter is to engage ancestral and ceremonial modes of storytelling through themes of fantasy, romanticism, and the interconnection between nature and the human experience. This body of work was created within and inspired by the warm Appalachian summer air in North Carolina. A love letter to Appalachia and its craftswomen who have created vessels for centuries from the rich and ancient clay that lies beneath the forest.

Contributions: Three works [Summer 2026]