Underground in March: Stories, Myths and Metaphors by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

by Michael Walsh

This March, Collective Visions Gallery presents Stories, Myths and Metaphors, a striking exhibition of ceramic sculpture by Michael Walsh, on view in the Underground Gallery. With a deep respect for storytelling and tradition, Walsh invites viewers into a world that feels both ancient and vividly personal, a world where myth, memory, and metaphor converge in clay.

Rooted in the potter’s craft, each piece begins as a hollow form, no armature, just clay pressed and shaped from the inside out until the imagined figure emerges. Walsh builds his figures not only with his hands, but with a keen sense of narrative. Sometimes a head leads the way, revealing the character's identity as the body takes shape. Other times, he begins at the feet, building upward, letting the piece and the process guide him in equal measure.

His sculptures inhabit imagined worlds, yet they resonate with deeply human truth. “We live in a land of stolen innocence,” Walsh writes. “Although long estranged by wisdom from our roots, we are not wholly lost. The human soul was once on open display in the gods we made and the stories we told. In these dark times, our job is to wake up those dreams and retell the stories.

The resulting work is both whimsical and profound, figures that might have wandered out of a myth or dream, shaped by resilience, dignity, and imagination. For Walsh, sculpture is not only an act of creation, but a dialogue between maker, material, and meaning.

Stories, Myths and Metaphors is an invitation to reflect, remember, and reimagine. Join us in the Underground Gallery this March to explore a collection that speaks to the timeless need for stories, and the enduring beauty of the human spirit shaped in clay.