Exhibitions

Vicious Involution [Neijuan]

October 2 - 31, 2026

Vicious Involution: Neijien is a group exhibition featuring work that reflects on the viral Chinese sociological term "Neijuan." This term encapsulates a common feeling among younger generations: even if they work hard to advance their careers and lives, limited opportunity will still lead to overwork, anxiety, and diminishing rewards. They are stuck in the same place, facing an opportunity that was promised but never truly within reach. Curated by Áine Mickey.

The exhibition will open to the public on October 2nd and host an opening reception on Friday, October 2nd from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Featured Artists:

Hanna-Mae Greenfield, Mary Henderson,

Marcè Nixon-Washington, & Jessi Olarsch.

Jessi Olarsch

Jessi Olarsch is a Brooklyn based artist whose work explores how personal, cultural, and political histories weave together over time. Working between paint, drawing, textile, and ceramic, she uses a purple palette to conjure queer history and steep the work in mysticism and intimacy.

She received her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021, and will receive her MFA from Pratt Institute in 2026. Her recent group and solo exhibitions include Reflections of Us at Warnes Contemporary Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2024), Cool Off at Visionary Projects, New York, NY (2024), Corpus Nexus, Dacia Gallery, New York, NY (2023), High Maintenance, Tchotchke Gallery, New York (2023), Inside a Memory, Visionary Art Collective (2023), Lightning Lectures, ICA Philadelphia (2021), and Watercolor: Luminous Light, National Association of Women Artists, New York (2019). She was the 2024 Artist in Residence at Im in The Village, in New York, and her work has been featured in publications such as Friend of the Artist and New American Paintings.

Its Fine Everythings Fine by Jessi Olarsch

Statement:

"I am interested in using figurative painting to build bridges between literature, art history, queer theory, and personal history. My works refer both to the canon of art history and to specific personal details, inviting the viewer to bring forth their own experiences into the work. They also create space to work through challenging experiences, like navigating queer love for the first time, or confronting the realities of chronic illness. Purple operates on two levels within the work: conjuring a rich queer history from Sappho’s violets to the Lavender Menace, and steeping the work in a mood of mysticism and intimacy. These paintings navigate vulnerable moments of love and pain, of identity and justice, and claim the small, bright pink moments of joy amidst hardship." - Jessi Olarsch

To learn more about Jessi's work, see her website www.jessiolarsch.com, or connect with her on Instagram, @jessiolarsch

Marcè Nixon-Washington

Marcé Nixon-Washington is a multidisciplinary artist based in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received her BFA from West Virginia University with a focus in Africana Studies and earned her MFA from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. Marcé studied ceramics in Jingdezhen, China, where she developed a deep interest in shards and ceramic history. She investigates ceramics as an archival material to record personal and cultural history.

Her work has been exhibited at Companion Gallery, Concept Art Gallery, Eutectic, The Carnegie Museum of Art, and The Mufei Gallery in Jingdezhen, China. Marcé has participated in residencies at The Archie Bray Foundation, The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1Hood, and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media.

Her work has been published in TABLE Magazine and Ceramics Monthly. She was awarded the Black Art Life Award by the Black Transformative Arts Network for her work with Black and Brown youth. In 2024, she made history as the youngest artist invited to exhibit at the NCECA Annual.

Untitled #12 by Marcè Nixon-Washington

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, surrounded by plastic orange milk crates and skyscrapers layered with the sounds of PAT (Port Authority Transit) buses and Steelers fans. Most people don't notice the woman operating the train or the guy washing the windows at the stadium. So I choose to sculpt the Ms. Nia's of the world, because everyday people deserve to be archived, too. Sculpting marginalized folks makes visible the people who keep the city running.

Orange milk crates represent Pittsburgh's favorite tea, Turner's Tea, a household staple as long as I can remember. An orange crate, "borrowed" from the corner store, holds some of my best memories, from getting my hair braided on the porch to playing basketball. The orange crate appears in my work as a pedestal to elevate the working class and the mundane memories that connect us.

My work is centered on the archival nature of ceramics. I choose clay for its resilience, something I witnessed during my time in China while closely studying the Terracotta Warriors. Ceramics is one of the few materials that can withstand fire, burial, and submersion in water. This durability is essential to my practice, which responds to the deliberate burning and erasure of Black history throughout the Jim Crow era and beyond.

My coil-built vessels draw on West African techniques, connecting my work to ancestral practices. The surfaces are inspired by West African mudcloth fabric and city landscapes, weaving together my cultural heritage and contemporary lived experience. By archiving Black and Brown people in clay, I refute the notion that our bodies, voices, and stories are invisible. We live vibrant, beautiful lives in spite of oppression, systemic racism, and stereotyping. We are not monolithic.

I hope my work will serve as a primary source and testimony to my experience as a young Black woman from Pittsburgh. Clay is archival, and every time I create, I hear my grandma's laughter saying, "They couldn't erase me."

To learn more about Marcè's work, see her website www.ceramicsbymarce.com/ or connect with her on Instagram, @marce_clay

Hanna-Mae Greenfield

Hanna-Mae Greenfield is an artist and arts educator interested in new media applications to traditional artmaking practices. She explores how students can use technology, personal narrative, and materials to strengthen empathy, patience, personal identity, and relationships.

Originally from Plano, Texas, Greenfield earned her BFA in Fine Arts and Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art and is completing her M.Ed. in Art Education at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University. She studied in Temple’s Rome program, exhibited in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Rome, worked at the Loretta C. Duckworth Scholars Studio, and spent five years as a graphic designer for startups. Her research and teaching focus on fostering empathy, collaboration, and cross-cultural understanding through storytelling.

Morning Air by Hanna-Mae Greenfield

To learn more about Hanna-Mae's work see her website www.hannamaegreenfield.com or connect with her on Instagram @hannagfieldart

Mary Henderson

Mary Henderson is a visual artist living and working in Philadelphia. She received an AB in fine arts from Amherst College, and an MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been awarded grants and fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Joseph Robert Foundation, the Center for Emerging Artists, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; she has also completed residencies at Surf Point, Pouch Cove, Soaring Gardens, the Jentel Foundation and the Hambidge Center (where she was the Nena Griffith Distinguished Fellow). Her work has been shown throughout the United States at venues including the Delaware Contemporary Museum, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Michener Museum, the Woodmere Museum, FROSCH&CO, Marcia Wood Gallery, Lyons Wier Gallery and Wilding Cran Gallery. Her paintings have been featured in Artmaze, Harper's Magazine, L’Espresso (Italy), New American Paintings, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Art in America. Selected collections include the Rockefeller Foundation, the Muskegon Museum of Art and the West Collection. She is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Bucks County Community College and the former co-director of the Philadelphia site of the nonprofit network of artist-run spaces, Tiger Strikes Asteroid.