Vol. VI No. 3
Oami Powers
Tender Tangle
Ceramics and acrylic

Jul 02 - August 31, 2025

artist link

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Artist Statement:

Tender Tangle is a collection of precious bits of flimsiness - leaves, twisted branches, coral bones, petals, a crumpled remnant of fabric - placed on the altar of the earth. A little offering that invites viewers to consider how we are profoundly linked through shared vulnerability and the impulse to give meaning to what we leave behind.

Artist Info:

Oami Powers is an artist based in North Carolina who makes drawings, sculptures and installations. Raised in California and New Zealand, her work explores themes of memory, nostalgia, grief, and place.

Tender Tangle is a collection of precious bits of flimsiness - leaves, twisted branches, coral bones, petals, a crumpled remnant of fabric - placed on the altar of the earth. A little offering that invites viewers to consider how we are profoundly linked through shared vulnerability and the impulse to give meaning to what we leave behind. Powers holds a B.A. in Art History and Classical Studies from the University of Canterbury. In 2018, she was selected as the North Carolina Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace in Raleigh. She has refined her craft through workshops at Penland School of Craft, Anderson Ranch, and with artist Cristina Cordova. Powers work has been shown in solo and juried group exhibitions nationwide.

Since 2020, Powers has almost exclusively worked in clay. “I am deeply fascinated by this ancient and humble medium which at its core requires just three elements—mud, hands, and fire. Wet clay has a tenderness, and fired clay a bony-ness, that has a lovely resonance with the ideas central to my work: the vulnerability and resilience inherent in the human experience.”