There are gestures we learn as children and repeat without much thought. A finger drawn across the chest, a stem threaded and linked to another, a hand cupped outward to receive a gift or a quiet phrase repeated. These actions are often unconscious, but through them our beliefs, fears, wishes, and desires are carried outward, even just for a instant, from within.
These fleeting moments resist language. They are marked, instead, by ritual and gesture. With that in mind, we invite you to consider the ties binding us and the fragile forms they take. Cross Your Heart, pairs our latest designs with new works by artists Hiroko Takeda, Joshua Vogel, Molly Haynes, Taylor Kibby, Ariel Dearie, and Rodger Stevens. In different ways, each of these artists’ attend to the subtle exchanges between hand and material, touching on the intimate and delicate act of both form making, and meaning making.
The exhibition title, Cross Your Heart, references a phrase learned in childhood: "cross my heart, hope to die..." A vow both solemn and soft, this childish promise is made not through contract, but through shared belief and trust / faith. Cross Your Heart presents a collection of works that suggest devotion without declaring it, connection without fixing it, and meaning that is present even as it wilts away.
