Spring 2024

Three black rings are stacked with a shiny red object that sits inside. There is a liquid-like white substance on the rings, and the red object has a spout-like opening at the top.
A bundle of sticks made of stoneware sit on a piece of wood. The sticks are a mixture of yellow, green, blue, and red.
Four shiny, stoneware pieces are stacked on top of each other. Two are red O-like shapes and the other two are blue spheres. They are stacked on top of each other, alternating, with the red on the bottom and a blue sphere on top.
A white porcelain cup with a black circle in the center sits in front of a black backdrop. The circle looks as if it has been smashed and cracked on the edges.

Fiction Contest

Judged by SJ Sindu

R.M. Cooper, Neighborly (Winner)

Meghan O’Toole, Awe and Wonder and Delight (First Runner-up)

Chi S., In a Village That No One Has Ever Heard Of (Second Runner-up)

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Fiction

Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal, Brandy

Poetry Contest

Judged by Denise Duhamel

KT Herr, Leitmotif with norovirus and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (Winner)

Jordan Hamel, The new husbands of Michigan (First Runner-up)

Diepreye, Abecedarian in Which Òrìṣà Ọya Warns Nigeria of Imminent British Occupation (Second Runner-up)

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Poetry

Amber Adams, The Men in My Family Die Young

Jackie Chicalese, Subsidence

Jane Donohue, Cartesian Split

Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Paté

Patrick Holian, Hamburger University

Arnisha Royston, cutting bell peppers

Alexis Sears, After My Mother’s Cancer Returns, I Start Praying Every Night & All I Ever Wanted Is to Write

Olivia Sio Tse, A Favor

Essay Contest

Judged by Dinty Moore

Carly Stone, The Impressionists (Winner)

Frances Thomas, Against Pushpin Feminism (First Runner-up)

Veronica Silva, Education: A Glossary (Second Runner-up)

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Essay

Ira Sukrungruang, Passed Away

Reviews

Daniel DeVaughn reviews You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by Ada Limón

Laura Yeck reviews fox woman get out! by Lena González

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Interviews

Ashley Balcazar, Creative Nonfiction and Poetic License: An Interview with Jacqueline Doyle

James Davis, Shiny New Objects: An Interview with Rachel Khong

Jasmyn Huff, Forms of Uncertainty: An Interview with Maggie Nelson

Warped stoneware square with dot-like impressions covering the square.
A green spinning top sits at the top of a stack of three rings in front of a white backdrop. The bottom ring is red, the second blue, and the third yellow. The rings get smaller in size as they go up, and the spinning top sits down into the yellow ring.
A red spinning top sits on a pile of smooth silver rings.
A porcelain bowl sits in front of a black background. The bowl is yellow green on the outside and white on the inside, with orange circles placed randomly on the inside and outside.
White porcelain cup with black circles lining the rim sits in front of a black backdrop.
A small porcelain bowl gives the appearance of being made of pressed flowers. The design uses blue, yellow, black, and faint pink circles pressed against each other.
Two porcelain pieces sit on top of one another, with a bowl on top and a plate on the bottom. The plate is orange with yellow dots, and the bowl is white with black dots.
A black porcelain cup sits on a white backdrop.

Benjamin Statser is a ceramic artist and educator living and working in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He began teaching ceramics at the University of North Texas, where he earned his MFA in 2021, and has since taught ceramics at Dallas College and Tarrant County College. Outside of academia, Statser has taught workshops and community-oriented classes and has shown work at various exhibitions. Drawn to the transformative nature of clay, Statser uses the medium to reflect personal experiences of growth and transformation of identity. He is passionate about clay and the community it brings together and hopes to spread the excitement ceramics holds through teaching and making.

Artist’s Statement: My work balances craft and design to create functional and sculptural ceramic art for domestic and private spaces, focusing on interactions and impressions. Referencing the experience of becoming an out and proud individual, I utilize the transformative process of making with clay to visualize coded and queer contexts, turning ordinary–maybe unnoticed–objects into things that demand attention. Porcelain is commonly used in my practice to highlight the themes of desire and purity as they relate to a queer experience, focusing on what is and is not acceptable within our society and the utilitarian standards for ceramics. The playful works I produce contrast the clean and stained, soft and rough, vibrant and mundane, to speak to the experiences queer individuals face while interacting with the society around us.

Top Gallery (Left to Right): Plug Jar (2020, stoneware, porcelain, epoxy, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″), Bundle of Sticks (2020, stoneware, 12″ x 14″ x 15″), Ball Stack (2021, stoneware, 10″ x 10″ x 15″), Blemish Cup (2023, porcelain, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 4″)

Bottom Gallery (Left to Right): Dimpled Reflections (2021, stoneware, 20″ x 24″ x 2″), Top Jar (2021, stoneware and porcelain, 4″ x 4″ x 5.5″), For the Top (2021, stoneware and porcelain, 13″ x 12″ x 5″), Rivet Bowl (2023, porcelain, 6″ x 6″ x 5″), Rivet Cup (2023, porcelain, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″), Pressed (2023, porcelain, 3″ x 3″ x 3.5″), Riveting (2024, porcelain, 12″ x 12″ x 5″), Subtle (2023, black porcelain, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 4″)