Chrysalis by Kate Clements

Studios INC Exhibition Hall
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, 2026 | 5–8 p.m.

Chrysalis is a solo exhibition by artist Kate Clements, featuring work made during her residency at Studios INC. Drawing on the story of Ophelia, Chrysalis reconsiders a familiar narrative through the lens of transformation. Exploring themes of fragility, grief, and the shifting nature of identity, the exhibition interprets the pond not as a site of tragedy but as a chrysalis—a place of becoming.

For centuries, Ophelia has been preserved as an image of vulnerability and loss, leaving little room for the complexity of her experience beyond that final moment. In Chrysalis, Clements returns to this enduring figure and dwells within the margins of her story, lingering between dissolution and transformation, where identity remains fluid, continually shaped, shed, and remade.

Working in kiln-formed glass, Clements explores the tension between control and surrender, allowing heat, time, and gravity to participate in the formation of each work. Through shifting surfaces, reflection, and transparency, glass becomes a material molded by both intention and the unpredictable forces of its making.

Kate Clements (b. 1989) is a glass artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and S12 Galleri in Bergen, Norway.

Chrysalis is supported by the Virginia A. Groot Foundation through its 2026 Third Place Award.