Photo above: Renata Cassiano Alvarez, From the series TERSO ESPEJISM, 2024. Clay, glaze. Courtesy of the artist, Springdale, Arkansas.

RENATA CASSIANO ALVAREZ: PASSAGE

2025 VISITING ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

AUGUST 23 - DECEMBER 15, 2025 / OUTDOOR GALLERIES

The 2025 Visiting Artist in Residence will be Mexico-born artist Renata Cassiano Alvarez. Working predominantly in the medium of clay, Cassiano Alvarez is interested in process and has developed an intimate and collaborative relationship with her chosen material. Influenced by archeology and historical artifacts, she is inspired by objects’ resilience, permanence and timelessness.

Cassiano Alvarez will present a large-scale sculpture titled Passage, in Laumeier’s outdoor galleries consisting of four interconnected archways that form an open-air construction. Its exterior will be clad in hundreds of colorful mosaic tiles, some of which will be made by St. Louis community members.

Inspired by the Gateway Arch and its status as the symbol for westward expansion, the large-scale work is intended to be a monument to the value of opportunity and the history of the city as an artery to a new frontier. Cassiano Alvarez is interested in how this shape might act as an entry way for local immigrant communities, stating “the work is a symbol, an archway to a new beginning.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Renata Cassiano Alvarez is a Mexican-Italian artist and interpreter born in Mexico City. She received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and her BFA from the Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México. Her practice has extended to the interpreting field, where she functions as a bridge for non-English speakers. Her work can be found in public and private collections in Mexico, Estonia, Italy, Taiwan, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, China, USA and Slovenia. Her exhibitions include: Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR; Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA; Casa de Cultura, Coatepec, México; Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa, México; Centre Culturel d’Andenne, Andenne, Belgium Gallery Stalden, Bisserup, Denmark; New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Minneapolis among many others. She works between her studio in Veracruz, Mexico and Springdale, Arkansas.