Our inaugural show of the 2025 summer season “Unbreakable” celebrates the special bond between Mothers and Daughters. The show is especially meaningful as Lisa Perry’s mom passed away recently. Her mom Bacine opened a Gallery in 1969 in the suburbs of Chicago also showing ceramics and other craft. Needless to say, Lisa is following in her mother’s footsteps and honoring her with this show. The idea for a mother daughter show came to Perry after several artists mentioned that they watched their mothers working while growing up and it provided inspiration in their own approach. After discovering five different Mother/Daughter pairs Perry said “we have something special and unique here!” This show is not only a tribute but a trial. We challenged each mother daughter duo to co-create, finding ways to uplift each other’s work and illuminate the dialogue that exists between their practices.

Lisa’s Mother, Bacine, photographed at her art gallery in the suburbs of Chicago.

Throughout Onna House, each space serves as a vessel for mothers and daughters to explore their process and curate environments that tell their shared stories. Ann Agee and Lucia Pompetti took over the studio space, even incorporating works from one generation prior—Sally Agee Pompetti, Lucia’s grandmother and Ann’s mother. Pompetti reflects: “In this room that we collaborated on, we were able to look at all the objects we collectively made and style the space as if we were playing house—a fantasy, I think my grandmother was, and my mother and I still are, stimulated by.” Their collaboration reveals a creative impulse rooted in imagination, domestic space, and play. The room becomes an artistic canvas, where imaginative play fuels making, and feminine heritage takes on material form.

Christina Jensen Vicente and Esther Jorgen Jensen chose to create new works together, something they had never done before. Christina’s love for fiber and Esther’s glass practice came together in a unique amalgamation of mediums, expanding their individual practices through collaboration.

Isabel Rower and Maria Robledo placed their work in the gallery space, setting Robledo’s ceramics atop Rower’s pedestals and blurring the line between function and form.

Nettie Sumner and Mercy’s Sumner’s work, which weaves wire and ceramic, is “deeply rooted in the lineage of women who came before us and extends forwards,” remarks Nettie.

In our tea room Amy Dov and Lori Goodman’s work feels like “days on the river, hikes through the trees, adventures in the field,” a glimpse into memories with her mother that Amy remarks as her bedrock and inspiration.

The work of the mother and daughter is all uplifted by twelve inspiring ceramicists: Carey Lowell, Conie Vallese, Helena Hafemann, Heyja Do, Jaclyn Mednicov, Jaye Kim, Jialing Lee, Lena Harms, Marina Todres, Toni Ross, Yoona Hur. Each woman reimagines the possibility of the earth our mothers gave us. 

Jia Ling Lee

Toni Ross

Jaye Kim & Conie Vallese

Carey Lowell

Gerbi Tsesarskaia

Lena Harms

Heyja Do

Marina Todres

Yoona Hur

Helena Hafemann

Jaclyn Mednicov