When Marshall McLuhan declared “the medium is the message” in 1958, he likely wasn’t envisioning sculptures born from amethyst crystals or tapestries woven from crushed velvet. But that’s precisely the conversation sparking in Pasadena, California, at the Armory Art Center, where “Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination” is challenging the very notion of what art can convey.
This vital exhibition, which opened on February 20, 2026, and runs through August 1, 2026, has already captured critical attention, including a review in Hyperallergic on July 16, 2026. It brings together eight artists who deliberately infuse their creations with spiritual practices and ancient rituals, asking whether the raw materials themselves can carry meaning, or even glimpse future knowledge.
Crafting connections to ancient traditions
Walk into the gallery, and you’ll find Jackie Amézquita’s 2024 “Earthworks” series demanding immediate attention. This Los Angeles-based artist, originally from Guatemala, uses mud, masa, and dried clay to form cracked, rectangular wall reliefs.
These works evoke painterly canvases, but their elemental composition grounds them in a deeper, more primal connection to the land and its ancestral stories. Amézquita transforms humble, organic substances into profound artistic statements, blurring the line between nature’s raw power and human creation.
Joel Gaitan, a first-generation Nicaraguan American ceramicist, similarly imbues his work with historical weight. He crafts sculptures from unvarnished, unglazed clay, a material traditionally “associated with devotional objects,” as the exhibition wall text notes. This choice immediately connects his contemporary pieces to a rich, ancient lineage.
His 2024 sculpture, “No Pidas Agua, Cuando No Hay Sed,” features a lounging terracotta figure. Crowned, with metallic teeth and chunky gold jewelry, it exudes a defiant modernity. Yet, its rounded form and earthy texture undeniably echo pre-Colombian ceramic vessels, forging a powerful link across centuries of artistic and cultural expression.
When the medium itself tells a different story
Not every artwork in “Material Prophecies” adheres strictly to the central theme, and these intentional detours create fascinating dialogues. Calethia DeConto’s sprawling 2026 installation, “Mapping the Emotional Weather of Memory and the Space Between,” stands out in this regard.
DeConto uses 25 small, circular blue-and-white cyanotype “photographs,” pinned in a web-like constellation across a wall. While exhibition materials describe these prints as “intimate” and “emotional,” featuring female figures in seaside settings, the medium’s history offers a contrasting narrative.
British electrochemist John Herschel invented cyanotypes in 1842. They were initially used in scientific expeditions to places like Antarctica and New Zealand. This historical context reveals a practice rooted more in the documentation of colonial exploration than in spiritual revelation, adding an unexpected layer of commentary to DeConto’s deeply personal framing.
African diasporic art speaks to the present
The exhibition truly resonates with works that proudly celebrate and reinterpret enduring cultural legacies. Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, a Brooklyn-raised and Los Angeles-based artist, creates sculptures that powerfully echo “African Diasporic traditions of carved and cast figures,” according to the wall text.
Desir’s impressive pieces often combine wood with bronze. They carry the immense weight of history and spiritual significance, drawing a direct line to centuries of African artistry. This deep connection to ancestral techniques and spiritual forms offers a compelling perspective on cultural safety and authentic expression today.
His 2025 work, “Raging Machine,” exemplifies this powerful synthesis of past and present. Desir takes industrially manufactured devices like a pencil sharpener and a handaxe, transforming them into a bronze hybrid creature that is part robot, part human. It’s a striking fusion, invoking both ancient totems and the complex anxieties of modern technological existence.
vanessa german, a self-taught artist and MacArthur Fellow, also captivates with her ability to imbue materials with profound meaning. Her 2024 portrait bust, “DAMN.”, is entirely encrusted in shimmering pink rose quartz, with a distinctive chain of metal bottle caps draped around its neck.
The face, appearing superhuman with its translucent, pastel skin, commands attention. German’s work transforms humble and precious materials alike into powerful representations of healing and protection, tapping into the spiritual properties long ascribed to rose quartz and the resilience symbolized by repurposed elements.
Materials as powerful, living oracles
Taylor Bythewood-Porter, who became the Armory’s Director of Exhibitions in August 2025, curated “Material Prophecies” with a clear and compelling vision. She views craft not merely as a skill, but as a dynamic tool for envisioning new realities and shaping future narratives. Bythewood-Porter sees artists as essential “translators, channeling something intangible into form,” a philosophy that permeates the entire show.
This approach highlights how the physical act of making can transcend the mundane, becoming a conduit for deeper insights and spiritual communication. The exhibition also cleverly roots itself in the San Gabriel Valley’s unique environmental cycles, drawing parallels between wildfires, floods, and regrowth. ng/culture-mile-initiative-reimagines-ancient-summer-fay/”>reimagining ancient traditions in a contemporary setting.
Materials like velvet, historically a symbol of wealth and spiritual devotion, and amethyst, long associated with wisdom and protection, aren’t just aesthetic choices here. They are chosen specifically for their inherent spiritual weight and historical resonance. They act as oracles in their own right, speaking volumes without uttering a single word.
Beyond the static displays, the Armory Center fosters public engagement through various programs. These include teaching artist-led tours and a hands-on cyanotype workshop with Calethia DeConto. Such initiatives allow visitors to explore memory, ancestry, and the transformative power of material culture, connecting directly with the exhibition’s core themes.
The enduring power of material wisdom
“Material Prophecies” serves as a potent reminder that the deep connection between craft, spirit, and material is far from a relic of the past; it’s a vibrant, living tradition that continues to evolve. In a world often obsessed with the new, this exhibition compels us to look deeper, to understand the conversations the very substance of an artwork is having.
These conversations are often rooted in ancient beliefs and rituals, echoing across generations. They show us how the whispers of history, communicated through materials both humble and grand, continue to shape how we understand our world. Every piece in Pasadena reveals that the quest for meaning, channeled through the hands of an artist, is a journey as old as humanity itself, still unfolding in every contemporary stroke and form.
