Between the Land and Sky

by Karla García

The Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA) in collaboration with the UCCS Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department at the Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS proudly announces the opening of Between the Land and Sky, a new installation by Texas-based artist Karla García, on view October 23 – December 13, 2025, in GOCA’s Project Space at the Ent Center for the Arts.

Between the Land and Sky, is an installation rooted in the desert borderlands and prairie ecologies that have shaped García’s understanding of land, memory, and transformation. Reflecting on past works, García reimagine a landscape composed of recycled ceramic grasses, concrete blocks, and terra cotta cacti sculptures. The glazed surfaces of the cacti evoke a starry night sky embedded in their forms, drawing connections between the cosmos and sacred land.

This body of work merges myth and material. García continue her reflections on the exiled desert goddess Malinalxochitl from Nahua mythology and the life and poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz—voices that shape stories across time and space. In this terrain, the cacti become sacred beings, and the grasses act as connective tissue: linking the land beneath to ourselves, to the sky above.

García’s process remains grounded in traditional hand-building techniques, yet the forms appear to shrink, expand, and shift like breath or memory. Through these gestures, she invite viewers to pause and consider the landscape not as backdrop, but as a living record of resilience, transformation, and sacred connection.

“My process remains grounded in traditional hand-building techniques, yet the forms appear to shrink, expand, and shift like breath or memory. Through these gestures, I invite viewers to pause and consider the landscape not as backdrop, but as a living record of resilience, transformation, and sacred connection,” García writes.

This exhibition is part of VAPA’s Female Emerging Artists Residency Series (F.E.A.R.S.), a program designed to support early to mid-career female-identifying artists across the United States. Now in its 7th year, the residency provides space, time, and resources for artists to expand their practices, engage the Colorado Springs community, and present new work at GOCA.

Banner Image from “Shifting Ground”, 2024. Ceramic installation at 12.26 Gallery in Dallas, Texas. Gallery floor dimensions: 15.6 ft 9.75 ft x 22 ft. Photo by Kevin Todora

IMPORTANT DATES

Exhibition on View
October 23 - December 13, 2025

Opening Reception:

Thursday, October 23rd, 2025, 5-8 pm

GOCA Project Space | Ent Center for the Arts

*no registration required

VACS Lecture:

Thursday, October 23rd, 2025, 6-7 pm

Chapman Recital Hall | Ent Center for the Arts

*registration required, tickets available below

F.E.A.R.S. is an artist residency series founded in 2018 and co-hosted by UCCS VAPA and GOCA.

Gallery hours:
Thursday - Saturday, 1 - 6 pm, or by appointment
email: gallery@uccs.edu | call: 719.255.3504