A River by Another Name unites the ceramic practices of 2025-26 artists-in-residence Shannon owo and Riley McManus around a shared idea: taking what has endured for ages and reimagining it through ceramic forms. Owo's sculptures reframe Korean folktales and mythology through her lived experiences, while McManus draws from the textures of ancient seabeds to build functional and sculptural ceramics. Together they ask what it means to carry the past forward, finding new forms in old currents.

About the Artists:

Riley McManus is a ceramic artist from northern Wisconsin who uses clay as both a medium and a tool to record the textures of natural and human-altered environments. He earned his BFA from UW-Madison in 2020 and has since completed residencies across the country. Currently an AIR at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center in upstate New York, Riley continues to translate the textures of place into form, exploring the intersections of nature, material, and human impact.

Shannon "owo" Webb was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. She is a sculptural artist working primarily with clay as a medium. She earned her BFA in ceramics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2017 and her MFA in ceramic sculpture at the University of Montana in 2023. Shannon then became a Long-Term Artist-in-Residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana for two years. Now she is currently a Long-Term Artist-in-Residence at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center in New York.