Fiction: A Figurative Abstraction Exhibit of Clay Monoprints

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“Fiction” Exhibit Opens January 2nd, 2026

This Friday, January 2nd, I’ll have an exhibit opening featuring clay monoprint works — a medium developed in Pennsylvania. The collection of works focuses on art that can be considered figurative abstraction: recognizable, real-world forms portrayed in abstract ways. See the works and other exhibits on First Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.

"Fiction"
Clay Monoprint Exhibit
Adams County Arts Council
125 S. Washington Street, Gettysburg, PA
January 2026

First Friday Reception:
Friday, January 2nd, 2026
5:00 - 7:00 PM

Exhibit Artist Statement:

Artist Statement for Fiction

(Adams County Arts Council, January 2026)

In Fiction, I present a body of work that dwells in the space between representation and abstraction. Each piece emerges from the clay monoprint process—a method that combines the painter’s intent with the medium’s nature. Working on a slab of clay known as the matrix, I layer pigments and brushstrokes while allowing remnants of previous works to shape its evolving history. The results are neither purely imagined nor purely seen; they are translations of process and imagination into visual form.

The clay monoprint art form is relatively new, and many works are experiments that resist easy classification within traditional styles or movements. For this exhibit, I use the phrase “material-oriented figurative abstraction” because it captures that tension: forms may suggest vessels, landscapes, or other familiar objects, yet they never resolve into literal images. Instead, they become echoes of both past and present. The clay, pigment, and chance determine as much of the outcome as my own intent. The way the clay transfers to the material (often Pellon) becomes part of the work’s meaning, influencing future prints. Process and material are inseparable from the final image.

The matrix itself is a record: each layer of clay slips and pigment, embedded into the clay slab, is captured in time. I do not erase those echoes; I lean into them. Layers accumulate, and remnants of earlier imagery reappear unexpectedly, as though the clay recalls its past and chooses to speak. In this way, the material is both subject and medium, holding within it the memory of this transformation.

The title “Fiction” suggests that what you are seeing is not a direct representation of something tangible—it is a narrative shaped by memory, of what remains after the artist and chance collide. Even when a work seems to reference something familiar, it is always a story built from clay, artist marks, and the intent of the matrix itself.

This collection at the Adams County Arts Council encompasses not only the works on display but also the histories that shaped them. Ultimately, these monoprints are tactile and limited by the present. Peer closely at the surface and recognize that fiction—like art itself—is past and present transformed.

Large Success for a “Medium” Art Series

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The Medium series of art presentations was a lot of fun to pull together and wonderful to see as both a presenter and audience member, during which I took quite a few notes!

Thanks to the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, our audience members, and of course, our amazing presenters:

Reagan Bitler

Ophelia Chambliss

Cultural Alliance of York County
— Rita Whitney & Kelley Gibson

Kristin Kest

Mary Moores

Andrew Smith

Helen Tafesse

Terri Yacovelli  

Read and see more about the Medium series of presentations in this article on our sister site, Culture On The Line:

https://www.cultureontheline.com/articles/medium-explored-our-forms-of-expression

“Medium” Presentations Schedule

Andy Smith of Visual Realia, LLC, has curated a set of eight arts presentations focusing on art mediums across two weeks, working in space provided by the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. All presentations are offered free of charge to the general public. Presenters include:

Reagan Bitler
Ophelia Chambliss
Cultural Alliance of York County, Rita Whitney & Kelley Gibson
Kristin Kest
Mary Moores
Andy Smith
Helen Tafesse
Terri Yacovelli

Seating is limited to twenty-four audience members; reservations are not necessary. Doors open at least thirty minutes before the scheduled session. Bookmark and revisit this page for updates.

Clay monoprints by Andrew Smith and Mitch Lyons will be displayed, and Smith's works will be available for purchase. Lyons, a Pennsylvanian, created the medium and its initial techniques.

Download & Print a Schedule

"Medium"
June 2nd - June 14th
PCA&D, 133 S Duke St, York, PA

Presented by PCA&D Work/Space & Andy Smith of Visual Realia, LLC

Schedule:

Monday, June 2nd - Set Up (Feel Free To Stop By!)

• Tuesday, June 3rd, 6:30 PM - Gourd Artwork, Reagan Bitler
Handout

• Wednesday, June 4th, 6:30 PM - Pastels, Mary Moores
Handout

• Thursday, June 5th, 6:30 PM - Cultural Alliance of York County: State of the Shifting Ground on Local, State, and Federal Cultural Support with Rita Whitney and Kelley Gibson
Handout

• Friday, June 6th, 5:00 - 9:00 PM -
This evening has been cancelled due to a facility issue. Other sessions should continue as scheduled.
Clay Monoprint Exhibit, Works by Mitch Lyons (Medium Creator) & Andy Smith, Firefly Night Market
Handout

Saturday, June 7th, Closed

• Sunday, June 8th, 6:30 PM - Conceptual Design, Helen Tafesse
Handout

• Monday, June 9th, 6:30 PM - Bas-Relief as Pictorial Space & Clay Handbuilding, Kristin Kest
Handout
Bas-Reliefs as Pictorial Space by Kristin Kest

• Tuesday, June 10th, 6:30 - Encaustic Demonstration, Terri Yacovelli
Handout

• Wednesday, June 11th, 6:30 PM - Acrylic on Pellon, Ophelia Chambliss
Handout

• Thursday, June 12th, 6:30 PM - Clay Monoprint Discussion & Demonstration, Andy Smith, with Works by Mitch Lyons, Medium Creator
Handout

• Friday, June 13th, 4:00 - 8:00 PM - Clay Monoprint Exhibit, Works by Mitch Lyons (Medium Creator) & Andy Smith

Royal Square Event:
Radiant Spectrum Crawl, 4:00 - 6:00 (Exhibit Open Until 8:00)
Find the Facebook Event Page Here
Orange Theme!
Stop by for Orange-Themed Treats

York Arts Week Kickoff


Saturday, June 14th - Tear Down (Feel Free To Stop By!)

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Throughout the Medium series of presentations, attendees will get one raffle entry for each presentation they attend. At the end of the series, the raffle winner will receive a free matted and framed 8” x 10” still life monoprint of oranges, as shown below.

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“Still Life: Oranges” - Clay Monoprint by Andrew T. Smith

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Parking in the Royal Square Area

Metered street parking is available throughout the area. These metered spots are free after 5:00 PM. If parking before 5:00, you will need to feed the meters or use the ParkMobile app.

Parking Lots

The following lots allow free parking after 5:00 PM:

• Corner lot of E. Newton Ave and S. Duke Street

• E. King Street and S. Queen Street (Across from The Bond)

These lots are patrolled; It’s important not to park in those lots before 5:00 PM.

If the weather is nice, the following garages are reasonable walks:

Market St. Garage – 41 E. Market St., York PA 17401 (Across from the York County Administration Center)

King St. Garage – 15 W. King St., York PA 17401 (Across from the York City Police Department)

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Thanks to:

PCA&D - Pennsylvania College of Art & Design
PCA&D - Center for Creative Exploration
Natalie Lascek, Executive Director, Center for Creative Exploration
Alex Schaufele, Director of Exhibitions
Jennifer Kopf, Director of Public Relations
Royal Square District
Susan Scofield/Hive

Andrew Smith (Visual Realia, LLC) is found online at:

visualrealia.com

www.facebook.com/VisualRealiaStudio

bio.site/visual realia

cultureontheline.com

"PCA&D acknowledges that York has a thriving creative community with several organizations that offer meaningful support. One thing that is often lacking, even in well-supported arts communities, is spaces that allow creatives to experiment or workshop ideas that are not always revenue-generating. This has led us to rethink the use of the PCA&D York space and present it as a creative pop-up program called the PCA&D Work/Space, where artists and creatives can submit an application/proposal to use the space for an experimental action, event, or creative idea in two-week increments for a small fee.

The PCA&D Work/Space program will be creatively flexible, and we anticipate possible uses being group readings or writing sessions, studio space for testing out larger works, a space to view an evolving body of work at one time, or for temporary installations, etc. Our goal is to promote curiosity, prototyping, and exploration of new concepts within the York community."

Pennsylvania Farms — In Clay

“Chadds Ford Barn” — Clay Monoprint & Acrylic © Andrew T. Smith of Visual Realia, LLC.

“Farm Field with Flowers” — Clay Monoprint, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, and Acrylic Marker © Andrew T. Smith of Visual Realia, LLC.

Thanks to the Brandywine Museum of Art staff for the opportunity to attend a plein air day in October (2024) at the historic Kuerner Farm in Chadds Ford. Andrew Wyeth created over 1,000 works based on people, places, items, and scenes from the farm over a seven-decade period, including over two hundred works with images of Helga Testorf, who was employed at the farm.

A new exhibit focusing on images from the farm is scheduled to open at the Brandywine in June 2025.

I did not take my clay monoprint materials but captured many photographs during the day. While not an attempt to capture the farm literally, the two clay monoprint mixed media works shown here were inspired by the visit. They are currently on display and available for purchase at York, Pennsylvania’s Creatives on King, located at 104 E. King Street, York, PA.

Kuerner Farm, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Photograph © Andrew T. Smith of Visual Realia, LLC.

All works copyright Andrew T. Smith

AI Meets the Monoprint

Screenshot of a Google NotebookLM AI based on two Visual Realia webpages.

Google’s experimental (and possibly temporary) AI platform NotebookLM lets users provide text to train their AI on the topic provided. I used two explanatory Visual Realia webpages as the “textbook” for its understanding. You can see the result by clicking here.

In addition to predetermined sections such as an introduction, index, FAQ, and summary, at the bottom, visitors will find a chat box where they can ask questions about the medium. The AI will attempt to answer based on the information gleaned from the sources provided.

An impressive addition is a seven-minute “conversation” between AI characters about clay monoprints, very much like a radio segment or short podcast. You can listen to it below.

What do you think? It’s pretty informative, isn’t it? Give it a listen, then head to the notebook page to see what else you might learn.

"The Lyons Share" Exhibit Article Updated

We had a wonderful opening reception for “The Lyons’ Share” exhibit at the Chester County Art Association. View photographs in the updated Culture On The Line article.