Guest artists at Alliance Art Gallery to display pottery, paper flowers; artist reception set for Saturday

HANNIBAL, Mo. — As the guest artist at the Alliance Art Gallery in May, Julia Deckard will be bringing a variety of flowers and taking orders for commissions while exhibiting in Hannibal.

In 2023, Deckard, a software engineer living in Warsaw, Ill., fell in love with her bridal bouquet … so much that she decided to recreate it in paper. What started as a hobby grew into a part-time business in 2024 after numerous requests to make flowers from friends and family.

Deckard prefers to work from the actual flower, especially when making a particular bloom for the first time. That isn’t always possible and more often works from photographs, especially when recreating bridal bouquets.

While doing research to recreate her own bouquet, Deckard discovered paper flower creator Lia Griffith and the German crepe paper she now sources through Griffith. When making her flowers, Deckard sometimes tints the paper with pastels.

Veronica Sandercock will be bringing Kintsugi pottery, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, to the gallery this month.

Many potters have their own collection of broken pots. Over the years, Sandercock has saved many of her broken pieces, intending to find a way to use them. When Sandercock and Adriana Brown decided to collaborate during May and June as gallery spotlight artists, Brown’s work as an art therapist and some of her paintings about brokenness of the human spirit led Sandercock to pursue this art of repairing those damaged pots with gold.

The philosophy of Kintsugi is that a broken piece repaired with gold is stronger than before, just like the human spirit can become even stronger with the hard work of putting the self back together.

As a child, Sandercock spent a lot of time in her room drawing and doing all kinds of art forms. She went on to she receive a bachelor’s degree from Quincy University. During her studies there, she took a variety of art classes, including two pottery classes where she found her love of creating pots. She has taught in public school, mostly in the high school alternative program.

Sandercock and an artist friend currently operate the Pop Up Art Studio, providing art experiences for children in schools and at parties and special events.

An opening reception will be held for these artists at The Alliance Art Gallery from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, with an artist’s talk at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.