ARTIST / WHO ART YOU
Nala Turner
Ceramics, public art, visual storytelling
A ceramic artist and art therapist working as Carlynne Ceramics, exploring Black femininity, cultural identity and narrative agency.
Enter the conversation ↗
Practice & background
Turner combines imagery, carving and sculptural form. In the interview she emphasizes the ability of marginalized people and people of color to tell their own stories, using visual memory to challenge narratives imposed from outside.
She trained in art therapy and describes early art-making as a source of steadiness that shaped her professional direction. Pratt Institute documents her Art Therapy and Creativity Development studies and ceramics teaching at Artshack Brooklyn.
In 2020 she and Imani Shanklin Roberts designed the ceramic award for the inaugural Lena Horne Prize, presented to Solange Knowles. She also participated in the 2026 Protest Cup Fellowship, using an everyday vessel to carry ideas of protest and care.
Looking at the work
She brings vessel and bodily forms together with surface imagery to hold identity, memory and social narratives.
Works & practice
If We Can’t Be Free, Be Braided, Cup I, 2026; stoneware with underglaze illustration, red engobe, wax resist and clear glaze; POW! exhibition image.
Nala C. Turner / Pots On Wheels! · View original source ↗Works & further reading
Continue with the artist’s own work and institutional sources.
Artist website ↗Instagram ↗Profile based on the sources listed above; the conversation informs the viewing questions and work guides.