Ebitenyefa Baralaye Exhibits at David Klein Gallery, Ferndale

Work by Stamps Assistant Professor Ebitenyefa Baralaye is featured in an exhibition opening this month at the brand new David Klein Gallery in Ferndale. 

The gallery’s two-day opening celebration on July 11 and 12 will feature Detroit-based artist Baralaye’s large scale ceramic sculpture alongside new work on paper by Ferndale-based artist Susan Goethel Campbell.

The exhibition Ebitenyefa Baralaye, Foundations + Susan Goethel Campbell, Soundings showcases the work of two artists from distinct backgrounds, ethnicities, and artistic objectives, intersecting at a mid-point in their already-established careers. Campbell’s background in printmaking and Baralaye’s expertise in ceramics have significantly shaped their artistic journeys. However, each artist has utilized their respective crafts to cultivate a distinctive style that transcends their initial disciplines.

Campbell’s newest entry into her continuing investigation of life’s natural cycles began during her recent residency on the Greek Island of Skopelos, where the heat and light-drenched environment called into being some of the artist’s most vibrant and exuberant work to date. Intense colors, like those she observed in the sea and in the brilliant bougainvillea growing against the stark white of stuccoed buildings, create an expression of pure chromatic joy.

Ebitenyefe Baralaye’s mixed media and ceramic artworks mark a clear contrast to Campbells’ in spirit, material and ambition. In contrast to Campbell’s lyrical reflections on nature’s evanescence, Baralaye’s solid and silent beings present as avatars of permanence. These stately human forms emerge, Lazarus-like, from Baralaye’s subterranean home studio in east Detroit, nearly life-size and registering an ambiguous presence. The clay effigies are created using the coil method, traces of which remain on the surfaces of the figures… in the case of Standing Figure II the artist applied sinuous surface marks in slip that loosely reference traditional Yoruba body painting.

Ebitenyefa Baralaye: Foundations
Exhibition Dates: July 11 — August 23, 2025
Opening Celebration: Friday, July 11 starting at 5 p.m.; Saturday, July 12 from 12 – 6 p.m.

David Klein Gallery
678 Livernois Street, Ferndale, Michigan