For ceramist Maddy Inez, the art-making instinct might be hereditary.
Inez is the daughter of the American artist Alison Saar and the granddaughter of assemblage pioneer Betye Saar. “We always say art is in the blood,” she said during a recent phone call. “Art is how I was taught how to process the world.”
The Los Angeles native makes hand-built biomorphic ceramic sculptures rooted in mysticism and ancestral knowledge. Over the past few years, these works have shifted into larger scales, catching the attention of the art world. Last week, Inez opened “Nascence,” her first solo exhibition with Megan Mulrooney in Los Angeles, on view through June 20th. The show features 20 ceramic vessels and wall works, all made in the past year, and each dedicated to a distinct plant variety.
Inez’s use of clay originated, in part, from her grandfather, the late ceramist Richard Saar. “My grandfather is one of the reasons I’m attached to it,” she said.
While her creative lineage runs deep, Inez says the biggest familial influence on her work might actually be gardening. “Gardening has always been a major part of family life. It was part of daily life,” she shared. “My grandma still has a garden, and I help her in it every week.”
For Inez, gardening and growing food are among the most ancient forms of familial caregiving. In “Nascence,” she has created near-humanoid sculptures inspired by plants, including okra, black-eyed peas, and hibiscus. Her forms are sturdier and more earthbound than in the past, and seem almost alien. In Benne Blessing (2026), a sculpture inspired by the West African sesame plant benne, for instance, two pods resemble armor-clad legs on a botanical warrior.
