[photo credit: Armory Center for the Arts]
The show, Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination, fills the Armory’s Caldwell Gallery with work in earth, fiber, metal, cyanotype, terracotta and film. In its exhibition statement, the Armory roots the show in the San Gabriel Valley, “where cycles of wildfire, floods, winds, and regrowth shape the landscape” — a framing with direct resonance for Altadena, where the Eaton Fire reshaped neighborhoods last year.
The exhibition brings together Jackie Amézquita, April Bey, Calethia DeConto, Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, Joel Gaitan, vanessa german, Sky Hopinka and Lani Trock. The Armory’s statement describes their materials as “both medium and oracle, connecting with Spirit, place, and ancestral knowledge.”
It is the first major exhibition Taylor Bythewood-Porter has curated for the Armory since becoming its Director of Exhibitions in August 2025. Before the Armory, she was Curator of History at the Museum of Riverside and, from 2017 to 2023, an assistant curator at the California African American Museum, where her exhibition on African American debutante culture won an American Association for State and Local History Award of Excellence.
“I think of artists as translators, channeling something intangible into form,” Bythewood-Porter told the American Craft Council, which featured the show in May.
The exhibition’s featured work is April Bey’s “I Know All About What You Want to Know All About,” a four-panel jacquard piece measuring 80 by 240 inches, according to the Armory; the American Craft Council described the tapestry as hanging at the gallery entrance. The show has also been included in Hyperallergic’s roundup of Los Angeles art shows to see this spring.
The Armory has tied the exhibition to community programming. In May, artist Calethia DeConto led a cyanotype workshop on memory and material. On June 20, the Armory partnered with the Altadena Library on a free teen workshop, “Youth Prophecy: Futures Beyond Wildfire.”
The Armory operates from The Gale Kohl Center for Creativity, a 1932 California Guard Armory in Old Pasadena, and was founded in 1989, according to the organization. Lead support for its programs comes from the Perenchio Foundation, with exhibition public programs supported in part by the California Community Foundation, according to the Armory.
The Caldwell Gallery is at 145 N. Raymond Ave. and is open Thursdays through Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Information is available at (626) 792-5101 or armoryarts.org.
The July 11 tour runs from 2 to 3 p.m. and requires an RSVP through armoryarts.org; the exhibition closes Aug. 1.
Armory Center for the Arts — Gallery Hours | Friday 2–6 p.m., Saturday–Sunday 1–5 p.m. | 145 N. Raymond Ave. Free|🔗 https://www.armoryarts.org/
