Artist Statement

I am a ceramic artist based in South Florida, and much of my work grows from a fascination with the visual languages of pre-Hispanic cultures. For years I have been drawn to their patterns and symbols, which I see as fragments of dreams—powerful but incomplete, like pieces of a story we are still trying to remember. My practice is a way of reimagining those fragments and giving them a place in the present. In the studio, I move between handbuilding, nerikomi, and slip casting, allowing each technique to shape the work differently. Handbuilding creates a direct and intimate connection with the clay, while nerikomi lets me build layered surfaces that resemble woven textiles and evoke ancient Andean cloth. Slip casting provides consistency and structure, creating a balance between precision and experimentation. For me, ceramics is also a conversation across time. The motifs I reference once carried spiritual and social meaning, and through my work I seek not to reproduce the past, but to enter into dialogue with it, honoring cultural continuity while leaving room for reinvention and personal interpretation.

Artist Biography

Sofia Vidal is a Peruvian ceramic artistic and educator based in South Florida. Her work draws inspiration from pre-Hispanic patterns, which she views as fragments of dreams—mysterious, symbolic, and unfinished. Through handbuilding, nerikomi, and slip casting, she creates pieces that echo woven Andean textiles while reinterpreting ancient visual languages in a contemporary way. Her background in product design continues to shape her practice, giving her process a strong sense of structure and intentionality. Vidal’s artistic path has been deeply influenced by travel and cultural exchange. She received a scholarship to study in Japan, where she completed a master’s degree in ceramics, and later earned a fellowship at the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute in Jingdezhen, China. She also participated in the International Porcelain Symposium in the Czech Republic. Aer returning to Peru, she worked with artisan communities and founded her studio, Kumiko. The name was inspired by her years in Japan and by a nickname given to her there, reflecting the lasting impact of Japanese culture on her artist identity and practice.