Brian Holcombe is an artist primarily working in ceramics and sculpture, with related projects in photography and artist books. His work explores the intersection of materiality, structure, and memory. He uses clay both as a sculptural and architectural medium, hand-building vessels through a slow, intuitive process. Approaching clay like drawing, he cuts bands and shapes from rolled slabs and assembles them much like laying bricks. These stacked, perforated forms draw inspiration from a variety of vessel traditions—from early ceramic lanterns and pedestal bowls to face vessels and burial objects—items that move between daily use and symbolic or spiritual purposes. As vernacular vessels with ritual weight, their surfaces and construction carry protection, memory, and belief while retaining the labor of their making. Through repetition, mirroring, and layering, Holcombe’s work considers how forms and materials hold meaning, transmit memory, and embody ritual.

Holcombe was the Founder and Director of Saltworks Gallery in Atlanta from 2002 to 2014. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Florida State University, a Master of Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been reviewed by Creative Loafing, Connect Savannah, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and is included in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art. He currently serves as Director of Visual Arts at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.