“Origin Story,” featuring the works of multi-disciplinary artist Devyn L. Briggs, continues through Feb. 15, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, Bethlehem.

The Lehigh Valley-based artist and educator celebrates her Colombian, Jamaican and African-American heritage with her art and artisan works. Briggs experiments with muted colors to contrast with bolder, brighter hues.

While most of her work is abstract and “I start to build intuitively,” Briggs began “Ella lleva el cielo en su bolsillo” (“She holds the sky in her pocket”) (2022; Acrylic and collage on canvas, 24 in. x 30 in.) with a figurative rendering of a seated woman.

“I wanted to challenge myself to work in a slightly different process than I normally do,” says Briggs. “I started this painting with an underpainting of a figure.” That served as the base. Briggs laid collage materials and layers of paint over it, transforming the figurative painting into an abstract work.

“I let myself have fun and build and build and see where it ended up.” Briggs says. “I feel like the bones of it, to me, feel figurative. I can tell the structure of the woman is underneath.” The title of the piece is inspired by the hidden figure and the light sky blue dominant color of the work.

Among the ceramic masks and pottery complementing the hanging artwork, “Adorned Vessel in Turquoise and Orange” (2015; Clay, wire, and beads) is “damaged.” The “open wound” from the piece falling on the floor just before it was fired proved to be “a happy accident” for the artist. She drilled small holes in the fired piece and stitched it together with wire adorned with colorful beads.

“This was the beginning of the series that you will see all around this gallery of the beaded works,” Briggs says.

The “Adorned Vessels” in the series are metaphors for the human body, especially the feminine form while the beadwork is inspired by African and Latin American colors and jewelry traditions. The beadwork also represents healing and repair.

Raised in Bethlehem, Briggs studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art where she received a BFA in Ceramics and a Master of Professional Studies in the Business of Art and Design.

Briggs is Artistic Director of GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, Berks County. Briggs teaches courses as an adjunct instructor at Northampton Community College.

Briggs, who serves on numerous local committees, is committed to furthering equity and access to the arts in the Lehigh Valley. Her home studio is in Allentown.

The exhibition’s title is from one of her works, but to Briggs it marks the beginning and ending of the first chapter of her career as an artist. “This is the foundation of everything I do,” Briggs says.

The Rotunda exhibition is sponsored by the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission and supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, its regional arts funding partnership.

“Origin Story,” through Feb. 15, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, 10 E. Church St., Bethlehem. Gallery hours: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, Closed weekends, holidays. Information: https://bfac-lv.org/

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com