SAN ANTONIO, TX.- The San Antonio Museum of Art is presenting Canvas to Clay: Georgia O’Keeffe & Maria Martinez to Mata Ortiz & Tonalá, a groundbreaking exhibition that brings together works by the two most renowned artists associated with the American Southwest and explores the artistic and cultural connections between the American Southwest and Mexico through painting and pottery.

Canvas to Clay will be on view in the Steves Gallery until October 4, 2026. The exhibition highlights works by O’Keeffe and Martinez, two towering figures of American art, alongside beautifully crafted ceramics from SAMA’s Latin American collection, including earthenware vessels from Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, and Tonalá, Jalisco.

“Together, these works that are about the land or from the land reveal a deep connection to—indeed, a reverence for—the landscape and earth, as well as the strong cultural and artistic exchange between Mexico and the Southwestern United States that has endured for thousands of years and continues today,” said Emily Ballew Neff, the Kelso Director of SAMA.

Although O’Keeffe (1887–1986) and Martinez (1887–1980) apparently never met, the painter and ceramicist play a dominant role in the art history of the United States. Both lived in New Mexico—the former in and near Abiquiú and the latter in San Ildefonso Pueblo—traveled in some of the same circles, and found beauty and inspiration in the desert region and its unique cultural blend of Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American legacies.

Examining O’Keeffe’s work alongside Indigenous potters of the US and Mexico, Canvas to Clay draws the connection between the American modernist’s work and the work of ceramicists whose figuration and material are both drawn from nature. This exhibition also encourages visitors to enjoy the pleasures of “slow looking,” following O’Keeffe’s observation that “to see takes time.” While it is common in art museums to pair the art of O’Keeffe and Martinez, it is unusual to extend the story beyond national boundaries.

“For centuries, ceramic artists from the Southwestern US, Tonalá, Jalisco, and the region around Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, have been using clay—a highly local material—to connect with the wider world,” explained Associate Curator of Latin American Art Kristopher Driggers. “Exquisitely painted pots have long circulated across today’s national borders, crossing rivers and oceans to bridge landscapes and cultures. With Canvas to Clay, audiences are invited to reflect on these longstanding connections, witnessing a dialogue not only across space but also time.”

Neff expressed immense gratitude to Art Bridges, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for their generous loans. She stated, “Their support allows us to celebrate O’Keeffe’s legacy as one of the great American modernists while highlighting the cultural connections among Pueblo and Mexican artists revealed through the study of archaeology and the highest level of excellence and refinement in the ceramic arts.”

Public programming for Canvas to Clay will include a conversation between American art and cultural historian Wanda Corn and Emily Neff on May 29, 2026. Additional events will be announced throughout the run of the exhibition.

Canvas to Clay is curated by Neff, Driggers, and Regina Palm, SAMA’s former Marie and Hugh Halff Jr. Curator of American and European Art.