COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (September 25, 2025) — The Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA) in collaboration with the UCCS Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department at the Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS proudly announces the opening of Between the Land and Sky, a new installation by Texas-based artist Karla García, on view October 23 – December 13, 2025, in GOCA’s Project Space at the Ent Center for the Arts. 

This exhibition is part of VAPA’s Female Emerging Artists Residency Series (F.E.A.R.S.), a program designed to support early-career female-identifying artists across the United States. Now in its 7th year, the residency provides space, time, and resources for artists to expand their practices, engage the Colorado Springs community, and present new work at GOCA. 

Rooted in the desert borderlands and prairie ecologies that shaped her early life in Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, García’s ceramic sculptural installation offers a poetic meditation on memory, transformation, and sacred connection to land. Combining recycled ceramic grasses, terra cotta cacti, and concrete blocks, the installation evokes both the resilience of desert flora and the expansive wonder of the cosmos. 

Glazed surfaces shimmer like a starry night sky, bridging earthly landscapes and celestial realms. In this imagined terrain, cacti become sacred beings and grasses form connective tissue linking land, body, and spirit. García draws inspiration from myth and literature—particularly the exiled desert goddess Malinalxochitl and the poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz—to reimagine how stories and voices persist across time and space. 

“My process remains grounded in traditional hand-building techniques, yet the forms appear to shrink, expand, and shift like breath or memory. Through these gestures, I invite viewers to pause and consider the landscape not as backdrop, but as a living record of resilience, transformation, and sacred connection,” García writes. 

Community members are invited to celebrate the exhibition at an Opening Reception on Thursday, October 23, 2025, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the Project Space. The evening will feature a presentation by García as part of GOCA’s Visiting Artists & Critics Series (VACS) Lecture, from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public, offering a unique opportunity to hear directly from the artist about her process and inspirations. 

García’s work has been exhibited widely, including at the Nasher Sculpture Center (Dallas, TX), the Old Jail Art Center (Albany, TX), and in a bi-national exhibition at the Chamizal National Memorial (El Paso, TX) and the Museum of Archeology and History of El Chamizal (Ciudad Juárez, Mexico). She is a Sandhills Institute Artist Fellow and currently working in-residence at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. 

GOCA Director Joy Armstrong notes, “Karla García’s installation transforms the gallery into a contemplative landscape where myth, material, and memory converge. We are thrilled to bring this deeply resonant work to Colorado Springs and to invite our community into dialogue with García’s vision.” 

Exhibition Details 
Between the Land and Sky Artist: Karla García 
Exhibition Dates: October 23 – December 13, 2025 
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 23, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. 
Visiting Artists & Critics Series (VACS) Lecture: Thursday, October 23, 2025, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. 
GOCA Project Space, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80918 

Admission is free and open to the public. 

For more information, visit entarts.org/gallery. 

About the Artist 
Karla García (b. 1977, Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico) is a Texas-based artist whose ceramic sculptural installations explore the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative relationship between land, memory, and culture. She earned her MFA in Ceramics and a Certificate in Museum Education from the University of North Texas. More at www.karlamichellgarcia.com | Instagram: @KarlaGarciaArt. 

About the Female Emerging Artists Residency Series (F.E.A.R.S.) 
Launched in 2018, UCCS’s Female Emerging Artists Residency Series (F.E.A.R.S.) provides time, space, and resources for promising early-career female-identifying artists. Each residency culminates in a new exhibition in GOCA’s Project Space at the Ent Center for the Arts and includes opportunities for community engagement through artist talks, lectures, and public programs. By supporting artists at a pivotal stage in their careers, F.E.A.R.S. amplifies diverse voices in contemporary art and fosters dialogue between national creative practices and the Colorado Springs community. Past F.E.A.R.S. residents include Jenny Irene Miller, Lauren Rosenthal McManus, Kimberly English, Sara Meghdari, Danielle Rae Miller and Carley Zarzeka; each bringing bold and innovative projects that expand the boundaries of their mediums. 

Press Images Available Download High-Res Images: Dropbox Link 
Photo credits, unless otherwise noted in image title: Kevin Todora (installation images); Melissa Gamez-Herrera (artist portrait). 

Press inquiries may be directed to: 
Elyce Gronseth 
Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications, Ent Center for the Arts 
719-255-8365 
egronset@uccs.edu