Carleigh Reiffer’s practice stems from a quiet, persistent ache - a refusal to let go. Reiffer confronts the deep frustration of a conscious mind that constantly overthinks the fading of things. To ground these shifting internal states, she looks to nature, referencing it visually and utilizing it metaphorically.

Driven by this existential weight, Reiffer treats clay as a visceral shout into the void of oblivion; it is a raw manifestation of an existence that often seems futile. She contrasts this heavy vulnerability through the tender practice of embroidery, engaging thread as a quiet, devotional act to repair, hold, and love a fragile world in real time.

By merging these forms, she translates abstract concepts of holding and interpersonal relationships into physical, highly textured realities. The resulting work becomes an invitation to sit with tenderness, the internal bruising of a quiet grief, and the terrifying, sublime knowledge that at the end of the day, all we truly have is the here and now.