April 7 to May 15, 2026

Egor Shokoladov, Gesine Kratzner, Scot Alsop, Sebastiana Ivkin

What lies beyond the boundaries of the familiar? The artists in Beyond the Stars each answer this question differently, through theatrical creatures, surreal landscapes, speculative futures, and the depths of outer space. Together, they construct elsewheres that ask viewers to step outside the immediate and inhabit a space removed from the everyday.

Gesine Kratzner’s ceramic sculptures are the most intimate of these worlds: whimsical, tactile, and alive with personality. Her figures are staged in a variety of theatrical scenes—creatures sing in chorus, a nurturing figure cradles a crowd of beings unlike itself, one creature inhales another. The work is playful and sincere, and there is a generosity to it. Each piece feels like an invitation into a small world that has been left open for the viewer.

The worlds of Egor Shokoladov are dense and layered, every element feeling deliberate and significant. Working primarily through etching and mixed media, he builds surreal environments that are otherworldly, sometimes dreamlike. His figures are as much inhabitants of their worlds as they are creators of them. They are often the dreamers, builders, and collectors whose fascinations have shaped the strange spaces and experiences they move through.

Sebastiana Ivkin’s paintings carry this sense of elsewhere into a speculative future rooted in our own. Her jellyfish inhabit a water-covered world that has evolved in response to rising seas and warming temperatures. It’s not quite our world, but not entirely separate from it. Ivkin’s concern is the fragility of our oceans, but what she depicts is not devastation. Her canvases are vibrant and full of life, imagining a world that has adapted and flourished.

The places in Scot Alsop’s astrophotography are not invented. Working with high-powered telescopes precisely calibrated to the Earth’s rotation, Alsop captures hundreds of long-exposure images and combines them into composite works depicting places like galaxies and nebulae that exist beyond the threshold of human vision. The resulting images have an almost painterly quality. Clouds swirl in shades of deep blue and amber, and galaxies trail in soft arcs of pink and purple light.

Each of these artists asks something of us: to expand our sense of what is possible. Moving from Kratzner’s intimate sculptures to the vast reaches of Alsop’s cosmos, Beyond the Stars invites us into worlds outside the boundaries of our own.

The Walters Gallery is free and open to the public:

• Tuesday through Thursday: 10 am to 9 pm
• Friday: 10 am to 5 pm
• Saturday: 9 am to 1 pm
• Sunday & Monday: Closed

Exhibit Programming

• Tuesday, April 7 at 5 pm
  • Hillsboro Art Walk Reception
• Tuesday, May 5 at 5 pm
  • Hillsboro Art Walk Reception

Pictured Artwork: Sunrise Nation by artist Sebastiana Ivkin.