Iowa City ceramic artist Eliza Au will use geometry to explore mankind’s place in the cycle of life in the first exhibit of the 2015-16 season at Wartburg College’s Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery. “Frame of Reference” will run Thursday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Oct. 25. An opening reception featuring a gallery talk by Au will be Saturday, Sept. 12, 2-4 p.m.

Au uses digital technologies to design objects, then applies ceramic forming techniques to shape clay, glass and metal. In assembling pieces into a configuration, she emphasizes the relationships of symmetry, repetition and scale that make up a system. In “Frame of Reference,” two-dimensional patterns translated into three-dimensional objects reflect ideas of the infinite.

“I am attracted to the idea of order because of the sense of control and logic,” Au said. “… Through my forms, material and configurations, I hope to express to the viewer the sense of awe which comes from the complexity and interconnectedness of a structure.”

The University of Iowa ceramics professor holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. The gallery, in Bachman Fine Arts Center, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.