KERRY COTTLE / LAURA DEANGELIS – Root Protection Zone
Axis Gallery is pleased to present “ROOT PROTECTION ZONE”, an exhibition of works by Sacramento-based visual artist Kerry Cottle and Boulder Creek-based interdisciplinary artist Laura DeAngelis. The exhibition showcases a conversation between the artists and their ancestors through a multi-sensory experience of earth-centered artworks. Cottle and DeAngelis both examine their origins in regard to place and land, and what that means for contemporary, itinerant beings living within systems that seek to uproot and disconnect us from belonging to the earth. Through work made with soil, minerals, plants, and commercially produced art materials, the artists integrate ancient with contemporary, “natural” with “synthetic” both in material and in symbolism. Symbols and iconography that are unique to each artist and their respective cultural identities converge throughout the show, illuminating threads that connect the two artists as multifaceted human beings on a profoundly and beautifully diverse planet.

January 9, 2026 through February 1, 2026
Second Saturday Reception: January 10, 5–8 PM
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kerry Cottle (she/her) is a visual artist of Italian, Irish, and mixed European descent living on the lands of the Miwok and Nisenan peoples in Sacramento, California. She makes paintings and relief-style works synthesizing the mediums of paper pulp, bioplastics, and pigment and that is a process and material-based exploration of her cultural inheritances and the complexities that reside within them. Cottle received BA
and MA degrees in Studio Art from California State University, Sacramento, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of New Mexico in 2022. She is a Lecturer in Painting and Drawing at California State University, Sacramento and Folsom Lake College.

Website: kerrycottle.com
Instagram: @kerrycottle

Laura Lani DeAngelis (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist of Samoan, Tokelauan and Pālagi (European) heritage whose work is rooted in the interconnection between body and land. Using soils from the Western landscapes of her childhood, she creates paintings that honor her Polynesian heritage through sacred symbolism found in ancient arts such as Siapo and tatau (tattoo). By filling in gaps of ancestral knowledge that were missing in her upbringing, she reclaims her cultural heritage in relation to the landscapes that shaped her. DeAngelis holds an MFA from Mills College and is a recipient of the Nancy Cook Fellowship and Jay DeFeo Prize. She currently resides on the traditional lands of the Awaswas and Amah Mutsun in Boulder Creek, California where she serves as the Executive Director for the San Lorenzo Valley Museum.

Website: lauralanideangelis.com
Instagram: @lauralanistudio

Join us at Axis Gallery, located at 625 S Street in Sacramento’s historic R Street Corridor, within the Verge Center for the Arts building. The gallery has exhibited innovative contemporary art for over 35 years and continues to serve as a vital space for artists to explore, connect, and share work outside the commercial sphere.

Gallery hours: Friday–Sunday, 12–5 PM

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