diana sexton and BRIAR leonard

ossuary

june 1 – June 26

opening reception

Monday, june 1, 3:30 – 5:30 PM

Performance: 3:45 PM

Ossuary is an exhibition by Briar Leonard and Diana Sexton, two emerging Central Texas artists. Through the creation of intricate multi-media works, Leonard and Sexton explore the process of reconstructing identity after trauma. Ossuary examines the complexities and contradictions of this process; it is both a celebration of resilience, and an unflinching accounting of the difficult realities involved. Navigating this dichotomy through careful attention to materiality, Leonard and Sexton create sites of forceful honesty and connection.

To create these works, Leonard and Sexton have both developed unique processes that allow for the accumulation of meaning and nuance over time. Leonard, working in steel, fibers, plaster, graphite, and charcoal, carefully imbues her process with ritual. This hidden performance takes place as Leonard injects her trauma into her work, forcing the forms to act as vessels for self-preservation. Similarly, Sexton uses an intuitive and accumulative process working with steel, plaster, found objects, video art and painting. Each stage of these assemblage installations captures a moment in time, rich with feeling and energy, that come together into a multi-layered history of experiences. 

Observing an increasingly atomized and isolated cultural environment, the artists believe that moments of vulnerability and connection are vital for strengthening and restoring community. In Ossuary, Leonard and Sexton invite viewers to make space for difficult emotions and to connect with others as they do the same.

Briar Leonard is a multidisciplinary artist who uses material and memory to examine the aftermath of trauma; uncovering which parts of herself are truly her own and which are shaped by the past. Working in sculpture, fiber, and drawing, she analyzes how trauma seeps into her inner world - following the fragments of memory and decay as they shape her evolving self. 

Within her metaphysical landscape, she fabricates a world of steel consumed by rust, delicate crochet textiles, tainted objects from her past, cloudy charcoal imagery, and the haunting motif of a fawn suspended in a state of eternal limbo. The deceased fawn serves as a threshold between childhood and adulthood - a gateway into her experiences as a woman, the loss of innocence, hypervigilance, and the fracturing of her identity. By revisiting the formative experiences that shaped her Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Leonard dissects what belongs to her and what was constructed in response to harm. 

Leonard earned her BFA in Studio Art (Sculpture) from Texas State University in 2025 and has exhibited throughout Central Texas, including the FL3X Space and Mothership Studios.

Diana Sexton is an artist and filmmaker living and working in Austin, TX. Centering physically expressive palettes and processes, her work explores the spaces between experience, meaning, and memory. Sexton received her Associate of Arts from Austin Community College and her BFA in painting from Texas State University. Her work has been shown in galleries across central Texas, including ICOSA gallery, McLennon Pen Co. Gallery, Lockhart Post Gallery, and the FL3X Space at Texas State University. She has won several awards for her work, including an Emerging Artist Award from the Frick Foundation.

ABOUT THE TXST FL3X PROGRAM

The Texas State Galleries’ FLEX space invites Texas State Art and Design students, faculty, staff, and alumni to envision and assemble well-considered, visually engaging, and conceptually stimulating exhibitions and events. Through these programs, FLEX highlights the unique creative vision of our community and its relevance within the larger art world. 

For details regarding the application process, including application deadlines, see Opportunities.