Red-brown terra-cotta collects on the floor of the L&L Pottery Studio as Joan Watson trims a plate; a plate that will help construct the final ceramic sculpture in Watsons first solo ceramic installation in over 30 years, Assemble, Disassemble, Reappear. In brown corduroy overalls, Watson, the director of the studio and L&L gallery, is anxious. This is the hardest one, Watson said, referring to her hands at the wheel. It has to have a conversation with all the ones in there [the gallery].It is less than a week until the gallery reception and there are still many pieces to trim, glaze, fire and arrange. Watson is continually adding and rearranging the gallery as an open work in process.The ceramic items in the show are individually functional, but their arrangement is less so. Plates, bowls, mugs and pitchers have formed a labyrinth of dining ware sculpture, precariously stacked upon one other.I wanted to work with the idea of functional objects and sculpture, to take the functional and make sculpture with them, Watson said. As the project began, Watson envisioned throwing familiar forms and a loose creative process.[But] I felt I needed more structurethats when I decided to do the stacks, she said. Once I made one stack, the sculptural concerns were really clear to me. Each had to work to stack.The fragile sculptures range in size, shape and color. At the entry, a serious arrangement of black and white pitchers keep guard while whimsical spiral tumblers in ash glazes balance in the back corner. The exhibit showcases more experimental pieces for Watson. This great conflict between function and sculpture is repeated in each stack, Watson added.The sculptural demands required tedious measurements and physical work pushing the limits of function, much like the production potters she has rediscovered an appreciation for. Her students and early teachers have also inspired much of the gallerys contents.The wobbly, dancing figures she sees in students early wheel-thrown bowls are mirrored in a stack of pots, which pay homage to Watsons teacher and the late UVM ceramics instructor, Hideo Okino. They are enrobed in an earthy ash glaze of his own creation.In class I take everybody up there. They tell me its [the stacks] making them nervous and I love thatthe visual, tactile, get close aspect of clay, said Watson. I want people to have an emotional experience as well as a visual I enjoy that work, the spark that comes with inviting people in.Assemble, Disassemble, Reappear is open to the public until Feb. 15. A reception event on Feb. 7 will feature an artist talk with Joan Watson and an unconventional, interactive surprise.