Cobalt Artist Studio in Incline Village will open its galleries for a reception honoring the new exhibition of works by sculptor Carolyn Guerra on Saturday, April 9, from 4-6 p.m.

Guerra moved to Incline Village in 2012 and has found her creative home in the growing fine arts and creative community here.

Students in the Holman Arts & Media Center at Sierra Nevada College frequently work alongside Guerra in the ceramics studio, and she serves on the college’s Arts Advisory Council.

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However, Incline is not the only community that has benefitted from Guerra’s creative work, as she also works in an artist’s studio in the Bay Area and has many clients and works on display in San Diego.

Visiting Guerra’s studio in Incline Village is an education in the sculptor’s process. She and her husband Bill display an extensive art collection in their home, and it is easy to see how Guerra’s lifetime of focus on the creative arts informs that collection, and how the collection informs her own work.

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She commented: “Sculpture is a piece of the artist’s heart, a part of her soul. An original artwork is days, weeks and months of frustration, experimentation, and moments of pure joy.”

Guerra currently works with ceramics, glass, bronze and concrete, though she occasionally returns to her first medium, printmaking, and most of her finished pieces are multimedia collages.

Her studio is currently dominated by a bronze portrait project she is completing for a private commission, and of course, the last minute touches for pieces to be included in the upcoming exhibition.

Those familiar with Guerra’s work will be happy to note that one of her Rhinoman sculptures will be on display at the Cobalt show.

Guerra has worked for nearly 40 years with different incarnations of a subject she calls Rhinoman, a man with the rear end of a rhinoceros. The subject first appeared in a lithograph Guerra created in graduate school, and has matured and morphed into ceramic and bronze versions over the years.

One version included an interactive San Diego drinking cup shaped like the zoo’s rhinoceros residents. Carolyn comments that Rhinoman is an exploration in the dual feelings of disgust and delight that animalistic characteristics can produce.

Guerra studied art at Alverno College in Wisconsin and the continued to earn an MFA from Northwestern University, where notable 20th century artist Ed Paschke and others mentored her. She has taught art making at the high school and university level.

Her sculptures grace public spaces throughout California and Nevada, including the Port of San Diego, Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, and most recently, the corporate offices for Manpower Inc.; her work also fills out many private art collections in the western United States. Salazar Fine Art in San Diego, Cal. has represented her for many years.

Cobalt Artist Studio is located at 230 Village Blvd., Unit No. 3. Visit cobaltartiststudio.com to learn more.