Food, Friends, and The Living Table with Tanya Zal Programmed in conjunction with The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry

Moki Cherry's artistic practice went beyond artmaking, it was a means of bringing people together. She welcomed people into her home as a gathering place for music, food, craft, and community. In that same spirit, we're partnering with Austin artist Tanya Zal, who has reimagined a hearth as a communal sculpture in her work Earth Oven at MASS Gallery. Zal will host an afternoon rooted in making and sharing food as a radical, tender, feminist act where the table is a site of care. We invite fellow makers, creatives, and community organizers to join facilitated discussions around the joys of creating collaborative environments, with refreshments and earth oven-baked nourishment from guest chef Lynn Metcalf. About Earth Oven Earth Oven is a communal, functional sculpture project led by Tanya Zal that lives permanently at MASS Gallery, a collectively run nonprofit gallery and project space based in East Austin dedicated to amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ artists, artists of color, and local creatives. Grounded in the practice of hand building and created in collaboration with the help of many in fall 2025. The piece was made using natural building techniques and locally sourced materials--limestone, soil, sand, and straw. The surface is decorated with recycled ceramic pieces made during a Clay ReWork-Shop, where artists reimagined broken bisque and glaze ware into tiles and mosaics. The oven functions as a regular gathering space for sharing food and community. About Tanya Zal Tanya Zal (she/her) is an Austin-based artist interested in practicing deeper care with ourselves, others, and the things around us. Her sculptural projects are a playful celebration of the creative process, an anchor to joy, and an invitation toward curiosity. Originally from upstate New York, where she completed her BFA in 2010, Tanya has spent the last decade working in non-profit arts, community organizing, and reproductive justice spaces. She is a current Curatorial Advisor at Future Front Texas and part of the leadership team at MASS Gallery. Photography by Penny Halcyon, Tanya Zal, and Jen Rachid