Perception Technique
Image: In-Progress Collaborative Work
Photo credit: Ariana Gomez
Veronica Ceci and Erin Cunningham
Exhibition Dates: February 27th to March 28th, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, February 27th, 7-10, 2026
Icosa Collective is pleased to present Perception Technique, an exhibition of new independent
and collaborative work by Veronica Ceci and Erin Cunningham. Featuring sculptural objects,
large-scale installations, and two site-specific collaborative works unfolding across the gallery,
the exhibition foregrounds shared inquiry through material, process, and form.
Perception Technique takes as its point of departure a shared nostalgia, not for the social
structures of the past, but for histories of making and fabrication. Ceci and Cunningham draw
from extensive training in techniques that were once industrial and ubiquitous, and are now
largely bespoke, reserved for specialized or high-end production. Through this lens, the
exhibition considers how skilled labor and process carry cultural memory long after their
original utility has faded.
Working with materials including copper, steel, pewter, sugar, ink, and glass, the artists employ a
palette of deep, warm, reflective tones that evoke heat, fire, and transformation. Tools are
treated as sculptural forms and objects as symbolic systems, with recurring motifs of weaving,
embroidery, measurement, and cutting. These gestures collapse distinctions between tool and
object, use and ornament, function and abstraction.
Across both individual and collaborative works, Perception Technique emphasizes the action of
the body on materials as a form of knowledge, learned through repetition, resistance, and touch
rather than language. These processes quietly challenge gendered expectations surrounding
labor and craft, reframing historically feminized or industrial techniques as sites of agency,
rigor, and aesthetic intelligence.
Together, Ceci and Cunningham invite viewers to encounter patterns not only as surface but
beyond, into structure; and technique as a path to perception itself.
About Veronica Ceci: Veronica Ceci is a Queer intermedia artist based in Austin, TX, whose
work focuses on forgotten histories and undervalued labor. Known for their detailed portraiture and large scale hand printed works, Ceci uses intense materiality, repetition, and iconography to bring overlooked stories into focus. Originally trained as a Master Printer, they now incorporate sign painting and mosaic work into their practice, alongside independent curatorial projects. Veronica has exhibited at institutions including the Contemporary Art Center New Orleans and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Their work is held in the collections of the Library of Congress and the National Women's History Museum, among others.
About Erin Cunningham: Erin Cunningham (b. 1979, Honolulu, HI) is an artist living and working
in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003
and an MFA in studio art from The University of Texas at Austin in 2007. Her sculpture work
utilizes material combinations to explore dualities of masculine and feminine, disposable and
precious, fragility and strength. She has shown both nationally and internationally, including at
the Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo and at Mönchskirche Salzwedel in Salzwedel, Germany.
Artist residencies include BAER Art Center in Hofsos, Iceland, and Atelierhaus Residency
Hilmsen in Hilmsen, Germany. Cunningham is a founding member of the ICOSA Collective, an
artist-run exhibition space in Austin, TX. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor
of Practice in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.
Perception Technique
Veronica Ceci and Erin Cunningham
Exhibition Dates: February 27th to March 28th, 2026
Artist Reception: Friday, February 27th, 7-10, 2026
Artist Talk: Saturday, March 28th at 3pm
Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 12-6 pm or by appointment
ICOSA Collective Gallery
916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2, #102, Austin, TX 78702
www.icosacollective.com