Andrea La Valleur-Purvis makes abstract sculptures that study how things hold under pressure. Drawing on structure, constraint, material resistance, and a life built across cultures and borders, her work asks what remains when something yields — and what becomes possible because of it.
Her sculptures range from pedestal-scale pieces to large outdoor installations, with works held in private, corporate, and public collections and exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout Texas, including at the Marfa Invitational.
She is among the international artists making innovative, original, and thought-provoking contributions to the contemporary art world — recognized in 2025 with the Artistic Merit Award from the Luxembourg Art Prize and the Art 100 VAA International Prize, and featured in Glasstire, NPR Radio, and Cohart Magazine. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from the College of Visual Arts (St. Paul, MN) and lives and works in Waco, Texas.
February 13 – April 17, 2026
60th CAIN National Exhibition
Juried by Tabitha Whitley
Cain Gallery, Del Mar College
101 Baldwin Blvd
Corpus Christi, Texas 78404
I cut curves from flat steel. The voids left behind are as deliberate as the metal that remains. Welds stay visible — I want you to see where decisions were made.
Small shifts matter to me. A change in scale, balance, or direction can reshape the whole experience of a piece. Weight reads as lightness. Empty space becomes solid — a material in its own right, defining the work as much as the metal does.
The pieces rest on small, precise points. Some elements move when you touch them. You’re meant to. That moment — setting something carefully balanced into motion — is part of the work.
Growing up across British, German, and American contexts, I spent a long time watching how people navigate pressure to become something fixed. My work comes from that: tension, equilibrium, and the ongoing possibility of change.
In both my individual artworks and exhibition displays, I invite a playful connection with the work. Most pieces are kinetic and respond to touch.
