There’s a moment in Metal & Grain, the new two-artist exhibition at NY2CA Gallery in Benicia, where you find yourself doing something you didn’t expect: slowing down.
The show brings together sculptor and architect Tom Ballard and master woodcarver Fred Schlatter, two artists whose materials couldn’t be more different but whose sensibilities run surprisingly parallel. Ballard works in steel, often Corten, the weathering alloy that rusts to a rich, controlled patina. Schlatter works in wood, hand-carving forms with the patience and precision of a craftsman who has spent decades understanding what the material wants to do.
What unites them is their subject matter. Both artists are drawn to the forms of classic automobiles, machines originally designed for speed, performance, and a particular kind of American confidence. In Ballard’s hands, those forms become steel wall pieces and freestanding sculptures where rust, grinding marks, and subtle surface variations are as much a part of the composition as the shape itself. In Schlatter’s work, the same curves and contours are translated into wood, where the grain becomes visible and the object takes on an entirely different presence. Built for motion, reimagined for stillness.
Ballard came to sculpture by a long road. After earning his MFA from UC Davis and showing early work that earned recognition at the Crocker Art Gallery’s Kingsley Exhibition, he spent more than four decades as a licensed architect and builder designing custom homes throughout Northern California. Returning to the studio after retirement, he brought with him a lifetime of thinking about material, scale, and spatial presence. His steel pieces reflect that: spare and considered, with a quiet confidence that comes from knowing exactly when to stop.
Schlatter’s background is equally deep. Trained as a fine artist and sculptor, he has spent more than thirty years producing commissioned architectural carvings, hand-lettered signage, figureheads, doors, and murals for private residences, restaurants, corporate projects, and yachts. His work has been featured in Country Living, Sunset Magazine, and SignCraft. The sculptural pieces in Metal & Grain grow from that same discipline: a lifelong understanding of how grain, structure, and form interact, and what happens when you apply fine art thinking to a deeply functional craft tradition.
Together in the gallery, the two bodies of work create an unexpected conversation. Ballard’s steel carries industrial weight and outdoor permanence. Schlatter’s wood is warm, organic, almost intimate. But stand in the room long enough and the common ground becomes clear: the care in the making, the respect for material, the belief that how something is made is as important as what it looks like.
Metal & Grain opens with an artist reception on Saturday, March 28 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Both Tom Ballard and Fred Schlatter will be present. The exhibition runs through May 10, 2026.
NY2CA Gallery is located at 617 First Street in downtown Benicia, open Thursday through Sunday, 12–5 PM.