"Mise en Place" by Sophia del Rio

"Mise en Place," Sophia del Rio’s Solo Exhibition, Opens October 4 at Positive Space

"Mise en Place" is the result of artist Sophia del Rio's experience working as a waitress during and after the 2020 pandemic. She was compelled to document the experience and that of her co-workers. 'Mise en Place' is a fine-dining term, translates to “everything in its place,” and in the context of this exhibition, speaks to the hard-lined destiny of restaurant industry workers' limited options.

This artistic body of work started outside the galleries as a social work called "100 Plates," an immersive art event in the form of a dinner party with a group of restaurant workers to discuss wage and labor issues. The work has since expanded to include a series of paintings—beautiful restaurant dining rooms that reveal how difficult these elegant places are to scrutinize—and plates—with contrasting scenes of hard working restaurant staff. The exhibition aims to humanize the workers in our local communities and restaurants, recognize shared patterns of systemic neglect and labor practices, while encouraging discussion of fairer conditions.

About the Artist: Sophia del Rio (b. 1982, Austin, TX). Sophia’s artwork is a social practice focused on her generation's precarious future, and attempts to address her generation's need for its own artistic documentation of experience in lasting, slow media, like painting and ceramics. She believes in the power of handmade objects that last and studied at world-class craft schools—Southwestern School of Art, Mesa Art Center, Anderson Ranch, and Tamarind Institutes' Summer Workshop. Unlike her contemporaries who largely focus on individualism, Sophia remains dedicated to stoking the fire of universalism and collective bargaining. In her own life, she has led a tenants' union of 1,000 families, conducted petitions directed at local politicians, corporate landlords and state agencies, and frequently speaks to her City Council.

"Mise en Place"
by Sophia del Rio (Fort Worth, TX)
Opening: 5-8pm, Saturday, October 4, 2025, with an Artist Talk at 6pm
Continues through Saturday, October 25

Gallery hours during the exhibit:
TH 6-8pm + FR 5-8pm + SAT 12-5pm
+ BY APPT

More info: linktr.ee/positivespacetulsa

Positive Space Tulsa is located at 1324 East 3rd Street in the Pearl District. Positive Space Tulsa was founded by local artist Nicole Finley (she/her). An art space dedicated to Womxn artists, Positive Space Tulsa believes: The letter “x” in Womxn recognizes all women, including gender expansive identities.

Also check out other Arts events in Tulsa, Workshops in Tulsa, Exhibitions in Tulsa.