Margaret Boozer’s clay doesn’t feel the friction of a pottery wheel or the heat of a kiln. Instead, it dries out, cracks, and warps as clay in the ground does, discolored and bumpy with sediment, uneven and unpredictable. Because the circular buttons of clay that comprise so many of her works are chipped and flawed, Boozer strives for a different kind of geometric perfection, arranging her clay pieces in grids and rings and organizing them by color, shape, and size. But despite the rigidity of her organization, the clay never takes on properties that aren’t organic. Her piece Reorder, Resettle, or the Idea of Gravity conveys the mechanisms of gravity on sediment—ordered top to bottom, dark to light, gravity and the forces of time will always turn the pebbles underfoot to clay.

The exhibition is on view from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, to Jan. 17 at Project 4, 1353 U St. NW. Free. (202) 232-4340.