Striking clay at the Epperson Gallery

Inside a century-old brick building on 1400 Pomona Street in Crockett, a soft-spoken man leads a tour of his gallery showroom. Formerly a car dealership, the bright and airy Epperson Gallery now houses dozens of ceramic pieces — big and small, muted and colorful, delightfully simple and impossibly complex — precisely placed on pristine white pedestals.

While the art on display invites interpretation, owner Gerald Epperson is charmingly straightforward. For 20 years, Gerald had driven by this building on his way to work at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, where he was a computer programmer. At the same time, he worked as a ceramic artist and sculptor on the side, with an ambition to turn his passion into a full-time pursuit.