Showing Up

Lizzy is a quiet Portland sculptor racing to finish a group of clay figures before a small gallery show. Her work keeps getting pushed aside by a broken water heater, an injured pigeon, her careless landlord Jo, and worry about her troubled brother Sean. She works at an art school run by her mother, where other artists seem freer and more successful than she feels. The movie uses dry humor and a slow pace to show how small daily problems can fill a creative person's life.

The story gives major space to women artists, including Jo, a successful Asian American artist who is also Lizzy's landlord and rival. A Black kiln worker and a mixed group of art students add visible diversity to the setting, but race and sex do not shape the conflicts or dialogue. Lizzy's main struggle is envy, stress, and the hard task of caring for people while making art. The wounded pigeon brings the group together and turns the ending toward patience, family support, and small acts of care.