The a Show was presented in 1970 at the San Francisco Art Institute. He arranged the works, like chess pieces, within squares marked by tape on the gallery floor. The titles for each work were important, for the form of the object illustrated the title: Pre-a (consisting of two bags of unfired clay), Ex-a (a ceramic work that was flattened after being formed, a-ok (made of oak), Projected a (a slide projection work that incorporated the environment) and Precious a (a small glazed and lustered work presented under a vitrine on a red velvet plinth.

Sequoia Miller elaborated in his essay Toward Ceramics As A Conceptual Framework, “Incorporating language, multiple media, chance, and room-scale interactivity, The a Show represented the ambitious integration of multiple streams of influence that began to appear in Melchert’s work from the mid-1960s onward. This project would be his last foray into ceramics where he actually manipulated and fired clay, though by no means the end of his engagement with the medium. As such, it stands as the fulcrum in his transition from using ceramics as a material to employing it as a conceptual framework.”