Curatorial Statement
Curator’s Statement
While the curation of this exhibition is grounded in a matrimonial partnership, simultaneously unique and familiar in the craft world, it could easily have been categorized by each makers carnal interpretation of things external and internal. Lichman’s objects categorically function for delivery of food and drink, with surfaces that ooze luxuriant slip. Visually they conjure the feeling of drinking warm liquids and consuming heaps of rich fare. The surface of her work, the external, brings to mind our internal experiences. She creates objects that deliver sustenance into our interiors. Adler reciprocates, delivering objects which very literally reflect our human interior. The guts of our human vessel inform each aesthetic choice he makes. Every internal contraction of our anatomy is exploded, giving us an external, abstracted, macro view of how we process the sustenance we consume. By exploiting the malleable traits shared between raw clay and the gastro-intestinal system, Adler expands the definition of sustenance. He consumes ceramic history in the face of modernity and externalizes the result of digestion. So it is a back and forth, a conversation about delivery and consumption, indeed a dialogue of the external and internal. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Let the artists tell you…
Ted Adler
My work is an interrogation of the fundamental sensuality of the lived experience as well as the role of the vessel in our capacity for self-ideation. I am re-framing the dialogue between the ceramic vessel and contemporary cultural issues through reference to biological models and the phenomenology of experience within a decidedly ceramic historical perspective. The malleability of clay and its analogous relationship with the body are used to underscore ideas of permeability and penetrability in the central theme of transformation. Surfaces are discontinuous and often contradictory, disallowing the reading of an un-fragmented whole, implicating an experience of the sensible that is simultaneously external and internal.
Brenda Lichman
The physicality of the ceramic media is an integral part of my everyday liveliness and identity. As a result, it is imperative that my work reflects this synergy. I define myself as an energetic, passionate person striving for balance and harmony in my life and in my creative work. It is important that I leave my mark on the surface of the vessels I create to express this personal involvement with each piece. The touch of my hand or a fingerprint left on the surface are all aspects of this interaction. Thick slips are added to the outer surface of my vessels, creating soft, fluid contours. These luscious lines accent the form, alluding to graceful movements of a feminine gesture. I begin to develop the form from within: stretching, pushing, and pulling the clay outward, creating internal volume and strength. My vessels convey an inner quality or core–a breath–full of energy and full of life.