Empowering Voices

E M P O W E R I N G

V O I C E S

September 12- October 10

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Empowering Voices September 12-October 10, 2020

Lucy Lacoste Gallery 25 Main St. Concord, MA 01742 LucyLacoste.com. info@lucylacoste.com

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Empowering Voices September 12-October 10, 2020

Lucy Lacoste Gallery 25 Main St. Concord, MA 01742 LucyLacoste.com. info@lucylacoste.com

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Empowering Voices September 12-October 10, 2020 This exhibition brings together artists of color, four of whom are represented by LLG and an additional four young, underrepresented artists, each invited by a represented artist. This exhibition is in response to the racial injustices that, while always present, have been brought to wider awareness by the death of George Floyd. As a gallery, we want to expand our platform to include greater diversity in artists and content to more fully represent this new reality. Art is a reflection of culture and history; thus, we want to show the art of those with lived experiences who are leading the way to human rights for all. We are honored to present this exhibition..

Lucy Lacoste Gallery

Represented Artists: Natalia Arbelaez Ashwini Bhat Paul S. Briggs Renata Cassiano Alvarez Invited Artists: Gerald Brown Aaron Caldwell Sydnie Jimenez Anthony Kascak

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Empowering Voices September 12-October 10, 2020 This exhibition brings together artists of color, four of whom are represented by LLG and an additional four young, underrepresented artists, each invited by a represented artist. This exhibition is in response to the racial injustices that, while always present, have been brought to wider awareness by the death of George Floyd. As a gallery, we want to expand our platform to include greater diversity in artists and content to more fully represent this new reality. Art is a reflection of culture and history; thus, we want to show the art of those with lived experiences who are leading the way to human rights for all. We are honored to present this exhibition..

Lucy Lacoste Gallery

Represented Artists: Natalia Arbelaez Ashwini Bhat Paul S. Briggs Renata Cassiano Alvarez Invited Artists: Gerald Brown Aaron Caldwell Sydnie Jimenez Anthony Kascak

Paul S. Briggs

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Working with issues related to suffering and inner pain is not my preferred subject matter. My usual practice has been to work meditatively and or to make work about my philosophical musings concerning spirituality. But for the last few years my usual practice has been disturbed by the social conditions that have developed around, the world waking up from history.

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

These pieces are more universal in not referencing any specific population. I return to answering questions about how one copes in the face of failing institutions, traditions and social systems. I am amazed at the strength ordinary people can exhibit and how they persevere and even thrive though facing great social, economic and relational obstacles. This work is neither gendered nor is it about race, it does not respect person. Formally, it is using metaphor and metonymy. To be doubled up inside, tied in knots, feeling tight all over, is how many describe the everyday tension of existence in a society seized by pandemic and strivings to wake up from history and create a more just and loving society, the beloved community. The wounded, broken, pierced and knotted vessels have a presence of dignity and a certitude. The ability to be is not canceled but only refuted.

Paul S. Briggs

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Working with issues related to suffering and inner pain is not my preferred subject matter. My usual practice has been to work meditatively and or to make work about my philosophical musings concerning spirituality. But for the last few years my usual practice has been disturbed by the social conditions that have developed around, the world waking up from history.

These pieces are more universal in not referencing any specific population. I return to answering questions about how one copes in the face of failing institutions, traditions and social systems. I am amazed at the strength ordinary people can exhibit and how they persevere and even thrive though facing great social, economic and relational obstacles.

This work is neither gendered nor is it about race, it does not respect person. Formally, it is using metaphor and metonymy. To be doubled up inside, tied in knots, feeling tight all over, is how many describe the everyday tension of existence in a society seized by pandemic and strivings to wake up from history and create a more just and loving society, the beloved community. The wounded, broken, pierced and knotted vessels have a presence of dignity and a certitude. The ability to be is not canceled but only refuted.

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

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Paul S. Briggs Protuberance 14.50h x 7w x 8.50d in

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Paul S. Briggs Complicated 15h x 6.50w x 8.50d in

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Paul S. Briggs Protuberance 14.50h x 7w x 8.50d in

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Paul S. Briggs Complicated 15h x 6.50w x 8.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Paul S. Briggs Suppression 15h x 9.50w x 7.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Psychosocial 15h x 9.50w x 6.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Paul S. Briggs Suppression 15h x 9.50w x 7.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Psychosocial 15h x 9.50w x 6.50d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez My sculptures reference the body and its contents and seek to give the transformation itself a physicality. In a way, I act as an archeologist to my own practice. I cut, excavate and carve the sculptures until I find what they are trying to tell me.

Although the tactile nature of clay was what first drew me to it, it's the capability of transformation, the demand of time and labor, and the attention the process requires that have made me surrender to it.

Clay speaks many languages and keeps infinite possibilities. What I look for is for my sculptures to embody, become icons of freedom and force, endless curiosity and risk taking

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Renata Cassiano Alvarez Sinew Shift Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 10h x 5w x 5d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez My sculptures reference the body and its contents and seek to give the transformation itself a physicality. In a way, I act as an archeologist to my own practice. I cut, excavate and carve the sculptures until I find what they are trying to tell me.

Although the tactile nature of clay was what first drew me to it, it's the capability of transformation, the demand of time and labor, and the attention the process requires that have made me surrender to it.

Clay speaks many languages and keeps infinite possibilities. What I look for is for my sculptures to embody, become icons of freedom and force, endless curiosity and risk taking

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Renata Cassiano Alvarez Sinew Shift Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 10h x 5w x 5d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez VÊrtigo Derretido Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 12h x 4w x 4d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Endothelial Angst Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 12h x 5w x 5d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez VÊrtigo Derretido Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 12h x 4w x 4d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Endothelial Angst Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold luster 12h x 5w x 5d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Lattimo Nero Glaze cast, stoneware elements, gold luster 16h x 8w x 6.50d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Altar Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold leaf 10h x 7w x 3d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Lattimo Nero Glaze cast, stoneware elements, gold luster 16h x 8w x 6.50d in

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Renata Cassiano Alvarez Altar Ceramic, carved glaze cast, gold leaf 10h x 7w x 3d in

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Ashwini Bhat During shelter-in-place, I found myself turning both inward and toward the world. It has been an intense time for self-reflection, for questioning both my own identity and my identification with others, with nature. My sculptures reveal a focus on that alliance of inscapes and landscapes.

The “Self Portrait as Kali” series was developed as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement and my own reflections on the injustices of the caste system in India. “California Poppy” and “Wild Lupine” are engagements with the drastic changes to the microclimates of California due to climate change. “Beginning is the End is the Beginning” and “Garden of Earthy Delights” are series that integrate my sense of our current environmental exigency.

What does art mean when we are living through times of pandemic, racial injustice, and wildfires and hurricanes intensified by climate change? For me, my artistic practice is a grounding. It humbles me and keeps me in contact with the earth itself and with the aspirations, I think, of all of us, human and not, who briefly flicker here.

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Ashwini Bhat Beginning is the End is the Beginning Clay, underglaze, glaze, and paint 20h x 16w x 14d in

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Ashwini Bhat During shelter-in-place, I found myself turning both inward and toward the world. It has been an intense time for self-reflection, for questioning both my own identity and my identification with others, with nature. My sculptures reveal a focus on that alliance of inscapes and landscapes.

The “Self Portrait as Kali” series was developed as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement and my own reflections on the injustices of the caste system in India. “California Poppy” and “Wild Lupine” are engagements with the drastic changes to the microclimates of California due to climate change. “Beginning is the End is the Beginning” and “Garden of Earthy Delights” are series that integrate my sense of our current environmental exigency.

What does art mean when we are living through times of pandemic, racial injustice, and wildfires and hurricanes intensified by climate change? For me, my artistic practice is a grounding. It humbles me and keeps me in contact with the earth itself and with the aspirations, I think, of all of us, human and not, who briefly flicker here.

Paul S. Briggs Mercutio 15h x 9w x 6d in

Ashwini Bhat Beginning is the End is the Beginning Clay, underglaze, glaze, and paint 20h x 16w x 14d in

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Ashwini Bhat Self Portrait as Kali Clay, glaze, gold leaf & unstitched silk sari 22h x 8.50w in

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Ashwini Bhat Self Portrait as Kali Archival Print 30h x 23.50w in

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Ashwini Bhat Self Portrait as Kali Clay, glaze, gold leaf & unstitched silk sari 22h x 8.50w in

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Ashwini Bhat Self Portrait as Kali Archival Print 30h x 23.50w in

Ashwini Bhat California Poppy Clay, underglaze, glaze, paint, and glass media 5.50h x 5.50w x 6d in

Ashwini Bhat Wild Lupine Clay, underglaze, glaze, paint, and glass media 8h x 6w x 6d in

Ashwini Bhat California Poppy Clay, underglaze, glaze, paint, and glass media 5.50h x 5.50w x 6d in

Ashwini Bhat Wild Lupine Clay, underglaze, glaze, paint, and glass media 8h x 6w x 6d in

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Natalia Arbelaez My practice has centered around research into my family ancestry.

Research of my inherited history and my sub-culture in ceramics responds to a lacking of Latinx voices in the context of ceramic history and ceramic classes. I didn’t see myself or my voice dictating where or what the ceramics field needed. As I have been making work about the need for people like myself and my familial histories to be preserved and included in history, I have begun to think about my community in the field of ceramics. Women of color, especially brown and black women, are seldom included in history, collections, and positions in higher education. Using my research, voice, and art to bring attention to these disparities and at the same time adding these narratives to our collective is imperative.

I have been making a new body of work that is influenced by five ceramicists, all women of color from the MAD collection: from Patti Warashina for her attention to the human form, Sana Musasama for her historical research, Lucy Lewis for her historical influence, Margaret Ponce Israel for her New York connection, to Katherine Choy for her founding of the Clay Art Center, to which I am also linked. While this work aims to create documentation of these women that is meant to be circulated, it is also to state that these women belong in history.

Natalia Arbelaez Lucy Lewis Earthenware 15.25h x 8w x 9.75d in

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Natalia Arbelaez My practice has centered around research into my family ancestry.

Research of my inherited history and my sub-culture in ceramics responds to a lacking of Latinx voices in the context of ceramic history and ceramic classes. I didn’t see myself or my voice dictating where or what the ceramics field needed. As I have been making work about the need for people like myself and my familial histories to be preserved and included in history, I have begun to think about my community in the field of ceramics. Women of color, especially brown and black women, are seldom included in history, collections, and positions in higher education. Using my research, voice, and art to bring attention to these disparities and at the same time adding these narratives to our collective is imperative.

I have been making a new body of work that is influenced by five ceramicists, all women of color from the MAD collection: from Patti Warashina for her attention to the human form, Sana Musasama for her historical research, Lucy Lewis for her historical influence, Margaret Ponce Israel for her New York connection, to Katherine Choy for her founding of the Clay Art Center, to which I am also linked. While this work aims to create documentation of these women that is meant to be circulated, it is also to state that these women belong in history.

Natalia Arbelaez Lucy Lewis Earthenware 15.25h x 8w x 9.75d in

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Natalia Arbelaez Sana Musasama Earthenware 16h x 9w x 8.75d in

Natalia Arbelaez Margaret Ponce Israel Earthenware 19h x 8w x 10d in

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Natalia Arbelaez Sana Musasama Earthenware 16h x 9w x 8.75d in

Natalia Arbelaez Margaret Ponce Israel Earthenware 19h x 8w x 10d in

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Gerald Brown

Gerald Brown Portrait 5/Self-Interrogation Low-fired terracotta 7h x 6w x 9d in

The Sacred Objects’ primary spiritual function is to demarcate space for ancestral, as well as descendants of, Strange Fruit, an expansive lineage of African Diasporic people in America. The forms possess the power to communicate ancestral blessings such as energy, memory, forgiveness and love, providing an opportunity for multilayered healing personally as well as environmentally.

These abstract portraits of Strange Fruit are a commemoration of a range of subjects and their unique, complicated behaviors developed through resisting AntiBlackness. In the midst of survival, deadly environmental effects plague these inhabitants, causing a long-term development of various Anti-Black tendencies. However, by creating these intimate moments to honestly learn from our past selves, as well as provide guidance for moving forward, these forms become a beacon of solace in the face of violence.

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Gerald Brown

Gerald Brown Portrait 5/Self-Interrogation Low-fired terracotta 7h x 6w x 9d in

The Sacred Objects’ primary spiritual function is to demarcate space for ancestral, as well as descendants of, Strange Fruit, an expansive lineage of African Diasporic people in America. The forms possess the power to communicate ancestral blessings such as energy, memory, forgiveness and love, providing an opportunity for multilayered healing personally as well as environmentally.

These abstract portraits of Strange Fruit are a commemoration of a range of subjects and their unique, complicated behaviors developed through resisting AntiBlackness. In the midst of survival, deadly environmental effects plague these inhabitants, causing a long-term development of various Anti-Black tendencies. However, by creating these intimate moments to honestly learn from our past selves, as well as provide guidance for moving forward, these forms become a beacon of solace in the face of violence.

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Gerald Brown Portrait 8/Forgiveness Low-fired terracotta 4h x 10w x 5d in

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Gerald Brown Portrait 9/Propensity For Greed, 2 Low-fired terracotta 6h x 5w x 8d in

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Gerald Brown Portrait 8/Forgiveness Low-fired terracotta 4h x 10w x 5d in

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Gerald Brown Portrait 9/Propensity For Greed, 2 Low-fired terracotta 6h x 5w x 8d in

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Anthony Kascak I am interested in exploring how I can incorporate photography into my ceramics practice; I have done this directly through photographic decals as well as with physical touch and visual perception through ceramic frames and fragments. These ceramic frames contain images and actions: fingerprints preserved and highlighted with glaze, photographic ceramic decals of my body, as well as adorned shards and cracks of ceramic pieces that highlight the fragility of the ceramic process and specific details of photographs. The physical touch involved in the ceramic process not only emphasizes the marks made to reference the literal act of touching, but also the vulnerability and potential of the material itself.

Anthony Kascak Untitled (Finger Platter) Earthenware, glaze 20h x 15w x 1.50d in

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Anthony Kascak I am interested in exploring how I can incorporate photography into my ceramics practice; I have done this directly through photographic decals as well as with physical touch and visual perception through ceramic frames and fragments. These ceramic frames contain images and actions: fingerprints preserved and highlighted with glaze, photographic ceramic decals of my body, as well as adorned shards and cracks of ceramic pieces that highlight the fragility of the ceramic process and specific details of photographs. The physical touch involved in the ceramic process not only emphasizes the marks made to reference the literal act of touching, but also the vulnerability and potential of the material itself.

Anthony Kascak Untitled (Finger Platter) Earthenware, glaze 20h x 15w x 1.50d in

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Anthony Kascak Fissure Earthenware, glaze, photographic decal 13h x 13w x 1.50d in

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Anthony Kascak Fleeting, Feeling Earthenware, glaze, photographic decal, gold luster 13h x 13w x 1.50d in

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Anthony Kascak Fissure Earthenware, glaze, photographic decal 13h x 13w x 1.50d in

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Anthony Kascak Fleeting, Feeling Earthenware, glaze, photographic decal, gold luster 13h x 13w x 1.50d in

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Aaron Caldwell As an artist, I am interested in looking at Black and queer identity with a lens of interiority. My work is primarily inspired by Black folks’ history with moisturizing products for the hair and body, and my being conditioned to hold value in my hair, skin color and the necessary tools for care. Being considered physically ashy (white and dry skin) or socially ashy (wack, lame, ignorant) are lingo among Black folk. As a result, products like lotion or coconut oil have become a staple in the Black community, so I create objects that concretely elevate and highlight this relationship unique to Black culture. I also employ zoomorphic forms inspired by folktales and west and central african sculpture. The buffalo represents masculinity and manhood, the sheep represents queerness and the rabbit represents Blackness. My art narrates how I engage with my Blackness and queerness in private, through culture, and how these identities inform how I engage with the world.�

Aaron Caldwell Lotion Buffalo #3 Ceramic, steel nails, coconut oil 14h x 8w x 9d in

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Aaron Caldwell As an artist, I am interested in looking at Black and queer identity with a lens of interiority. My work is primarily inspired by Black folks’ history with moisturizing products for the hair and body, and my being conditioned to hold value in my hair, skin color and the necessary tools for care. Being considered physically ashy (white and dry skin) or socially ashy (wack, lame, ignorant) are lingo among Black folk. As a result, products like lotion or coconut oil have become a staple in the Black community, so I create objects that concretely elevate and highlight this relationship unique to Black culture. I also employ zoomorphic forms inspired by folktales and west and central african sculpture. The buffalo represents masculinity and manhood, the sheep represents queerness and the rabbit represents Blackness. My art narrates how I engage with my Blackness and queerness in private, through culture, and how these identities inform how I engage with the world.�

Aaron Caldwell Lotion Buffalo #3 Ceramic, steel nails, coconut oil 14h x 8w x 9d in

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Aaron Caldwell Pink Sheep Ceramic, steel nails, coconut oil 8h x 14w x 7d in

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Aaron Caldwell Pink Sheep Ceramic, steel nails, coconut oil 8h x 14w x 7d in

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Sydnie Jimenez These figures were made during the peak of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time as protests by black and brown youth that were sparked by police brutality and the deaths of black people by police including the murder of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd to name a few. These figures are referencing protestors, protest, and a feeling of discontent, disorientation, and unease left in the wake of these deaths whose murderers were not brought to justice.

Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in (each)

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Sydnie Jimenez These figures were made during the peak of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time as protests by black and brown youth that were sparked by police brutality and the deaths of black people by police including the murder of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd to name a few. These figures are referencing protestors, protest, and a feeling of discontent, disorientation, and unease left in the wake of these deaths whose murderers were not brought to justice.

Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in (each)

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Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in

Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in

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Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in

Sydnie Jimenez Discontent Degenerates 15h x 5w x 3d in