Paul S. Briggs, Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay

Paul S. Briggs Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay

Paul S. Briggs

Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay

Februrary 13- March 13, 2021

Paul S. Briggs

The Poetry Series

Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay

Exhibition review by Wayne Higby, January 2021

Lucy Lacoste Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new works by the Massachusetts artist Paul S. Briggs, Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay February 13- March 13, 2021. The center piece of this exhibition will be six sculptures, each inspired by a specific poem written by a noted Black poet. These poets include Lucille Clifton, Sonia Sanchez, Langston Hughes, Harryette Mullen, Maya Angelou and Audre Lorde.

Paul S. Briggs is an artist with an engaging biography.

His Poetry Series now on view at the Lucy Lacoste Gallery is composed of six independent ceramic sculptures that are beautiful, mysterious, and unsettling. There is an important narrative behind the inspiration for this series. However, visitors to the gallery, in person or virtually, will hopefully not rely too heavily on this story as a means to access the work.

Knowing before an experience with the actual sculpture may prohibit the gift that comes from the feeling-thinking process of a genuine encounter.

Briggs’ work offers more than a reflection on the story at the core of its inspiration.

Briggs’ forte is bringing issues of the modern Black experience to life through his sculpture. He has written in depth on matters of race and social justice. An artist, professor, philosopher and former pastor, Briggs was first known for making meditative pinch pots. A few years ago, realizing the social injustice of the American prison system, he felt compelled to channel these feelings into series of abstract sculpture. The first series was the Cell Personae, followed by the Knot Vessels, and now the Poetry Series. The refuted vessels, aka, the knot vessels, and indeed the poetry forms are all bound together formally and conceptually, and they are, of course, rooted in experience.

We should always give ourselves the opportunity to experience works of art without thought -- without the fear of not knowing. In so doing, we allow for a direct, unguarded encounter with the reveal the art has to offer. We become receptive to the deep disclosure held within the ideas, materials and processes of art. In essence, art is what it reveals and there is particular as well as universal meaning housed within. Art is not the backdrop that tries to explain it. (continued on next page)

Paul S. Briggs offers an arresting reveal not only to himself, but to all of us who wish to engage the work of an accomplished maker. This body of work has intellectual and emotional depth born of authenticity.

Current trends in ceramic art are left by the wayside.

There is genuine risk here and the courage to be vulnerable to the uncovering of meaning. With his Poetry Series, the intense quality of Briggs’s ability to integrate idea, material and process becomes a teaching. The end result is contact without complete closure. There is no punchline here. This condition is a core aspect of all significant works of art and provokes a desire for numerous return encounters. I hope everyone can have a moment with this work unhindered by the comfort of knowing.

Wayne Higby Artist-Professor of Ceramic Art at Alfred University Director and Chief Curator at Alfred Ceramic Art Museum

Paul S. Briggs Artist Statement: Poetry Series “The poetry series came about as a way to look for hope and strength during these difficult times and their impact on people of color. It is my work toward finding courage in light of my ongoing work concerning legal violence and incarceration, the disproportionate number of people impacted by the pandemic, and the awakening the siege on the capital brought about as we witnessed the different manner in which people protesting under the banner of Black Lives Matter received versus those flying banners of white supremacy. What became clear was the degree to which black poetry included so much pain and power.”

Photo credit: Michael Brandt

“Caged Bird” By: Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Paul S. Briggs Caged Birds (Maya Angelou), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 13.25h x 7.25w x 5.50d in

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" By: Langston Hughes I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Paul S. Briggs I’ve known rivers (Langston Hughes), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 15.25h x 10w x 5d in

"Momma's Sayings" By: Harryette Mullen

Momma had words for us: We were "crumb crushers," "eating machines," "bottomless pits."

She made us charter members of the bonepickers’ club, saying, "Just don't lot your eyes get bigger than your stomachs."

Saying, "Take all you want, but eat all you take.

"Saying, “I'm not made of money, you know, and the man at tile Safeway don't give away groceries for free."

She trained us not to leave lights on “a11 over the house, "because "electricity cots money – so please turn the light off when you leave a room and take the white man’s hand out of my pocket."

When we wore small she called our feet "ant mashers,” but when we'd outgrow our shoes, our feet became "platforms."

She told us we must be growing big feet to support some big heavyset women (like our grandma Tiddly).

When she had to buy us new underwear to replace the old ones full of holes, she'd swear we were growing razor blades in our behinds, "you tear these drawers up so fast."

Momma had words for us, alright: She called us "the wrecking crew."

She said our untidy bedroom looked like "a cyclone struck it."

Our dirty fingernails she called "victory gardens."

And when we'd come in from playing outside she'd tell us, "You smell like iron rust." She'd say, "Go take a bath and get some of that funk off or you."

But when the water ran too long in the tub she'd yell "That's enough water to wash an elephant."

And after the bath she'd say, "Be sure and grease those ashy legs."

She'd lemon creme our elbows and pull the hot comb through "these touch kinks on your head."

Momma had lots of words for us, her never quite perfect daughters, the two brown pennies she wanted to polish so we'd shine like dimes.

Paul S. Briggs Momma’s Sayings (Henryette Mullen), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 11w x 5.50d in

"Poem No. 10" By: Sonia Sanchez

You keep saying you were always there waiting for me to see you. you said that once on the wings of a pale green butterfly you rode across san francisco’s hills and touched my hair as i caressed a child called militancy you keep saying you were always thereholding my small hand as I walked unbending Indiana streets i could not see around and you grew a black mountain of curves and i turned and became soft again you keep saying you were always thererepeating my name softly as i slept in slow Pittsburgh blues and you made me sweat nite dreams that danced and danced until morning rained yo/red deliriumyou keep saying you were always there you keep saying you were always there will you stay love now that I am here?

Paul S. Briggs Poem N0. 10 (I’m Here) (Sonia Sanchez), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.25h x 7.50w x 6d in

The difference between poetry and rhetoric is being ready to kill yourself instead of your children.

I am trapped on a desert of raw gunshot wounds and a dead child dragging his shattered black face off the edge of my sleep blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulders is the only liquid for miles and my stomach churns at the imagined taste while my mouth splits into dry lips without loyalty or reason thirsting for the wetness of his blood as it sinks into the whiteness of the desert where I am lost without imagery or magic trying to make power out of hatred and destruction trying to heal my dying son with kisses only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.

"Power"

By: Audre Lorde

A policeman who shot down a ten year old in Queens Today that 37 year old white man stood over the boy with his cop shoes in childish blood with 13 years of police forcing and a voice said “Die you little motherfucker” and was set free there are tapes to prove it. At his trial by eleven white men who said they were satisfied this policeman said in his own defense justice had been done “I didn't notice the size nor nothing else and one Black Woman who said only the color”. And “They convinced me” meaning there are tapes to prove that, too. they had dragged her 4'10'' black Woman's frame over the hot coals of four centuries of white male approval until she let go the first real power she ever had and lined her own womb with cement to make a graveyard for our children.

I have not been able to touch the destruction within me.

But unless I learn to usethe difference between poetry and rhetoric my power too will run corrupt as poisonous mold or lie limp and useless as an unconnected wire and one day I will take my teenaged plug and connect it to the nearest socket raping an 85 year old white woman who is somebody's mother and as I beat her senseless and set a torch to her bed a greek chorus will be singing in 3/4 time “Poor thing. She never hurt a soul. What beasts they are.”

Paul S. Briggs Power (Audre Lorde), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 14.75h x 8w x 5.50d in

"won't you celebrate with me" By: Lucille Clifton

won't you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. born in babylon both nonwhite and woman what did i see to be except myself? i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay, my one hand holding tight my other hand; come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.

Paul S. Briggs Celebrate with me (Lucille Clifton), 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 9.50w x 4.25d in

Knot Vessels "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."

-Paul S. Briggs, September 2020

Paul S. Briggs Profiling, 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 13h x 8w x 10d in

Paul S. Briggs Untitled, 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 13h x 9w x 8.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Systemic 2, 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 13h x 7w x 9.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Arrested Development 1, 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 13h x 10w x 6.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Hidden From the Right Hand, 2021 Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 14.75h x 8w x 5.50d in

Pinched Forms "Pinch-forming has long been a meditative process for me... I've only made vessels that referenced nature, but nature was not the initial impetus for the work. Nature was important to understand how transitions took place from stem to sepal to petal or how pinecones rested on the ground. But largely the experience is an intuitive response to the clay and process."

-Paul S. Briggs, September 2020

Paul S. Briggs Windflower, leaf pinch, double cuttle Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 11w x 10.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Windflower, pear glaze, anemone pinch Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 11w x 10.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Windflower, double cuttle tentacle pinch, tri colored Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 11w x 10.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Pure Pinching Scholar’s form Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 12.50h x 11w x 10.50d in

Paul S. Briggs Pure Pinching- Coelenterate Glazed stoneware, oxidation, c6 14.75h x 8w x 5.50d in

Paul S. Briggs born 1963

Education MFA, Ceramics/3D, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2016.

PhD, Art Education/Educational Theory and Policy, Penn State, 1995.

MSEd, Art Education/Ceramics, Alfred University, 1992.

MA, Rabbinic Literature, Oral Roberts University, 1991 BSED, Education/Ceramics, The City College of New York, 1986.

Select Exhibitions 2021 Marsh Gallery (Solo), Herron School, Cincinnati, OH. 2021 List Gallery (Solo), Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. 2021 “Calling to Who We Are,” NCECA Concurrent Exhibition, Cincinnati, OH. 2021 “Alternate Endings 3: Contemporary Ceramic Bookends" NCECA, Cincinnati, OH. 2021 “Intuitive Responses: Poetic Justice in Clay”, Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA. 2020 “Empowering Voices,” Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA. 2020 “Clay National,” The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA. 2020 “Off the Table: Clay for the Wall,” Missouri Western State University Clay Guild.

2020 “Color Network: Voices for Change,” Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL. 2020 “Constructors, Presented by The Color Network,” at Alma’s RVA, Richmond, VA. 2019 “Cell Persona: Incarceration’s Impact on Black Lives,” (Solo) Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, Cincinnati, OH. 2019 “Terra Incognita,” Plant Seven Gallery, High Point, NC. 2019 “Constructed ClayScapes,” San Angelo Museum of Art, San Angelo, TX 2019 Eutectic Gallery (With Elliot Kayser) Portland, OR.

2019 “The Good Making of Good Things: Craft Horizons Magazine 1941-1979” Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN. 2019 “More Than That” (Juror: Roberto Lugo) Flaten Museum of Art, Northfield, MN. 2019 “Cell Persona: Incarceration’s Impact on Black Lives” (Solo) Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield, MN. Official NCECA exhibit.

2019 “Sin: The Seven Deadlies in Clay” Perlman Teaching Museum at the Weitz Center for Creativity Carleton College, Northfield, MN. 2018 “Other People’s Eyes” Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art (ICA MECA) Portland, ME. 2018 International Ceramic Artists Network 2018 Wall Calendar – Pots with Flowers.

2017 “Northern Clay Center Members Exhibition” (Jurors: Amy Smith, Ron Gallas) Minneapolis, MN. 2017 "MassArt 28th Annual Auction" (Juried), Bakalar-Paine Galleries, Boston, MA. 2017 Potters Council Juried Show at NCECA 2017, Portland, OR. 2016 International Ceramics Exhibition University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL. 2016 State of Clay 2016 (Juror: Wayne Higby, NYSCC at Alfred) Lexington Arts and Craft Society, Lexington, MA 2016 "MassArt 27th Annual Auction" (Juried), Bakalar-Paine Galleries, Boston, MA. 2016 "Art Show Bedford" (Juror: Peter MacGill, Pace/MacGill Gallery, NY) Bedford, NY. 2015 Work selected for display in Rio/McMillen room design in the 43rd Kips Bay Decorator Show House. The Arthur Sachs Mansion, New York, NY. 2015 "MassArt 26th Annual Auction" (Juried), Bakalar-Paine Galleries, Boston, MA. 2015 "Work/2015" Art Education Faculty Show, MassArt Arnheim Gallery, Boston, MA. 2014 "Art at the Library Series" (Invitation) Julia L. Butterfield Library, Cold Spring, NY. 2014 "Scotchie Crown Classic" (Juried) Redbird Studio Gallery, Columbia, SC. 2013 “Selections from the Permanent Collection: Abstraction”. University of Tennessee Ewing Gallery, Knoxville, TN. 2012 “Revealed” (New Ceramic Sculpture, with Pat Badt) University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

2012 “Art Show Bedford” (Juror: Neil Watson, Director-Katonah Museum of Art) Bedford, NY, Honorable Mention.

2011 CaFa 13th Tokyo-New York Friendship Ceramic Competition (Juror: Toshio Ohi, 10th Generation Ohi Potter) Nippon Gallery, New York, NY. 2011 “Art Show Bedford” (Juror: Walter Leidtke, Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art) Bedford, NY, Honorable Mention.

2010 “Art Show Bedford” (Juror: Neil Watson, Director-Katonah Museum of Art) Bedford, NY. 2009 Katonah Museum Artists Association Juried Exhibition.

2009 “Beaux Arts Exhibit” (Juried) Katonah, NY, 2nd Place Sculpture Prize.

2008 “Tactile Clay” (Invitation) Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. 2007 “Ecstatic Skin of the Earth” National Juried Ceramics Exhibition (Juror: Paulus Berensohn) Xiem Clay Center, Pasadena, CA. 2007 “Evolution” The 5th Cheongju International Craft Biennale” (Juried) Cheongju City Korea, Honorable Mention.

2007 “Beaux Arts Exhibit” (Juried) Katonah, NY, 1st Place Sculpture Prize.

2007 “Ceramic Sculpture,” James Gallery, Bedford Hills, NY. 2006 “Art Show Bedford” (Juror: Neil Watson, Director-Katonah Museum of Art, Juror) Bedford, NY, Bjorlin Sculpture Prize.

2006 “Showtime at the Schoolhouse Gallery” Katonah Museum Artist Association. (Juried) Croton NY. 2006 Storm King School Vladimir Center for Art (solo, invitation) Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY. 2005 “Black History Month Exhibit” (Invitation) Northern Westchester Center for Art. 2004 “Spiritual in Art” (Ceramic Sculpture-Invitation) Stonehill College, Easton, MA.

Collections Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN. San Angelo Museum of Art, San Angelo, TX.

University of Tennessee, Ewing Gallery, Knoxville, TN. Wellesley College Multifaith Center, Wellesley, MA. Pizzuti Collection of Columbus Museum of Art Alfred Ceramic Museum, sculpture soon to be acquired Various Private Collections

Awards Missouri Western State University Off the Table: Clay for the Wall First Place. 2020 South Eastern Minnesota Arts Council Advancing Artist $5,000 Grant, 2018.

Student Support Services Outstanding Teacher Award, 2017.

Interfaith Dialogue Awardee from the American Jewish Committee and Westchester Jewish Conference for American Pluralism, November 2009.

Received the Outstanding African American Men Award for Religious Outreach to Youth (Contemporary Activities) Alpha Kappa Alpha (Xi Chi Omega Chapter) October 2006.

Teaching and Leadership Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snow Mass Village Colorado.

2022 Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA. 2020 Mass College of Art and Design, Boston, MA. Associate Professor of Art Education Director of Saturday Studios. 2019- present.

Harvard University Ceramics Program, Cambridge, MA. 20192020 Harvard University Ceramics Program, Cambridge, MA. Artist in Residence. 2019-2020.

St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN. Assistant Professor of Art and Art History (Ceramics). 20162019.

Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC. Summer 2018.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Graduate MFA Critiques – Invited Participant., 2017.

Storm King High School, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY. Visual Arts Director. 2000-2004.

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