In conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoCA) current exhibition at the Patchogue Arts Council (PAC), the four featured artists were invited to “Coffee with a Curator” on Saturday, Aug. 29, with host, professor John Cino.
The exhibition, featuring sculptures and paintings among other media, was installed earlier this summer and will be on display until Sept. 20.
Christie Jones is an eco-artist who collaborates with the coastal environment. Working with handmade paints derived from earth and mineral pigments applied to thick rag paper, she creates work by submerging materials in saltwater.
Rainy Lehrman is an American designer and artist who employs traditional crafts techniques to inform the relationship between the human-made and the natural world.
Becca Osborn makes ceramic sculptures of intricate texture and organic form to explore grief and loss, which she represents as a bog.
Lorena Salcedo-Watson is an artist, printmaker, and educator. She is inspired by botany, entomology, and human anatomy.
Cino opened the panel discussion with explaining the thought process behind naming the exhibit, “Earth Mothers.” The title was to evoke the artists’ use of natural, earth-occurring objects and the creation of art from these raw materials.
“As we were doing this, one of the things that kept on coming up was the idea of a transformation,” said Cino.
Jones explained how she sourced her paint from rocks and minerals and how it was a transformative process, especially given the physical labor needed to break stones.
“It goes from rock to powder and once it’s powder, I can turn it into paint,” said Jones.
Osborn echoed Jones and said that pottery was also quite transformative as the process starts from dirt to kiln.
“In ceramics we often say, ‘It’s up to the kiln gods,’” said Osborn.
Cino expressed his admiration for one of the exhibition pieces, “The Seven Sisters,” by Salcedo Watson.
“When I first saw ‘The Seven Sisters,’ I was like ‘wow.’ I just love the curves in this thing. But then as I learned about the piece, I understood there was a deeper meaning,” said Cino.
Salcedo-Watson gave background about her steam-bending art and said the process dated back to over 4,000 years ago and has been found in diverse societies since then.
A tragedy occurred when Salcedo-Watson’s studio of 15 years burned down last year. After enrolling and completing a family-friendly art residency, Salcedo-Watson wanted to honor the women she met by creating a wooden snake for each person.
“So the skin is a creature that is interfacing with the skin of the Earth,” said Salcedo-Watson.
Osborn said she thought of the place of grief being akin to a bog, because while grief is a journey, all of the emotions, transitions, and recovery happen in one space.
“It’s kind of like, what could possibly grow here? Because everything looks pretty dead, but when you crouch down and you look a little more closely, you actually see that these places are teeming with life,” said Osborn.
“Earth Mothers” will be on view at MoCA LI, 20 Terry Street, Patchogue, through Sept. 20
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