Opening Reception - Shardeology - Making with the future in mind

Long Island City Artists presents: Shardeology - Making with the future in mind

Shardeology curated by Eric Lawrence will be on view November 6th - December 4th, 2024 at the LIC-A Art Space at The Factory LIC, 30-30 47th Avenue, LIC.

In the distant future, archeologists will unearth our fragments, and try to decipher our chaotic, transformative era. There will be bits of phones, a lot of plastic. Will the clay shards surprise them? Clay is experiencing a vibrant renaissance - from functional to sculptural, wood fired to painstaking pattern, pinched to 3D printed.

There are 50 voices in this show. Each of them deserves your attention. Each piece is a fragment of their maker’s world. The archeologist far in the future finding all these together, would be hard pressed to make sense of the shards. Why would Alina Smirnov’s classical vase form, Light As A Feather have been next to the tortured fingers of Patrick Bell’s Metastasis 1? After piecing together Mark Cole’s Untitled 2, a vessel of uncertain use, they could only speculate on a direct connection with Nishan Ganimian’s Ashley, Loved to Death.

These pieces are arranged so that, hopefully, everyone will find their way to their own stories of connection. There is no hierarchy, no excluded category.

As always, as makers, we have our own ideas. But once out in the world, our ideas are subject to interpretation. - Eric Lawrence

The artists on view include: Robert Barone, Patrick Bell, Nancy Bruno, Ingrid Butterer, Kallie Cassidy, Mark Cole, Ellen Day, Laurie Densen, Diane diMauro, Rosanne Ebner, Gracie Fossett, Nishan Ganimian, Jon Garfield, Peter Goldwater, Matt Greco, Amrit Guillin, Taylor Homme, Lisa Jakobsberg, Phoebe Jamieson, Jeffrey Jewell, Bradley Johnson, Namiko Kato, Marcie Kesner, Kris Waymire and Rhea Barve, Vivian Lee Gilly Lugo, Tamar Michaeli, Puneeta Mittal, Megan Cunanan Murphy, Shae Nadine, Hye Yeon Nam, Brendan Harmon, & Nasrin Iravani, Beverly O'Mara, Tina Pelikan, Keith Rizza, Sheila Ross, Annie Lyall Slaughter, Alina Smirnova, Norah Stone, Poppy Thomas, Yuko Uchida, Roussina Valkova, Gabriela Vasquez, Watuza Vidal, Joan Walton, Jennie Wilde, Kam Wong, Harold Wortsman, and Robert Zumwalt.

About the curator: Eric Lawrence received an MFA in film from Columbia University in 1983 and subsequently worked in commercials and television. Eventually, he reassessed his path and began studying clay at the Parsons School of Design and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. This journey led him to create and teach ceramics throughout New York for over 25 years. He has exhibited with Long Island City Artists, at Gallery North in Setauket, LI, and on Governor’s Island. Earlier this year, Lawrence participated in "Portal: Shifting Landscapes," a show organized by 4Heads and ChaShaMa. He has maintained a studio space at the Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center in Long Island City since it opened in 2007

About LIC-A (Long Island City Artists) LIC Artists, Inc. is a non-profit arts advocacy organization founded by artists and incorporated in 1986 in Long Island City. 

LIC-A's Gallery space is generously donated by the Factory LIC. Its members are professional artists from Long Island City as well as elsewhere in Queens. LIC-A's programs are enabled largely through the volunteer work of member artists and supported by grants and donations. LIC-A is committed to broadening its community of artists, and expanding the audience for art produced in Queens through exhibitions, classes, and special projects and events. 

For additional images/information, please contact Norma Homberg at info@licartists.org.