September has been a great month for art shows in and near Cambridge. I’d especially like to call out an amazing exhibit of the work of ceramicist Isaac Scott called ” Mouros” which will be at Lucy Lacoste Gallery, 25 Main Street in Concord, Mass, through October 14.

Scott, now of Philadelphia, is a brilliant young sculptor and photographer whose photos of the 2020 riots in Philadelphia following the death of George Floyd were published by the New Yorker Magazine– earning him the National Magazine Award for Feature Photographer of the Year in 2021. He is also a fabulous sculptor/ceramicist.

Not long ago, Scott told me at the Lacoste opening, he visited a friend in Lisbon, knowing little about that city or Portugal. Taking tours of the city, he learned about its Moorish roots, legends of ghostly ancestors, and of the slave trade that originated in Lisbon the 1400s. Descended from slaves himself, he was fascinated by the stories he heard, and, when he returned to the US, crafted a series of ceramic heads, called “Mouros,” which, in the LaCoste exhibit, he pairs with photos he took of Lisbon and its surroundings.

“Rua Do Poço Dos Negros (Road of the Black Pit) is a street in Lisbon today. This street is a mass grave site for slaves. The irony is that the justification for taking the Slaves was so they could be converted to Christianity yet once converted, they were not considered worthy of being buried in the Catholic cemeteries. The Black Bust is wearing a crown of gold chain with eyes covered by a mask bearing the name of this street.“

• Isaac Scott
  Rua Do Poço Dos Negros, 2023
• Glazed Stoneware with Steel Chain
• 17.25h x 12.25w x 12d in
• Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
• 36 x 36 in
• IS016

“The exhibition powerfully brings to light the origination of the slave trade, references the African diaspora; and brings us back full circle to the present day with references to graffiti and hip-hop culture,” said Gallery Owner Lucy Lacoste..

One pairing includes a Mauro bust with a remarkable close-up photo of pigeons–whose ubiquity and flights all over the world seemed to parallel with the travels of Portuguese and other slave ships, Scott said.

“Pombo (Pigeon), 2023

The artist uses the pigeon as a symbol for the African Diaspora, which like the bird, spread all over the world and were domesticated. Most cities have feral pigeons. Once they are free, they are seen as a problem. The bust is covered with meticulously carved sculptured feathers with wings on the side.

Lacoste added, “In my over 30 years of being a gallerist, I’ve rarely seen an artist whose work is more exciting.  Here the artist pushes the boundaries of contemporary art by creating a dialogue between the two mediums of ceramics and photography to tell the culturally relevant story of the slave trade. “

Castelo Dos Mouros, 2023

This piece is inspired by the Moorish Castle in Cientro outside of Lisbon. The image is of a section of the castle. The plaque is a reference to another mass grave found at this location. After a renovation, experts were unable to distinguish which bodies were Moors or which bodies were Christian and reinterred them in a mass grave with a tombstone that read “What Man brought together only God can separate.”

Isaac Scott received his MFA from Temple University in 2021 under Roberto Lugo. Introduced to Lucy Lacoste in 2022, Scott was included in a well-received group show at the Gallery that year in which he showed his #Philadelphia Series, sculpture inspired by the 2020 Riots in Philadelphia, the city where he lives, after the death of George Floyd.

At Lucy Lacoste Gallery, 25 Main Street, Concord, Mass., through October 14, 2023.

–Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and photographer who resides in Cambridge, Mass.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge.

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I found Ani Kasten’s latest ceramics exhibit, which opened yesterday at the Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA, inspirational.  The work, comprised mainly of vessels of irregular shapes and sizes,  is  delicate, with seams sometimes held together with thin wires, and replete with beautiful, unexpected embellishments, cracks. colors and patterns that make the viewer stop to contemplate.

Entitled From the Ruins, the show focuses on vessels and sculptures that are “deconstructed…  ‘barely holding together’, ‘coming apart at the seams’, and searching for a cohesive beauty in their tenuous state of existence,”  according to the exhibit writeup.

I mentioned to Kasten that her work “spoke” to me, especially because too many of my close friends and family members have passed away, recently, and that I’m working on writing and photography projects that I hope will help bring shape, beauty, meaning and new life to past experiences.  Kasten responded that she, too, has gone through several major losses, which in part, inspired her current work.

Ani Kasten

 “Investigating the materiality of the clay is the foundation and focal point for all of my sculptural vessels. I create wheel-thrown and hand-built forms in families, and these sculptural groupings explore the meeting point between natural and man-made worlds. The vessels take their influence from plants, water, rocks and clay, as well as from architecture, industry and machinery.

“They investigate the nature of change, the compiling of memory, and a feeling of profound loss– the recognition of temporal beauty bound inextricably with grief. The pieces are like remnants, a landscape of objects that remain after some kind of significant change, grave markers, or organic matter that has survived a great fire.

According to a gallery publication, Kasten was drawn to the medium of clay as an apprentice to British ceramist Rupert Spira, Then she headed a stoneware making facility in Nepal for four years before returning to the USA to set up ceramic studios in California, Maryland and most recently Minnesota.  She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally with works in the permanent collections of the Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin; the Weisman Art Museum Minneapolis MN; and the Sana’ a Collection, the US Embassy, Sana’ a Yemen.

One of my favorite galleries is Lacoste, in Concord, MA–which features nationally and internationally known ceramicists–as well as emerging artists. Founded by Lucy Lacoste,  a ceramicist herself, the gallery shown the work of 80 or more artists.  Over the years, I’ve much admired Lacoste’s striking displays–which have provided insight and inspiration for my own writing and art.

The current exhibit, which runs November 19-December 4, 2016, is NORDIC LIGHT, features the work  of Anne Fløche and Hans Vangsø,  partners in life who work independently interpreting contemporary ceramics in Aarhus, Denmark. As Lucy Lacoste explains:

Anne Floche with patron

Anne Fløche is a Danish clay sculptor experimenting with various forms and colors in clay by using utensils or implements to make markings on clay surfaces. The color principles of terra sigillata, a clay slip used like a glaze, informs her application of colors which are subtle yet rich in scale. For Anne, clay is a broad canvas whereas glazes, engobes and slips are paints for her artistic expressions. In this exhibition, she is inspired by architectures of different geographical locations. Her sculptures are composed to form landscapes or cityscapes of an imagined world.

Anne Floche, Green Box

Anne Floche, Blue with White

Anne Floche, Tablet with White Time is Curved

Hans Vangso

Hans Vangsø is a Danish studio potter mentored by the great Gutte Eriksen, following the rich Scandinavian and Japanese ceramic traditions. His works are simple in form and line yet the surfaces are highly textured. Multiple firing processes and unconventional treatments of surfaces are his hallmark. Vessels are bisque fired then applied with thick glazes, wrapped in seaweed or metal then tightly bound in newspaper before firing to a high temperature.  Bubbles and blisters on the vessel surfaces as a result of these processes are unique in each vessel. Colors are subtle but there are unmistakable markings that appear to have gone through some form of geological stress.  

Hans Vangso, Tall Jar

Hans Vangso, Cut Jar

Lacoste Gallery was introduced to the work of Hans Vangsø and Anne Fløche by William Hull, the pre-eminent curator of Danish ceramics in the US. They are partners and share a home on the east coast of Jutland, Denmark.

Lucy Lacoste

“We have shown Hans Vangsø many times over the years; this is the first full show with him and his partner Anne Fløche. Both are rooted in Scandinavian traditions yet are applying exciting and new treatments to ceramic art. They have come to symbolize the new in Danish ceramics”  Lacoste said.

The current show runs through December 4, 2016. Next up is “New Pots, Utility 2, featuring the work of Linda Christianon and Jan McKeachie Johnston, from December 10, 2016-January 7, 2017. An opening reception with Christiabso and Johnston will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2016, from 3-5 pm; the artists will speak on Sunday, December 11, at 2 pm.

–Anita M. Harris

Anita M. Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant base in Cambridge, MA.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning pr and digital marketing firm in Kendall Square, Cambridge.