Once again, the Lacoste Keane gallery in Concord MA presents a stunning new show–in which ceramicist Ani Kasten uses the concept of visual poems to reflect on issues such as environmental collapse, social collapse, and inner and outer strife.
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In the show, Kasten creates sculptural compositions from fragments and debris. While some vessels are quite large, other, smaller pieces Kasten calls “poems,” are three-dimensional objects which she likens to written verse. A poem, says the one-time literature major, ” shears away everything but the most essential, evoking an emotional response through the sparest communication, constructing concepts and feelings into a hewn verbal form, without engaging narrative or logic.”
Debris poems; Lucy Lacoste
Kasten uses earth materials like clay and rocks as a metaphor to explore ideas of decay, disintegration and renewal. “Working in clay is about the search for balance between the natural tendencies of the materials and the craft that is brought about by contact with the human hand,” according to the gallery writeup. “Faced with monumental forces of nature and entropy, a sadness and feeling of futility is provoked with the notion that human hubris seeks to create lasting structure and survival in the face of decimation by forces outside of our control—earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, violence and war. “
In this work, Kasten “reveals emerging structures and constructs under stress, made by the human hand but fighting against collapsing infrastructure. They show the cracking, warping and erosion that are natural expressions of the material, and explore the beauty and sadness in building from wreckage, such as a little robot made from scavenged shards of something former, with two little ears made from fossilized hornets’ nests.
Kasten says that “In the act of scavenging, building and creating the visual poems, ” she is “searching for beauty and harmony in the act of piecing back together what may seem like meaningless detritus of a collapsing world, reclaiming a tenuous and fragile feeling of meaning and purpose.”
In my view, she is successful in doing so. The pieces look delicate–as if they could fall apart at any second. But with their pastel colors and seemingly -haphazard-yet-powerful shapes reaching out in many directions, they exude tremendous energy–inviting the viewer to enter into Kasten’s exploration and expression of the tenuous-yet-enduring relationships of natural and human forces.
Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and digital marketing agency, also in Cambridge.
Anita Harris mourns the loss of her long-time mentor, author and Cornell professor James McConkey, whom she knew for more than 50 years.
Cornell Author and Professor Emeritus James McConkey at a celebration of his 95th birthday in Ithaca, New York.
It’s not every freshman writing instructor who stays in touch with a student for more than 50 years, but Cornell University Professor Emeritus James McConkey was one who did…and I was the lucky student.
McConkey was my freshman writing instructor in 1967–I used to go out to his farm to exercise his horses–and he helped me through the student takeover of Willard Straight Hall, from which 130 black protestors emerged–several of whom brandished rifles.
(Jim told me recently that he sat with Dan Berrigan during the Barton Hall Takeover; also counselled University President Perkins–and tried to be a voice of reason throughout all of that). We stayed in touch for some 50 years; he and I held a joint book-signing in the Cornell Store during my 45th college reunion.
I am glad I got to seem him just before he passed away.
In early October, Jim, his son Larry and daughter-in-law Diane McConkey were on their way back from visiting another of Jim’s former students on Northern Maine ( some 9 hours from Ithaca) and invited me to dinner at the Publick House, near Cambridge, , where I live, and where they were spending the night.
At 98, he told a few funny stories about his mother, who lived to 100 at least…and I joked that his social life was better than mine. He was still driving–and told us that he would be driving the ten miles from his farm to lunch with friends several times the next week. He seemed frail–but sounded fine when I called to thank him a few days after our dinner.
–Anita M. Harris Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. Her books include Ithaca Diaries, a memoir and social history of her undergraduate years at Cornell; and Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity. She is currently working on a creative nonfiction book tentatively titled “Harrisburg,” which is about her experiences founding an alternative newspaper in Pennsylvania, during the trial of the Harrisburg 8.
Chamelia Sari visits the Inuit on Thankgsiving, 2019
Our friend Chamelia Sari–a lawyer from Weymouth, MA and Jakarta, Indonesia– recently took what sounds like a trip of a lifetime–spending Thanksgiving in Point Barrow, Alaska, on the North Pole. Before she left, when I asked her if she were going for work or fun, she said it was a mission: she wanted to find out what it was like to be in a place where the sun did not rise.
Chamelia’s travel companion was Arjun Banerje, of india, who has lived and worked in Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. Currently, he is working on a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Chamelia originally posted the following report on Facebook; I thought it was well worth sharing further.
–Anita M. Harris
Chamelia Sari , Point Barrow, Alaska, November 2019
I’ve been to North Pole
before. Yes, that North Pole where Santa usually drives his snow cart and gives
Christmas presents to good and nice kids – if they behave all year.
But Point Barrow? Never knew such place existed, not until my evil twin texted me two weeks ago when I was still in Taipei–crying desperately, saying that he needed someone to company him. He knew my endless love for Alaska and so he trapped me with it.
Point Barrow is the
northernmost part of the US – “Top of the World”, they say. It’s located at
71°23’20” N 156°28’45’W. By air, it takes
16 hours from Seattle to get there. There are no direct flights. We needed to
stop three times: in Juneau, Anchorage, and Prudhoe Bay –before landing at Dead
Horse Airport at Barrow. We left at 6 AM – and arrived around 7 PM local time.
Since it is the northernmost
part of the world, the weather is extremely cold. The temperature was -18° Celsius
when we got there but it felt like like-28° Celsius. But we were eager to visit
Barrow, especially in the wintertime. A friend of mine, a native I had met in
Juneau looked me in the eye – he still couldn’t believe when I told him was
going to visit Barrow, and wished me luck.
Barrow will have no sunlight
for almost two months. The last sunset was on November 18th at1.49 PM. The next
sunrise in Barrow will be on January 23, 2020. It’s a phenomenon called “polar
night”. Which means that the people who live in Barrow will lives in dark for
two months. Morning, noon, afternoon – night – all dark.
Considering the cold weather, we stayed at King Eider Inn, a hotel located 100 meters from the airport. Yes, we stayed right across the airport (yay!!!). Don’t imagine the airport is be like Changi in Singapore or Hamad International in Doha, Qatar. It is small and simple. But one thing for sure is that the people who work in Deadhorse Airport are very dedicated and professional. And punctual.
When we woke up the first day and walked around to see the city at around 10.00 AM, we it was amazing. Dark all over. Thick snow everywhere. No trees. Only tundra can survive there – even during the summer. We looked at one another in disbelief that we that we had actually made it to Barrow. We laughed to ourselves like Carey and Daniels from Dumb and Dumber.
A friend in Juneau had warned me that there would be no restaurants open during Thanksgiving. I had brought some frozen food but we really craved hot soup, that day. So, while we were busy taking pictures, we walked all over like lost children and hoped for a miracle: that that we would meet some generous local people who would feel sorry for us and invite us to eat at their place and celebrate the Thanksgiving with their family.
Did you know that God is always good all the time? We did not have to wait too long for our prayers to be answered. He led us to wonderful Inuit people who celebrate Thanksgiving with their local community. I met and interacted with native people!!!! I almost cried with happiness and felt so blessed with this opportunity.
We got invited to serve local people – Inuit whose ancestry in Barrow goes back more than 1,100 years. We helped Jim, his wife and his community distribute fish, geese and caribou meat to their people.
Jim is a sea captain who successfully caught a whale this year with his five team members. It was such an amazing feeling to be able to interact and make friends with this community. To see their sincere and loving faces. To get to know Jordan, a little rascal that stole my heart – and his lovely family.
Inuit people are known as whale hunters. They have a tradition of hunting whale every year, with the catch distributed to people in the community. All of it. Even though only five or six people risk their lives to catch the whale (sometimes people get killed while hunting) – they willing to share it equally with all members of the community. I saw it with my own eyes. I even experienced it myself. They distribute the whole catch. If only politicians in the city would think and act like the Inuit people how wonderful life would be. No corruption, no unfairness.
Our amazing journey ended with another surprise. We were finally be able to reach Point Barrow, the place that is extremely cold. Not even my five Columbia Omni with heat layers could help me this time. Herman, a new local friend, lent us his Itaga – the traditional Inuit winter jacket made from Mouton fur. You can see in the picture what it looks like.
By snow mobile, Herman led us to Point Barrow. We rode the snow mobile for an hour and a half. I kept praying to God during the trip…
First, because my evil twin does not know how to drive, and there was a big possibility that we would be thrown from the snowmobile and get into the cold Arctic Ocean.
Second, a hungry Polar bear might eat us alive. Herman had to carry a weapon in his backpack while riding the snow mobile, just in case we saw a Polar bear on our way.
I remember reading a story on the internet: If three people are chased by a bear, they have to sacrifice the slowest person in the group. I was the only one in our group with short legs. And my heavy, bulky winter jacket and layers underneath it made it difficult for me to move. That meant they would have to leave ME if a hungry bear found and chased us. Not good. Not good at all.
While we were enjoying the cold – with an unreal view in front of us – Herman pointed his fingers and said “Hi, look – there are polar bears there!”. “ What ???!!! Polar bears??? “ “Yes, it is a polar bear!!! And not only one – but three of them!!! “ We saw a mama Polar bear and her two cubs playing in the freezing Artic ocean. Herman looked at the two of us with his small eyes, smiling and said, “The two of you are very lucky.”
We did feel lucky. My happiness in Barrow was complete when we had a chance to taste the delicious Chinese foods – right in Barrow. I missed my fluffy blueberry pancakes and yogurt– but I got so much more on this trip. And I will always remember a handsome, smart husky that we met when we walked back to our hotel.
Juno, I love you and hope to see you again someday :). We’ll never forget this wonderful journey.
I like quotes. Sometimes, they do make sense.
It is true, life is an adventure. As Lori Deschene has said,
Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most exciting moments in life take us completely by surprise.
Anita Harris much enjoyed “Vessel Reimagined,” a ceramics exhibit shedding new light on a 20,000 year-old-form, at Lacoste Keane Gallery, in Concord, MA.
It’s not often that I walk through a gallery with a smile on my face, but that’s exactly what happened on Saturday, at the opening of Lacoste Keane’s “Vessel Re-imagined,” a ceramics exhibit in Concord, MA, curated by Brooks Oliver, of Dallas, Texas.
The show includes pieces by five artists, each contributing new insight to the vessel. As pointed out on the gallery website, a vessel is “a hollow container, especially one used to hold liquid, such as a bowl or cask–and a fundamental and important form connected to human civilization.” The first known clay pot, found in China, is 20,000 years old.
The first installation to catch my eye (immediately above) looked, from a distance, like a quilt but it was, in fact, a set of 12 plates made by Margaret Kinkeade of Kansas City– exhibiting the interplay of art and function. According to Kinkeade’s Web site, her work often focuses on American folk art and traditional craft…and on “the domestic object as souvenir, the collection as identity and community connection through shared work–especially that of women.
The idea of community connection through shared work came through clearly in Kinkeade’s second installation, (below). At the opening, attendees were encouraged to eat bread and butter off of small clay salad plates, and then hang the used plates on the wall to form a grid. The inclusion of visitors in both using and hanging the objects both exemplified and questioned the utilitarian aspect of vessels–because when hung on the wall, the plates were transformed into objects of art and decoration.
Cutator Brooks Oliver
I was quite taken by the work of Lily Fein, a Massachusetts based young art graduate, who approaches the vessel through the pinching and coiling method. According to a Lacoste writeup, “her works are painstaking and time consuming to make as each vessel is coiled and pinched to form. Using the challenging medium of porcelain, she creates each vessel from the base and builds the work up by pushing the walls from inside and outside. The abstract qualities are revealed by each fingerprint and mark making. The stippling on her works is meditative as the continuous application of dots on the surface involves complete focus and involvement from the artist. Each work holds special memory of the artist and her energy.” The work below is called “Twisted Figures.”
Heesoo Lee‘s ethereal vessels (below) are inspired by nature and landscape and “combine the painterly with the sculptural. Her poetic imagery is created by using layers of underglaze and china paint on scenes built up and sculpted on clay. These works are reminiscent of Louis Comfort Tiffany and Newcomb Pottery. I found the detail amazing.
I found wonderful surprise in the work of Zak Helenske, (below) who is interested in the development of form and the exploration of pattern. He looks to industrial and architectural examples as points of reference using the language of geometry as his path of communication. According to Lacoste, “One sees in his work a connection to architecture and geometry in which the haptic—the sense of touch is important.” I especially liked his combination of architecture and “pots,” and was intrigued by how his seemingly “puzzle-like” pieces were put together.
Finally, curator Brooks Oliver, who obtained his MFA from Penn State and is a ceramics educator at the University of North Texas, endeavors to “reimagine and reinterpret the familiar functional vessel”. In doing so, according to the gallery Web site, “he challenges the viewers to examine the grey areas in art and craft, form and function and mass production versus handmade. On the surface his works are sleek and industrial, but closer examination reveals the maker’s marks such as seams that have not been sanded smoothly or glaze applied by hand. All leaving slight unevenness on the object’s surface. Oliver’s minimalist work never ceases to question the public’s perception of the vessel. One can treat them as beautiful works of art, yet the void within the object renders them functional in some instances. “
The show will be at Lacoste Keane Gallery, 25 Main St. Concord, MA, until September 28, 2019.
Photos–except for the first one, in chartreuse, c. Anita M. Harris
–Anita Harris Anita M. Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge.
On Chance and Materiality: sculptor Rafa Pérez’s first East Coast exhibition
I’m looking forward to East Coast solo exhibit of the Spanish sculptor Rafa Perez–to be held from 3-5 pm at the Lacoste/Keane Gallery, 25 Main Street, Concord, MA, on August 3, 2019.
Born in 1957 in Haro, La Rioja, Spain, Perez studied ceramics at the Massana School of Art and Design in Barcelona. According to a gallery press release, he has been making abstract sculptures for over 30 years.
Though prolific and well exhibited in Europe, Pérez has been largely under represented in the United States –his only previous US solo show was at Minnesota State University in 2018.
Perez’s work is the result of two important factors – his masterful handling of the clay body while letting the unpredictability of the firing be an active participant in the process. This is achieved by mixing his own clay body and experimenting with firing temperatures. It is the element of surprise that motivates him to continuously tests materials until he is satisfied, he wrote, “I try to keep a balanced relation with the fire. I mean the fire has to work by its own as I do, but finally we are a team.” In the work Untitled #8, 2014 (pictured), Perez applied his own special formula of glaze on wire mesh which crawls during firing, giving the piece a dramatic affect. Lucy Lacoste, the founder of our gallery surmises, “I have been watching Rafa Pérez’s career for some time and to me, he is exciting because of his handling of the materials which is innovative and unorthodox much like Jackson Pollock or Jasper Johns.”
Born in 1957 in Haro, La Rioja, Spain Perez studied ceramics at the Although prolific and well exhibited in Europe, says Lacoste/Keane founder and co-owner Lucy Lacoste. “He has been largely under represented in the United States –his only previous US solo show was at the Minnesota State University in 2018.”
Lacoste describes Pérez’s work as the result of two important factors: “… his masterful handling of the clay body and the unpredictability of the firing, which becomes an active participant in the process. This is achieved by mixing his own clay body and experimenting with firing temperatures. It is the element of surprise that motivates him to continuously tests materials until he is satisfied. “
Perez writes “I try to keep a balanced relation with the fire. I mean the fire has to work by its own as I do, but finally we are a team.”
In the work Untitled #8, 2014 (pictured), Perez applied his own special formula of glaze on wire mesh which crawls during firing, giving the piece a dramatic affect.
Lacoste says, “I have been watching Rafa Pérez’s career for some time and to me, he is exciting because of his handling of the materials which is innovative and unorthodox– much like Jackson Pollock or Jasper Johns.”
An opening reception with Rafa Pérez will be held on Saturday August 3, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, with an artist talk on Sunday August 4, 2:00-4:00 pm. For details call 978-369-0278 or email info@lacostekeane.com.
Before Watergate, before Woodward and Bernstein, before the Internet and before the current President’s attacks on the free press, author Anita Harris helped found a weekly independent newspaper. She urges you to contribute to a Kickstarter to preserve that newspaper for future generations.
You might (or might not) know that many years ago…well, at the dawn of prehistory, in 1971, before Watergate, before Woodward and Bernstein, before the Internet and before the current president’s attacks on the free press… I helped found a weekly newspaper in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The paper, called the Harrisburg Independent Press, or, HIP (unfortunate acronym, I still think) was created to cover the trial of the Harrisburg 8—a group of nuns and priests and such who were accused by then FBI director J Edgar Hoover of conspiring to kidnap Presidential Advisor Henry Kissinger and blow up underground heating tunnels in Washington, DC (no, I’m not kidding)– and to report issues and concerns besetting the city, the state, and the nation.
Formed as a nonprofit, HIP was supported largely by subscriptions ($5 for six months, $8 a year) and advertising (the local dirty movie theater owners appreciated our not censoring their ads, tho one of them did ask us to airbrush a certain bodily area out of a photo).
The paper, which ran for nine years, became known for its muckraking, community and creative spirit. For example, in the very first year, our reporting led to the shutdown of a migrant camp and to new statewide labor regulations. HIP also covered housing, education, prison reform, government corruption –as even sports and the arts. Perhaps most notably, HIP beat the traditional press by uncovering safety problems at the nearby Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, as acknowledged in the national news.
Anyway, I’ve been working on a memoir of HIP and my days of independent newspapering…and am most grateful to a group of former staffers who recently scanned and archived every issue.
Jim Zimmerman worked at the Harrisburg Independent Press from 1973 to 1977 in various capacities. He was a writer and editor, sold ads, and distributed the paper, among other duties.
With just over a month to go, they’ve raised more than half that amount.
I’m writing in hopes that you will donate to help them raise the rest of the dough by August 18 so that the project will be a go.
What’s in it for you? Rewards! If they reach their goal,
-For a $25 contribution, you get a CD of the complete set of issues—some 300, in all.
-For $100 you get a t-shirt with a HIP logo
-For $500 you get a poster suitable for framing: your choice of (1) the front page of the first issue from 1971, or (2) the front page of the August 1978 issue: headlined “Meltdown: Tomorrow’s Disaster on Three Mile Island.”
The HIP team is hoping that other alternative newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s will follow their lead so that the amazing journalistic work of those times will not be lost to future generations.
Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. A graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia Journalism School, she held a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, and fellowships at Radcliffe, the Boston University College of Communications, and Tufts Universities. She taught journalism at Harvard, Yale and Simmons Universities. She is the author of Broken Patterns: Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity (WSU Press/Cambridge Common Press) and Ithaca Diaries, (Cambridge Common Press), a memoir/social history of Cornell University in the late 1960s. She is currently working on a book about the Harrisburg Independent Press.
