For their annual spring exhibition, Sogetsu Ikebana Los Angeles collaborates with artist Adam Silverman in the premier exhibition of his Common Ground project, a work that celebrates the nation’s diversity and promotes radical inclusivity with 56 ceremonial vessels made from material collected from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the 5 inhabited territories of the United States of America. Ikebana arrangements representing the 56 locations will be placed in Silverman’s vessels by artists from the Los Angeles branch of the Sogetsu school of ikebana, known for their historic collaborations with contemporary artists.
About Adam Silverman
Known for his sculptural vessels and richly textured glazes, Adam Silverman is among the most dynamic practitioners dedicated to ceramics today. Silverman brings an architect’s sense of structure to his objects and utilizes personal and sophisticated techniques to glaze and fire his works.
Silverman was born in 1963 in New York, NY and received a Bachelor of Fine Art and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1987 and 1988. He served as the Los Angeles studio director of Heath Ceramics for five years between 2009 and 2014.
In 2008, he collaborated with architect Nader Tehrani and conceived Boolean Valley, an installation comprised of 400 clay objects with various versions at MOCA Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX, and San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA. In late 2019, the artist started Common Ground, an ongoing project in which he brings together clay, water, and wood ash from each of the 56 states and territories of the US. By mixing these materials together, he erases the arbitrary borders of statehood, to create a single new material which will be used to make the project. Common Ground reflects on the divisiveness of the current state of the country, while also celebrating the commonality and universality of the shared American experience.
Silverman’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX; Palm Springs Art Museum, CA; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI; and the Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
