Alma College artist to demonstrate techniques

Alma College artist to demonstrate techniques

VICTORY TOWNSHIP — West Shore Community College’s Manierre Dawson Gallery is currently displaying the work of Alma College visiting Professor of Art Benjamin Lambert. The exhibit will run until Feb. 26.

On Feb. 22, Lambert will present a talk about his inspiration and techniques in room 366 of the Arts and Science Center at 11 a.m.

Later in the afternoon, Lambert will construct a head as he demonstrates his sculptural coil technique. The workshop will be held in room 345 (the pottery room) from 2 to 5 p.m., and participants may attend all or part of the workshop.

Witty and full of whimsy, Lambert’s figurative ceramic sculptures, nonetheless, explore serious contemporary issues. Some pieces, for example, question the ecological imbalances resulting from industrial and human occupations alike. As well, stylized and distorted figures of fisherman have strange encounters with their catch and give the viewer the foundations for spinning out their own explanations.

Having grown up along the Androscoggin River in Maine, Lambert saw firsthand the detrimental effects that pollution could wreck along the watershed. Because these pollutants so stimulated the growth of algae and other aquatic plants that used up the oxygen in the water, the river no longer sustained fish and other animals. “Bubblers” were installed to try to revitalize the river and so return the river to more natural balance.

Three of his sculptures from this exhibit will travel to the Michigan Ceramics Biennial Exhibition and Competition exhibit at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Lambert’s works were selected by internationally known ceramic sculptor Richard Notkin.

The exhibit, presentation and workshop are free and open to the public,

The gallery, located in the Arts and Sciences Center, is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and it is also open evenings and weekends during events in the Center Stage Theater.