New Exhibit: Foundational Touchstones, by Aimee Ehrman
Offit Gallery
Foundational Touchstones features ceramic artworks inspired by the historic buildings of Teachers College, Columbia University -- its textures, shadows, smells, stones, and concrete -- especially on the exterior walls of Zankel, Macy, and Thompson. Aimee Ehrman's vessels, sculptures, and wall mounts are made from clay that has been imprinted with old and familiar stone. The artworks are fired in the kilns of the historic Ceramics Studio, located in 59 Macy, to create interesting and experimental pieces with rich and diverse shapes, patterns, and finishes -- pieces that tell a story about the connection between embodied learning, experience, growth.
Artist Statement
“I have been entering the Teachers College campus through the gate and passageway between the Zankel and Thompson Hall buildings for over 11 years. I can say this passage has acted as a kind of portal to my experiences at TC as a student, a fellow, an educator, a researcher, and an artist. For many years, I have walked through knowing and understanding that I was surrounded by structures with long enduring histories, and encountered the textures, shadows, smells, of the stones and the concrete. I would occasionally stop and pause to bask in the sunshine that would sneak through the openings before proceeding to take or teach my courses.
Then, in May of 2022, everything changed when I endured a horrific family tragedy. In one instant my engagement with the world around me shifted. Suddenly, in one sense, I engaged with the world disconnected, disoriented, and fragmented. At the same time, I became increasingly attuned to the tiny details of the world around me – the leaf falling from the tree, the heart shaped hole in the sidewalk I pass every day, the sounds and smells of my environment stronger and more abrupt than ever before. I began to depend on these small details to help me keep putting one foot in front of the other. As I continued to enter through my pathway every day, I also became more attuned to the foundational stones of the buildings. I found myself stopping to examine them, to take in their strength, to feel their history, to see their beauty, to feel comforted by their support. These incredible old stones became my touchstones, both metaphorically and literally.
Ever since, I have felt compelled to explore these stones more deeply. Since clay is my language, my means of expression when words fail me often these days, it not only feels natural, but also needed, to physically explore these stones in my language.”
Bio
Aimee Ehrman is a ceramic artist-educator who examines the intersection of embodied learning and ceramics, and how the embodied practices of ceramics can be explored in higher education. She is deeply interested in exploring what happens during the moments of making with clay, and how we think and learn with and through our engagement with clay. Through constant exploration with the material, and as an active artist and educator, she brings her movement and ceramics practices to the classroom, where she challenges students to both experiment with the material and consider the role of the body as a tool. Aimee’s individual art works and installations are held in private collections and exhibited in galleries nationwide. Aimee, is part-time faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she is also a doctoral candidate for an Ed.D.C.T. in Art and Art Education, and has also earned an Ed.M. She has a M.F.A. from SUNY New Paltz and a B.A. from Baldwin Wallace University.
Foundational Touchstones, by 2024 Myers Awardee Aimee Ehrman, is funded through the continuing generosity of the Myers Foundations. This exhibit is supplemented by the Everett cafe book display, Sticks, Stones, Clay, and Bones: Embodying Tradition and Learning, which continues in Offit Gallery.
The art exhibition and curated book display are a collaboration between artist Aimee Ehrman; Library Associates for Art and Design, Soeun Bae and Ashley Wang; and Jennifer Govan, Senior Librarian, who pooled their energy, expertise, and experience.
Where: Offit Gallery
When: November 22 - January 17
Art Talk and Reception, Tuesday, 11/26, 5:30-7pm
Poster Image: Courtesy of Aimee Ehrman
Digital capture of Foundational Touchstones is provided by the Digital Futures Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University. Requests for accommodations may be submitted via online support.
