…DO…PART…
with Lauren Kalman
On view:
Mon 3/23/36 –Sat 3/28/36: 11:00AM–5:00PM
Reception: Fri, Mar 27, 2026 from 6:00PM–8:00PM.
…DO…PART… is a project by Detroit-based artist Lauren Kalman, curated by Isabelle Weiss. The project pairs sculptural vessels in clay and glass that have been distorted through being held or hugged by bodies. This new work expands previous projects by Kalman to include new gestures, materials, vessel configurations, and, importantly, the examination of adornment and ornamentation of bodies and objects in space.
The vessels become proxies for other bodies, a stand-in for another person. They also became a record of the absent body through holding absence in their volume paired with the imprint of the negative space of hands, torso, and limbs. Once the vessels are formed, they are not altered, tension cracks, folds, and textures are all fired in place.
The juxtaposition of clay and glass bodies reveals the cognitive glitch that distorts our perceptions when reconciling ‘opacity’ and ‘transparency’ in both the physical and the abstract sense.
In process
Lauren Kalman is a visual artist based in Detroit, whose practice is rooted in craft, sculpture, video, photography and performance. Kalman completed her PhD in Practice-led Research from the School of Art and Design at the Australian National University. She earned a MFA in Art and Technology from the Ohio State University and a BFA with a focus in Metals from Massachusetts College of Art.
Her work is in the permanent collection of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Renwick Gallery at Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Detroit Institute of Art, Museum of Arts and Design, and the Korean Ceramics Foundation. In 2020 she received the Françoise van den Bosch Award for her career’s impact on the jewelry field, in 2022 she received the Raphael Founders Prize in Glass from Contemporary for Craft, and in 2023 she was named a Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow.
She is currently a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at Wayne State University in Detroit.