Lydia Thompson | Reclaim

Virtual Artist Talk

Lydia Thompson will discuss her current work and studio practice that investigates migration, residual ancestral memories, and social practices in the surrounding communities.

This body of work is an examination of space and place of human mobility. She incorporates reclaim ceramic objects which are reminders of the physical process of reduction made by nature and humans to create pathways for development. These fragment physical spaces sometimes produce a visual silence, evoke the imagination, examine notions of commodities and value, and the aftermath of eviction. She will also discuss new work on the horizon and more importantly how to balance family, work, studio, and self-care during these unprecedented times.

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*This Virtual Event was originally aired Tuesday, February 23rd, 2022, 7pm Eastern Time via Zoom.

Lydia Thompson

is a mixed media sculptor, educator, and advocate for the arts. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Ohio State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She received a Fulbright Hayes grant to conduct research on traditional architecture in Nigeria and received educational grants for the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center Artist-in-Residency in Denmark, and at the Medalta Ceramic Center in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

Her work has been included in galleries, art centers, and museums such as the Mindy Solomon Gallery, the Society for Contemporary Crafts, the Baltimore Clayworks, the Ohr O’Keefe Museum, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, James A. Michener Art Museum, and the Mint Museum. She has completed public commissions for businesses and her work is in private and public collections in the US, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. She has conducted workshops for youths and adults, given public lectures, and served as a juror and curator for national and regional exhibitions. She is a Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art & Art History at UNC Charlotte.

See some of Lydia's work in our virtual exhibition, Concepts in Clay: https://www.clayartcenter.org/concepts