Adam Silverman
We started collecting art from the time we graduated college. Our collecting has evolved over time but we still collect what we like and tend to be drawn to artists who are beginning to emerge. It is about buying pieces that we want to live with and appreciate but it is also knowing that you are supporting an artist.
For years, we really made a commitment to meet the artist behind the works. We don’t do it enough these days. This past week I was given the opportunity to go meet Adam Silverman, an artist that we have collected over the years. Silverman’s studio is located in Atwater Village past Las Feliz. It was a serious drive back and forth but I couldn’t have been happier to do this. It never ceases to amaze me how damn big Los Angeles is.
I first became aware of his work when his pieces were featured on Heath Ceramics. I hunted down the gallery that was representing him and bought one. Ends up he was the Studio Director of Heath Ceramics for the better half of six years. He got his MFA at RISD and has had a really interesting career in the arts. He left the east coast and made his way to LA to begin as an architect.
After a few years, he found himself building a hip skater clothing line with a friend and throwing pottery on the side to feed his artistic self. Landing the role at Heath gave him the ability to work on his love of pottery.
His studio is warm and inviting. Definitely, a place you could go every day. There are pieces of his work from the start to present including things he is obviously playing around with.
His past show was quite amazing and he is having a big show in NYC come early September at Friedman Benda.
How amazing are those kilns? Looking forward to seeing the next series of ceramics he creates.
Comments (Archived):
Great stuff! Love it! I studied ceramics in college and worked as the ceramics assistant (basically I was the college student who did all the grunt work in the studio).That tall kiln in the last photo is interesting. I suspect this is for tall pieces. Do you know if he puts the pieces in the kiln first, then stacks each of the kiln levels on?(Basically you can make a kiln as tall as you want, within reason, by adding more side levels. For example, the second kiln in from the right is comprised of three levels. A three level kiln is common and fairly easy to load. But that tall kiln looks really difficult to load and ceramic pieces are extremely fragile before they are fired so I’m trying to figure out how he loads it. When I worked in the college studio we had a big walk-in gas kiln for large pieces)
Yep for larger pieces. It’s such a cool medium
Yes, clay is an excellent medium. I went to college to study painting originally then quickly became addicted to clay.
Sometime I should intro you to a family friend Marianne Engberg.http://marianneengberg.dk/Astounding women and artist,pioneer in the Brooklyn art scene.She was born in the 30s, while well collected in museum not that well known and a truly a brilliant artist first recognized as using the pin hole camera as a modern art form, laying on the sidewalk in NY for super long exposures (days at a time) taking pics of some of our landmarks.Lianna’s Grandmother had a gallery here in the 60s through the 90s ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wi… ) and carried her work.One of my heroes, Marianne that is.
Very cool stuff.