This paper examines a focused exhibition of Lee Somers' pottery at the Greenwich Pottery House in New York City, featuring six works that present a cohesive vision of creation and order. The author argues that Somers' work integrates the eternal and the instantaneous through three primary pieces that trace millennia of development: from chaotic geological formation, through stabilization and animal life, to human-imposed order and built structures. Each work presents a dichotomy between natural chaos and human or geometric order, culminating in a unified message about humanity's relationship with the world.
When visiting an art exhibit, one does so with certain expectations. One of these might be that there will be numerous works by a single artist or similar works by several artists. The Greenwich Pottery House exhibit in New York City was somewhat unusual because it was not only very focused but also very minimal. The exhibit included only about six works. However, when taking the time to truly look at the works being presented, it becomes clear that there was a good reason behind this minimalism.
The work was so intricate and meaningful that there could not have been a better way to present it. Each individual work had its own individual message, but it also integrated with the other works to present a central message. Indeed, Lee Somers' pottery presents a significant integration of the eternal and the instantaneous. His works attempt to provide an impression of a thousand moments that make up a lifetime, or indeed an eternity.
The first work presents a kind of ordered chaos. The audience is presented with an initially chaotic vision of various elements. Clouds, running water, broken patterns, and a variety of colors initially overwhelm the senses.
Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that there is a dichotomy between order and chaos. This is largely presented in color. The earth tones, presented mostly in white and brown, offer regular geometric shapes in the forms of rectangles and squares. The regular angles in these shapes indicate that there is, after all, an order to the initial impression of chaos. The blue, white, and grey of the clouds and rock still impose a type of chaos, but once the order behind it all is seen, the imagery becomes more ordered, and the audience can begin to make sense of it.
This indicates the integration of chaos and order in the creation of the world as we know it now. Nature remains chaotic. Floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes remain things that we as humanity cannot control. These things are both creative and destructive. They create new land and new structures but destroy what has been created and constructed. As human beings, however, we are able to respond by rebuilding and redesigning our world in a way that can mitigate future destruction.
Lee's second piece is somewhat less chaotic at first glance. The clouds and mists have dissipated a little. There are fewer waterfalls and a little more order to the structure of the image. In contrast to the first piece, there appears to be a more stable physical structure to the world he presents. This is emphasized by the animal life making its home on the stable structures. In this particular piece, the fauna is represented by deer making their homes on rocky mountains. The animals have trees and plants for their sustenance.
In the world presented here, the violent geological formations have stabilized sufficiently and for a long enough time to allow more complex life to grow and sustain itself. When seen in tandem, the two works provide a brief vision of a creative process that must have taken millennia to accomplish. After preparing the landscape, the creative force was able to allow animal life, which would ultimately develop into human life.
The flower detail indicates that the world is being prepared for more than just function. The human faculty of recognizing beauty along with function is initiated in this work.
"Human design imposes order on natural elements"
"Three works trace millennia of creative development"
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