Artist Elizabeth Insogna’s ceramic sculpture works are displayed in PDS’s gallery, marking the first exhibition of the 2024-2025 school year. Although there are five different artists spotlighted throughout the year, each one brings unique artistic concepts to PDS.
Insogna’s sculptures are hand-built, based on visions that she has related to “magic, queerness, and ritual,” Gallery Director and Upper School Fine Arts Teacher Ms. Gwen Shockey explained. A large inspiration to Insogna are myths and legends surrounding empowered women from ancient cultures, including those found in ancient Greek culture and mythology.
When asked what her first impression of the exhibit was, Ms. Shockey expressed that she felt “a feeling of magic and other worldliness.” She continued, “[Insogna’s] sculptures, to me, feel both really ancient and really contemporary at the same time, like there’s a meeting of old and new. […] Her sculptures just kind of create this feeling of calm and inspiration. I just love how beautiful her work is.”
Senior Carter Bergstein who attended the reception remarked, “I really appreciated the way it kind of varied from anything that I’ve seen in the art gallery in the past. The way she utilized color, light, language, and history, and brought it all together [with] the performance that took place in the space, it rounded out the entire exhibit. It was very cool to see how it came together.”
Ms. Shockey added, “She plays with light in a really cool way, and because she embeds crystals into some of them, light is enacted and activated from top to bottom of each sculpture.”
The exhibition reception was kicked off with a joint performance between Folklorist Kay Turner and Insogna about Hecate, an ancient Greek Goddess associated with magic, crossroads, and witchcraft. During the event, Turner and Insogna did a ritual performance around the sculptures. Ms. Shockey stated, “ [Insogna] likes to say, [the ritual performance] “activates the sculptures”, meaning to enliven them”
The audience and participants joined in by speaking words and making gestures to bring the works to life and connect to them.
If you haven’t paid the gallery a visit yet, make sure to drop by before December 3 to take a look at Elizabeth Insogna’s Exquisite Traces!
