Earth Bound: David Drake and Zipporah Camille Thompson
May 5 – July 16, 2022
Free Admission to the Center on Saturdays now through July 16th! Thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Madison Club for making this possible and supporting our objective to provide accessible educational opportunities to our guests through EARTH BOUND.
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 5, 2022 - 6-8PM @ Madison-Morgan Cultural Center
A Community Conversation: “Stirring the Pot: Embracing Discomfort” - Saturday, June 11th 3:30 - 5PM
MMCC Auditorium - Featuring EARTH BOUND artist Zipporah Camille Thompson and Scholar T.K. Smith
Metta Loving Kindness Meditation Circle - Saturday, June 18th 3:30PM a free guided meditation offering at MMCC. Madison resident Kelly Kozel brings years of open-minded exploration to the practice of meditation.
Memory Jug Workshop/Make & Take - Saturday, July 9th 2:00-3:30PM THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Memory Jug Workshop/Make & Take - Saturday, July 16th 2:00-3:30PM Space limited - Registration required. Register HERE
David Drake (1801- c.1870s) was an enslaved Black potter who lived and worked in Edgefield, SC. He produced stoneware jugs that were unusually large but also singular and remarkable in that they were often signed and inscribed with lines of original poetry, revealing his literacy at a time when this knowledge was a punishable offense.
Zipporah Camille Thompson
photo credit: Patrick Heagney
MMCC is fortunate to have in its permanent collection an incredible example of Drake’s work. This exhibition is an opportunity to draw attention to the beauty and importance of the monumental jar as both a work of art and a historic marker of a time and place.
The MMCC’s Drake will be exhibited in conjunction with two smaller vessels from local collections attributed to the maker. The inclusion of these works is intended to clarify the original utilitarian purpose of these ceramic storage vessels while also providing insight into Drake’s skill. That he chose to embellishment selected jars with poetry and sign his name to them demonstrates a self-awareness and an intentionality that was exceptional in the mid-nineteenth century and marks him as a true artist.
A second gallery installation features ceramic work by contemporary artist Zipporah Camille Thompson. Thompson is a ceramist, weaver, and sculptor who lives and works in Atlanta. Her work fuses old and new, referencing ancient cultures and millennial predilections. The goal is to invest mundane objects with “sympathetic magic,” an undefined but sensed presence that is embodied in the work. To place Thompson’s work on exhibition with David Drake is to draw a connection between the two makers who belong to very different worlds but who both seek or sought to make something special out of something ordinary.
Read more about Earth Bound HERE.
Thank you to our sponsor Madison Realty Inc.