The Patchogue Arts Council's current exhibition, "Earth Mothers," pairs sculpture and painting with materials pulled straight from the natural world. Last month, the four featured artists sat down for a public "Coffee with a Curator" conversation hosted by professor John Cino.

The show, on view through September 20, brings together eco-artist Christie Jones, who submerges handmade earth-and-mineral paints in saltwater; designer Rainy Lehrman, who applies traditional craft techniques to the relationship between the human-made and the natural; ceramicist Becca Osborn, whose textured sculptures explore grief through the image of a bog; and printmaker Lorena Salcedo-Watson, whose work draws on botany, entomology and human anatomy.

Cino said the exhibit's title points to transformation: Jones described turning rock into powder into paint, while Osborn compared the ceramic process to going "from dirt to kiln." Salcedo-Watson, whose studio of 15 years burned down last year, discussed a series of steam-bent wooden sculptures made in tribute to people she met during a subsequent art residency.

"Earth Mothers" continues at the Patchogue Arts Council through September 20.

Source: The Islip Bulletin