Advanced Search

Where the Seafloor Melts

The Exhibition

Where the Seafloor Melts: Ocean Mud, Ceramic Change, and Connected Minds, an exhibit of works by ceramic artist Joan Lederman, explores integrative learning at the nexus of art and science.

Co-sponsored by Georgetown's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship and Department of Art and Art History, the exhibit will run from January 25 through April 1 in the Spagnuolo Gallery in the Walsh Building on campus.

Please join us for an Exhibit Opening Event on Tuesday, January 31, from 4-6 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre (Walsh Building).

Artist Joan Lederman and special guests Barbara Berrie (National Gallery of Art), Kaveh Jorabchi (Department of Chemistry, Georgetown University), and Melanie Kehoss (Visiting Artist, Georgetown University) will discuss integrations between art and science. A reception will follow. Please RSVP to Raisa Ledesma.

As the number of materials I use increases, my mental agility increases. I bond with materials by concentrating and by memorizing their visual identities at various stages – being present with them is a way I love them. If I maintain attention, I can decide things faster than my mind can track chains of logic.-Joan Lederman

Where the Seafloor Melts is an art exhibit about learning and chance. Chance brought a bucket of mud into Joan Lederman’s studio in 1996, beginning a new stage of experimentation and learning.

Chance favors the connected mind.-Steven Johnson

Where the Seafloor Melts is about connections: between geology and pottery; between an artist and scientists; between dendritic patterns caused by tiny foraminifera in mud after firing and the brachiated patterns of sea kelp or fractals; between tectonic pressure that causes melting under the earth’s crust and the ceramic change that takes place in the kiln.