Moss Grotto
Artist:
Celia Eberle
(American, born 1950)
Date: 2016
Dimensions:
84 × 72 × 24 in. (213.4 × 182.9 × 61 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of The Sheerin Family in Honor of the Artist
Object number: 2019.24.4
Copyright: © Celia Eberle
Exhibition History: 40 Years, 40 Stories: Treasures and New Discoveries from SAMA’s Collection, San Antonio Museum of Art, Oct.16, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022
Label Text
“Traditionally, a grotto is a place of retreat for contemplation or reverence; a place to seek understanding, acceptance, or respite. I presented it [Moss Grotto] as an elegy for the loss of something intangible: the process of comprehension, the rejection of the effort to reach a higher plane. Little did I realize just how many elegies the future would require.”
—Celia Eberle, 2021
Celia Eberle created Moss Grotto for an installation at SITE Gallery Houston at the Silos at Sawyer Yards, a contemporary art space housed in a complex of former rice silos. The richly textured ceramic forms appear to be covered in moss and capture Eberle’s vision of Nature reclaiming the Silos’ damp interiors. At SAMA, another industrial space repurposed for the visual arts, the sculpture calls to mind the proximity of the San Antonio River, whose sinuous course shapes the Museum’s grounds. The artist’s comments connecting the work to ideas of contemplation, respite, and loss are all the more relevant amid the pain and upheaval recently caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Jessica Powers, 2021)
Celia Eberle creó Gruta de musgo para una instalación en SITE Gallery Houston en Silos at Sawyer Yards, un espacio de arte contemporáneo ubicado en un complejo de antiguos silos de arroz. Las formas de cerámica, ricamente texturizadas, parecen estar cubiertas de musgo y captan la visión de Eberle de la naturaleza, recuperando los interiores húmedos de los Silos. En SAMA, otro espacio industrial readaptado para las artes visuales, la escultura recuerda la proximidad del río San Antonio, cuyo sinuoso curso da forma a los terrenos del Museo. Los comentarios de la artista, que conectan el trabajo con ideas de contemplación, respiro y pérdida, son aún más relevantes después del dolor y la agitación causados recientemente por la pandemia de Covid-19.
(Jessica Powers, 2021)
—Celia Eberle, 2021
Celia Eberle created Moss Grotto for an installation at SITE Gallery Houston at the Silos at Sawyer Yards, a contemporary art space housed in a complex of former rice silos. The richly textured ceramic forms appear to be covered in moss and capture Eberle’s vision of Nature reclaiming the Silos’ damp interiors. At SAMA, another industrial space repurposed for the visual arts, the sculpture calls to mind the proximity of the San Antonio River, whose sinuous course shapes the Museum’s grounds. The artist’s comments connecting the work to ideas of contemplation, respite, and loss are all the more relevant amid the pain and upheaval recently caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Jessica Powers, 2021)
Celia Eberle creó Gruta de musgo para una instalación en SITE Gallery Houston en Silos at Sawyer Yards, un espacio de arte contemporáneo ubicado en un complejo de antiguos silos de arroz. Las formas de cerámica, ricamente texturizadas, parecen estar cubiertas de musgo y captan la visión de Eberle de la naturaleza, recuperando los interiores húmedos de los Silos. En SAMA, otro espacio industrial readaptado para las artes visuales, la escultura recuerda la proximidad del río San Antonio, cuyo sinuoso curso da forma a los terrenos del Museo. Los comentarios de la artista, que conectan el trabajo con ideas de contemplación, respiro y pérdida, son aún más relevantes después del dolor y la agitación causados recientemente por la pandemia de Covid-19.
(Jessica Powers, 2021)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
