Today we’d like to introduce you to Peggy Sivert.
Hi Peggy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My life in Los Angeles has been built on a moving foundation, but art has always been at the core. A common thread throughout my artwork is the connection with humanity and nature’s most vulnerable. The subject of the horse is often present in my work representing strength and vulnerability in our culture. The paintings are gestural and usually mixed media as is the sculpture, often made from ceramic, steel and found objects. The imagery and form aim at capturing a sense of impending irrelevance as the digital world powers on.
As my art is focused on strength and vulnerability and sense of place within culture, it also reflects in my life. For more than 30 years, I have been running art galleries, teaching art and making it. The year of 2020 pushed me to mentally and physically act out what I felt and believed. As executive director of SoLA Contemporary, I curated several successful, covid-time exhibitions (Art and Activism and Protest in Place) and was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. It became clear to me that I must step aside and give opportunity to younger and more diverse leadership. It was also time to switch my main focus back to my art practice. So, in 2021, I initiated my transition to step back from many years serving as founding director of South LA Contemporary. (www.solacontemporary.org)
Today, with much more time for art, I can reflect on my thoughts and feelings about what I deem to be important. I find myself looking back at the past and to my amazement I am compelled to reinterpret the archaeological remains of my 20 year career of teaching a robust high school ceramic art program. I can’t help but value each and every piece that my students left behind, from the perfect little treasure to the clumsy, imperfect form. Every object is vulnerable. My current series, called Relics of Process, honors the art of student practice. The Relics, composed of a huge collection of transformed ceramic cast offs and shards, include wall and floor mosaics, a variety of studio sculptures and installations; stacks of unglazed, broken, unhoused and unusable ceramics that can be spotted throughout my open space in Portuguese Bend.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I learn as I go and that is how my art, galleries and nonprofit organizations developed. I have identified as an artist pretty much my entire life. Initially, I was fortunate to receive a gift of a rent-free public studio space (Minus Zero Gallery, Torrance) where people could come see my work. This led to showing other artists’ work which unfolded into my running a series of galleries and non-profits over the course of 30 years.
Although I feel that my journey has been smooth, in reality, running art galleries was a tremendous amount of work with a significant financial impact. For the majority of time, my husband and I did all of the work without compensation. And although we were lucky to receive free and discounted rent, we had to change locations at least 10 times over the course of those 30 years. Throughout these years of teaching, running galleries, and making art, I was immersed in creative decision making and considered it all to be part of my art practice.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I feel fortunate that I have a home studio and open space to continue to make my work alongside my husband, Ben Zask. It is with energy and enthusiasm that I continue my art with renewed focus and plans to share it with the LA community that I have come to know and respect over the years.
I am deeply grateful to those artists who have come before me. My art has been influenced by the study of ancient civilizations including Asian art and the Zen philosophy. Peter Voulkos has had an effect on my ceramic sculpture and teaching style, while painters Susan Rothenberg and Alberto Giacommetti have greatly influenced my painting aesthetic.
WHAT MATTERS
What Matters is that we love, honor and respect each other and our surrounding environment with urgency!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.peggysivert.com
- Instagram: @peggysivert2020
- Facebook: Peggyjosivert
Image Credits
Photos: Peggy Sivert, Ben Zask
