Artists & Communities Host Site: Lied Discovery Children's Museum
833 Las Vegas Boulevard North
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Web site: http://www.ldcm.org/

Millennium Artist:
Sasha Bergmann Lichtenstein
Installation Artist
Connecticut
E-mail: sashacreations@erols.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Millennium Artist Sasha Bergmann Lichtenstein collaborated with the Lied Discovery Children's Museum and Las Vegas community on an Artists & Communities residency entitled, "Table Talk: What We Learn at Our Kitchen Tables."

"Table Talk" encouraged community members to share and explore the different kinds of exchanges that occur at kitchen tables, such as decision-making, celebrations, grieving, debating, teaching, learning, and of course, eating. Final pieces of work from Lichtenstein's residency include a pizza and a watermelon-shaped ceramic-tiled table, each with seats, as well as a community cookbook and a video about the project.

Throughout the four months she was in residence, Lichtenstein engaged more than 1,000 community members in numerous workshops where participants designed tiles that were then adhered to the two tables. Lichtenstein conducted these workshops in a variety of settings--at the Museum, in the homes of community members, at synagogues, and at schools and community centers. One workshop in particular engaged employees of the Canyon Ranch Spa Resort at the Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, while another involved a group of Ukrainian Pysanky Egg Decorators.

Participants in the workshops ranged in age from six to 86. During the workshops, Lichtenstein engaged as many as 200 individuals at a time, often introducing the project by showing slides of her previous work and discussing the nature of collaborative art. Discussions also centered on the project's "Table Talk" theme.

Participants worked on tiles individually, and in groups. Describing a workshop in the home of a local rabbi, Lichtenstein said, "...from little kids to grandparents, everyone decorated tiles...it was buzzing! Everyone was sharing wonderful stories and kids were helping parents and vice versa. The tiles were beautiful, filled with stories from places people grew up to favorite foods to their pets to proverbs."

Once the individual tiles were designed, Lichtenstein used the Community College of Southern Nevada's kiln to fire the pieces. She worked with the Carpenters Journeyman Apprentice Training Trust Committee on the construction of the actual tables and stools. Once the tiles were fired and construction complete on the tables and stools, Lichtenstein adhered the community-created tiles to the table and stool forms.

The watermelon table, "Seeds of Wisdom," is accompanied by stools in the shapes of a lemon, strawberry, pear, and kiwi. The pear stool is decorated with pairs of animals. The lemon stool is an open shape, complete with sections and seeds. In the design of the stools, Lichtenstein says she "emphasized the seeds in each fruit to play with the title, 'Seeds of Wisdom'." The title was also written on top of each stool.

Lichtenstein also sculpted oversized fruit, each about 10 inches tall, that she incorporated into three fruit totems that rise up from the center of "Seeds of Wisdom." The totems, created from stoneware clay with a coil technique, include apples and oranges, and a banana, pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, peach, watermelon slice, pear, lemon, and tangerine.

The pizza table, "Slice of Life," is comprised of approximately 500 tiles. Lichtenstein says that she has found that when visitors to the Museum's first floor courtyard, where the tables are installed, first view the pieces, they "...walk round and round [sic], pointing out different tiles as [Lichtenstein] shares the stories and people associated with each tile."

Lichtenstein and the Museum also put together a Community Cookbook that features recipes, stories, food proverbs, and cultural facts about the Las Vegas region. Also included are essays by individuals such as Muriel Stevens, a food critic for the Review Journal in Las Vegas. The final piece of the project included a short video about "Table Talk."

"Seeds of Wisdom" was dedicated in September 2000 during a 10th Birthday Party for the Lied Discovery Children's Museum. "Slice of Life" was dedicated in a previous ceremony in June. Lichtenstein and the Museum envision the pieces acting as not only utilitarian tables, but also as a departure point for ongoing discussions and the sharing of stories.

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Sasha Bergmann Lichtenstein is an installation artist, sculptor, and educator who has work featured in the collections of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, and the Rhode Island School of Design.