"clay practice" by Shannon Brooks

"clay practice; and when it lands, will my eyes be closed or open?" is an immersive experience somewhere between a practice, a performance, and an evolving installation.

clay practice uses improvised movement and sound to collectively build evolving, wearable “memory-landscapes” from materials used and created through Shannon’s Leeway x Fleisher residency including clay, ceramic objects, and textiles.

A ritual engagement with our senses, clay practice decentralizes sight as our primary means of experience and reaches into touch, sound, and memory to blur the lines between and expand our sensorial cosmos. This experience invites rest, what is missing, mistakes, twisted insides, and the unfinished. Together we will conjure real and unreal realities to create the impossible and cavort with our uncertain futures.

clay practice is influenced by Shannon’s personal experiences with low-vision/blindness, neurodivergence and chronic illness , as well as the relationships between work, care, queerness, and space/time.

Time stretches until it overlaps. The space is alive. Bodies erode into gravity. Maybe becoming a memory or a dream.

clay practice is arranged into two fragments of “time." Visitors are in control over how they experience clay practice and may come and go as they please.

12-2pm // Time Fragment #1:

• Visitors are invited to participate in an open practice exploring movement, sound, and material facilitated by Shannon Brooks to create personal “memory-landscapes." All movement levels, bodies, ages, and genders are welcome to participate.
  

2-3pm // Intentional rest and reflection
3-5pm // Time Fragment #2:

• Visitors are invited to witness an improvised “performance” further interacting with the “memory-landscape."
• Visitors may witness the performance as a “relaxed performance” and are invited to get comfortable and tend to their emerging needs.
• Visitors may be invited into the performance space by Shannon or a collaborating artist and will have the choice to participate.

• Shannon and collaborators will use self-audio description when possible.
• Various types of seating will be provided.
• Masks and rapid testing are strongly encouraged. Masks will be provided onsite.
• Content Warnings: Practice/performance may engage in themes of disability, c-ptsd, neurodivergence, and ableism, as well as contain content visitors find sensitive, such as coarse language and brief nudity. The performance and installation space will contain light and sound changes throughout the experiment. There may be loud sound during portions of the performance and ear plugs will be available at the front desk.

The session will take place on the first floor of Fleisher Art Memorial, an ADA accessible space. There are five steps to enter the building, which is wheelchair accessible through use of a chair lift. The session will take place in the Sanctuary, approximately 45 feet away from the main entrance and down 2-3 steps into and across the gallery space. A wheelchair ramp is also available to access the Sanctuary. There are gender neutral restrooms in the lobby near the main entrance. Fleisher offers free parking in the lot across the street, and includes designated accessible parking spaces. The sidewalk surface varies and there is a curb cut at the corner of 7th and Catharine.

Established in 2019, the Leeway x Fleisher Visual Artist Residency is an opportunity for a Leeway grantee to utilize Fleisher’s art-making studios and facilities as one of the oldest community art-schools in the country. The Artist-in-Residence receives a $2,500 stipend from Leeway and access to Fleisher's space to create their work. Learn more about Fleisher and Leeway.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine Street, Philadelphia, United States