The soil samples that were collected in the Soil Collection and Pinch Pot Workshop has been processed and fired into grog. Now, Artist-in-residence Chloe Bischoff invites participants to return to incorporate their transformed earth into a unique clay body! Join Chloe at the St. Mane Theatre Studio space at 6 pm on Friday, April 17th.
Through a guided reflection, we will revisit the stories and memories connected to each soil sample before physically folding the grog into a small ball of clay. Participants will then hold the clay in their hands and gently squeeze it—forming a handheld token that carries both the mineral history of the land and the imprint of human touch. Each token will be unique in color, texture, and shape, reflecting the individuality of both place and person.
Participants will have the opportunity to record a brief reflection about their soil’s significance, contributing to a collective archive of stories that will accompany a final community installation. The finished tokens will belong to their makers, serving as tactile reminders of the intimate and reciprocal relationship between Lanesboro’s earth and its residents.
This workshop will be offered twice, once at the St. Mane Theatre Studio on Friday, April 17th at 6 pm and once again at the Driftless Fiber Arts Collective on Sunday, April 19th at 2 pm. The content of the workshop will be the same each time. Some additional grog will be available for folks who may not have been able to join for the first sessions.
Fired tokens can be picked up at Chloe’s capstone event on Wednesday, April 29th.
About Chloe Bischoff
Chloe Bischoff is a sculptor and ceramicist whose work investigates the millennia-old relationship between humans and clay. Their work investigates this relationship, beholding clay as an emissary of matter through which to explore themes of animism, selfhood, and queer ecology—concepts that dissolve boundaries between living and nonliving entities and reimagine nature as an non-hierarchical, entangled network of vibrant matter. Chloe sees their process as reciprocal interaction between themself and the clay, a series of ritual encounters between two entities rather than as a utilization of an inert medium.
About the Residency
Chloe’s residency project examines the relationship between the inhabitants of a place and the physical materials of that place. Everything from Lanesboro’s geography to its built environment have been shaped by the people and materials which exist there, from the steep bluffscapes that shape the river valley to the rich historical brick facades downtown. To explore this entanglement, Chloe will invite community members to collect soil samples from significant places in their lives, and incorporate them into clay to create a series of ceramic tokens. The resulting collection of sculptures will tell a story about Lanesboro’s human and material community. Learn more about Chloe’s residency here.
All residency events are free and open to the public.
The Lanesboro Early Career Artist Residency Program is supported by the Jerome Foundation.
