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Adam Silverman

Common Ground Plate
Recent Acquisition

Maker

Adam Silverman (American, b. 1963), (RISD BArch 1988, Architecture)

Title

Common Ground Plate

Year

2020

Medium

  • Stoneware and glaze made from combined clay,
  • wood ash and water collected from all 56 US states and territories

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Stoneware and glaze made from combined clay,
  • wood ash and water collected from all 56 US states and territories

Dimensions

Diameter: 27.9 cm (11 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of the artist in honor of Crystal Williams, RISD President, 2022-present

Object Number

2023.13.1

Type

  • Ceramics

Exhibition History

Trading Earth
Ceramics, Commodities, and Commerce
Apr 09, 2022 â€“ Aug 03, 2025

Label copy

In his Common Ground project, Adam Silverman considers current political and
societal divisiveness in the United States, as well as its history of settlement by European colonists who arbitrarily split unceded Native American land into states. 

Silverman collected and combined equal amounts of clay, water, and wood
ash from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five inhabited US
territories—American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico,
and the US Virgin Islands. Freed of borders visible only on maps, this new material was used to make 56 plates, bowls, cups, and ceremonial pots. These vessels are
used to serve various groups of 56 people across the US. Each meal offers people
currently inhabiting this land the opportunity to find common ground together.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Adam Silverman (American, b. 1963)
Common Ground Plate, 2020
Stoneware and glaze made from combined clay, wood ash and water collected from all 56 US states and territories
Diameter: 27.9 cm (11 inches)
Gift of the artist in honor of Crystal Williams, RISD President, 2022-present 2023.13.1

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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