Collection: Kimberly LaVonne - Featured Artist

Artist Statement:

This body of work celebrates my Panamanian heritage and encapsulates the memories from my childhood living on Ft. Clayton, now Ciudad del Saber, and the desire to stay connected to this part of myself today. Growing up in the Midwest with my mother living in Panama, it was and continues to be a struggle to feel a part of this community. Through this work I am able to honor and identify with my Panamanian background.

The forms act as canvases for layers of drawings and patterns that I carve into the surface through a technique called sgraffito. The palette is simple, allowing the graphic quality of the linework to pop against the black surface while pinks, greens and yellows reference the vibrancy found in the architecture and the tropical environment of Panama. Patterns and motifs within the work reference Molas, a textile art created by the Guna, an indigenous group in Panama and traditional Panamanian pottery.

Other imagery harkens to my childhood in Ciudad del Saber as well as more recent reunions throughout the years. Carnival masks as well as tigers, papayas, flowers, portraits of myself, and family are pulled together in elaborate compositions on my ceramic forms. This work feels light, and celebratory, with pops of color and busy loud patterns similar to the graffitied public transit buses known as “Diablo Rojo” in Panama. These buses, full of travelers and booming reggaetón music, capture the frenetic and vibrant energy of contemporary life in the city, which composes the backdrop of my work. The forms and the drawings carved into them are my way of creating a language that speaks to my desire to stay connected to a part of myself and community that has often felt very far away.

Bio: 

Kimberly LaVonne (b. 1988) is a ceramic artist who hand-builds forms adorned with graphic illustrations depicting parts of her Panamanian heritage, ideas about the body, death and remembrance. Her works have been on exhibit both nationally and internationally. Some of these venues include Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI; Oliva Gallery, Chicago, IL; the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX; Kiosk Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Stamp Gallery, University of Maryland and the Kápolna Galéria, Kecskemét, Hungary. She has completed two artist residencies at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, as well as a residency with the Charlotte Street Studio Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2016 she presented her work and research at the Death, Art and Anatomy conference at the University of Winchester, UK. Ceramics Monthly lauded her as one of their 2020 emerging artists of note. In 2021, she was included in the American Craft Council’s Emerging Artists Cohort program. Last year she was a recipient of the Gilda Snowden Emerging Artist Award in Visual Arts through Kresge Arts in Detroit. This year she was awarded a 2024 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant through the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures. She currently lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.

Find Kimberly’s Artaxis page: https://artaxis.org/artist/kimberly-lavonne/

Find Kimberly on Instagram: @kimberlylavonne