Skirball Cultural Center

In Glass Sukkah: This Home Is Not a House, artist Therman Statom explores the essential themes of Sukkot, an ancient Jewish harvest festival. The works in this exhibition, all created by Statom for presentation at the Skirball Cultural Center, speak to Sukkot’s key messages: the temporary nature of shelter, the value of welcome and belonging, the importance of honoring ancestors, and the preciousness of the natural world. 

Statom, a Black American artist, established himself in the 1970s as pivotal figure in the evolution of the Studio Glass Movement. This exhibition spotlights his monumental piece To Dwell in a Glass House, commissioned by the Skirball in 1997. In it, he draws inspiration from the sukkah, a three-sided outdoor structure that Jews traditionally build and spend time in during the week of Sukkot. Though not of Jewish descent himself, Statom connected with the holiday and reinterpreted the sukkah using his own visual language and materials. 

In the new works that he created for this exhibition—glass face jugs and paintings—Statom engages with other aspects of the holiday, further incorporating his own experiences and perspective. With these additional works, he draws parallels between cross-cultural practices of honoring ancestors and makes connections between the ancient wandering of the Israelites and contemporary stories of migration and displacement. Alongside preparatory studies and two documentary videos, these works expand on the original piece and shed light on the artist’s practice and process. 

Statom, who identifies as an artist, educator, and advocate, bridges ritual and resistance in this body of work, using glass to contemplate the following questions: What defines shelter? How do we honor the past while envisioning inclusive futures? 

Curatorial Acknowledgments

This exhibition is organized by the Skirball Cultural Center and curated by Jideofor Chikeruba, Community Connections Research Fellow.

Therman Statom (American, b. 1953) is an internationally recognized glass artist and sculptor whose work has had a noteworthy influence on contemporary art and arts education. Born in Winter Haven, Florida, and educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Pratt Institute, Statom has exhibited in renowned venues such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the California African American Museum and the Los Angeles Central Public Library. In the mid-1980s, he ran the hot glass studio at University of California, Los Angeles.