Join us for an interactive, multimedia exploration featuring sonic improvisation around Common Ground, an ongoing exhibition at the Skirball. Featuring Austin Antoine of Get Lit, the afternoon will feature collaborative music making using pots from the Common Ground collection, as well as poetry, performance and storytelling. Audiences will also hear from Common Ground artist Adam Silverman, who will share his insights and process into the creation of this community driven work.

Common Ground at the Skirball is more than an exhibition—it’s a celebration of American pluralism and testament to the power of shared experiences. Crafted from materials from every inhabited U.S. state and territory, each piece of art symbolizes our nation’s unity and inspires communal gatherings that transcend boundaries. Don’t miss this unique convergence of art, music, and community.

Known for his sculptural vessels, richly expressionistic glazes, and engagement with locally foraged materials, Adam Silverman is among the most thoughtful and dynamic practitioners dedicated to ceramics today. Silverman’s training in architecture is often evident in his ambitious installations and the structural clarity and precarity of his objects. He develops and utilizes personal, exploratory techniques to glaze and fire his works. 

Silverman was born in 1963 in New York, NY, and received a Bachelor of Fine Art and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1987 and 1988. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. 

Silverman’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Kasama, Japan; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; Palm Springs Art Museum, CA; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI; Shiga Museum of Art, Otsu City, Japan; Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; and the Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. 

Throughout the 2024 calendar year, Adam Silverman will be the Skirball’s Artist in Residence, participating in programming with the Skirball team and the broader Los Angeles community.

Austin Antoine is a performance artist that blends music and poetry. All of his passions effortlessly mix with abilities that span from singing soulful solos to conquering an opposing rapper in a contest of improvised wit.

After graduating California Institute of the Arts in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program for theater, Austin has sustained artistic success through touring performances, musical collaborations, and hosting creative workshops. His work can be seen with NBA 2k, Viacom CBS, Sofar Sounds, Guinness Book of World Records, and in the 2021 film Summertime, directed by Carlos López Estrada.

Austin is currently the Head of the Music Department at the Los Angeles-based non-profit, Get Lit. Get Lit ignites student engagement, literacy, and young voices around the globe using the power of Spoken Word, technology, and community.

His latest EP, The Rest is History, is available on all streaming platforms.