Arts & Entertainment

Parallel Pathways

Lakewood Heritage Center

By Michael Paglia 

Just a hop, skip and a jump across Wadsworth Boulevard from the Lab at Belmar (see review) is the Lakewood Heritage Center in Belmar Park (801 South Yarrow Street, Lakewood, 303-987-7850). In the LHC's Radius Gallery, curator Robin Anderson has organized Parallel Pathways, a ceramics duet featuring the work of Mark Zamantakis alongside that of the late Rodger Lang. Both were teachers — hence the show's title — and separately influenced many of the area's artists.

The Zamantakis pieces, in glass showcases, come from the artist's own collection and constitute the finest things he has done. His style exemplifies a classic approach to ceramics, in which Asian pottery types and finishes are translated into modern vessels. But Zamantakis added the influence of Greek ceramics in his decorations.

Lang was a different sort of ceramics artist, embracing the sculptural end of the field. His portion of the show includes some amazing monumental bottles from the 1970s as well as several signature postmodern sculptures. A few are blocky shapes, often veiled with drape-like forms; others are domes ornamented with a raised spiral design that refers to snakes or sculptures of snakes themselves (pictured). Also included are elements from his "Old Pecos Museum" installation, a neo-pop extravaganza.

Back in the spring of 2000, Lang outdid himself when he managed to coordinate the National Council on Education in the Ceramics Arts conference here and spark the organization of a score of high-quality ceramics shows around town to coincide with it. I've seen a lot of sad stories unfold in the art world, but surely one of the saddest was when Lang suddenly died after a brief bout with cancer, just weeks after the conference ended and while many of the shows he'd inspired were still running.

Though the pieces by Zamantakis and Lang span many decades of their careers, neither artist is given the retrospective treatment, and that's too bad, because both deserve that sort of respect. Parallel Pathways runs through May 30.