"After Ever Good is a socially-engaged art project created by the Fall 2018 Clay in Community class at Kalamazoo College in response to a prominent problematic mural on campus. The Bridge of Life, a WPA era commission by Philip Evergood representing campus life in 1942, dominates one wall of the student dining hall. In 2008 a renovation and relocation of the cafeteria placed it in the midst of student experience. Since that time, numerous individuals and student groups have called attention to the implications of maintaining a painting that appears to idealize the institution’s past as a historically white institution and one that lacks resources for an increasingly diverse student body. Clay in Community’s critical response to the mural consists of 140 handmade ceramic dishes that have been placed into circulation in the College cafeteria, alongside and in relation to, the factory-made dishes used at the institution. Together and in action, these objects are meant to serve as both connector and catalyst."

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Elioenai’s approach to the theme After Ever Good is to convey the work of holding conversations. In one set, the action of giving and receiving perspectives is represented through pairs of hands exchanging eyes. This design evokes a reciprocal conversation. Both pairs of arms are surrounded by leaves and flowers to emphasize that through conversation there is growth. Another set shows two eyeballs on opposite sides representing disparate perspectives and experiences. Growth blooms where the eyes’ fields of vision overlap.The eyes are not looking directly at each other, as in a personal interaction, because the images symbolize collaborative conversation about systemic change and institutional criticism held across groups and generations. A final design honors the necessity for validation during difficult dialogues. Even with a productive conversation bridging conflicting views, there should always be a time and place for those who are in pain to seek comfort. This special theme is shown as a teary eye held and comforted by a pair of hands.

 

These dishes are meant to facilitate the same interactions they depict. In her own words, “I can visualize one single plate going through the washers, being stacked, waiting until the caf opens, waiting for hands to take it, waiting for eyes to stare back. I can visualize hands grabbing onto the sides of the plate. I imagine food on it that is cleared slowly; I can imagine the conversation from a group of people around this plate. I can imagine the plate going through the same cycle over and over again.”