Artist Talk with Elyse Pignolet

Join exhibiting artist Elyse Pignolet and moderator Sean Meredith, director of Track 16 Gallery, for an artist talk offering deeper insight into the ideas behind Pignolet’s work featured in LBMA’s exhibition, Holding Time: The Works of Elyse Pignolet and MyungJin Kim, on view through June 7, 2026.

The program will begin with opening remarks and a brief introduction to Pignolet’s practice, followed by a guided conversation exploring key themes in the exhibition, including political and social issues, feminism and misogyny, inequality, and cultural stereotypes.

*Ticket prices reflect LBMA gallery admission pricing. Day-of in-person tickets available (while supplies last)

Elyse Pignolet lives and works in Long Beach, with a studio at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro. Of Filipino heritage, she grew up in Oakland, CA, and studied Fine Arts at San Francisco State University before completing her BFA in ceramics at Cal State Long Beach in 2007. Exploring the boundaries between ceramics, painting and sculpture, Pignolet attempts to place the permanence and traditions of ceramics with the fleeting and transitory nature of the contemporary world.

Sean Meredith has been at Track 16 since 1994 and became Director/Partner in 2017. The gallery, which represents Pignolet and several other artists, has two locations – one in Downtown Los Angeles and one in East Hollywood. Meredith is also known for his work in film. He is the creator of “Dante’s Inferno,” which was acquired by MoMA Film Archive in 2017.

Holding Time is an exhibition highlighting the work of Elyse Pignolet and MyungJin Kim, two contemporary Southern California women artists who use ceramics—particularly vessels—as a medium for storytelling. While their visual styles and narratives differ greatly, this exhibition brings their work together to explore how both artists have broken from the conceptual traditions of ceramics introduced by Southern California ceramicists of the early 1960’s. They instead embrace historically rooted forms—vases, pots, tiles, and mirrors—to communicate personal and culturally resonant narratives.

Despite their differences, Pignolet and Kim share a common language: the use of botanicals and decorative motifs on the surfaces of their vessels. These aesthetic elements become tools for layered, symbolic storytelling centered around themes such as femininity, social justice, cultural stereotypes, mythology, deities, and folk-art traditions.

Exhibition photo by Jeff McLane.