Vast Showcase Honors an Artist’s Twenty Years Investigating Enduring Elegance

Artist Karen LaMonte delves into themes of eternal beauty, resilience, delicacy, and the “transitory essence of life” through her breathtaking sculptural creations. The materials she utilizes, such as porcelain, bronze, glass, and stone, allow her to convey these concepts—and she has been doing so for more than twenty years. Presently, a vast exhibition at the Munson Museum in Utica, New York, is honoring her artistry. Entitled “Celestial Bodies: Sculpture by Karen LaMonte,” the exhibition showcases 60 cast and carved pieces from LaMonte’s archival collection, many of which have never been publicly exhibited. Among the artworks featured are LaMonte’s “Nocturne” and “Etudes” series, which include pediments of the Parthenon rendered in cast glass instead of marble. LaMonte addresses the traditional themes with a modern outlook that reframes the pediments in a fresh context, prompting us to reflect on their broader cultural implications.

“I have long been captivated by how perceptions of beauty shape desire and create the essential components of allure—the dialect of attraction,” LaMonte remarks. “Similar to spoken or written language, beauty is influenced by shared idioms and collective experiences that form the groundwork of culture. Thus, it transcends a mere description; it embodies a reflection of a larger whole, a visual depiction of what is esteemed in a culture.”

LaMonte’s latest series, “Weathering,” is also featured. It presents scientifically precise depictions of clouds and draws inspiration from her childhood wonder at the shapes that would appear in the sky and then “magically” vanish. “Clouds fascinate me,” LaMonte states, “as they reveal the unseen forces of the natural realm.” Her poetic ripples, echoing the drapes of her fabric works, gain added significance in light of the potential extinction of certain cloud formations due to carbon emissions and rising ocean temperatures.

“Celestial Bodies: Sculpture by Karen LaMonte” is currently exhibited at the Munson Museum through December 31, 2025.