Shechet created her series Together during the isolation of the 2020 pandemic, a period that impacted both individual and collective experiences of time. These ceramic works are intimate in scale, featuring intensely detailed and complex textured glazes that invite the viewer to look closely and fully, pausing in the moment with the work. The rough physicality and brilliant pigmentation of the glazes seen here, as well as on other indoor and outdoor works on view at Storm King, is one way in which Shechet asserts that color itself is a sculptural material. 

The titles, including May Morning: Together, Sun Up: Together, and Together: 9 a.m., suggest specific moments, evoking vignettes of shared memories. Shechet also drew inspiration for this series from medieval books of hours, which were often richly illustrated and brightly painted prayerbooks used as calendars for private devotions and keeping track of feast and holy days. For Shechet, “The titles reflect the marking of time as each sculpture becomes a kind of open ended ‘prayer’ as they harness the viewer to the present moment through a rich seduction of color.”