 Over the last little while I have made two kilnformed glass pieces. Each of these works are outside of any standard series of work and are stand alone ideas and concepts. The first work is made to look like an old tradesman's toolbox and is called "Implement". I feel that these types of toolboxes are iconic forms that relay an individual’s ability to improve or repair the function and form of their environment. The central panel of this toolbox holds an imagined image of a common city corner store. Across the base of the box are several silhouetted images of basic elements that are needed and utilized to maintain, deliver and secure the daily activity and agency of a corner store. These shapes have been arranged to mimic the way tools would be displayed on a shadow board in a tool shed. The combination of the toolbox form with its integrated imagery aims to activate the work's title (and meaning) as a construct that is both a verb and a noun as well as address the relationship of the separate components to bring this area of the built environment into form and function. The second work is called "The Bend" partially because it was bent to mimic the shape of a tunnel and to address the idea of what lays just beyond the curve in any metaphoric path. This work also holds together and apart two halves of a horizon. One side of the horizon being an action and the other being either the objective or simply perhaps just an obstacle for the action to bypass. Here are some images of these two works completed and in construction: Aside from these finished works, I have a couple other works now showing in a couple of great and distant places. One is my entry for the Tom Malone Prize 2016 at The Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth (WA, Australia). They have now posted a digital online catalog of the show. You can find it here. The other work on display is an older work from my Watertower Series . It will be on display at the Toledo Museum of Art (OH, USA) starting this month. You can see more about the exhibition here and read about it here.
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 Built in Layers, Kilnformed glass and fabricated and powder coated steel, 810mm w x 560mm h x 95mm d, 2015, Photo by Rob Little In pursuing the path of an independent art practitioner, I have found that the path usually has multiple concurrent levels of concentration and effort that need to be engaged to make up a sustainable balance of material outcomes as well as maintain a modicum of momentum. In the upcoming weeks I will attend the opening of a group show that I am part of in Melbourne, begin a part time position at the ANU, continue the pursuit of my academic research as well as complete some small client projects for my studio. The upcoming show (that I will be in) will open at the Incinerator Gallery on August 7th, 2015. This show has been co-curated by Nadia Mecuri and the Incinerator Gallery. The idea for the show is this: "A selection of nine contemporary artists working with glass have been invited to re-contextualize these technical and industrial practices to reference the origins of glass and its industrial and scientific history. Each artist brings their own innovation, imagination to their practice, but the one thing common to them all is the continuation of process, materiality and skills that are now reflected in concepts relevant to today and glass industries at large. Closes 27 September." For this exhibition, I have made three separate pieces that all relate to the history and production of sheet glass. My focus on this particular area of glass production is inspired by the major layers of my personal professional history (my first job in my field, the place I found gainful employment after college and the methods of production I employed to begin my own custom fabrication business) being all based on situations or sites related to sheet glass. The compiled image in the work Built in Layers, is a hand rendered version of a historic photo of the end of the Colburn sheet glass process production line in my hometown of Toledo, Ohio in 1916-1917. This short-lived process was developed at the Libbey Glass Factory (my first major employer in my field) and was one of the important precursor methods of sheet glass production leading up to the advent of today’s modern float glass process (that began in the 1950’s). The title of this work addresses the production of the separate sheets, the compilation of the rendered image as well as the subject matter’s presence and role in the evolution of the material’s production history.  The form of the work Drawn from the Factory is derived from the basic idea of a single roller sheet glass machine. This process is one where a mass of molten glass is squeezed into a sheet by a roller that is positioned a particular distance from the forming bed. This method of sheet making has been in use since the 16th century and is still used today to create colored hand rolled sheet glass at the Bullseye Factory in Portland, Oregon (my major employer after college). With this work, the two images have been hand drawn to illustrate the relationship of the (glass) factory to its receiving society and surrounding structures. The third work I have for this exhibition is called The Factory Windows. The construction of this set mimics the scale and structure of the windows that were in my first commercial studio in Portland as well as ones that can be commonly found in industrial buildings from the early 1900’s onward. Each of the panes on one side of this work hold an etched contour drawing made from a photograph of an individual working within a factory. The opposite side of each section holds another illustration of the actual factories where each worker would be found from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. The construct of this piece looks to highlight these concurrent interior and exterior views to relay the viewpoint of importance that each existence had in relation to the success and development of the other.
I have just completed five artworks that explore the complex construct of the common shipping container. Each work looks to address the origin/affect/ support/relationship of what the common shipping container carries between its origin and and its port of destination. I believe that there is a duality in this delivery. For what these containers can carry/support/build/extend they also include the ability to crush/deconstruct/limit the path of the receiving end. These works expose the available interiors of the containers that have within them the ability to hold the enduring impact of their journey... |
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