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By Dave Lazzarino

It is often easy to take for granted what goes into making a work of art. Sure, the raw talent and fine basic ingredients to create something unique and artful are sometimes assumed. But any successful artisan will tell you, one of the most important elements to creation is far less exciting: patience. And a pair of glass workers in Windermere have got that virtue down to a science.

Julie Gibb and Gordon Webster of Sandpiper Studio began their careers in different places; Gord in Calgary and Julie in Toronto, both in the late ’90s. They met in Toronto and after living in the city for three years decided to come back to the Columbia Valley to share a slower kind of existence. And if things couldn’t get much slower, that’s when the waiting began.

The two decided to build their shop just off Kootenay Rd. #3 in Windermere. The building construction itself took about a year followed by the equipment, both prefabricated and specially-made, which took up the next year. Of course, any new shop, particularly one that specializes in the delicate art of glass-blowing, has its finer details to work out.

Now, after all of that, the two seem relatively relaxed in their shop. Perhaps because earlier this month, they held an open house with some of their pieces on display, offering a finished product for their hard work.

“The opening was great for that,” said Julie.  “Often the shop’s kind of a mess and there’s so much that actually goes into the work.”

Gord agreed. “It’s pretty easy to lose sight of whether you’re accomplishing something at all,” he said, adding that it could get frustrating when the planning stages began to take so long that he questioned whether he remembered how to make the works at all.

Julie Gibb's whimsical enameled functional ware

The two work together to produce a lot of their pieces. Gord’s include larger bowls and vases. They incorporate swirling patterns and space-age shapes with natural forms fused to them and sandblasted to expose underlying surprises of colour. They balance the delicate nature of any piece of translucent glass with a very bright and fun presence, giving a finished look like candied soap bubbles.

Julie has incorporated silkscreening to create decals that are later fired onto the glass to add fun and interesting designs to smaller pieces like cups and glasses.

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“I’m interested in more functional work,” she said, “more production oriented.”  Between the two, they offer a range of pieces for those interested in everything from a showpiece to a functional drinking glass. They do have a showroom in the front of their shop in Windermere. However, Julie and Gord prefer to have their work in galleries as sales can be a difficult thing to deal with when handling molten glass that can get as hot as 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. From the furnace, objects have more and more added to them slowly. They move back and forth between furnace and workstations to work the objects into different shapes. Finished pieces are added to another storage area where the temperature is brought down slowly to avoid cracking and warping.  “It’s got to be not so hot that it will slump on you in the kiln and not so cold that it will crack,” explained Gord of the delicate balance when working with the material. The process can take many days just to produce one piece.  All this time-consuming effort and patience seems to be working for the couple, who admit that they must be gluttons for it. And with two young kids to take care of along with their work they are certainly pushing their abilities.  “Some days I think we’ve totally lost our minds,” said Julie with a laugh. Of course the proof that they are handling it well is in the exquisite pieces of art they have to show for their work.  Anyone interested in seeing both Gord’s and Julie’s work can find some of it at Artym Gallery in Invermere or contact Darryl Crane at reporter2@invermerevalleyecho.com or 250.342.9216.

NATALI RODRIGUES:  PROXIMITY & TOUCH

Discovery Gallery, Alberta Craft Council, Edmonton

April 17 – May 29, 2010

By: Robyn Weatherley

Recent works of Canadian artist Natali Rodrigues were displayed this spring in a stunning solo exhibition entitled Proximity & Touch in the Discovery Gallery at the Alberta Craft Council.  The exhibition displayed pieces that used glass sculpture and printmaking to explore the notion of proximity and touch through corporeal and psychological implications.  Although the majority of the work displayed was glass, one large print functioned as a platform launching the concept into a second dimension.

Natali Rodrigues, Proximity & Touch

Upon entering the gallery viewers were inevitably situated among the many glass objects in a delight for the senses.  During the initial survey, the diversity in glassworking techniques became apparent.  Rodrigues communicates her ideas through manipulation of scale, surface texture, opacity, form and colour.  There are sleek and aerodynamic objects that one can imagine cutting silently through the air, highly polished works resembling sparkling precious stones and jewels, and coarse and satin textured glass with great likeness to stones found in nature.  Brilliant colours emerge and muted colours retreat.  The desire to touch and explore the objects is almost irresistible.

Natali Rodrigues, Proximity & Touch Print

Traditionally, touching glass displayed in galleries is not permitted, mostly because of its seemingly fragile and precious nature.  This appears to hold true in most exhibitions of current contemporary glasswork.  The layout and presentation of Rodrigues’ body of work in the Discovery Gallery allowed for a diversion from tradition.  Some of the objects were made accessible to touch while others were encased in vitrines on top of plinths.  This assortment of displays allowed for viewers to get close, touch and explore the hidden facets of some work such as Proximity & Touch #8, a smooth opaque white elliptical object with a small dimple on the surface.  Examining the apparently silky surface with the eyes is pleasantly reinforced when touch is also employed.  The dimple is the perfect shape and size for one to run his or her forefinger back and forth along its surprisingly rough surface.  Tension is built between viewers and the enclosed objects as we can only imagine touching them and the desire mounts to discover what hidden secrets they hold.

Each glass component is aesthetically unique and can function independently; however, what brings greater meaning to the work is the tension or lack thereof in the negative spaces between objects.  Rodrigues has put great care and attention into the design of angles and cuts and how they affect these relationships.  Her work holds strong references to casual interaction as well as intimate connections.  For example, in Proximity & Touch #12, a large opaque black teardrop-shape glass form with a rough surface tenuously balances off centre a miniscule rounded transparent green glass gem.  The depth of the black glass creates such an ominous weight that it feels as though the space between it and the buoyant little gem could collapse at any moment.  In other work, the negative space is neutralized by the angles created.  These works convey a more relaxed feeling and sometimes seemingly no relationship at all to each other.

The relationships Rodrigues has intentionally created between the three-dimensional and two-dimensional objects in her work provokes questions as well as provides insight into how we interpret body language and what constitutes a relationship, no matter how insignificant the connection might seem.  Proximity & Touch successfully translates the intangibility of a variety of relationships into tangible beautifully hand crafted objects.

NATALI RODRIGUES:  PROXIMITÉ ET CONTACT
Gallerie Discovery, conseil des métier d’art d’Alberta
du 17 Avril au 29 Mai 2010

Par: Robyn Weatherley
Traduit de l’anglais au français par Mathieu Grodet
Le récent travail de l’artiste Canadienne Natali Rodrigues était exposé ce printemps dans une superbe exposition solo titré Proximity & Touch à la galerie Discovery au centre des métier d’art d’Alberta. Le travail présenté utilise la sculpture en verre et la gravure explorant la notion de proximité et de contact à travers les expériences du corps et de l’esprit. Malgré que la majorité du travail exposé était en verre, il y avait une grande gravure qui fonctionnait comme une rampe de lancement propulsant le concept dans une  seconde dimension.

Natali Rodrigues, Proximity et Contact

En entrant dans la galerie, le spectateur se retrouvait inévitablement parmi une multitude d’objets en verre qui entrainait un plaisir des sens. Au premier coup d’oeil, la diversité des techniques du travail du verre c’est alors avérée évidente. Rodrigues fait passer ses idées par la manipulation d’échelle, de texture et de surface, l’opacité, la forme et la couleur. Il ya des objets élancée et aérodynamique que l’on peut imaginer évoluer silencieusement dans l’air, des objets polis très brillant ressemblant à d’étincelantes pierres précieuses ou bijoux,  et des objets en verre texturés et d’autres satinés rappelant des pierres trouvées dans la nature. Les couleurs les plus brillantes ressortes tandis que les couleurs sombres se rétractent. Le désir de toucher et de s’approprier les objets semble irrésistible.

Natali Rodrigues, Proximity & Touch Print

Habituellement, toucher le verre dans les galeries n’est pas autorisés, principalement en raison de son caractère fragile et précieux. Ceci est vrai dans la plupart des expositions de la verrerie contemporaine actuelle. La manière de présenter l’ensemble des pièces de Rodrigues dans la Galerie Discovery permet un détournement de la tradition. Certains de ces objets étaient accessibles au toucher, tandis que d’autres ont été enfermés dans des vitrines ou des cloches. Cette façon de présenter les objets permet au spectateur de se rapprocher,  de toucher ou d’explorer les faces cachées de certaines pièces telle que Proximity & Touch #8, un objet blanc lisse et opaque de forme elliptique avec un petit creux sur la surface. L’examen de la surface en apparence soyeuse est agréable pour les yeux est confirmer lorsque le toucher est également employé. La forme et la taille du creux s’adapte parfaitement pour qui veux passer et repasser son doigt afin de sentir cette surprenante surface rugueuse. Une tension est créée entre le spectateur et l’objet enfermé sous sa cloche, plus il imagine la toucher, plus le désir de découvrir son secret caché augmente.

Chaque élément de verre est esthétiquement unique et peut fonctionner de façon indépendante, cependant, ce qui apporte une grande signification à ce travail c’est la présence ou l’absence de tension dans l’espace qui sépare les objets. Rodrigues a mis beaucoup de soin et d’attention dans la conception des angles et des coupes, et comment ils affectent l’éspace. Son travail contient de forte références aux interactions occasionnels ainsi qu’à des connexions intimes. Par exemple, dans Proximity & Touch #12, une grande goutte de verre noir opaque avec une surface rugueuse est en équilibre légèrement décentrer sur une minuscule pierre précieuse arrondie en verre vert transparent. La profondeur du verre noir crée une impression poids inquiétant ,comme si l’espace entre la goutte et la pierre risquait de s’effondrer à tout moment. Dans d’autres travaux, l’espace entre les objets est neutralisé par les angles créé. Ces œuvres traduisent un sentiment plus détendu et parfois apparemment aucune relation les uns avec les autres.

Les relations que Rodrigues a intentionnellement créé entre les objets en trois dimensions et en deux dimensions soulèvent des questions aussi bien qu’ils fournissent un aperçu de la façon dont nous interprétons le langage corporel et ce qui constitue une relation, peu importe l’ insignifiance du lien. Proximity & Touch traduit avec succès l’intangibilité d’une variété de relations à travers de magnifiques objets tangibles fait à la main artisanalement.

By Jill Allan

‘Crows’ fused glass with powder drawings by Tammy Hudgeon of Gabriola Island. This artwork was used as the invitation image for Cross Pollination.

The BCGAA hosted some member events this fall:  a members’ exhibition, a Christmas market and fundraiser, and an educational booth opportunity at the Circle Craft Christmas Market.

In September, the bi-annual members’ exhibition was presented at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown, Vancouver.  This year’s theme was Cross Pollination:

‘With a deft brush movement, flower growers cross-pollinate plants to cultivate hybrids with new forms and colours that delight gardeners. Artists take equal delight in that spark of discovery that captures an insight from work by another artist or in another medium.  Whether exploring a new glass-working technique, meshing glass with another material, or translating a traditional technique into glass, our members are inspired by the work of other artists to extend the range of what glass can express.’

BCGAA report opening of Cross Pollination,.the BC Glass Arts Association’s Members’ show at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletow, Vancouver. September 2010 group photo of the artists

(Back Row from Left – Peter Medley, Michelle Mathias, James Ceaser, Jean Paull, Melanie Rowe, Naoko Takenouchi, Leslie Rowe-Israelson, Waine Ryzak, Suzanne Basnett, Sonya Labrie, Braden Hammond.
In Front – Yves Trudeau, Malcolm McFadyen, Andrew Luketic, Lynne Chappell)

A visitor observes work by (left-right) Naoko Takenouchi ‘Earth, Sea and Air’, Wayne Ryzak ‘Hedical Flames of Passion’, and Melanie Rowe ‘Phylly’.

Collaborations between artists were encouraged as well as works that crossed into new media exploration and combinations.  Visit the web site for more information, to see more of the art work presented and to see who the award winners were:  www.bcgaa.org.

Visitors view wall installation ‘Migrations’ by Jenny Judge, an untitled acrylic painting by Robert Held in the background, as well as sculptural work ‘Gracious Hostility’ by Ed Colberg and fused wall piece ‘Dreamscape’ by Laura Murdoch.

Maria Keating displays her lampwork at the BCGAA Christmas show at Robert Held Art Glass in Vancouver.

Robert Held hosted the BCGAA Christmas Market again this year.  Robert Held opened his studio to the public to help raise funds and public awareness for the BCGAA.  There were demos in the hot shop, “Cooking with Glass”, and a general sharing of enthusiasms as well as selling some work.  There are more snaps of the two-day event on the BCGAA web site.

BCGAA has been invited to participate in Vancouver’s Circle Craft Christmas Market this year as an educational booth.  Works by members will be exhibited as well as a slide presentation of images about members’ work and glass making processes.  Circle Craft Christmas Market has moved into the new Vancouver Convention Centre this year and takes place Nov 17^th-21st.  Malcolm MacFadyen will be hosting the ‘Totally Amazing Glass Show’ during the CCC Market, setting up his portable glass blowing studio where lampworking and glass blowing demonstrations will take place for the entertainment of the patrons.  For more information visit:  www.circlecraft.net.

Robert Held, Chago Vargas and Tara Connors of RHAG prepare a giant snowman during a glassblowing demonstration at the BCGAA Christmas show.

Jill Allan is one of the GAAC Regional Representatives for B.C.  She graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in Calgary in 1999.  She currently lives on Vancouver Island, travelling to Chemainus, Vancouver and Victoria to make her work.

By Silvia Taylor

Residents Robert Peyregatt and Brad Turner working at Harbourfront Centre's hotshop

The summer residency at the Toronto Harbourfront Center is a scholarship opportunity for students who are enrolled in a in a post-secondary Crafts program. The position provides students with the hands-on experience of working with their craft in a professional studio environment. The experience prepares summer residents for the rest of their academic career and, perhaps more to the point, helps to prepare them for a career in their craft. For the Centre, it is an opportunity to show their support for the next generation of craft students. The centre and its residency can demonstrate to the student participants that contemporary craft is a respected and encouraged art form.

View of the coldshop, and roll-up garage door that provides relief in summer.

The facility is a small and cozy glass-blowing studio with one pot furnace and two benches at which to work, including access to oxygen and propane. The workspace also includes a garage, colour box, pick-up box, and top and front-loading annealers. On the other side of the studio is a cold-working area consisting of a sandblaster, lathe, lap wheel, drill press, diamond saw, and belt sander. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Harbourfront’s craft studio layout is that it gives pedestrian visitors the opportunity to stop and watch the craftspeople at work by peering over the railing that follows along the hallway. This gives viewers the chance to watch the glass residents and their process in a setting not usually seen.

Harbourfront residents work together as people spectate.

This summer I was thrilled to have been selected as one of the summer residents and I fully expected that the experience would be extremely beneficial and gratifying. I certainly was not disappointed. I found Harbourfront Centre to be an inspiring environment in which a student can work. Moving from an educational setting to a professional environment requires a huge shift in one’s mindset. Suddenly I went from working alongside my fellow students to working side by side with those who are making glass for a living. I was able to observe their lifestyle and understand the degree of effort that goes into being a full time artist. I now clearly understand the sacrifices I would have to make. The residents were each doing it in their own way. In fact, the diversity among the residents was what made my experience so influential. Each resident had his or her own unique aesthetic, experiences, teachers, technique, and use for the material. During my summer residency, each resident helped me out in different ways so that, collaboratively, they helped to broaden my awareness and knowledge of glass.

The experience was not just about the summer residency. I was curious to know what the full time residents gained from having students in the studio. It was obvious to me that I was gaining a lot from the experience but I wondered how my limited knowledge of the material and studio experience could benefit the full-time residents. When I asked a few of them, they agreed that it was nice having a few new faces in the studio and, along with that, some fresh outlook on the material and an enthusiastic approach. They were also curious to hear what we are up to and how we plan to evolve our work.

View of the hotshop from the raised public catwalk.

The summer residency position was an incredible experience that I encourage all craft students to apply for when they’re eligible. My time at Harbourfront has helped me refine my concepts and fine-tune my technical skills. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity before entering my final year in the Sheridan College Glass Program.

By Mary-Beth Laviolette

(reprinted with permission from Galleries West Magazine, Summer 2010 (p 36-37))

Angela Bedard, If, photo: artist

It’s possible that contemporary glass is overtaking ceramics as the pre-eminent craft in Alberta – not so much in terms of number of practitioners, but in quality and range of work, breadth-of imagination and engagement with contemporary society and visual culture.  The evidence is in the energies and input of emerging artists, and the ongoing commitment of established artists.

Julia Reimer, Home, photo: John Dean

Organized by the Calgary Glass Initiative, this is the second survey of glass art from Calgary and surrounding aeas mounted at the Triangle Gallery since 1995.  Together with the recent Alberta Craft Council display of Glass 2009 in Edmonton, there is the impression that the instructional efforts of the Alberta College of Art + Design and Red Deer College, as well as the collective and shared studio arrangements of many Alberta glass artists, is paying off handsomely.  Glass 2009 featured $90,000-worth of work acquired for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts collection – including pieces by Martha Henry, Tyler Rock, Julia Reimer, Tim Belliveau and Ryan Marsh Fairweather, who also appear in this exhibition.

In the last couple of decades, contemporary art glass has sometimes been undermined by a reputation of being like candy floss:  big, decorative and supremely precious.  In Calgary Glass Now, the work ranges from blown to cast to factory-produced (incorporating items like glass teacups and commercial mirrors), and the spirit is less about a precious medium and more about a material, with all its peculiarities.  In that regard, there were some surprising moments, like Lori Sobkowich’s “An Unguarded Prayer.”  Made in response to the turmoil of Afghanistan, Sobkowich transforms a traditional Christian-themed stained glass church window with motifs from central Asia.  Natali Rodrigues’ “Begegnung” resonated in the same way – a deceptively simple plaque of cast and polished glass in which the spiritual idea of grace is given material form.

There was also real substance in Jamie Gray’s commentary-rich, “Have Your Cake,” and Tyler Rock’s “Cannon,” as well as “Catch” from his Riel Rebellion-inspired Almighty Voice series.  For visual impact, Gray’s large-scale wall-mounted work, with its image of outstretched hands, was the more effective of the three works and I wondered if Rock’s two artefact-filled bell jars were too small in scale for their content.  Martha Henry’s flameworked figurative sculpture of bird women featured in “Metamorphosis” also raises questions of scale.  These mythological figures were beautifully executed, but teeny-tiny, tipping over into cuteness.

It should be mentioned that Rock’s and Gray’s work would have looked fine in a contemporary art exhibition, crossing the arbitrary and sometimes silly divide between craft and art.  Other work that easily made that leap – Robyn Weatherley’s photograph-laden “Retrieval” which investigated memory, and the gender themes of Liz Bowen’s bodily “Ornamentation of Sustainability.”  In a more modernist temperament, there was also Robert Geyer’s stunning minimalist composition of pulled glass rods, “Alberta Color Gradient,” with its references to 1960s colour field painting.

A few words should be said for glass art of a purer sort, the kind that revels largely in what this material excels at, especially with light and colour.  David Blankenstyn, Bonny Houston and Barry Fairbairn have each contributed a vase-shaped work – a more traditional format – but given their sheer beauty, is anything else really needed?  Glass veteran Jim Norton’s “Floor Lamp” is far more elaborate in function and appearance, but it’s also part of the reason why there is much that glows in this latest survey.

September 2010 at Vetri Glass-Seattle

David Calles: Combinaciones de Filigrana

Exhibition Dates: September 2nd – 30th, 2010

Artist Reception: Thursday, September 2nd, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Vetri Glass-Seattle is pleased to present glass artist David Calles in Combinaciones de Filigrana, his first solo exhibition with the gallery.  The show features colorful blown and cold-worked glass sculptures in classic geometric shapes. Working in a studio that overlooks the waterways of Victoria, Calles is influenced by his natural surroundings.  He passionately endeavors to capture a “little shock of color from nature” in his vivacious sculptures.

Calles chooses simple forms like ovals, squares, and rectangles, as canvases for brilliant expressions of color.  His “Pimpollo” series, a name taken from the Argentine vernacular for any perfect and elegant object, resemble the teardrop silhouette of a rosebud.  Just as the bud is a symbol of spring and life, the bright colors and visual electricity of the Pimpollos act as a year-round reminder of the exuberance of spring.

Elements of each piece — understated forms, bold cane patterns, variations in surface texture — are meticulously crafted to highlight the relationships between contrasting and complimentary hues.  With deft precision Calles cuts and fuses pieces of glass cane into flat sheets that he then picks up onto a gather of hot glass.  The sheets of cane have to match the diameter of the bubble exactly in order to retain the integrity of the design.  Each color expands according to its viscosity creating the hypnotic ebb and flow of the cane pattern.

David Calles has owned and operated Miramontes Artworks in Victoria BC — a studio for independent glass artists as well as a resource for designers and non-glass artists – since 2007.  Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Calles went on to study in London, England and train as a silversmith in Mexico before receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from the glass program at Sheridan in Ontario, Canada. He has studied under Laura Donefer, Randy Walker and Ed Schmidt and his sculptures are exhibited in galleries across Canada and the United States.

Vetri Glass

Contact: Susan Marabito, Director

susan@vetriglass.com

1404 First Avenue, Seattle WA, 98101

Phone: 206.667.9608 Facsimile: 206.621.9447

1821 E Dock St #101, Tacoma WA, 98402

Phone: 253.383.3692 Facsimile: 253.383.3687

Image details: “ Pimpollo Rosebud”, 15”h x 22”w x 6”d, blown glass, 2010.

For images and additional information please visit: www.vetriglass.com

A Review of the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

By: Steven Tippin

The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE), held July 9 to 11, 2010, began the same as any other year: too much rain, too few parking spaces and very little sleep. In its 49th year, TOAE is a juried showcase featuring contemporary fine art and craft that takes place on Nathan Phillip’s Square at the foot of Toronto’s City Hall.

As the largest outdoor art exhibition in Canada, it offers a fresh-air alternative to conventional art shows and galleries. An estimated 100,000 visitors attend the exhibition every year, including a number of gallery representatives and art dealers.  Side-by-side, established artists, undiscovered talents and entrepreneurial students sell their work directly to the public and make lasting connections with art dealers and collectors.

This year, TOAE featured 384 artists from painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, fibre, glass, jewellery, metal, mixed media, watercolour and wood. The 2010 show had 22% fewer artists overall than the previous year, due to construction at Nathan Phillip’s Square; however, there were 50% fewer glass artists.

With an economy that is reportedly on the mend, glass artists had various reasons for participating and those who did not apply had equally compelling reasons for not participating this year.

Muriel Duval, a flameworker who traveled from her studio in Laval, Quebec was one of 19 glass exhibitors at TOAE. “My first goal was to gain exposure and to display my art to new customers,” said Duval. “I was also looking for networking if galleries or curators were interested in my creations.” She described the show as being a successful venture in which she nearly ran out of inventory.

Arron Lowe decided not to apply, but had previously exhibited in the show for five consecutive years. He pondered whether or not the show offered enough exposure and compensation to offset the demanding workload.

“I’d often envy the 2D artists who show up with a luggage trolley, setting up in record time,” Lowe explained.  “On the flip-side, as a glass artist, I’ve got a truck, dozens of boxes, plinths, a dolly and hopefully a friend who is not working that day to help lug it all to the booth.  Not to mention all the work leading up to the show.”

Lowe also mentioned that he wanted to enjoy the show as a non-exhibiting artist. “I have not ‘seen’ the show in six years!  Being a participant means you are pretty much tied to your own booth. I was really looking forward to attending this year’s show, and it did not disappoint.  It was still a great opportunity to be the reunion it always is, but I also had a chance to see some really amazing art.”

While TOAE is the largest outdoor art exhibition of its kind in Canada, it is one of many shows this summer for glass artists to showcase their talent. For those of you who are about to showcase your work in a different show this summer, or for those of you who are thinking about applying for next year, here is a list of tips and advice from glass artists who participated in TOAE 2010:

Toan Klein: “Stay upbeat. Have fun. Don’t forget that you’re there to sell. Leave your ego at home. Oh yeah, sometimes it’s wise to put yourself between your work and some of the characters that meander by.”

June Pham: “Bring something like museum gel or draft stop if your work is subject to wind.”

Amanda Parker: “Try to display your work consistently and with your own aesthetic in mind. Bring lots of food and water! Oh, and if you are bringing a tent make sure it is easy to set up!”

Muriel Duval: “85% of my sales were with credit cards.  I believe that it is a must at that show. You cannot afford to lose a sale because you don’t take credit cards.”

Emma Gerard: “Make your display simple to transport and simple to setup.”

Jeff MacIntosh: “If you’re intending on selling work at the show and making a profit, make sure you bring a variety of work to cover all price points. Low cost-high volume works tends to be the easiest to sell. Make sure all work is professional cold-worked and ready to sell.”

Steven Tippin: “When applying to juried shows, it is important to have good images of your artwork. At the show, stay hydrated and make time to eat. Hours can easily fly by between meals when you are in the sun talking about your work.”

Tara Macdonald: “If you want customers to take your work seriously, make your booth look as professional as possible.”

GLASS ARTISTS RECOGNIZED AT TOAE

Each year, TOAE presents more than $30,000 in awards and prizes to participating artists. Glass artists at TOAE 2010 were recognized with the following awards:

• Paull Rodrigue (Best of Category-Glass)
• Steven Tippin (Best Student Glass & Marie Collins Memorial Award)
• Aaron Oussoren (Glass Honourable Mention)

TOAE 2010 BY THE NUMBERS

• 1,200 applications juried in 2010
• 384 artists invited to participate
• 22% fewer participants than 2009
• 47% fewer glass artists in TOAE 2010 than 2009
• 17% fewer painters in TOAE 2010 than 2009

CHRONOS – Exposition Solo de Donald Robertson

Galerie Espace VERRE, Montréal   22 Avril – 4 Juin,  2010

Three Chronometers, 2010, Glass, salt, water,iron and silica 137 x 53 x 53 cm each

Depuis des milliers d’années, l’homme s’efforce d’élucider les mystères de l’univers. Bien que l’évolution des connaissances scientifiques et les nombreuses découvertes révolutionnaires qui l’accompagnent aient engendré de profonds changements au niveau des points de vue scientifique, philosophique et social, notre manière d’aborder et de comprendre le monde demeure une quête incessante.

Pour l’artiste verrier Donald Robertson (né à Montréal en 1952), l’ensemble de ces spéculations intellectuelles constitue une source d’inspiration depuis près de 30 ans. Ce dernier utilise le verre et ses qualités intrinsèques de manière à matérialiser ses propres réflexions quant à la nature humaine et l’univers qui l’entoure. Symboles d’universalité, reflets de l’âme, regards sur l’infini : c’est dans une dimension à la fois philosophique et spirituelle que se construit l’esthétique de cet artiste pour le moins accompli. Ancien élève du Sheridan College (Ontario), la réputation de Robertson n’est plus à faire. Passé maître des techniques de la pâte de verre et du moulage à la cire perdue[1], on retrouve ses sculptures de verre dans nombre de collections privées et publiques tant en Amérique du Nord, en Europe qu’en Asie. Au cours de sa carrière, cet artiste a remporté de nombreux honneurs en plus de participer à plusieurs échanges à travers le monde. En 1990, grâce au soutien du Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, Robertson eut l’occasion de séjourner à Prague (Tchécoslovaquie) où il fut profondément marqué par son apprentissage en compagnie des verriers Ales Vasicek & Jaromir Rybak. Durant vingt ans, Robertson s’est également consacré à l’enseignement, partageant ainsi son riche savoir auprès d’une relève formée chez Espace Verre : l’École du verre à Montréal.

C’est en ces lieux que l’artiste nous conviait tout récemment pour sa plus récente exposition solo intitulée Chronos[2]. Non sans rappeler une divinité Grecque, ce titre annonce inéluctablement un thème cher à l’artiste : la perception du passage du temps. Cette exposition, entièrement constituée de pièces nouvelles (à une exception près), fait figure de synthèse de l’œuvre de Robertson chez qui la notion de temporalité apparaît subtilement, mais de manière soutenue, dans l’ensemble de sa production. Cette référence s’affirme bien sûr par l’utilisation de techniques anciennes, mais aussi sous forme de métaphores, à travers diverses thématiques associées soit aux découvertes scientifiques[3], aux phénomènes métaphysiques[4], au progrès (à la fois technologique et social) ou encore, et plus simplement, aux histoires légendaires[5] et autres lieux de mémoire[6].

Chronos Show

Ici, ce que l’artiste met en scène, c’est avant tout notre rapport au temps. Et le thème est pris de front et exploré sous toutes ses coutures : une « ligne de temps » composée d’une série d’esquisses disposées chronologiquement nous plonge d’entrée de jeu au cœur des préoccupations de l’artiste, marquant une phase primaire et indispensable du processus créatif. De même, une série de modèles en cire, intitulé Twelve, témoigne d’une étape cruciale de la fabrication tout en s’affirmant ici comme œuvre définitive. Puis, une énorme pendule (suspendue à quelques centimètres du sol) nous renvoie symboliquement à notre propre existence alors que trois énormes sabliers de verre– incarnant la transformation de la Terre par l’air, l’eau et le feu– évoquent, tel un arrêt sur image, une dimension temporelle insaisissable pour l’homme : le temps géologique. D’autres transformations physiques sont également explorées de manière plus conceptuelle. Les œuvres Ripple et Moon Shadow s’inspirent toutes deux de l’eau et du cycle des marées sans toutefois constituer une référence littérale : l’artiste parvient à en évoquer les attributs grâce à une extraordinaire maîtrise des matériaux. Enfin, témoignant de ses premières réalisations artistiques, une sculpture en céramique, intitulée A Totem of Life (1978), nous rappelle que la mort se situe au fondement de toute forme de vie.[7]

Les œuvres de Donald Robertson témoignent ainsi d’une profondeur d’esprit et d’une sensibilité exceptionnelles. Celles-ci transcendent la matière grâce à de magnifiques jeux de lumière et de subtils contrastes de transparence et d’opacité. Le regard à la fois contemporain et très personnel que Robertson porte sur l’univers n’est nul autre que celui du philosophe ou du savant, magnifiquement incarné par la figure de l’artiste.

Valérie Côté, pour Espace VERRE.

“Étudiante à la Maîtrise en Etudes des arts à l’Université Concordia (Montréal), Valérie Côté est historienne de l’art et se spécialise en arts décoratifs contemporains. Elle travaille depuis plus d’an comme assistante de recherche pour le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal et comme assistante professeure a l’Université Concordia. En plus de publier régulièrement au sein de revues specialisées, elle agit également a titre de conférencière invitée au sein de différents lieux d’enseignement.”

[2] Cette exposition fut présentée à la Galerie d’Espace Verre, du 22 avril au 4 juin 2010.

[3]Copernicus, 2009 ; Blue Spira, 2002

[4]Vessel II, 1997 ; Spiral form ou Vortex

[5]Memory II, 2008

[6] Série Voyages

[7] Choix d’œuvres de l’exposition Chronos.

^{CHRONOS – A SOLO EXHIBITION BY DONALD ROBERTSON}

^{GALERIE ESPACE VERRE,  MONTREAL  April 22 – June 4, 2010}

Twelve Wax, 2010, Eleven presented, 25 x 53 x 5 cm each

For thousands of years, mankind has been trying to explain the mysteries of the universe. Through the evolution of scientific knowledge and in the numerous revolutionary discoveries that have accompanied it, profound transformations have been brought to scientific, philosophical and social thought. We remain on an endless quest to find new ways of seeing and understanding our world.

For glass artist Donald Robertson (born in Montreal in 1952), these intellectual enigmas have been a source of inspiration in his work for the past 30 years. He uses glass and its intrinsic qualities to materialize his reflections on human nature and the universe that envelops us.  Universal symbolism, spirituality and ponderings on infinity: it is as much within the philosophical as the spiritual realms where this accomplished artist finds his creative aesthetic.  A Sheridan College graduate (Ontario), Donald Robertson’s reputation is well established. Mastering the ‘pate de verre’ technique and lost wax glass casting technique[1], his glass sculptures are found in many private and public collections in North America, Europe and Asia. Over his career, he has received many awards, in addition to having participated in many international events. In 1990, thanks in part to a grant from the Quebec Ministre of Cultural Affairs, Robertson was able to travel to Prague (Czechoslovakia) where he studied with glass masters Ales Vasicek and Jaromir Rybak. This study apprenticeship would profoundly influence his work for the next twenty years. Over the same two decades, Robertson has equally dedicated himself to his teaching, sharing his wealth of knowledge with the students of Espace VERRE: the Montreal glass school.

Donald Robertson recently presented his solo exhibition of new work titled Chronos[2], in the gallery space of Espace VERRE. While alluding to the Greek god of the same name, the title inescapably refers to a theme that is dear to the artist: our perception of the passage of time. The new works in this exhibition (with one exception) synthesize the body of Robertson oeuvre, subtly referring to temporality, the dominant theme in the pieces presented. This reference is apparent not only in his use of ancient techniques, but in the metaphors and variety of themes associated with both scientific discovery³ and metaphysical phenomena⁴, progress both social and technological, or more fundamentally alluding to myth⁵ and memory⁶.

In this exhibition, the artist emphasizes our relationship with time.  Accordingly, this theme is confronted unapologetically and explored in its many nuances: Time Line (2009-2010), a series of drawings presented in chronological order, plunges us into the heart of the artist’s intent, the indispensable genesis of the creative process.  In the piece Twelve (2010) a series of wax forms, usually created as a step towards fabrication in glass, affirms itself as a definitive sculpture. Industrial Time (2010), an enormous pendulum (suspended but a few centimetres from the ground) symbolically brings us back to our own existence, while three giant hourglasses titled Chronometers (2010) represent the Earth’s transformation by air, water and fire, conjuring images of a temporal dimension elusive to man: geologic time. Other tangible transformations are also conceptually explored. In works titled Ripple (2009) and Moon Shadow (2010) the movement of water and the cycles of the tides are suggested without any literal references: the artist achieves this through his extraordinary technical control of the medium. As a marker and testimony to his first artistic endeavours, a ceramic sculpture A Totem of Life (1978), reminds us that death also part of all forms of life⁷.

Detail of Moon Shadow, 2010, cast glass, 5 pieces, 28 x 53 x 5 cm

Donald Robertson’s glass works are an assertion of deep reflection and exceptional sensitivity.  His pieces transcend their materiality through exquisite plays of light and subtle contrasts in transparency and opacity. The contemporary yet intimate perception that Robertson has of the universe is from the point of view of a philosopher and/or scientist, and is splendidly embodied in an artist.

Written by Valérie Côté, for Espace VERRE.

Currently enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal, Valérie Côté is an art historian specializing in contemporary decorative arts.  For the past year she as worked at the Museum of Fine Arts as an assistant researcher and as a teaching assistant at Concordia.  She publishes regularly in specialized revues and is frequently invited to speak in educational institutions.

^2. This exhibition was presented at Espace VERRE, from April 22 to June 4, 2010

^3. Copernicus 2009 ; Blue Spira 2002

^4. Vessel II 1997 ; Spiral form or Vortex

^5. Memory II, 2008

^6. Voyages series

^7. Choice of works from the CHRONOS exhibition

Julia Reimer: Magician of Light

Text by James D. Campbell

Birdhouse photo: John Dean

Julia Reimer’s glass works wed refreshing simplicity with exquisite formal refinement. They possess a beguiling eloquence that is at once the product of her imagination and the landscape she grew up in. Her work is infused with a specifically Prairie light and have a reductive ethos. Seldom, if ever, baroque, her forms bespeak a stoicism that is more ecstatic than pragmatic. I mean, they have pure joy in them, even as they inspire reflection.

Reimer is a true savant when it comes to seductive forms that are imbued with a luminosity almost magical in its mien. This luminosity is inborn and reminds me of nephrite mutton fat carvings dating from the Chinese Qianlong Dynasty (the 1780s). But, notably and remarkably, her creations are made out of glass, not jade.

Furthermore, her works have a minimalist tendency very much in keeping with the landscape she knows best. She has often spoken of how her designs are directly inspired by the landscape of her childhood home in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta. She has said: “That’s where I acquired an appreciation for the crisp prairie light, and the undulating hills and grasslands carved by wind and water that influence my artistic vision”. Born from nature, nurtured in memory, fired in the alembic of her imagination, her glass inventions are overwhelmingly seductive. So her stoicism also has its sensuous counterpart. She has said: “My love of the landscape has led to an aesthetic based on beautiful simplicity of form and light.” This aesthetic is wholly and uniquely her own. She is a magician in capturing light, and making the glass that its vessel and conduit modern in design and almost primordially tonal and expressive in material presence. Indeed, these phenomenal creations in blown glass find worthy antecedents in stark bronze Tibetan singing bowls and 14thcentury Vietnamese celadon glazed bowls.

It has been said that when Julia Reimer was first initiated into the craft of glass blowing, she instinctively knew she had discovered the ideal medium for expressing her creativity. She says, “I was always drawn to the muted luminescence of river ice on bright brisk days in winter. So when I had a chance to combine the essence of light, color and movement with a material, it was a perfect fit.” A perfect fit, indeed, for she has become the foremost magician of light working in the medium of glass.

Her original design sensibility and technical virtuosity have been recognized through several awards and scholarships and general acclaim, but is demonstrated, above all, in the works she is showing now at Art Mûr.

Texte de Nathalie Guimond

Clearnest photo: John Dean

Julia Reimer aime Martin Heidegger, surtout dans cette manière qu’il a de proposer que les oeuvres d’art entretiennent une double relation avec la nature : elles ne peuvent exister sans la matière et conservent toujours des propriétés physiques – la forme, la couleur.  Elles n’existent cependant pas simplement en et par la matière, puisqu’elles transcendent leur matérialité par une couche de sens fondamentale.

Dans ses oeuvres récentes, Reimer met en lumière cette mécanique du contraste entre le désir humain de contrôler son environnement par l’entremise de la machine et l’indomptable force de régénération de la nature. Par l’intercession du verre, Reimer explore l’illusion de contrôle de l’humain sur le monde, la métamorphose du paysage, la tension inhérente à cette relation et la beauté inaltérable qui résiste néanmoins au refaçonnage humain.

La matière

Le verre est fabriqué à partir de sable, de soude et de chaux, qu’on chauffe à une température élevée pour rendre le mélange liquide.  On manipule ensuite ce dernier quand il est malléable pour lui donner la forme voulue, qu’il conserve en refroidissant. La recette n’a pas bien changé au fil des siècles, mais la chimie en a raffiné les techniques : l’ajout de potasse et de plomb améliore la qualité du verre, le cobalt, le souffre et d’autres minéraux lui donnent des couleurs ; les possibilités sont grandes. Julia Reimer le souffle et le sculpte en des formes organiques et le combine à d’autres matériaux comme l’acier, la pierre, le bois et le béton. Ses objets sculpturaux témoignent de la grande flexibilité du médium et donnent naissance à des herbes, des nids, des petites choses aquatiques et aériennes, presque des colonies de créatures, parfois. Entre fluidité, opacité, légèreté, unicité et accumulation, il se crée un espace où se conjuguent, tout en délicatesse, des traces d’un monde qu’il faut apprendre à regarder avec des yeux neufs.

La patience

L’idée derrière ce corpus d’oeuvres est tirée d’un souvenir d’enfance, où la petite Julia rendait visite à son père travaillant sur un puits de pétrole dans les prairies d’Alberta. L’immensité des gisements et les jeux d’exploration parmi les granges abandonnées et les bâtiments de fermes ont créés une impression persistante dans son esprit. Tandis que la force furieuse des machines était à l’oeuvre, la nature reprenait néanmoins ses droits sur les efforts des humains : l’herbe qui pousse entre les fentes du béton, dans les fondations des bâtiments, l’érosion du vent, le bois retournant à la terre. L’esthétique de Julia Reimer est née de la fraîcheur de la lumière sur les douces collines et les prairies battues par les vents.

Pour Reimer, le verre était le matériau tout indiqué pour explorer cette idée du paysage canadien transformé par le développement industriel. La qualité virginale du verre et sa fragilité transmettent le sens de cette tension qu’elle cherche à illustrer. Les pièces de la série L’Attente sont des modélisations de ces changements de notre environnement et surtout, de la lente et patiente résilience des choses vivantes.

Julia Reimer a grandi et vit toujours dans une petite ville des prairies albertaines. Après avoir étudié le verre soufflé et le design dans des établissements

scolaires traditionnels, elle a poursuivi ses recherches par des voyages d’études en Écosse, aux États-Unis, en Espagne, en France, en

Hongrie et au Japon. Lauréate de plusieurs prix d’excellence, elle a fondé le Firebrand Glass Studio avec son mari Tyler Rock.

Suspended Stories: Tyler Rock and Almighty Voice

Text by Amber Berson

17 Voices photo: Andrew Gene

It is often easier to understand history as a clear and simple division between right and wrong, good and evil, black and white. Tyler Rock’s latest series Frontier challenges the viewer to consider the shades of grey contained within a particular historical event – specifically the ‘Almighty Voice’ incident, which refers to a young Cree man’s struggle with the North-West Mounted Police in Saskatchewan in 1893. Almighty Voice supposedly butchered a stray cow without a permit to feed his family and was arrested. Believing he was to be hung, Almighty Voice escaped from jail, eventually shot and killed an officer searching for him and became involved in one of the biggest manhunts in early Canadian history. Diverging versions of the story continue to divide communities, although all agree that the incident had a major impact on the Riel Rebellion and the shaping of Saskatchewan. It is a history always being retold, pivoting between readings of the same story.

Rock’s work – representing a personal interpretation of the story – aims to highlight the parts of history open to discussion. His glass works act as bridges between the present and the past; presenting a glimpse into a history with which we otherwise have no direct connection. And as with all objects, we are impelled to apply interpretive readings to his works, to reshape the histories to meet our needs. However, Frontier is meant only to illustrate a point of view in a much larger story. Rock’s work is neither confrontation nor translation; the artist refuses to tell us which story to believe. Instead, Rock has created a snapshot of a moment that has come to partially represent the history of a place.

Rock constructs objects imbued with history that become mementos in their own right. Through reinterpretation of the events, Rock’s Frontier series positions the artist as storyteller. Rock shifts the reading of history to reflect the way a small incident between two communities has left a permanent scar on place. Confirming that locations and national histories affect personal identity, Frontier is as much an imagining of all the untold moments of the ‘Almighty Voice incident’ as it is a manifestation of Rock’s own relationship to his past. Literally suspending a moment in the story, Frontier is not the story of Almighty Voice or of his impact on Saskatchewan history. It is one artist’s illustration of a moment in history that is as much about the narrator as it is about the narrative.

1895-1897 : L’incident d’Almighty Voice

Texte de Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre

Frontier photo: Andrew Gene

Longtemps accolé au domaine de l’artisanat, le verre n’est pourtant pas absent en art contemporain. Simplement, on le trouve plus souvent comme matériau approprié que comme médium travaillé par les oeuvres. C’est que produire une oeuvre d’art en verre demande de l’artiste bien plus qu’un concept à transposer; façonner le verre exige inévitablement de lui la maîtrise d’un savoir-faire technique rappelant la proximité entre l’ouvrage de l’artiste et celui de l’artisan. Les frontières entre art et décoratif d’une part, et art et design d’autre part étant plutôt floues, deux pièges guettent la verrerie d’art. Lorsque l’objet en verre ne semble répondre qu’à une exigence esthétique, il risque d’être qualifié de décoratif et d’être associé à la sphère des métiers d’art – où la maîtrise technique est ce qui est valorisé. De l’autre côté, lorsque cette part d’esthétisme est orientée par un concept, l’objet en verre risque d’être rapproché de l’univers du design, où la nécessité de répondre à un besoin préalablement identifié s’ajoute au savoir-faire technique et ce, dans l’optique du fonctionnalisme. Comment reconnaître alors l’oeuvre d’art en verre? Selon Helmut Ricke, directeur de collections au Museum Kunst Palast à Düsseldorf : « La ligne de démarcation [entre art et artisanat d’art] continue à se situer là où le matériau, loin de se limiter à la représentation de la matière même et de sa fascination propre, est mis au service d’un concept artistique1. »

Artiste de l’ouest canadien, Tyler Rock enseigne au Collège d’art et de design de l’Alberta depuis plusieurs années. Délaissant son travail formel découlant d’une étude de la tradition esthétique du récipient, Rock adopte une approche résolument plus conceptuelle avec sa série Almighty Voice. L’inspiration derrière ces nouvelles oeuvres est un incident historique qui eût lieu à la fin du 19e siècle près de l’endroit où l’artiste grandit en Saskatchewan. Il impliquait Almighty Voice, un Amérindien arrêté injustement pour avoir tué un boeuf ne lui appartenant pas, et la gendarmerie royale du Canada. Retrouvé par le sergent Colebrook quelques jours après s’être échappé de sa cellule, Voice tua par balle le policier. En cavale durant plusieurs mois, il fut tué à son tour lors d’une embuscade près de la réserve One Arrow en 18972.

Employant le verre non pas pour ses propriétés intrinsèques mais comme médium apte à matérialiser sa réflexion sur la construction de l’Histoire, Rock propose une série de cloches de verre abritant de petites natures mortes composées de branches d’arbre et de pieces de verre, notamment une tête d’oiseau rappelant la grue, le pictogramme de la nation des Sauteux des plaines (à laquelle appartenait le père d’Almighty Voice). Sortis de leur contexte et préservés sous une cloche, ces objets en évoquent d’autres, des artefacts et reliques précieusement conservés en tant que traces authentiques légitimant le déroulement d’un passé auquel nous n’avons plus accès. Comme le souligne Tyler Rock, l’Histoire officielle, un tracé linéaire départageant le noir du blanc, ne rend souvent compte que d’un point de vue tranché sur un événement autrement plus nuancé3. Elle est écrite à partir de faits, de témoignages mais aussi d’objets appelés à jouer le rôle d’artefacts culturels. Ni fonctionnelles ni uniquement esthétiques, les sculptures en verre soufflé proposées par Tyler Rock rendent compte de la vision du monde de l’artiste, qui adopte ici une position critique quant à l’apparente transparence des discours historiques.

By Brad Copping

Each year GAAC provides an opportunity for our members to apply for one of two grants of $1000.00.  Each grant is awarded to support the development of a project that benefits the artist’s studio practice and promotes excellence in Canadian glass.  One grant is awarded to a professional artist and one grant is awarded to a student currently enrolled in a glass program.  All members of GAAC are eligible to apply.  This year a total of 16 applications were received.

The Glass Art Association of Canada is pleased to announce the recipients for this year’s juried project grants.   Nathan Philips, from Edmonton, Alberta received the professional grant, and Myrianne Duquette-Giguere, who is currently a student at Espace VERRE, received the student grant.

Nathan Philips, Saffron Swirled, Blown Glass, Incalmo Technique 1.5” X 13.5” dia.

Nathan Philips, Red Murrine Bowl,Blown Glass, 5” x 9.5” dia.

Nathan Philips’ project involves constructing a mini mobile hotshop and conducting glassblowing demonstrations for the 5th annual Kaleido Family Arts Festival in Edmonton on September 9th-11th, 2010.

Myrianne Duquette-Giguere plans to participate in three screen printing workshops at Ateliers Graff in Montreal to learn a variety of new printmaking techniques and processes.  She will then incorporate these new techniques in her glasswork to create a large-scale painting on glass.

Myrianne Duquette-Giguère, Untitled, Enamels on glass, 6’’x 6’

Myrianne Duquette-Giguère, Elle avait une langue de boeuf, qu’elle exhibait comme elle le pouvait, Acrylic on canvas, oil pastel, 14’’x 14’’

The juror’s for this year’s grants were Lou Lynn, Lucy Roussel, and Catherine Labonté and we would like to thank them for their time and thoughtful consideration in this endeavor.  GAAC’s volunteer coordinator for the project grants is Rachael Wong.

The Glass Art Association of Canada greatly appreciates the support we have received from many organizations in preparing for our upcoming conference Transparent Transformation.  The conference, being hosted by Espace VERRE in Montreal will commence May 26th and run until May 30th.  Many thanks goes out to these organizations.

Cégep du Vieux Montréal

Centre des Sciences de Montréal

Société de développement des entreprises culturelles

Canada Council for the Arts/Conseil des arts du Canada

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts/Musée des beaux arts de Montréal

Heritage Canada/Patrimoine canadien

Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec

GeisterBlitz Glass Art Works

Montréal ville de verre/City of Glass

By Brad Copping

The opening reception for Christy Haldane’s latest exhibition at Pentimento Fine Art Gallery in Toronto happened on a beautiful spring evening.  The opening was well attended by gallery goers from the Queen East neighbourhood known as ‘the Beaches’ and who even managed to come up with a couple of red dots.   I for one will take that as another sign of positive changes coming.

”

While the work Christy has chosen to feature in Reconstructions is primarily focused on her series of fused window glass panels mounted on wall hung stainless steel frames, she has also included several fused and carved glass and stone free standing sculptures.  Her work is reflective of the environment in which she and her young family live, near Stony Lake, Ontario and it follows the many lines which lead her back to that home.

Christy received support from the Ontario Arts Council to create the work for Reconstructions.  The exhibition at Pentimento Fine Arts Gallery, 1164 Queen Street East, in Toronto is on from April 29^th to May 30^th.