Contemporary Canadian Glass

by Brad Copping

images by Christy Haldane

Francis Muscat’s recent solo exhibition at Pentimento Fine Art Gallery in Toronto ran from February 4th to March 7th.  It was his first exhibition in the new decade, and in “Men and Houses”  he showed a range of works from the very recent to those done in the last 5 years.

Taking from his recent artist statement on his work and this exhibition here is what he has to say.

Small House Series #61 10cm x 16cm x 34cm cast and laminated glass, Owen Sound Limestone.

Small House Series #37 9cm x 15cm x 45cm Indiana Limestone, cast and laminated glass

During my Fine Art studies at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, I was introduced to glass.  I took stained glass as an elective.  The idea of painting with coloured light was very exciting.  In 1980 I enrolled in the Kiln Fired Glass course at O.C.A.  It was then that I knew this material is what I want to be working with and conquer.  There I learned the technical aspects of warm glass.  At this point I realized several pieces of flat panels in clear, plate and coloured glass.

Upon further discoveries I wanted to start to build with glass.  I knew that working in three dimensions was more gratifying for me so I needed to learn about adhesives and the structural integrity of glass.  There is an abundance of chemicals, adhesives, tools and machinery for industry that I could use to construct with and create sculpture.  Glass for me was the primary material to use.  I started to combine it with metals, wood, stone and other material and discovered that glass begs to be partnered with other material.  Stone and glass speak to each other in harmony.  There is a relationship there that is metaphysical; one comes to and goes from the other.

Glass by itself is inherently seductive, it draws you near, it begs to be understood, it is a magical material that is awe-inspiring.  This becomes a challenge for me, as it needs to go beyond its sexy self to become sculpture.  My challenge is to use it as any other artist’s material; hence I subdue its polished quality and take advantage of its translucent qualities.

The architect that I am not expresses himself through my sculpture.  I love to make buildings, small ones, and put them up on pedestals or stilts. They are proud and symbolic of our values.  The “Small House” series has been an ongoing expression of architectural shaped pieces confined in the simple “House” form. The houses fabricated out of cast glass, laminated glass, stone, metal, wood, and composites (plaster, paper, concrete, wax, glass, pigment, metal, epoxy resin, and natural elements), are symbolic of our concept of home.

left to right: "Show Off" 11cm x 8cm x 26cm; "One and a half Man Act" 10cm x 40cm x 60cm; "Embrace" 6cm x 18cm x 26cm; fused/ cast glass, wood, found objects

Singing Fisman Series #7 25cm x 30cm x 80cm Indiana Limestone, carved glass

The latest pieces are mostly built from concrete structures, the castable medium allows me to be lyrical, and to create an element of mystery and surprise as the light enters one side and exits on the other.  The composite pieces add another element to the metaphor of home, adding layer upon layer of colour and objects suggesting a passage of time, and paying respect to the Japanese esthetic of Wabi Sabi.

The human figure has also been an ongoing inspiration. The “Falling Angel” series, started 1991 and fabricated out of fused glass and wire, materialized from a dream of floating, ethereal human forms, messengers of hope and symbolic of human fragility.  In continuing the theme, these pieces allow me to make a statement using line, and form.  By working almost two dimensionally each piece holds different stories.  Other fused glass figurative pieces are used to celebrate “Heroes”, figures that made an impact in my life and whose stories I needed to tell.  Two pieces in this show are about the young man from Malawi, south-east Africa, who was able to create a wind driven turbine to generate electricity to bring light into his community and power water pumps.

The oldest work is from 2005.  The pieces in the “Fishman” series, carved out of limestone and glass, are about ritual, half men, half fish, and act as “Patron Saints” of song.

For more on Francis Muscat visit his website.