Sita Syamini: A Land of Fractured Jewels
October 18th – December 1st, 2023Opening Reception October 18th from 6-9 PM.
In this Window Gallery exhibition, Sita Syamini creates glass installations and jewelry landscapes with gemstones that she has mined from different locations in America. The stones are encased in borosilicate, soft and recycled glass using traditional and non-traditional glassblowing and flameworking techniques. Syamini navigates her biracial identity and activates her bodily experience by collecting from the earth in locations where she inhabits.
Each stone collected embodies a unique behavior to molten glass: some will encase perfectly, while others crack, off-gas and explode. The reactions in the glass form a treasure map of material expedition. Natural gemstones have internal impurities that make each one unique due to materials trapped inside the mineral during its formation. The clarity of a gemstone tells a story and is a crucial factor in understanding a gemstone’s origin. The presence of inclusions or flaws in a stone can cause stunning optical properties yet the crystals, gas bubbles, and fractures are often viewed as undesirable depending on the mineral.
Transfiguring salvaged glass and rare minerals is a prime element in making what we deem precious, completely unrecognizable. After permanently manipulating the gemstones in glass, they no longer shine as they did before. My exploration is to question; Does the value of the gemstones change now that they are destroyed inside the glass?
About the Artist:
Sita Syamini is a New York based artist who works with glass, gemstones and metal, to create jewelry and installations. She first began experimenting with glassblowing and metalsmithing at Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a bachelor's degree, shortly followed by certifications in Gem Identification and Colored Stone Grading at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Her studies inspired her to work at the International Gemological Institute and Brooklyn Metal Works, where she continues to learn about gemology, stone and metal engraving, while developing her own body of work rooted in her passion for various minerals and materials.
The amalgamation of glass and gemstones in her designs blur the line between precious and non-precious materials, to alter the perception of its value. Her interest in alchemy pushes her to experiment with a range of materials to create unfamiliar forms. Each of her designs brings awareness to the waste in our environment, the exploitation of landscapes, and the connection between the body and nature.
