KeKe Cribbs at work in her studio.
GLASS: What are you working on?
KeKe Cribbs: I’ve been working with fired enamels on glass since 1995, in part because it gave me a way to paint on glass and cut the painting into parts for mosaics and sculptural elements. It recently occurred to me that I’ve spent the past 15 years turning flat glass into three-dimensional objects because, to some extent, my galleries were not interested in showing two-dimensional works. One of my strengths is painting and drawing, and, although I really enjoy the mixed-media sculptural work I make, I find the 2-D format especially challenging and rewarding when I use it to fill out a narrative concept. If I think about it, my work has always dealt with creating a novel canvas for my images, whether it was sandblasting, engraving, or enameling. Now I’m interested in creating wood structures that I can build on to, creating a more painterly surface using sewn fabrics, acrylics and alkyds, papers, mixed media, glass, mirror, pearls, beads ….. whatever material helps convey the essence behind the narrative thought.
My interest in Buddhist philosophies has led me to create a new set of characters and “Heroes.” The “Raggedy Man” is one of these characters; he represents all mankind … “there but for fortune go you or I”.....
Raggedy Man Down Under (2009) is a narrative about someone making the choice to live. In one half of the canvas the Raggedy Man is underground; in the other half he sleeps peacefully on the sky, like the Sleeping Buddha of Bhuton. The pearls and beads are in reference to the reliquaries of antiquity. This is a “Reliquary for the Living”, and the Milagros are reminders and messages meant to bring strength of purpose back to the Raggedy Man.
I’m really excited about all the possibilities of working in this format, creating shallow boxes of light and shadows, overlaying glass on, and within, textural elements like the sewn fabrics. It’s really like doing inlay on on a painting canvas!
KeKe Cribbs, Raggedy Man Down Under, 2009. Wood, fabric, fired enamels on glass, acrylics and alkyds, paper, pearls, beads, gold leaf, coral, engraved mirror tiles. H 18, W 20 in.
GLASS: What artwork have you seen recently that inspired you?
KeKe: I have to say that the most inspirational moments came for me in the last few months of traveling — The Getty Museum in Los Angeles was really impressive! I love antiquities from all over the world … the paintings, the craftsmanship, the simplicity of the really ancient works and the intricacy of all the gold work from early civilizations….. as “makers”, human beings are really extraordinary!
When I was in Santa Fe for SOFA, I discovered the Gebert Contemporary Gallery, which I loved! Big walls, big paintings, space …. I felt encouraged to come home and work on the “flat” canvas, with the idea of creating flat sculpture using canvas …. and I guess that is exactly what I am doing.
Of course I also love Lee Bontecou and Louise Bourgeois, not only for what they make, but for having the balls to make unusual work with unusual materials; KiKi Smith .... my library is filled and overflowing with all kinds of books, so my sources and inspirations are many.
GLASS: Where is it possible to see your work on exhibit?
KeKe: Well, Raggedy Man Down Under will be on view at SOFA CHICAGO with Thomas Riley Galleries, along with a pair of glass houses I call scatolas, which in Italian means “tin box.” They are made from my “Shibori” flat cast glass and look like tin shacks, early “Raggedy Man” wares — the architectural version.
I’ll also be participating in the “Hot Tea: 13th Biennial Teapot Exhibition” at the Craft Alliance in Saint Louis, Missouri, opening in January 2010.
I’m also working on a commission for the Museum of Arts and Design, and another for the Kamm Teapot Foundation, so I am quite busy!