Sarah Briland, who has been chosen as the 6th annual winner of the Irvin Borowsky International Prize in Glass Arts, will deliver her award lecture this evening at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Briland was selected by an international panel of artists, educators and collectors. Her recent work consists of combining glass with found objects such as wasps nests, honey and architectural fragments to make organic and environmentally inspired forms that mimic natural scientific processes like crystallization and fossilization. She takes much of her influence from the surroundings she was exposed to at an early age in West Virginia's coal mining region, thinking about man's connectivity to the earth. She has additional knowledge in the fields of environmental science and landscape architecture, backgrounds that continue to play a large role in her work as well.
Briland seeks to blur the lines between art objects and natural specimens or artifacts. She focuses on the origins of art as a sort of extension of nature and her recent projects bring these ideas into the contemporary world, addressing issues to do with our relationship to the environment today.
Briland received her M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University and B.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Her art has been exhibited nationally and she has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University. In 2014 she was an Emerging Artist-in-Residence at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Briland lives and works in Richmond Virginia.
IF YOU GO:
Thursday, November 8th, 6 PM
Sarah Briland
Award Lecture and Reception
Irvin Borowsky International Prize in Glass Arts
CBS Auditorium, Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street, Philadelphia
Free and open to the public
RSVP to Kelly Dzioba-dsziobak@uarts.edu