Opening on Saturday June 13th in Mamaroneck, New York, an exhibition entitled “Glass: In The Nature of Things” will feature new work by Sandy Gellis, Susan Cox, and Jane Bruce—three New York-based artists who recently partook in a joint residency at the Bullseye Resource Center, the site of the exhibition which will include Sandy Gellis’ Charting Earth, River Sediments and Compounds (2015), Susan Cox’s Cathy’s Memories (2015), and Jane Bruce’s From the Edge (2015).
As longtime friends, Gellis, Cox, and Bruce regularly share their art and ideas with each other, according to the exhibition release. However, it is with their recent joint residency at Bullseye that these shared ideas began to overlap for all three artists. As the result of frequent conversations that the artists had during their residency, all of their works consider a common theme: a connection to land and the “emotional attachments that we have with the places that we inhabit,” reads the exhibition announcement.
Sandy Gellis’ Charting Earth, River Sediments and Compounds (2015) approaches the subject of connection to landscape through the display of 75 sediment specimens from around the world, all fused between plates of glass. These plates are arranged in a position intended to reflect the periodic table of elements. By displaying the landscape as such, Gellis departs from the typical, romantic depictions of landscapes and instead presents a stark, empirical landscape, one that makes the tangible but invisible aspects of the landscape visible.
In Cathy’s Memories (2015), Susan Cox approaches her connection to landscape in a very different way. By spending time on the northernmost coast of Scotland and interviewing locals about their experiences in the area, Cox immersed herself in both the present and the past of this particular location. The resulting work of cast glass dwells both in the present and in the past, as it draws from Cox’s personal experiences as well as from the histories told to her by locals.
In From The Edge (2015), Bruce explores her connection to the same Scottish landscape that inspired Susan Cox’s work. Bruce created layered kilnformed landscapes that reference postcards. In an email correspondence with the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet, Bruce writes that From the Edge is both about “home and identity” and also about “the inconsequential moments and memories that add up to a greater whole,” subjects Bruce believes can be perfectly explored within the medium of glass. “Like glass [moments and memories] are shimmering, fleeting and ever changing,” she writes. “Glass allows me to layer up images like no other medium, and for the work to transform as the viewer walks by and around it.”
As a result of family roots in Scotland, Bruce said she feels a deep connection to the landscape, which is clearly reflected in her work. Bruce says that “the Caithness landscape connected me in a significant way to these roots far beyond what I was expecting. The resulting works are a way of exploring this connection.” Additionally, Bruce cites “an ongoing 12-year relationship with North Lands and its environs” as an inspiration for the work.
A free reception will be held at the Bullseye Resource Center from 3 PM to 5 PM on June 13th to celebrate the opening of “Glass: In the Nature of Things”. The exhibition will be on display until August 15th.
IF YOU GO:
“Glass: In the Nature of Things” June 13th-August 15th, 2015 Bullseye Resource Center New York 115 Hoyt Avenue Mamaroneck, NY, 10543 Tel: 917 835 3794 Email: newyork@bullseyeglass.com Website: bullseyeglass.com/newyork