Jenine Bressner’s Solo Show Opens Tonight in Houston

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Jenine Bressner’s Solo Show Opens Tonight in Houston

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Glass artist Jenine Bressner’s having her first solo show, opening tonight in Houston:

In the small gallery, HCCC presents Inverted Harmony: A Handmade Environment by Jenine Bressner, an installation of cascading, handmade glass chandeliers; LED lights; and layered textiles. The environment mimics lush gardens but uses bright colors and light-emitting diodes to create a surreal landscape.

Bressner’s illuminated hanging gardens are made of lamp-worked glass, paired with laser-cut and hand-painted fabrics. The space is transformed not only from above, but also from below. Underneath each glass chandelier, the fabrics create three-dimensional quilted clouds. Thus, the gardens hang above a sky, inverting the traditional concept of what is above or below, and presenting the viewer with an elaborate and enchanted transformation of space.

Bressner describes how craft has always been a part of her life, as she grew up “making things by hand.” With society’s current fascination with technology, she is torn between using a machine and staying true to a handmade object. Inverted Harmony reflects these disparate aspects of her artistic process. She uses a digital laser cutter, a contemporary tool, to assist her with speed and accuracy when cutting textiles. However, her glass work continues to employ the use of traditional techniques. All of her glass is lampworked, a technique widely practiced during the 14th Century in Murano, Italy. Using a gas-fueled torch, she melts rods of glass, which are then blown and manipulated into shapes using various tools.

Inverted Harmony: A Handmade Environment by Jenine Bressner
January 22 – March 13, 2011
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Opening Reception: Friday, January 21
5:30 – 8:00 PM

Ruffled Accessories Workshop: Saturday, January 22
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Handmade Nation Film Screening / Bressner Gallery Talk
Saturday, January 22, 6:00 – 8:00 PM/8:15 PM

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Becky Stern is a Content Creator at Autodesk/Instructables, and part time faculty at New York’s School of Visual Arts Products of Design grad program. Making and sharing are her two biggest passions, and she's created hundreds of free online DIY tutorials and videos, mostly about technology and its intersection with crafts. Find her @bekathwia on YouTube/Twitter/Instagram.

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