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
ADVERTISEMENT
