James Schenk Aqua Vitreum This River Sea Gallery exhibit is a coalescence of two of my portfolios with the matter of fact names, Lakeside and Scientific Glass. It offers an interesting melding of my visual and emotional connectivity. This melding was aided by the simultaneous interest of pieces within the two portfolios by dispassionate reviewers and referees who could see a visual connection. Of course there were some who saw no connection. First, the translation of the show’s name is “water glass”. On reflection these images represent two very important facets of my spirit in my times. First, I spent summers during my childhood on the lake in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina from which the Lakeside images were produced. There were many “Huck Finn” experiences there; alone and with friends and family. It was, and still is, a place for emotional and intellectual analysis. Among its many “emotions” this lake often exhibits a glass-like surface and invites peering into it as if into a looking glass, if not for a reflection as that which consumed Narcissus, certainly for aiding the reflections of my life’s path. Secondly, the Scientific Glass images represent a level of my lifelong interest in the sciences, in addition to the art of glass in general. As a young person I was fascinated by scientific apparati of any kind and three older members of my family were scientists. I was enthralled by the shapes, reflections, and colors of glass in the scientific laboratory. I grew up to be a scientist, a large part of my life’s path, and began these images by salvaging old glassware from the Department of Chemistry at Washington State University where I am a professor. They were destined for recycling, but to me they represent a sort of “peering into” as well and conjure questions and “reflections”: what are/were they used for, were they custom made for one and only one use or experiment and where are the results of the work archived? They also represent personalities, those of the scientist designer who might have used other designs and the maker of the glass pieces themselves – an individual glassblower, the scientist him or herself as the designer and glass blower, or a collection of people within a company supporting scientific research. They offer a facet of contemplation as well; about the details of life as a scientist attempting to design “small” things to work on, a small answer to use for achieving a great purpose. James Schenk's Work at RiverSea Gallery Click on the following thumbnails to see bigger pictures. Arrowheads I Arrowheads II Arrowheads III Dragonfly I Dragonfly II Flasks and Vial Flasks and Flowers Frog Splash Glass Mortar and Pestle Ground Glass Jars Lilies and Dock Lily II Mortar and Pestle Mortar and Pestles II Narcissus II Old Dock Orange Skimmer and Damsel Fly Red Skimmer and Damsel Fly Sedge Bloom Skimmer Trace Vial II Water and Sky, Evening Water Lily I Water Lily II Past Exhibits at RiverSea Gallery Aqua Vitreum - September 10, 2010 Top    |   Back    |   Home

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