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Christine
Barney
Artist's Statement
With
notebooks filled with sketches, I rent furnace time and work
with a hired assistant, coaxing the molten glass to follow my
will, not its own. Lifting heavy glass all day is physically
exhausting and there is no time for contemplation. The sculpture
will only be fluid and beautiful if done quickly, with sure
movements and immediate decisions. Every time the sculpture is
returned to the glory hole for reheating, a little bit of
stiffness has entered deep into its core. The goal is to avoid
this rigidity until that part of the sculpture is completed,
balancing the molten and solid states. The time-consuming and
complicated techniques of enclosing color into solid glass allow
for only a few pieces to be completed in a day. The thick,
sculptured pieces are then annealed for several days before the
meditative rearrangement begins in my studio.
A crucial aspect of each sculpture is the finishing that occurs
by cutting away glass to dislodge another sculpture within,
releasing light from the core. The use of optical effects
enhances the ability to disassociate color from its source, such
that color becomes a sculptural component. Hundreds of hours are
required to carve and polish new relationships which blossom
into fruition when excavated layers of transparent color expand
with light.
Another important consideration is the presentation of the
sculpture through the use of marble or glass bases. Blocks of
Schott crystal and lead glass are cut with the diamond saw to
fit each sculpture. Many additional hours are spent grinding and
polishing the glass bases. I also cut the marble bases
individually from raw blocks. The marble is then beveled with
grinding wheels and polished. Each base is carefully considered
to enhance and complete the sculpture.
After 25 years of working in hot glass, I felt the need to
create sculptures free from the constrictions imposed by the
tools and techniques of hot glass. My new cast glass sculptures
are created by lost wax casting. By slowing down the process of
sculpting, by creating the form in wax, my focus is on the
material, form and space. Subtleties of shape and direction are
derived from the direct contact of my hands. Using all of the
technical skill amassed over 30 years has given me a great
freedom to follow this new path. An artist must continually
explore, invent and question. To change direction is an artist's
voice that questions, "what if ?". Finding one's own voice is a
life long quest.
April
2009
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