Evolve, an exhibition that runs in conjunction with Bullseye Glass Company’s biennial Emerge competition, highlights the work of former Emerge finalists and award winners. Since their inclusion in Emerge, these artists have continued to push their studio practice and have refined the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of their work.
Artists Joanna Manousis, Cassandra Straubing, and Kathryn Wightman all incorporate domestic and symbolically charged objects in their work, transforming them to create unexpected juxtapositions or to emphasize the relationships we share. Joanna Manousis (finalist, Emerge 2010) constructs her work around historically and culturally charged iconography. Works that reference rose windows or still life painting invert and conflate traditions, sparking extended dialogues. Cassandra Straubing (Kilncaster Award, Emerge 2010) is known for her cast glass and found object sculptures that tell the stories of forgotten and marginalized people. By casting common domestic objects in glass, Straubing gives them the ethereal, ghostly quality of a memory. In her recent body of work, Straubing combines these objects with disembodied hands that grasp, hold, or support in nurturing gestures. Kathryn Wightman (Gold Award, Emerge 2014) re-creates vintage domestic patterns using screen printed glass powders. Often disrupted or decayed, the patterns chronicle the effects of human activity on the objects we live with. Each stain or deformation tells the story of us.
Michael Endo
Curator, Bullseye Projects
Emerge | Evolve 2018 catalog (PDF):
