Portland, OR –Bullseye Projects is pleased to present two simultaneous group exhibitions: Emerge 2016, a showcase work by finalists from Bullseye Glass Company’s ninth biennial juried kiln-glass competition for emerging artists; Evolve 2016, highlighting new work by former Emerge finalists. Both exhibitions will be on view June 25 – October 1, 2016.
Now in its ninth iteration, Emerge recognizes the efforts of students, early-career artists, and artists from other media who have recently turned to kiln-glass. Selected from 370 entries, the forty-five finalists – representing 16 countries – were evaluated on their creativity, craftsmanship, and design by a panel of three jurors. The 2016 jurors are: curator of the Bellevue Arts Museum, Stefano Catalani; artist, educator, and writer Kim Harty; and Sue Taylor, contributing editor to Art in America and Professor of Art History at Portland State University.
Evolve, now in its third iteration, highlights the work of previous Emerge finalists and award winners who continue to advance the conceptual, technical, and aesthetic scope of their practice. Rei Chikaoka (Emerge 2010, 2014) has increased his technical ability, shifting from more traditional cast forms into spiraling sculptural works that push the limits of the material. Matthew Day Perez (Emerge 2008, 2010) explores the materiality of glass, often challenging the viewer’s predispositions toward glass through cast and kilnformed glass and mixed media installation. Carmen Vetter (Emerge 2006, 2008), has seen her conceptual focus shift with personal experience while maintaining a technical focus, fusing and refusing glass powders onto sheet glass.
Selected work from both Emerge 2016 and Evolve 2016 will be included in an exhibition traveling to the Bullseye Resource Center Bay Area, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington state.