Portland, OR – Catharine Newell’s exhibition of kilnformed glass will be shown at The Bullseye Connection Gallery November 7 – December 20, 2003.
An artist with a keen sensitivity to human interactions, Newell uses the transformational kilnforming process to mirror and explore psychological relationships and assumptions.
She describes this body of work as “attitudes fragmented for inspection, proximity questioned, relationships examined, invisibility denied, differences respected.”
Acutely interested in human relationships both intentional and involuntary, Newell examines universal tendencies. “Diversity of thought and action is essential to our growth as human beings, yet entire segments of the world’s population are quite often eliminated from an individual’s psyche to provide a false sense of security through insulation and isolation,” she explains.
Newell has studied with stained-glass master Narcissus Quagliata, who pioneered a technique at Bullseye Glass Co. called “painting with light." Newell shoots photo sketches of her subjects, then recreates their likeness in glass, cropping and juxtaposing faces and bodies to reveal personalities. Her process of fusing powdered glass frit between multiple sheets of glass allows for subtleties and textures with repetitive firings.
“Newell uses color with great mastery, choosing it to create mood or provide strong contrast to the human figure that will be developed in layers of fused frit next to it,” says Lloyd E. Herman, director emeritus and founder of the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution
Herman juried CraftHouston 2003, where Newell’s Glimpses of Mr. Hidcote received an Award of Merit. “With a motif reminiscent of Warhol, Newell forms a kiln-formed glass triptych that keeps the viewer riveted with its balance, composition and facility,” said Susan Love Fitts in ArtHouston magazine. Newell is also a Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award nominee for 2003. Her work has been published in Glass Art Magazine and NICHE magazine.
If you would like more information or to schedule an interview with the artist or gallery staff, please contact Nicole Leaper by phone at 503-227-0222 or by email at nicoleleaper@bullseye-glass.com.
Download: Catharine Newell 2003