Preserving raw gesture
Jeff Wallin's renderings of the human figure in kiln-formed glass resemble charcoal drawings on paper that have been frozen in ice. Teetering toward abstraction, these atmospheric studies in portraiture bloom with subtly changing shades of brown and gray, which glow through the transparent but rough textured glass.
Rather than fusing glass around an existing drawing, Wallin painted with glass powder onto a sheet of glass, then added additional layers of broken clear and black fritted glass. The works, entitled Tension and showing at Bullseye Gallery, were made during a four-week residency at Vrij Glas Studio near Amsterdam, underwritten by a Regional Arts & Culture Council grant.
"Working directly in glass, my goal was to preserve the raw, spontaneous gesture of an early sketch," Wallin explains in his artist's statement. He may have been slightly too successful in that regard; without the glass, the pictures resemble classical drawing like a talented art student might produce in class. But the pieces resonate emotionally, perhaps because Wallin brought his family along for the residency and used them as models. Ultimately, though, it's the beauty of the craggy glass from which the portraits peek out that makes Wallin's artwork come alive.
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Download: Jeff Wallin January 9, 2009
