Two: Testing Limits
Works in Glass by Beth King and Kristin Gudjonsdottir.
Introduction
Although the sculptural glass of Beth King and Kristin Gudjonsdottir is quite different in appearance and content, what they do have in common is that they both test the limits of their materials. In the case of Gudjonsdottir, while she develops new techniques of combining glass with other mediums and King as she forms and constructs glass sculpture. Both artists studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in the early 1990s. They were attracted there, not only by the glass department, but also by the opportunity to work between departments to incorporate ceramics, metal, wood and other media into their glass works.
Gudjonsdottir was born in Iceland and is now settled in the USA. She creates richly textured surfaces on forms resembling the tools used by Icelandic farmers and fishermen. This fascination with tools was inspired by her family's lack of knowledge about its family tree. Her main clues about her ancestors were some old tools and photographs, sometimes taken as people were working. The tools were often worn out, repaired, modified, and some reused as something else. These formed the basis for Gudjonsdottir to create her own tool forms.
In the last three years, although the work often retains the texture and colours of her homeland, Gudjonsdottir's new life in the United States has become a primary source of inspiration. Research into her ancestors made her aware that, traditionally, everything was usually recycled until no further use could be gained. This highlighted how much material is wasted today and inspired the exploration of the creative use of urban waste. True to her aim of re-using materials, Gudjonsdottir has developed a technique to make re-usable clay moulds for her glass, castings. She wanted to find a less wasteful method of casting glass as plaster moulds last for only one or two firings before they fall apart. She had researched ancient Chinese and African bronze casting methods, and learned that they used clay moulds. She also uses safety glass from recycling centres, cut-offs from glass blowing studios, clay trimmings from ceramic artists, dried up bags of clay from art centres and schools, and ceramic glazes from garage sales to create her pieces.
Beth King, who was born in the USA, studied drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture, from an early age and has gone on to have a diverse career in art. This included graphic design and it was when she was working with architects on sign design projects that she began to take note of glass in modern architecture, and realised it's potential for sculpture.
King followed her inclination to experiment with architectural methods of constructing sculpture and, in the process, discovered an interest in testing the strength of glass by subjecting it to the force of gravity. When she forms glass, for example, she often puts it through multiple slumpings or uses multipart moulds that she manipulates while the glass is moving. During fabrication, whether using slumped, flat, or blown glass, she applies tension by tightening cable supports, adds gravitational stress by making the glass project unsupported upwards or off a wall, or creates a push-pull dynamic by binding parts together with elastic fabric. To date, her vocabulary of materials used with glass includes metal, cable, wood, rubber, and fabric.
For King, it is important to create a structure in which all the parts perform some kind of work, and to expose the mechanics of that structure. She features the method of attachment she employs, and often designs the hardware herself, aware that the content of the sculpture is revealed as much in the method of attachment as in the parts.
About her sculpture she says, 'Sculpture can be looked at as a metaphor or a trigger. A metaphor conveys an associative meaning; for example, a vessel refers to the body. A trigger leads us to think beyond associative meanings, to discover universal yet personal insights that give meaning to our everyday life, such as achieving perfection through repetition. My sculpture is meant to be a trigger, and invites the viewer to participate in finding the content within it.'
Beth King
Lift slumped glass, machined hardware cable 42" high x 15" wide x 15" deep April 1997 Photo: Douglas Schaible |
 Wedge flat glass, machined hardware, fabricated steel . 82" high x 24" wide x 6" deep December 1995 Photo: Brian Oglesbee |
Thrust blown glass, machined hardware, cable 4" diameter x 18" long March 1995 Photo: Brian Oglesbee |
 Twist slumped glass, machined hardware, cable 6" high x 42" long x 6" deep April 1997 Photo: Douglas Schaible Collection of: Aviva and Jack Robinson |
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 Pull slumped glass, machined hardware, cable 8" high x 12" wide x 12" deep March 1996 Photo: Douglas Schaible Collection of: Rick and Judy Conne |
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 Stretch flat glass, elastic fabric, steel and wood 56" high x 48" wide x 48" deep April 1996 Photo: Mickey Castle |
 X plate glass, fabricated steel, cable 8" high x 12" wide x 12" deep April 1995 Photo: Brian Oglesbee Collection of: Bill Burton |
 Spiral slumped glass, fabricated steel 56" high x 25" diameter May 1995 Photo: Brian Oglesbee |
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 Pull slumped glass, machined hardware, cable 8" high x 12" wide x 12" deep March 1996 Photo: Douglas Schaible Collection of : Rick and Judy Conne |
Stitch formed hot glass, latex 44" high x 60" wide x 12" deep May 1995 Photo : Brian Oglesbee |
This exhibition was first shown on the IIRG's Gateway to Glass website (www.gatewaytoglass.org).
