Crafting the Vernacular 
November 20, 2021 – April 3, 2022

Vernissage: Friday, November 19, 2021, 5-8pm

 

The term vernacular typically implies a mother tongue, a native language or regional dialect. It can also, however, refer more widely to aspects of material culture, such as the architecture, domestic interiors, hairstyles, and clothing that distinguishes the routine lives of people, who share common areas in both small communities and larger societies. The shapes that are most germane to artists working in glass, and that inform the vernacular of glass art, often relate to vases, bowls, glasses, or goblets, but also windows, light bulbs, and other functional or decorative items from our customary living spaces and daily activities. The individual artists who wield the tools and create the updates to this traditional craft, bring their own experiences, cultural associations, familial histories, and childhood connections, to everyday objects. 

 

Crafting the Vernacular presents the work of artists Ché Rhodes, SaraBeth Post, Corey Pemberton, Therman Statom, Leo Tecosky, and Nate Watson. While they all have foundations working in the traditional craft vernacular of glass production, they all likewise engage with and expand the expressive conditions for making art, in glass and other mediums, through their individual and collective experiences living in America. The exhibition will draw from an index of symbols and signs that trace how these artists interact with objects and materials from varying stages of their development, charting a path from an inquisitive childhood to an artistic adulthood.