Glass and Paper, Cheryl Gutmaker and Cecily Callahan-Spaulding

Glass and Paper

Landscapes and History Books

Cheryl Gutmaker and Cecily Callahan – Spaulding

May 25 – June 19, 2012

Reception June 1, 2012 6:00 – 8:30 PM

Valley Artisans Market

25 E. Main Street

Cambridge, NY

      Landscapes have been a traditional art form for centuries. Recent developments in glass manufacturing have allowed a new type of landscape to be created by fusing glass. During the past two years, I have begun to explore the many possibilities available for use in the fused glass landscape.

      The work in this show reflects the beginnings of a major shift in the way I work with glass. I have moved more towards a painterly image rather than a purely functional approach. My landscapes are made totally from glass; there is no paint used in this process. The illusion of depth is produced through the careful layering of tiny bits of glass called frit, graduated size of components within the piece and multiple firing of successive layers of glass in the kiln. Using these techniques, I have endeavored to create the felling of beauty and joy that I experience when reflecting on walking in nature.

Cheryl Gutmaker

     

        Over the last forty years a rich and varied body of work has grown from craftsmen and artists creating traditional handmade books to new book forms of imagination and wonder. As an artist, I am fascinated by books and history.   My work is within the book as art tradition.  A variety of book forms have been the vessels over time that have given us a connection to our common past.  Information, stories, ideas, visions and mysteries have been transferred through language to make up a collective    body of thought that enriches and enables our modern life.  

     My work is a celebration of this connection.  Each piece is an expression of specific cultures, images, rituals and languages that are part of our collective memory.  They are a new take on what it is to be a history book.  The works communicate visions of our past through color, texture and a mix of old and new images.  Come see the show on a spring day and enjoy a creative history lesson like you have never seen before.

Cecily Callahan - Spaulding