Ed Pennebaker: Growth and Diminishment exhibition opening reception is Friday, August 30, from 5 – 7 pm at the Ft. Smith Regional Art Museum, and the exhibition runs through January 19, 2025.
"Growth & Diminishment addresses the circle of life all things go through: birth, growth, flowering, reproducing, diminishing, death, and decay.” Ed, Red Fern Glass, is a master at combining mixed media and found objects to create dimensional works that amaze and delight. His background in glass techniques, such as flame working, hot casting, cold working, and fusing bring a brilliant dimension to many of his works." View 30 sculptures and 8 chandeliers in this epic exhibition. At the reception there will be light refreshments. Exhibition sponsored by Arcbest and ACHE.
Ed writes, "I started blowing glass in 1982 in Liberal, Kansas with Chuck Watson. The best learning experience was spending a job at Hale Farm & Village where we demonstrated glassblowing for the public in an authentic historic village in Bath, Ohio. Red Fern Glass was established in Salem, Arkansas in 1985. Glass made in those early years was functional and decorative, ornaments, vases, perfume bottles, etc. In the early 2000s the studio became profitable enough that I could spend some time making sculpture, art for art's sake."
The sculptures in my “Chaos” series are inspired by the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak 122 miles long from Atkins, to Clinton where our studio is, to Mountain View, and all the way to Highland, AR. I have picked up a lot of debris whose forms and patina are thought provoking and sculptural. I see the series as a collaboration and conversation with nature relating to our troubled times of climate change that is responsible for many of these super storms and the political divisiveness associated with it. Everyone’s life is impacted by chaos. Issues that alter us either physically or mentally include things we have no control over. The evidence of the changes remains not only in the physical objects but also in many people's lives economically and psychologically. But utopian bliss in safety is no match for adventure, chaos, and uncertainty. There is a deep satisfaction in using knowledge and skill to beat potential disaster. You never feel so alive as when you have cheated fate or come through trying times."
Cast Glass Block Sculptures --- "The glass blocks that I cast and assemble into sculptures are studies in color, texture, and pattern. The textures in the blocks can be viewed as parts of microcosms, macrocosms, landscape details, sky or water details, urban landscapes, topography patterns, or universal abstractions. Casting glass blocks started as a way to use up the final dregs of glass left in the furnace at the end of the week, glass that would otherwise go to the scrap pile or landfill. This was part of my philosophy of caring for the earth “reduce, reuse, recycle.” The blocks were always interesting in texture and color partly because the glass at the bottom of the furnace may have mixed with a previous color to make something different and unexpected. At first these blocks were used to fill in some windows and partitions as I built my house. I liked the random thicknesses and general funkiness of the way they came out because of the uncontrollable nature of casting as I tried to get the last remnants of glass out of the furnace. Gradually I started casting blocks before I got to the last dregs and controlled the thickness and size of the blocks. Later, I have even cast blocks from an entire 'melt' of glass, the 140 pounds of glass that I melt in the furnace each week. I learned to control the patterns so a group of blocks could be seen as a continuous pattern. But I still preferred to do the blocks spontaneously as they were cast instead of using any more formal repetitive pattern or controlled way of making the blocks. The blocks hold my interest because to their durability to use in outdoor environments. I especially like the optical patterns when different textures are used on opposing sides of a block. Interaction with the surrounding environment because of the transparency of the glass adds another element of interest. The changing light of different days and seasons helps these works hold the viewer’s interest over time."
"My sculptures have combined glass with various metals (fabricated, found, or cast), stone, and sometimes wood or found objects. My background and interest in various glass techniques helps me include some form of it in almost anything I do. Besides working with hot glass at the furnace I have used flame working, hot casting, cold working, and fusing to develop my ideas. I am influenced by the Glass Secessionist group and the idea that glass can be used in artistic expression to develop the content of the artwork. I am influenced by artists Olafur Eliasson and his environmental activism and Kennedy Yanko’s use of found metals with paint skins. In my sculptural work I continually strive to make a statement that is about more than just the seductiveness of the glass."
"Glassmaking is a very energy intensive activity with furnaces and equipment that use a lot of fuel. I like to think I can offset that inefficiency somewhat by reusing a lot of materials as found objects instead of fabricating new objects. I especially enjoy the patina of old objects and like to see the effects that the chaos of life has on the things we make and use."
"My mixed media, minimal, environmental sculptures are intentionally vague and abstract. I like the way the viewer can come to their own conclusions about the work or see something in the work that I never saw. The sculptures express things that words cannot and invite viewers to be reflective and introspective, possibly illuminating some idea that has been under consideration in the subconscious. Mystery and soul are the primary ingredients that transmit a message or feeling or let the viewer make their own message."
"The sculpture Sedimentary features a piece of sandstone on top of a metal base with fused glass panels. The fused glass mimics the sedimentary sandstone. Fused glass starts with sheets of glass and glass frit (crushed glass) that are cut and laid out in a pattern. The glass is then placed in a kiln and brought up to around 1600 degrees to melt the individual pieces into one solid sheet. The sculpture was topped off with some small blocks of cast glass and some pipe with glass rods coming out the ends of the pipes. I saw it as kind of a reliquary or “ark of the ecological covenant”. The base originally had a motion detector and light source so when it was in my yard in Clinton it would come on at night when you walked near it. For the exhibit the light is permanently on."
"Of course the chandeliers have lighting in them. I've also made some sculptures with lighting. Some of the earlier sculptures were similar to the chandeliers turned upside down. When customers originally started asking about making a sculpture out of the chandelier parts it seemed difficult for them to understand how difficult that might be. The chandeliers depend on gravity and all the pieces hang off of a steel armature like hanging ornaments from a tree. To make the glass pieces stand up the opposite way a totally different kind of armature has to be made and the glass pieces have to be made differently. The armature has rods the point upwards and the glass has to slide down over the rods." Total number of chandeliers Ed has made - 660 to date.
Ed's new series of 14 sculptures titled "Variations & Mutations" will be represented in the exhibition. Ed explains, "My reaction to the unpredictable events of Covid was to make work that I have never made before. Starting with melting a glass that is unpredictable, Chalcedony glass is a recipe that includes silver, zinc, tin, and copper, some in minute amounts. Very slight changes in the recipe make the color react differently. The process of gathering the glass, manipulating the glass, cooling, reheating, and even the annealing process all affect the colors produced. It is the perfect example of doing the same thing over and over again but getting (and expecting) different results. There are so many variables in the process that control becomes elusive or impossible. Another glassworker recently commented about making glass, “You have to achieve total control before you accept the chaos in it." Just as the Covid virus has gone through various mutations, the whole impact of Covid has changed the way we think and interact. Politically, environmentally, socially, and intellectually we are made up of all kinds of variations and mutations."
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