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Holly Wolf-Mattick
Medium
Sculptures, vessels, designs in glass
Email
Website
www.wolf-mattickglass.com/holly
Artist's Statement
The themes consistent in my work are the role light plays in image making and the use of glass as a tool for creating the images. I try to respond to and preserve the inherent characteristics of glass. My interest in glass centers on its transparency and optics. The transparent quality of glass allows the material to dissolve in space, while lighting emphasizes its optical characteristics. Subtlety and atmosphere are achieved when balancing these concerns. Initially, my work focuses on the glass as a visible part to the light and glass systems. The glass gradually becomes a tool for image making. In some instances, the glass works as an intermediary step to the work and is not seen in the final presentation of the pieces. The ideas of magnification, scientific imagery, dualities, and architecture are references for my work.
In my blown glass, hot cast, and kiln worked sculptures, lighting plays a significant role in emphasizing the transparency of the material. In the fused tubing series, circular glass tubes are cut and fused in cross sections creating patterns, which resemble cellular systems and Modernist design aesthetics. Each tube allows a passageway for light, air, and visual access. Within the piece, Tubing Cubes, there exists a balance between simplicity of form and complexity of parts and references to cellular and structural architecture. The various movements produced by the phenomenon of heat contribute to the cellular references of the tubing cubes and accentuate the fluidity of the glass and the solidity of the cube’s base. In Grid, hot cast glass slabs with imprinted patterns hang in hinged frames on the wall. The light passes through the glass to create colored light images on the back of the slabs. The grid format acts as an organizational system for the modular components.
The idea of glass and light as drawing tools led to an investigation of alternative photographic processes. By using light, glass, and the cyanotype process, photograms of objects can be made. This low-tech method of photography provides a way to record an object as a two dimensional image. In the cyanotype series, Direct Images, hand made glass objects act as drawing tools. As light passes through the glass objects, the light is refracted and contacts the emulsion-coated paper. Direct images of the glass are created. The images transform beyond simple glass plates and resemble magnified scientific specimens. The glass objects work as intermediary steps in the image making process and are not displayed with the prints. The prints have a simple directness and are illustrations of light.
The quiet nature of my work invites but does not confront, asking the viewer to slow down and reflect on the familiar. By isolating and emphasizing the subtleties of light refraction, the work celebrates the unexpected and overlooked details in daily life. |
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