Artists-in-Residence
JASON ANDERSON |
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JASON ANDERSON is originally from Nyack, NY. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Glassblowing and Glass Sculpture from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Upon completion of his studies he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to join Richard Jolley’s crew as a glassblower and steelworker. He is currently an Artist In Residence at the Worcester Craft center and is thrilled to be given the opportunity to continue teaching and developing his own work.
"My body of work deals strongly with the human condition and the evolution of the human race. By the manipulation of hot glass, steel, rope, and mixed media; my aim is to explore our potential as human beings and the extraordinary abilities that we are all capable of possessing."
CARRIE BATTISTA |
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CARRIE BATTISTA received her BFA in Glass from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2006 and has studied various media including blacksmithing, printmaking and enameling. She has worked as a studio assistant and teaching assistant in numerous professional glass studios. Carrie was a scholarship student at Penland and Haystack Schools of Craft and was a 2006 Niche Award Finalist. She currently teaches classes at the Worcester Center for Crafts, where she is an Artist-in-Residence at New Street Glass Studio.
"The panels I create are autobiographical reflections on my past and present. Childhood memories, objects, and places of personal significance inspire the images I choose to translate onto glass. Using layers of transparent glass, I paint a single scene: each scene has an underlying narrative that is open to interpretation. By presenting a simple image or common object, I hope to evoke a feeling of nostalgia. My color choices are intended to set the mood of each scene. By working with imagery and layering, I wish to expose the collective memory of the viewer existing beneath the surface."
MATTHEW EAMES |
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MATT EAMES was born on Cape Cod, MA in 1985. He recently graduated from University of Hartford in Connecticut with his BFA in Ceramics. Matt’s first experience with clay was during his freshman year at Barnstable High School, where within a strong high school program, he found ceramics to develop into a primary goal for his future. Since that year, he has followed his ambitions to find his voice in ceramics.
"I make functional ware that focuses on utility but is not restricted by those guidelines. Through the use of porcelain, I create organized sets that combine utilitarian methods with a curiosity for function beyond the form. For me, utility is secondary, the main focus being on the display of the forms, and the visual energy it creates.
Beyond the forming process and the arranging of component parts, I am interested in the structured use of color- what I would describe as a glazing format. Each porcelain piece or set is created with the intent of using color in a manner that is suited to the specific form or set of forms. Oxidation, reduction, and other atmospheric firing methods are used as tools to expand further on a specific idea.
Emerging into the world of ceramics, one is strongly influenced by the people one meets. Yet, the pure essence of ceramics has been established through the depth of historical imagery. As I look at Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ceramics, I am especially interest in their porcelain traditions, and, in particular, the near perfection of their glaze applications- an aspect of my own artwork that I consider critical. In the final product, I hope to present the growth and development that I have achieved so far, and to convey the devotion and passion that I feel as I make the work."
ABIGAIL HEUSS |
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ABIGAIL HEUSS received her BFA in Metalsmithing from UMass Dartmouth. She has been working as a jeweler making custom work and doing restorations both while in school and since graduation. Abigail has taught Metalsmithing at Snow Farm during the Summer High School Program for four years. Her work is narrative and has its basis in Metalsmithing, but is largely multi-media.
"I enjoy working with metal because it is a very tactile process. I must be acutely aware of the state that my materials are in at all times in order to convince my piece to yield to my intentions. My ability to sense and react to the texture, temperature and tension in materials determines how drastically I am able to transform them. I am attracted to the idea of artwork which is made to be touched and worn because I want this relationship to follow through to my audience. I choose to make boxes and jewelry because I want my finished work to be handled. The physical intimacy involved in putting on a bracelet or opening a box makes the viewer an active participant in the piece. Because much of my work is narrative this interaction makes them a part of the story. I ask my audience to interpret my illustrations knowing that each person will bring a new set of associations to my work. The jewelry that I make is intended to decorate the wearer as props do a stage, giving visual clues to the story they will weave."
AMY HUNTER |
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AMY HUNTER received her BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts in 2007. Although new to the art glass scene, Amy has studied glass at Pilchuck School for Glass in Stanwood, WA and at Denmark’s Design School in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has received numerous awards for her work and has shown both nationally and internationally. Amy is currently working and teaching as at the Worcester Center for Craft’s glass facility, New Street Glass.
"Through my own personal experiences, I have found that the bond between two people is largely an unspoken understanding, something far from tangible. The forms I utilize in my work reflect these unspoken, unseen ideas. I use clear blown glass, not always easily seen, to create extremely fragile objects. I blow a sphere that contains cords of glass that stretch across it and then dissect them apart. There is a tension created within the difficult process of cutting these objects without severing the connection between the pieces. I use this idea of the interrupted circle as a theme within my work. Sometimes you need to find an alternative path to connect."
KATE LEWIS |
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KATE LEWIS was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and has lived in Michigan since age eight. As a child, Kate lived in Germany for two years, and in 2004 she spent a semester abroad in Rome. In May of 2007, Kate received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art, with a focus on ceramics and sculpture, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a focus on literature, from Michigan State University. Kate’s studies confirmed for her that art was her natural calling.
In the summer of 2006, Kate won Best of Show for Fire and Mud, a juried exhibition of Michigan ceramic artists. Her dedication to expanding her knowledge of ceramics and the craft community led her to apply for the Mary B. Bishop and Francis S. Merritt Scholarship Fund Work Study Grant, which she received to attend a one-week workshop led by Karen Karnes and Mark Shapiro at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. This past summer, Kate spent three months at the International Ceramic Research Center in Skælskor, Denmark. She worked part-time as an assistant for the Center and developed her current body of work, which she presented as an installation in their gallery space.
"The practice of creation and expression has become a meditation which nourishes my soul. Following my instincts about the meditative nature of touching clay, I began to practice mantra meditation by creating the same simple object inspired from nature as I repeat the same mantra over and over again. I began to collect the leaves I saw on the ground all around me—immortalizing each with a brushstroke of liquid porcelain. More and more, I find that my creations are tied to the place where I am: the objects that I make in multiples are inspired by the natural objects I collect.
Like most humans, I contemplate the incertitude of being: why are we conscious, how do we relate to the world around us, and what are we meant to do with our time on earth? The repetitive nature of my artistic practices engages my mind and my senses. This frees my consciousness to meditate on these questions. In practicing art as a mode of meditation, I am able to sublimate my existential uncertainty.
For me, it is more effective to communicate through the feeling of a space rather than the aesthetic impression of a single object. I endeavor to create installations where silent, tranquil moments may occur, atmospheres where one has the potential to sense the spiritual energy at the source of the piece. I seek a moment of meditation for those who experience my installations."
JACOB VINCENT |
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JACOB VINCENT received his BFA from Skidmore College, where he studied early American architecture and contemporary textile design. He has managed a private glass studio for the past several years and has taught regularly at glass studios throughout New England. Jacob has been working with blown glass for the past six years with a focus on delicate, functional everyday objects. He was a scholarship recipient at the Corning Museum of Glass and was recently included in the Lark Books publication 500 Glass Objects. Jacob has been with the Craft Center for the past four years as a glassworking instructor and is currently the glass department Facilities Manager. This is Jacob's second year as Artist in Residence in glass.
JODI SALERNO, consulting artist |
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JODI SALERNO received her B.F.A. degree in glass from the Massachusetts College of Art. She was awarded a fellowship to the Creative Glass Center of America at
Wheaton Village and numerous scholarships to attend Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School. Salerno has also received the Absolut au Kurant award at SOFA (the Sculptural Objects and Functional Art Exposition) in Chicago. She has been an instructor in both hot and cold glass at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA and at Simple Syrup Glass Studio in Brockton, MA. Publications include American Craft and Urban Glass Quarterly. She currently maintains a studio at the Worcester Center for Crafts New Street Glass Studio in Worcester, MA where she is ‘consulting artist’ to the glass studio.
"The work I create is fueled by popular culture, consumerism and individuals’ perceptions of manufactured needs and desires in society. Drawing inspiration from themes of innuendo and issues of gender - our established roles as men and women in society, the presentation of my pieces, (installations and performances as well as simply objects on pedestals) becomes essential to the final product. Ultimately, my intent is to ‘package’ familiar ideas and everyday objects in such a way that their conventional meanings are challenged."