MATERIAL MADE OVER by David Schnuckel It’s an interesting thing, to think and write about the culture of our field during a worldwide pandemic. No matter who we are or what our work is or where we’re located, engaging issues within the framework of glass amidst such a hefty backdrop has revealed one constant variable as we move a little deeper into this globally historic moment as glass practitioners: that the one thing we can all be most certain of, continued uncertainty. In terms of glass making, exhibiting, teaching, or learning, there’s been a lot of unforeseen obstacles that have gotten in the way of how we’d normally do what we do because of the pandemic. But, whether we’re at the beginning of our career as a student or an established professional within the field, these obstacles have also made way for some really interesting discoveries in response to new constrictions placed upon our usual way of doing things, seeing things, or pursuing things. There’s something unique about limitation (for better or for worse) in that it obligates us to be resourceful. And, if never before, perhaps we’re beginning to understand that success as an artist isn’t measured by what one can do, but, especially in times like these, measured instead by how one can adapt. And one of the most impressive examples of a masterfully adaptive studio practice is the one of Juli Bolaños-Durman. Resourcefulness isn’t a mere tool in her relationship to glass as much as it has been the cornerstone in which her extensive body of work is built upon. Things like intuition, elasticity, and improvisation has naturally been hard-wired into her modus operandi as a maker far before COVID-19 intervened, culminating in a critically acclaimed body of work that makes new use of found and discarded glass objects in whimsical assemblages that live as both artifact and arti-fiction.
'Bird of Paradise' from WILD FLOWER Collection (2019) . Juli Bolaños-Durman in collaboration with Edinburgh based perfumers Jorum Studio. Acquired into the Collection of the National Glass Centre. Sunderland, UK, 2020 Found & Blown Glass with Cuttings. Photo Credit: Shannon Tofts
WILD FLOWER Collection (2019) Juli Bolaños-Durman in collaboration with Edinburgh based perfumers Jorum Studio. Found & Blown Glass with Cuttings. Photo Credit: Shannon Tofts
4
GASNEWS
FALL 2020
VOLUME 34, ISSUE
4
