AT SANDRA AINSLEY GALLERY
COUNTERPOINT
CALLAN & MEL DOUGLAS
MARCH 23 – MAY 7, 2024
NANCY
NANCY CALLAN
BIOGRAPHY
Nancy Callan grew up near Boston, MA, working as a pizza-maker, band roadie and graphic designer before attending the Massachusetts College of Art (BFA 1996). A chance peek into the hot glass studio changed the trajectory of her life; she was entranced by the fluid, glowing material and the demanding choreography of working at the furnace In 1996 she relocated to Seattle, WA to join maestro Lino Tagliapietra’s glassblowing team, rising to a key position as his assistant and traveling internationally to teach and demonstrate the craft.
Through this nineteen-year apprenticeship, Callan mastered the traditional Venetian glassblowing techniques that are the foundation of her innovative work with line, pattern and color. She continues to blaze a trail as an LGBTQ woman, helping to inspire, teach and mentor the next generation of diverse artists in glass
Callan began exhibiting her work in the 2000s; her first solo exhibition featured vessels and sculptures made during a residency at the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Village in NJ. Residencies, workshops and collaborations continue to feed her practice and create space for experimentation. An avid fan of vintage pop culture and contemporary fashion, Callan’s work brings a modern sensibility to the material and processes of hot glass working
Nancy Callan is represented by galleries throughout North America. Her artwork is held in numerous collections including the Museum of Glass (WA), Microsoft Collection, Chrysler Museum (VA), The Mint Museum (NC), Peabody-Essex Museum (MA), Barry Museum (VA), Corning Museum of Glass (NY) and the Shanghai Museum of Glass (China)
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I am an avid collector of visual information. The natural world is full of wonders, and I don’t have to travel far to observe its beautiful hues and patterns they are right outside of my door. The veins of a leaf, a delicate spider web, the texture of ice or the subtle colors of the dawn sky are captivating to me By observing these phenomena, I feel a connection to the elemental processes and animating forces of all life When I see something that intrigues me, I begin to take it apart in my mind, considering how I might translate it into glass. Parts and details can become whole avenues of exploration unto themselves, moving the finished work far beyond the source. Art is how I explore the world and satisfy my sense of curiosity.
My work is rooted in the Venetian glass-working traditions in which I was trained; I use processes such as cane, incalmo and murrine that are familiar to any student of historical glass, but I present them in innovative and unexpected ways. For me, they are a vocabulary from which I can build something new. I often create works in series, which allows me to develop and refine sculptural forms such as the “Droplets” with variation in color and pattern This practice is extended in the wall panels, where I find I can explore drawing and composition most directly The freedom to move between two and three dimensions in my current work is really exciting.
The works in “Phenomena” are connected by their origins in my observations of the natural world, filtered through a lens of fantasy. While the techniques used to create them are sophisticated and complex, it is my hope that the finished pieces contain a bit of the mystery and wonder that I find in nature
Droplet, 17H x 14W x 14D"
Firefly
Fire & Ice Droplet, 16 5H x 16 5W x 19 5D”
Rosita Paloma, 24.5H x 12W x 9D"
Chambray Clovis, 10H x 8W x 6.5D"
Energy Map 50, 22.5H x 57.5W x 1D"
Tiki Mod Spire, 30H x 11W x 11D"
Aegean Mod Spire, 30.5H x 13W x 13D"
Baltic Cloud, 12H x 16.5W x 9D"
Hyacinth Anemone Paloma, 27H x 13W x 8.5D"
MEL DOUGLAS
BIOGRAPHY
Mel Douglas has worked as an independent studio artist since 2000. In 2020 Douglas was awarded her PhD from the Australian National University for practice-lead research investigating how studio glass can be understood through the aesthetics of drawing In addition to winning the 2020 and 2014 Tom Malone Prize, a prestigious award through which a work is acquired each year into the collection of the National Gallery of Western Australia, Douglas has received several major awards including the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2002, the International Young Glass Award in 2007 from Ebeltolft, 2022 Loewe Craft Prize finalist and in 2021 she was selected as the Art Group Creative Fellow at the Canberra Glassworks
In 2019 her work was the inaugural acquisition for the NGA’s Robert and Eugenie Bell Decorative Arts and Design Fund. Douglas’ work is held in the private collections and public institutions internationally, including the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Ebeltoft Museum of Glass, Denmark, and National Gallery of Australia, Australia Mel Douglas has worked as an independent studio artist since 2000 In 2020 Douglas was awarded her PhD from the Australian National University for practicelead research investigating how studio glass can be understood through the aesthetics of drawing. In addition to winning the 2020 and 2014 Tom Malone Prize, a prestigious award through which a work is acquired each year into the collection of the National Gallery of Western Australia, Douglas has received several major awards including the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2002, the International Young Glass Award in 2007 from Ebeltolft, 2022 Loewe Craft Prize finalist and in 2021 she was selected as the Art Group Creative Fellow at the Canberra Glassworks.
In 2019 her work was the inaugural acquisition for the NGA’s Robert and Eugenie Bell Decorative Arts and Design Fund Douglas’ work is held in the private collections and public institutions internationally, including the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Ebeltoft Museum of Glass, Denmark, and National Gallery of Australia, Australia.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Objects and drawings are often thought of as two separate entities. My work explores and interweaves the creative possibilities of this liminal space, where the form is not just a support for drawing; but a three-dimensional drawing itself Using the unique qualities of the material, and the rich potential of mark making on and with glass, I am using line as a way to inform, define and enable three-dimensional space.
Throughout her career Douglas has pursued work that has been praised as ‘quiet, but strangely energetic and animated’ and as evidence of ‘her commitment to creative experimentation and evolution with the always challenging medium of glass ’
Robert Cook, AGWA’s Curator of 20th Century Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia
Colour Balance, 12H x 86.5W x 14D” (12H x 14W x 14D” per piece)
Light Intensity II, 12H x 15.5W x 4D”
Light Intensity I, 12H x 14W x 4D”
Umbra I, 20.5H x 24.5W”
Umbra II, 20.5H x 24.5W”
Enmeshed I, 27.5H x 32.75W”
Enmeshed II, Enmeshed III, 27.5H x 32.75W”
27 5H x 32 75W”
Colour Interval, 12H x 51W x 15.75D”
(12H x 15.75W x 15.75D” per piece)
Shifting Light, 23.5H x 23.5W”
Lucent, 35.5H x 39.5W”
Progression, 27.5H x 32.5W"
COLLABORATIVE WORKS
Counterpoint Droplet, 13H x 11W x 11D”
Emanate, 8H x 12W x 12D”
Lash Bowl, 9H x 11W x 11D”
Tonel Wave Triptych, 12H x 10W X 10D”
per piece
Fringe Bowl, 9H x 9W x 9D”
Scollop Lash Bowl, 4H x 4W x 4D"
