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Lake Effects: Byron Gin and Heather Hancock

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New works by Byron Gin and Heather Hancock

August 15 - October 3, 2011

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Uncommon Ground on Clark

3800 N. Clark St.

Chicago, IL

773.929.3680

uncommonground.com

Work from my new series, "Verge" will be hanging at Uncommon Ground on Clark August 15 - October 3rd, 2011 as part of a 2-person exhibition with Byron Gin titled "Lake Effects."

Working in our separate media and styles, we have developed new pieces that clearly connect to one another with lake-inspired forms and restrained palettes of blues through grays and whites. In Byron's spare compositions the viewer is invited to take a second look at familiar lakeshore objects and birds which float on textured, layered backgrounds. Abstracted from their complex visual landscape, these familiar forms take on new significance.

My work is similarly spare in composition, glass floating in cement board. My interest is in considering the function of the lake as a blank yet dynamic palette, marking the space between sky and land. The lake is read as a transitional space: water at the verge of sky and land.

Enfold

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Enfold is a recent commission for clients from the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Enfold_7685_detail8 Enfold (2010) 17" x 20" glass, gold, grout on MDF

Enfold offers an abstract connection with the raw, spectacular beauty of the Bay of Fundy—incorporating forms inspired by sky, rock and water. The shimmer and shine of glass and gold reflects the constantly changing tides, mists and weather at Ross Creek.

Enfold refers to both the visual experience of being surrounded by sky and water and to the warmth and shelter enjoyed by those staying in the clients' cottage perched at the cliff's edge at Ross Creek overlooking the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia.

Full and additional detail images available on my fine art portfolio.

Imagining Mind

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Solo Show of recent work at Montgomery Ward Gallery, UIC Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted Street, UIC.

January 10 - February 10, 2011

Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 19, 4-7p

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 Realize4 (detail) 24" x 24" glass, gold, grout, paint on wood  :: Heather Hancock 2010

In my work, I re-imagine an ancient medium with traditionally decorative and functional uses as a vehicle for exploring contemporary concepts of cognition, language and social identity. My work asserts the essential meaningfulness of glass as a medium. Glass serves literally as a lens to transmit and focus light, and metaphorically as a channel through which something can be seen or understood.

I use the highly physical and permanent media of glass and grout to explore the ephemeral cognitive experience of attending, perceiving, and comprehending. There are direct links between my material process, creating images from glass fragments, and my meta-cognitive inquiry into the emergence of a unified self from innumerable synaptic connections. The interaction between the media of glass and grout and the intangible medium of light further underscores the significance of both material and immaterial dimensions. Light parallels the transience of a cognitive moment and ensures the dynamic nature of the work across space and time. The permanent is thereby animated by changes in lighting conditions and viewers’ perspectives.

Taken together, the 20 works from three series hanging at the Montgomery Ward Gallery address the constructive process of the cognitive moment. A unified experience or self is constructed from incoherent fragments of sensations and memories. Focused attention forms the basis of our conscious experience and allows us to achieve narrative coherence.

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Realize5 (detail) 24" x 24" glass, gold, grout, paint on wood  :: Heather Hancock 2010

Studio Feature on Strange Closets

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I recently had a studio visit with Tate Gunnerson of Strange Closets. Tate is a Chicago area free-lance art+design writer and photographer. We had a great time, covering everything from his recent Italy trip to the concept of emergence. He took tons of images in the studio, creating amazing still-lifes from the minutia in the studio. Here's the write-up that Tate posted on Strange Closets.

Studio Tour Glass Artist Heather Hancock

3 pieces published in "Breakout!"

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Realize2 detail image

Realize2 (2009) detail  24" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, grout, acrylic paint on MDF

Images of Realize2 (above), Emerge5 and Bend7 (see below) are included in Brit Hammer's most recently published book BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success.

BREAKOUT! takes up where Brit Hammer’s best-selling book, Mosaic: Finding Your Own Voice, leaves off—the business aspect of visual art. This book serves as a personal guide for artists in developing a successful art business.

 

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Bend7 (2008) detail 18" x 24" glass, 24K smalti, acrylic paint on wood

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Emerge5 (2009) glass, grout, acrylic spray paint on MDF

 

I submitted these three pieces in response to Brit's international open call for art that is informed by mosaic and mosaic techniques but falls outside the traditional mosaic label in exploring new territory.  Each piece is featured with a 2-page spread.

Brit's book is a great resource for artists, offering a holistic approach to developing an art practice. There is plenty of specific, concrete information about the business of art.  Brit combines this with personal reflection and journaling exercises to encourage a deeper engagement with defining success, finding motivation and following one's passion.

Flex

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Flex2 Flex 09 (2008) detail vitreous glass and grout on wood

 

Small format pieces exploring form and movement with glass and grout. Grout serves as an element, completing patterns in negative space. These pieces provide glimpses of the larger patterns from which they are taken.

Flex Photo Gallery | Slideshow

New work at the Unicorn coffeehouse in Evanston

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New work is hanging at the Unicorn for the month of February. New ungrouted mixed media pieces consider the significance of 'noticing' as an organizing force in mental life. These moments of noticing take place within contexts—the internal contexts of personal history and world knowledge, and the external or social contexts to which we are so keenly attuned.  Fragments of vitreous glass combine to form a lens that focuses, refracts or illuminates the flow of experience, perhaps prompting a viewer to notice.

Bend series

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Bend is inspired by the dynamic and gorgeous patterns formed by light refracted through wavy glass. Colors weave together in seamless patterns. A tiny change in perspective by the viewer leads to an entirely new andsurprising pattern.

Bend7 8x10 v2
Bend7 (2008) 18" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, acrylic paint on wood

From another angle, Bend explores how we shape our own story: the constructive nature of autobiographical memory. Out of everyday, ordinary life experience, we are perpetually constructing our narratives--incorporating new experiences, omitting some details and remembering other, and shifting emphases to create a cohesive, compelling pattern. Our individual narratives evolve across time, rippling into those of others.

Bend7 detail 16x10 Bend7 (2008) detail 18" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, acrylic paint on wood

From a technical perspective, micro-changes at the level of individual cut pieces had the potential to be amplified and ultimately direct the course of the overall pattern. This is consistent with the assertion that everyday discourse and interactions shape and direct our story.  

Bend2 detail 16x10 Bend2 (2008) detail 18" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, acrylic paint on wood

Bend4 detail2 16x10 Bend4 (2008) detail 18" x 24" glass, 24k smalti, acrylic paint on wood
 

More images of Bend can be seen at Flickr:

Bend Photo Gallery | Slideshow

Uncommon Ground restaurant installation

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Ug_bthrm1_detail19crop A new mosaic installation is now complete at Uncommon Ground restaurant in Edgewater.

Uncommon Ground's owners invited me to design "uncommon bathrooms" for their second location recently opened at 1401 Devon (at Glenwood).

The central concept for the mosaic installation is Uncommon Ground as a gathering place where ideas are exchanged and evolve.  Abstracted botanical imagery makes reference to the rooftop garden which will provide organic herbs and vegetables of the restaurant.

In the 1st bathroom, working above the existing white tile, I developed a band of sparkling mosaic in lush greens with insets of vintage china and and a floral motif in oranges and blues that gain enough momentum to escape the border. For the 2nd small bathroom, I translated the same concepts into a vertical floor-to-ceiling mosaic element surrounded by an entire wall of gorgeous apple green surround tile.  A fragmented artist statement is incorporated into a meander of mirror in both bathrooms.

By collaborating with painter Erica Jane Huntzinger, thematic and color concepts from the mosaic elements are carried through in the gorgeous oil paintings on the doors.

Focus

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Focus is a new series of large (2' x 2') mixed media works using spray paint and glass to explore the notion of moments of clarity in the midst of the blur of life.

Several pieces from this series will be exhibited at Around the Coyote 2007.

Chicago Art Open - Curator's Choice

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Fuse,has been selected as a Curator's Choice at the 2007 Chicago Art Open.  The 10th annual "Chicago Art Open" runs Thursday, October 4 through Saturday, October 27 at Iron Studios, 3636 S. Iron St. in Chicago's  Bridgeport neighborhood.

Chicago Art Open is a visually eclectic exhibition showcasing the works of more than 300 prominent,  mid-career and emerging professional artists. The event features works in several mediums: digital, drawings, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and installations.

Opening reception is Friday, October 5th at 6-10pm. The show is open seven days a week from 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.