Marc Petrovic and Kari Russell-Pool began working in the hot shop together as art students, pushing the boundaries of hot glass sculpting and introducing a flame-working torch into the hot shop. Marc minored in small metals and Kari in printmaking These interests are evident in their work. The pair graduated one year apart, allowing for each to settle into their own studio identities apart from each other before marrying and going onto share a studio and and a life over the past 35 years.
Marc’s work is multi-faceted consisting of several visually distinct series of works thematically joined by the thread of identity. While specializing in blown and solid hot glass sculpture, he often combines wood, metal, and found objects into his work. He likes to say, Glass is magical but not magic. Until it is infused with an idea, my work as an artist is not complete.
Kari’s work if primarily flame worked. She uses glass canes pulled and coloured from furnace glass which allow her to incorporate blown elements into her work. Kari also has several distinct series but can generally be identified by the floral free-hand structures she builds from rods of glass. Kari’s work draws inspiration from her life and current events.
The artists will give a brief overview of their separate work with a greater focus on their new collaborative series. Our Distilled Life is a collection of glass vignette assemblages presented inside apothecary type blown glass bottles. Fused glass cut-outs give the work a paper doll like quality invoking a sense of child’s play while commenting on the very adult themes of the gamification of large societal problems. The vignettes are at heart an examination of fair play. Multiple glass techniques have been used that draw on the artists’ lifetime of accumulated skills.
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