An excerpt from my statement for the show:

This exhibition at the Harbinger Gallery marks a significant shift in my working process. Until now, I have worked with blown glass components and assembled sculptures (Saffron Aurora, Scarlet Blossom, Pale Orb) in a very controlled and pre-determined way. I have been searching for a way to create finished work more intuitively. While I have been using the flameworking technique of manipulating rods and tubes of glass in a bench-mounted torch to make jewellery for several years, I’ve realized the endless possibilities for sculpture as well. Begin, Glow and Burst are the first pieces in this new series.

Using a different type of glass (called borosilicate) than with glassblowing, it is possible with flameworking to create complex constructions of multiple elements with hot connections. Blown or solid parts can be added, changed or removed, glass to glass, without keeping the entire piece at the same temperature. Scale can range from minute detail to quite large, or both. Pioneering glass artist Ginny Ruffner describes the process as “additive”, akin to painting. Working towards a finished piece in this more visceral way is very new to me and I’m excited to find out where it continues to take my work.

 

A big thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting this project.

I have a piece  in Best of 2011, a show featuring the award winners from last summer’s Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.  I always love doing this show and was so pleased to receive the Honourable Mention Award in the Jewellery category.  Although the invite says the show closes in a week, it has been extended at the First Canadian Place Gallery on King Street through March.  Below is the blown glass neckpiece in the show, Eggshell Collar/Grey.

Stay tuned for glimpses of work in progress…

Karli Sears: New Work
April 28 – June 2, 2012
Harbinger Gallery
Waterloo, ON
www.harbingergallery.com

I am grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting this project.