CMU School of Drama


Thursday, February 17, 2022

Pittsburgh Glass Center group exhibit showcases “visionary makers of color”

Visual Art | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Running through Full Spectrum, the latest group exhibition at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, is an odd motif — bananas. Whether or not the fruit appears intentionally or not remains a mystery, but it definitely stands out, whether in the work of Caymanian-American artist Davin K. Ebanks, as a noted inspiration of Korean-born artist Eun-Ha Paek (their statement references “a banana peel on the floor”), or in the bright yellow bunch that appears as part of Nikki Lau’s ceramic Chinatown-inspired cornucopia.

4 comments:

Viscaya Wilson said...

The name of the exhibit seems to be very fitting, and it definitely has me intrigued. One of the most interesting works to me is Bre’Annah Stampley’s piece Fragmented Remembering. Through the lens of an aspiring artist, I am amazed by the degree of vulnerability she has delegated to this work. Not only is it incredibly personal and touching in the process, it's also an actual precious relic of the life of a loved one. The commitment and authenticity of this message is very meaningful to me. To me, this piece demonstrates how significant the process can be in art. I also have a deep appreciation for the diversity of mediums curated in this collection. Obviously they all share a certain quality of visual appeal, but they also seem to share a similarity in meaning, which is why the collection remains cohesive to me. They seem to me to be centered on aspects of personal identity, and I wish I could have seen this exhibition in person.

Jessica Williams said...

I really love how vibrant this exhibit is. I mean obviously given the headline but still it caught me off guard. I think I have a vision of art exhibits being minimalistic and conceited and generally not interesting to me. But these pieces of art within the exhibit actually make me excited and happy to be there. I love folk art and art that can be beautiful outside of the austere environment of an exhibit so especially seeing the historically accurate and culturally significant ways of creating such beautiful things is so inspiring to me. Especially with glass based art. That type of art can look beautiful on its own but can create an extra layer of depth when paired with well designed and thought out lighting. The vibrant colors of the pieces paired with natural light in the morning that casts the colors onto the walls and ceiling. There is a reason the church loves stained glass windows.

Megan Hanna said...

I’m someone who is constantly on the hunt for new art exhibits and experiences in Pittsburgh and this is definitely something I will have to add to my list. First of all, I’ve been such a big fan of Pittsburgh glass center ever since I took a hot glass class there. They are so committed to community outreach and sharing the craft. Additionally, it’s great that an exhibit is centering and amplifying the work of people of color especially such a wide range of different makers. I was surprised to hear that the exhibit is more than just glass since all of the previous exhibits I’ve visited there have been either neon or mostly pieces by glassmakers. It’ll be interesting to see how they weave glass in and how all of the pieces interact together. I love that they included artists with an interest in found objects because I spent a lot of time last semester exploring that medium.

Andrew Morris said...

First off, I had no idea that the Pittsburgh Glass Center existed and I’m so excited to visit some time and explore what they have to offer. A lot of the pictures of this group exhibition called Full Spectrum are bursting with vibrancy and color that really drives me to them. It seems to be inspired around the motif of a banana peel which I find funny. What I like about the exhibition is that not only is it constructed out of glass, but also incorporates wood, metal, fiber, video and more mediums which was very interesting. The show was made possible by ORIGINS, an initiative launched by Bridgeway Capital's Creative Business Accelerator to celebrate and support "Black artists, makers, designers, and craftspeople working in western Pennsylvania and beyond." These ideologies are ones which I agree with and I loved that the artists represent a wide range of racial identities and backgrounds. Five of those featured are from Pittsburgh, including Mexican-born artist Ana Armengod.