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Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is pleased to announce Vapor, an exhibition of new sculpture works by Ann Gardner. Inspired by air and water, these shimmering mosaics, glass domes, and orbs create dynamic experiences for viewers as they move around them.
The Blown Glass series features hanging clusters of hand blown glass spheres, each unique in size, shape, and density. The shapes are familiar and playful, resembling air trapped underwater or bubbles floating in air. Light is reflected and diffused by the sculptures, which are tinted with subtle blues and grays of sky and water. The colors shift depending on the viewer’s perspective, and new organic shapes appear in areas of overlap or in shadows on the walls behind.
The Wave series considers the flow and movement of water over the earth. For Gardner, waves washing over a beach and ebb and flow of tides connect to breath and life. These works feature a glass wave enveloping a smaller orb. The texture of air bubbles trapped in the surface of the wave obscures yet still reveals the inner orb. Depending on light and perspective, these inner shapes come and go, appear and disappear. Fleeting shapes and movements that appear naturally in water are found throughout Gardner’s work. Fixed in glass, these sculptures allow for longer contemplation of forms, rhythms, and patterns in nature.
Water has long held deep importance for Gardner, who has lived her entire life on the Pacific Northwest coast. The play of color and light on the surface of water has influenced the large mosaic works, such as Daybreak, a glimmering triptych of cut glass panels in understated hues of silver, blue, gray, and gold. Horizon resembles the work of Brancusi in its minimalist simplicity, evoking a landscape through two oblong forms of gold and blue. Vapor is a meditation on fluidity and form; yet also reflects a more childlike delight in the play of light and air on water, and the beauty in everyday shapes.
Ann Gardner is a Seattle-based sculptor whose glass works are strongly influenced by her many travels, places where she feels that the repetition of pattern offers a sense of structure and grounding amidst the surrounding dynamism and chaos. She has won numerous awards and her work is included in major collections such as the National Museum of American Art, the American Craft Museum, and the Seattle Art Museum.
