Invisible Cities Reception This Thursday!

FWP's current exhibition Invisible Cities will have an opening reception this Thursday, September 22 at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston. It runs from 6-8 pm, with some of the artists in attendance. Please join us if you're in the area!

 
The SAC Exhibition Gallery is located on the second floor, above the SAC Retail Gallery.
175 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116

"Invisible Cities" at The Society of Arts and Crafts

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, but FWP has been busy preparing for Invisible Cities, our newest exhibition now showing at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston! Screenprinted glass works created during FWP's recent MassArt residency will be on display, along with a short video and a few other pieces. The works are primarily inspired by the group's trip to NYC, incorporating photography of the city into collaged images on glass.

If you're in the Boston area come out to the show! SAC is located at 175 Newbury St (nearest to Copley T station) and open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm. The first floor hosts a lovely commercial gallery; Invisible Cities is on the second floor in the exhibition gallery. The opening event will be held September 22.

Here's a preview:

James McLeod. Crosstown Moment.

Ayse Balyemez. Looking for a Way Out (detail).

Leo Tecosky. No.12.

Gulfidan Ozmen. Open Door (detail).

Oben Abright. Old Man of Istanbul (detail).

Hande Buyukatli. One Way (detail).

Glassblowing Demonstration for SOAC

Last week a group of people involved in Floating World Projects and the Society of Arts and Crafts gathered for a behind-the-scenes peek at the work being made for the MassArt residency, along with an experimental glassblowing demonstration.

FWP artists took some finished screenprinted glass panels (with photos taken in New York this month) and bent them with heat into new shapes, stretching the printed imagery into more abstract forms. One panel shifted into a bowl, while two others were fused together into a boat shape. Pieces like these will be exhibited at SOAC in August.

Photos by FWP visiting artist Ayse Balyemez.

Glassblowing at MassArt

For the first few weeks of June, the Turkish artists involved in Floating World Projects have been staying in Boston for a residency at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design with James McLeod, Leo Tecosky, and Oben Abright. The group traveled to New York City and photographed graffiti and architecture around Brooklyn, and the resulting images are being used to screenprint collages over glass panels, similar to earlier pieces incorporating photos of Istanbul. The finished pieces will be exhibited at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston.

Last week I (a person who has no experience with glass) visited the studio where Leo and James were working with MassArt students to produce glass shapes to be used for screenprinting. Below is a photo-diary of sorts of the process, from an outsider's point of view (meaning the vocabulary will remain simple!).

First, the artist takes a roll of compacted pigment at the end of the rod, and begins surrounding it with hot glass, continually twisting it as it hardens.

Several layers of hot glass are built up over time, with one person shielding the artist's face from sparks as he or she cradles the glass with wet cloth to shape it, and another person periodically blowing through the rod to expand the glass ball.

As it gets larger it is passed on to James and Leo, who continue to build it up until finally rolling it along a flat surface to give it a somewhat oval shape.

Then James stands at a greater height to lower it into a hot, hollow concrete tube, which shapes it into a flat-bottomed cylinder.

It is then chipped off the rod and stored in an incubator of sorts.

Watching glassmaking is exciting and fascinating, and I was impressed with just how much of a group effort it really is- with a range of different jobs and activities handled by the MassArt students/graduates working together.

"Concepts in Glass" Exhibition at the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet

Here's a reminder that the Concepts in Glass exhibition at the New Art Center in Newton has started! It features art by FWP member James McLeod, along with other Boston-based glass artists. Check out the article posted at the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet!

"Concepts in Glass" Exhibition

Starting Friday, April 11, the New Art Center in Newton, MA will open an exhibition titled "Concepts in Glass" that features four Boston-based glass artists who push the medium into different directions with a conceptual bent to their compositions. FWP co-founder James McLeod has pieces in the show focusing on memories and how they shift and change, often becoming unreliable or faded. As curator Hillary Faccio observes, "He also addresses tension between seemingly soft materials and materials more aggressive in nature. He creates objects that illustrate tension, release, and balance."

James McLeod, Memory Container 12

The exhibit also includes Chris Watts's complex, narrative-fueled pieces, Alan Klein's works contemplating aspects of time, and petroglyph-inspired pieces from the curator herself.

Check it out if you're in the area! It runs April 11-May 15 in the Main Gallery at the New Art Center, Newton, MA.

The Opening Reception will take place on Friday, April 15 from 6 to 8 pm.
There will be a Gallery Talk with the curator and artists on Saturday, April 30 at 2 pm.
All events are free and open to the public.