MORRISTOWN, NJ.- The Morris Museum opened a new exhibition of contemporary studio art glass by California artist Kathleen Elliot and New Jersey artist Paul Stankard. Reflections: Contemporary Studio Art Glass, February 7 – April 28, 2013, focuses on botanicals, both natural and imagined. This exhibition brings together two artists who are considered glass masters; their flameworked pieces are striking in their use of color, shape and use of available technologies. This exhibition of Kathleen Elliot’s work was organized through Katharine T. Carter & Associates and is one of two concurrent traveling exhibitions that will be hosted by a dozen venues across the U.S. through the end of 2014.
Kathleen Elliot’s imaginary botanicals are made of exquisitely formed flameworked glass. They capture the essence of leaves, flowers, fruit and vines, while reimagining nature in personally expressive works. Carlos Castaneda’s “nonordinary reality” which exists in the unknown realm, intrigued, inspired and interested Elliot, exemplified by the above piece When Plants and Animals Merge, Yellow Toes, 9”x4”x10”, 2012.
In her imaginary botanicals, Elliot has moved from her earlier, representational work into a new poetic realm. She has maintained her commitment to observing nature and creating amazingly life-like natural forms; however her recent sculptures have begun to incorporate human characteristics, reflecting the artist’s inner life through an expanded organic vocabulary.
Kathleen Elliot’s one and two-person exhibitions include the Pensacola Museum of Art, FL; Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida, University of Oregon Cultural Forum; the Krasl Art Center and Rankin Art Gallery, MI; Ellen Noel Art Museum, TX; The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences, SD; Hilliard Art Museum, University of Louisiana; Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota; Armory Art Center, West Palm; Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne.
Elliot’s sculptural work has also gained wide recognition through many awards and articles, and two solo exhibitions at the William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, and through many group exhibitions including those at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Triton Museum of Art, San Jose, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA, and the Micaëla Gallery, San Francisco.
Paul Stankard’s works “integrate mysticism with botanical realism giving the glass organic credibility. Through the work, [he] references the continuum of nature, by portraying and exploring the mysteries of seeds, fertility and decay. The work celebrates the primal beauty of nature on an intimate level. It is influenced by the poetry of Walt Whitman.”
Stankard is an internationally acclaimed artist, who is largely credited with changing the status of glass paperweights from that of "craft" to that of "fine art". Among many other museums, Stankard's work is exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France; the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England; and The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.
