Reflections on Glass -- A Visit to Imagine Museum

From Dylan Martinez' H2O/SiO2 series

Art, like theater, is best seen in person. Happily, museums are finally reopening -- cautiously, with plenty of measures in place to ensure the safety of visitors and staff.  Even wearing a mask, I felt almost like myself again as I darted from one amazing glass creation to another at Imagine Museum. It was glorious. 

I quickly gravitated to three works from Dylan Martinez' H20/SiO2 series. It's not often a glass sculpture has me simultaneously laughing and marveling. In this series, Martinez calls upon the age-old tradition of trompe l'oeil to make viewers think these creations are baggies filled with water, complete with bubbles and water spots. Some of Martinez' earlier versions contained glass fish. He has eliminated them to allow viewers "to imagine their own creation inside or ponder its absence."  You can see more of his work -- the still water series is equally surprising -- by clicking here. The visit was off to a great start. 

"Worthy Fruit" by Janis Miltenberger

Janis Miltenberger's "Worthy Fruit" was more than worthy of spending a few minutes enjoying. The sculpture stands seven feet tall and is part of her glass topiary series. It reminded me of Arcimboldo's "Four Seasons" paintings in which the artist used images of seasonal fruit and vegetables to create profile portraits. But instead of a paintbrush, Miltenberger uses various sizes of blow torches to realize her vision. She begins each of her topiaries with an internal structure -- in this case the woman's rib cage -- and then creates the other elements and carefully attaches them. 

In her website, Miltenberger talks about the power of art to tell stories and how each audience member layers her own interpretation onto what she's seen. (I've never heard anyone refer to viewers of art as audience members before. I like it.)  "Worthy Fruit" makes me think of spring and rebirth. It's not a big stretch, especially when you realize what our woman is offering to the sky is a nest with two eggs in it. For more of Miltenberger's work, click here.  Don't miss her work under the "classes" section.  It's a real "wow." 

"Kimono Girl" by Vivian Wang

Then there's the work of Vivian Wang, the recipient of the Museum's 2019 Artist of the Future Award. Wang's creations comprise almost 40% of the work in Imagine's Women of Glass galleries. And for good reason, as it would be a deprivation to see only a couple of what are known as her "Asian Figurative Sculptures." 

Wang draws on her personal history in the creation of these works. Of Chinese descent, she pays homage to the way ancient Chinese sculptures were created by using clay for the bodies of her figures. Their heads, feet and hands are made of glass.

Wang's interest in fashion -- traditional and contemporary -- is also incorporated in her work. A former designer for Jones, New York (which she calls a "very large, very corporate, not very creative clothing manufacturer), she adds modern flair to ancient designs. Her work liberally incorporates precious and semi-precious gems.  To see more of her work, including her early American "Ragamuffins," click here. 

AR experience
by Trish Duggan and Bertil Vallien

As if the glass creations on display didn't provide enough visual stimulation, Imagine has also created seven Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality experiences for visitors. Some time ago, I went to the moon on Apollo 11 in a VR experience at the Museum that brought me to tears. My repeat experience last week-end was equally powerful.  Then I was off to the AR room for some more adventures in space.

What fun it was to first take in the art (in this case the boat-shaped vessel and the figures) and then hit the QR Code scanner on my phone and watch a new world open up right before my eyes. I particularly loved the ladders with the little men scrambling up and down. Surprisingly, they weren't green...

"Area 51-East: Portals to the Cosmos" is a collaboration between Imagine Museum Founder Trish Duggan and Bertil Vallien. Don't miss it if you visit the Museum. To read more about the use of AR by museums, click here. The clip from the Art Gallery of Ontario is particularly fun. Happy viewing!