Lisa Zerkowitz exercises control of detail in objects inspired by plant forms. In several samples, she poses bas-relief “portraits” of flowers, leaves and pods. They’re produced in tinted castings against etched images of similar forms on metal panels that support the glass. Zerkowitz’s frosty imagery in glass warms against graceful drawing on metal and echoes an Eastern attitude toward nature.
Frequently dense and waxy in appearance, the multicolored glass by Anna Boothe takes on stone qualities in ornate, if somewhat primitive, goblets and other ritualistic objects. Boothe blends fantasy and humor with archaic elements to bring to life ancient traditions in glass.
Mary White’s labor-intensive, birdhouse-size “huts,” made from tiny glass bricks the artist stacks and glues, rest on elevated platforms and double as light fixtures. Presumably in honor of the Greek goddess of the hearth, White builds her cylindrical “House of Hestia #2” like a jewel box, suggesting a chimney with a flower that blooms from an opening at the top.
Elizabeth Mears transforms Pyrex rods into organic stem shapes, often gathering them in dramatic bundles. In the most interesting use of glass on display, Mears collaborates with L. Lindsay Mears in “Away So Long” and “The Old Note,” both standing books made with transparent glass leaves. Translucent images and text occupy each leaf, which is hinged on a stem form. Potentially casting shadows on adjacent pages, each leaf melds with past and future.
Ana Thiel deals with her materials in the most aggressive fashion of the show. Her gestural wall pieces, in which clear glass is poured on industrial materials like heavy wire, play mass against light and embrace random effects of materials as they come together. But even Thiel’s toughness is diminished by the size of the objects, which are no larger than most drawings.
Rather than a sweeping survey of technique, “Rhythms” homes in on a nonpurist attitude toward materials and benefits from its limited focus. S
“Rhythms: Six Women Sculptors in Glass” runs until May 1, Wednesday through Sunday, noon until 4 p.m. at Art6 Gallery, 6 E. Broad St. For information, call 343-1406 or visit www.art6.org.
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