Justin Mckenney: Coastal
Exhibition Dates: August 2nd – 31st, 2012
Artist Reception: First Thursday, August 2nd, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Vetri Glass is pleased to present Coastal, artist Justin Mckenney’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Mckenney's newest body of work references his childhood growing up on New England's North Shore. Drawing from a palette of coastal imagery, Justin’s sculptural works in glass seek to isolate and examine the beauty and simplicity of familiar forms.
“I spent the first 20 years of my life living on the coast. From the time I was a child I had a passion for everything that living by the ocean had to offer – setting and pulling lobster traps on a 14’ Boston Whaler, evening bonfires on the beach, the colors of coastal sunsets, pastel beach houses, and the distinctive smell of the of the ocean…” It is this nostalgic sense of place that forms the backbone for Justin’s new body of work. Mckenney challenges his audience to remember their own days on the water or gazing out from the shore.
Using incalmo, battuto, and etching techniques, Mckenney creates distinct, but related bodies of work. In his Buoy installations, Justin creates visually captivating displays pulling colors from the boathouses and fisheries of the Northeast seaboard. His Tide Vessels reference tidal colors and horizon lines, while the buttto carving invokes a sense of ripples on the surface. Exhibiting this nautically inspired work in Seattle is a natural fit for this artist, who hopes to bring together a community of people who share a common experience and love of the sea.
Justin Mckenney, a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, received his BFA in Glass from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2007. He has since been a staff member at Pilchuck Glass School, an Instructor at Diablo Glass School in Boston, MA and a production worker at Bullseye Glass Factory in Portland, OR. Justin is currently teaching glassblowing courses at Oatka School of Glass and operates his business, Vegetabowls, a line of functional pottery molded from real fruits and vegetables. He has been published in the Corning Museum of Glass annual publication, New Glass Review 32, and has recently completed commissions for Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House and The Royal Family of Kuwait.
Vetri Glass
Contact: Susan Marabito / Director
susan@vetriglass.com
1404 First Avenue, Seattle WA, 98101
Phone: 206.667.9608
Facsimile: 206.621.9447
Image details:
Buoys, 2012 blown glass
aprox 20”h x 6"dia each
Photo: Ann Cady
