Three female artists from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds who are creating exceptional works that express progressive and unconventional points of view around social, political and philosophical themes have been selected for the 2011 Bridge Exhibition Series. Chosen for the high level of their craftsmanship, the series will feature solo exhibitions by Lia Cook (fiber), Mariko Kusumoto (metal), and Anne Drew Potter (ceramics). These concurrent exhibitions will offer viewers a deeper understanding of the artists' personal stories and their individual cultural histories and influences. Crossing geographic and gender boundaries, these artists will engage audiences in a dialogue about the influence of race, gender and culture on contemporary art production.
Janis’ work is the result of a laborious and challenging process. Similar to scrafftio, where a design is scratched through a colored ground revealing another color beneath; to produce the image Janis sifts black glass powder onto sheet glass, scraping away the powder to produce the detail. The image is suspended between layers of sheet glass and fired in a kiln to fuse the constituent pieces together. In this manner any number of images can be combined to produce complex juxtapositions. The result is a collage produced entirely in glass, built from a time-consuming process allowing for an extended contemplation of his subjects.
