![]() ![]() Salvaged glass shards emulating plumage act as a tactic in which Bolaños-Durman visually garnishes its form. Various deviations from symmetry in the occasional lean of a component ground at an angle provide structural sass to its stature. Segments of made and manufactured glass items are cut, ground, and assembled in ways that build seamlessly from one glass foundling to another. ![]() Take, for instance, a recent acquisition into the permanent collection of the National Glass Centre, “ Bird of Paradise” from Bolaños-Durman’s WILD FLOWER Collection (in collaboration with independent Edinburgh-based fragrance brand, Jorum Studio). Whether an emptied bottle or jar, an abandoned antique at the second-hand store, a cast-away blown object that didn’t meet the glassblower’s expectations, or a peculiar cut off from the cold shop, these seemingly trite, overlooked, and/or unwanted glass specimens are not only resurrected, but revived in the most exotically spectacular of ways. ![]() #TUMBLR POCKET CASTS THEVERGE FULL#Anything that the world considers useless, broken, empty, or “wrong” – anything ultimately bound to find its way to the bin – is full of untapped sculptural potential from her vantage point. Things like intuition, elasticity, and improvisation has naturally been hard-wired into her modus operandi as a maker far before COVID-19 intervened, culminating in a critically acclaimed body of work that makes new use of found and discarded glass objects in whimsical assemblages that live as both artifact and arti-fiction.Ī Costa Rican artist and designer currently living and working in Scotland, Bolaños-Durman collects, modifies, and repurposes glass both industrially manufactured and made by hand. Resourcefulness isn’t a mere tool in her relationship to glass as much as it has been the cornerstone in which her extensive body of work is built upon. And, if never before, perhaps we’re beginning to understand that success as an artist isn’t measured by what one can do, but, especially in times like these, measured instead by how one can adapt.Īnd one of the most impressive examples of a masterfully adaptive studio practice is the one of Juli Bolaños-Durman. There’s something unique about limitation (for better or for worse) in that it obligates us to be resourceful. #TUMBLR POCKET CASTS THEVERGE PROFESSIONAL#But, whether we’re at the beginning of our career as a student or an established professional within the field, these obstacles have also made way for some really interesting discoveries in response to new constrictions placed upon our usual way of doing things, seeing things, or pursuing things. In terms of glass making, exhibiting, teaching, or learning, there’s been a lot of unforeseen obstacles that have gotten in the way of how we’d normally do what we do because of the pandemic. Engaging issues within the framework of glass amidst such a hefty backdrop – no matter who we are or what our work is or where we’re located – has revealed one constant variable as we move a little deeper into this globally historic moment as glass practitioners: that the one thing we can all be most certain of is continued uncertainty. It’s an interesting thing to think and write about the culture of our field during a worldwide pandemic. Bolaños-Durman brings ideas of constriction and bricolage together in a way that is as timely in this COVID moment as it is masterful…and to spend time in the jubilant tone of her work ad mission during this particular time was a medicine i didn’t know I needed.īelow is the draft I submitted to my Editor in its full, unedited version to serve as supplemental material to what is seen in the Fall 2020 issue of GASnews: I submitted an artist feature (and cover story!) on Juli Bolaños-Durman, an artist and designer who resurrects discarded glass objects by assembling highly exotic assemblages out of their various parts. Content in this issue is motivated by the theme of GREEN and examines a few angles to the way in which environmentally conscience glass practice has emerged within the field. The Fall issue of GASnews is hot off the digital press! ![]()
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