Plasma Sculpture

Sacred Terrain, New work From Ed Kirshner... Opening Party 2/12/11

2011-01-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

Sacred Terrain

Black & white photography by Cathy Shine,
Illuminated by the plasma sculpture of Ed Kirshner.
Guest curator Craig Riedel , free psychic readings by Virginia.
Show runs February 1^st through March 19th
Opening party February 12^th, 2011 6 to 9pm
Live improvised music by Cornelius Boots and Freddi Price

About the artists:

Cathy Shine

Photographing since 1974, Cathy has performed her own darkroom responsibilities, including printing, developing, artistic editing and composition. Working exclusively in the medium of black and white, her efforts have achieved technical elegance demonstrating a true quality un-touched by the onset of the digital age. From 2001 on, Cathy has illustrated her mastery in Sepia thereby enhancing the historical quality of the finished product. Each ultimate piece is a true work of art, sometimes taking 30 hours to complete.

These prints are unique, hand-prepared and timeless. Her photographs of forgotten scenes and now historical memories depict life on the Earth's most spectacular, aesthetic and sacred terrain. All photographs produced in her inventory are hand-processed in a darkroom, hand-spotted and sepia-toned by individual effort. Her images are produced in the traditional concept and not digitally captured or enhanced. Completed photos are burned, dodged and printed on fiber based paper, (now approaching extinction), that demonstrates, (since 1977), years of devotion to her craft. Any Cathy Shine photograph will be an appreciated piece of art and an addition to one's legacy collection. cathyshine.com

Ed Kirshner

Artist statement:

Like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab, I hover over my glass and gas plasma work, spending many hours mixing, balancing and fine-tuning. Still, the plasma light behaves in a way that I can never completely control. I can change or direct its behavior by varying the pressure and mix of gases, or the frequency and the voltage of the power, but I can never fully predict the detailed effects any of my actions will have. Though frustrating at times, this unpredictability is at the very heart of my work. This is the personality, the mystery, the life that I try to create in my sculpture.

Ed Kirshner of Oakland, California was born in New York City in 1940. He studied architecture and sculpture at Cornell University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Oskar Kokoschka School of Vision in Austria. After thirty years of developing and financing affordable housing, he returned to study art at the California College of the Arts in Oakland as well as at Pilchuck and Corning glass schools and Northlands Creative Glass in Scotland. His glass and gas plasma sculptures have been exhibited throughout the U.S. as well as in Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Austria, France and Turkey. His work, “Cone of Chaos”, was a Corning Glass selection in 2000 and is included in Corning's recent book "25 Years of New Glass Review." His piece, "Java High," was a recent acquisition of the di Rosa Fine Arts Preserve in Napa, California. Ed has taught glass and gas plasma workshops in the U.S. as well as in Asia and Europe and is on the faculty of The Crucible Fire Arts School in Oakland and the Glass Furnace in Turkey. He is also on the Technical Advisory Board of the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) in Los Angeles and served several years as its Treasurer and a Trustee. aurorasculpture.com

About the Guest Curator, Craig Riedel:

Professional photographer and owner of Gamma black + white photo lab in San Francisco, Riedel has been printing and processing “Old School” negatives for over 30 years. gammasf.com.

Opening night music:

Cornelius Boots and Freddi Price will be creating structured, improvised textures in response to the artwork utilizing shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), Taimu (bass shakuhachi), clarinet, bass clarinet, electric guitar and drone loops.

East Bay reed renegade Cornelius Boots is a progressive rock composer, bass clarinet performance specialist, wu wei woodwind instructor and Zen flute adept. Since 1996, he has led and released two albums with Edmund Welles, the world’s only composing bass clarinet quartet, for which he has composed and arranged over 60 pieces of virtuosic “heavy chamber music.” Recent projects include Sabbaticus Rex (elemental sound-structuring ensemble) and mukyoku etudes: 27 Training and Performance Pieces for Taimu shakuhachi (large Zen bamboo flute). He has three music degrees (clarinet, audio, jazz) and is currently working towards his shihan (master teaching license) in shakuhachi. sabbaticusrex.com

Support your local plasma artist!!!

2010-11-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.australianartglass.com/page14.htm

Woo hoo, some plasma being made, in fact not only this awesome plasma from Australia, but the Crucible has a new student class... looks like plasma is still hanging in there! Support your local plasma artist!!!

The recession is killing the creation of plasma sculpture

2010-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Sadly it's been 10 months since I have had any reason to post about plasma sculpture. No new work is apearing on the scene, please, please prove me wrong but I beleve the ressisson is killing this art form.

Plasma is an amazing, brilliant and expensive art form, did i say expensive? I appears that only the very rich are continuing to work in this medium, sadness. All of my plasma contacts, have simply stopped producing and are focusing on whatever makes them money to get by.

We need to find a way for this art from to return and thrive. All suggestions are welcome....

Looking for Plasma artists for an upcoming show

2009-08-26T14:18:00.002-07:00

FLOAT, Floataion Center - Art gallery exhibits more plasma sculpture exibits then any other art gallery in the san Francisco bay area. We are looking for new plasma sculpture artists to exhibit with us in the future.

If interested please feel free to call 510-535-1702 and ask for Allison, or give us a post @ Info@thefloatcenter.com

Image belongs to the amazing Bernd Weinmayer.

Christian Schiess Curates Illuminated Sculpture @ the Bedford Gallery

2009-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

lluminated Sculpture
Bedford Gallery in the Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA

January 11 through February 22nd
Opening Reception: January 11th 3-5 PM

This innovative exhibition of luminous work is guest curated by The Crucible’s Christian Schiess, Chair of the Neon & Light Department Schiess is an award winning artist, author of “The Light Artist Anthology,” and instructor.

The exhibit showcases sculptures by over twenty Crucible artists using a variety of illumination techniques, including gases, incandescent light and emerging mediums like laser, plasma, fiber optics and light-emitting diodes (LED). Bedford Gallery Curator Carrie Lederer says, “Engineered and constructed by masters of the medium, the artworks are captivating, mysterious, and enchanting. This exhibition is sure to bring delight and intrigue to our visiting community—both young and old.”

Plan to join us at the Opening Reception: Sunday, Jan 11, 3:00-5:00 pm. Meet this innovative group of light artists, enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres provided by the Bedford Gallery Guild. Free for LCA members, Friends of the Bedford.

General admission $5.

I'm dying to see this exhibit.

Plasma Nation, coming to the Float Gallery

2008-10-25T18:09:00.001-07:00

Bay Area Artist’s ignite the 4th state of matter.

When art can be dangerous, a group show of plasma & neon sculptors, and the paintings of Sally Rodriguez.

Opening Artist Party November 15th 6-9pm
With live Music by: Outlaw Dervish 11/15 6-9pm, Free!

Show runs November 10th through January 10th, 2009

Closing Party including DJ music and a free plasma educational presentation by Ed Kirshner.
January 10th, 6-9pm

Bay Area plasma & neon sculptors offer a tasty array, of the 4th state of matter. Plasma is a rare and highly experimental art form. Using high voltage transformers, hand blown or found glass, these artists capture not only our imagination, but hold hostage and manipulate noble gasses to create contained kinetic magic.

What is plasma?

Plasma is commonly described in nature as the fourth state of matter and is also known as the most widespread phenomena in the universe. Plasma typically takes the form of neutral gas-like clouds (e.g. stars, and our sun). It is considered distinct from other lower-energy states of matter; most commonly solids, liquids and gas, although it is closely related to the gas phase in that it also has no definite form or volume.

Plasma rarely occurs naturally on earth, and when it does, its effects are visually and energetically dramatic. Lightning storms are one example, another is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, seen as energy pours into earth’s atmosphere.

Plasmas have only recently been incorporated into a variety of sculptural art forms using plasma ionization by high frequency electrical current. In this way creating illuminated sculptures that have the ability to display a visual lighting effect of movement and colors found in no other medium. Although this technology is considered cutting edge, and in its infancy, much has been learned to be able to control specific and desired effects. Yet, it is likely that there is still much yet to be discovered.

Plasma Nation Artists include:

Norman Moore
“My sculpture uses various materials in combination with light to create a physical poetry borne out of urban experience. I am interested in the metaphors light and shadow evoke such as life, death, enlightenment, blood, distraction and lust. I am always looking for the story behind objects and finding meaning in forms. Walking in twilight, I see light splashing and reflecting in odd locations that spark my imagination. The unexpected relationship of light coloring an object changes my perception of the world”

Ed Kirshner
“Like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab, I hover over my glass and gas plasma work, spending many hours mixing, balancing and fine-tuning. Still, the plasma light behaves in a way that I can never completely control. I can change or direct its behavior by varying the pressure and mix of gases, or the frequency and the voltage of the power, but I can never fully predict the detailed effects any of my actions will have. Though frustrating at times, this unpredictability is at the very heart of my work. This is the personality, the mystery, the life that I try to create in my sculpture” www.aurorasculpture.com.

Michael Pargett
Is Co-Curator on this exhibit. Pargett enjoys the paradox between the high energy that creates the illumination, and the slow, sensual movement of the gas mixtures that can be achieved to present a visual experience that is as compelling as it is hard to describe. His expressions are at times humorous and at others inspired by a desire to honor the basic elements of the gasses themselves. During the filling portion of the creative process, he attempts to allow the gases themselves to express how they would like to manifest within the glass. “They feel as though they have something to communicate, this medium perhaps gives them a unique opportunity!” www.theartelectrique.com

Bill Concannon
Concannon has been working with neon since 1973. In 1975 he started his own neon studio, Aargon Neon, making neon sign props and special effects neon for the motion picture industry, as well as commercial neon signs and his sculpture. Bill has worked as an instructor teaching neon sculpture at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and the Pilchuck Glass School just north of Seattle. His sculpture has been shown nationally and internationally since 1977. This past June, Bill was invited to present his lecture, “Glass Graphics: The Joy of Signs,” to the Glass Art Society Conference in Portland, OR. www.aargon-neon.com.

David Hollister
Hollister is a woodworker and sculptor who has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996. His furniture and sculptures have been shown throughout the Bay Area. “I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. While in school I discovered my affinity for design and took the opportunity to study furniture and lighting on my way to a degree in architecture. After a period spent working in construction and traveling, I left architecture. While visiting many of the structures I had studied in school, I realized that I felt less of a connection to the buildings than I did to the furnishings and art. In addition to my artistic pursuits, I am the wood shop technician at the Crucible in Oakland. I work primarily in wood and light, but have also created pieces using stone, metal, and plastics.”

Ken Herrick
“I’m fourth in a five-generation line of artists, but the art-gene, so to speak, expressed itself late. Only at age 35 or so did I start making art, although from my earliest days I’ve been a maker of “things" of one sort or another. I completed my first artwork, an interactive kinetic one, in the early ‘70s. Since then I've made other kinetic works, most of them interactive. In the '80s I got into incorporating neon in my work, going so far as to secure several patents on, and license for manufacture, a neon effect I called “Neon Bubbles”. I've derived little income from the art, or from the Bubbles for that matter, but such is life and such is art...”

Allison F. Walton
Curator, and co-owner of the FLOAT Gallery, Walton has been a lifelong artist and collector She will be displaying a xenon plasma robot head that is still awaiting a body. www.plasmasculpture.blogspot.com

About the Music:

Outlaw Dervish is World Lounge Music with Soul! Enjoy the stylings of Didjeridu Trip Hop, leaning into Deep Chill and Ambient sound with an Electro-Acoustic tint, immersed in sweet melodies and infectious rhythms. The group features Travis Wernet and Special Guests. www.cdbaby.com/cd/outlawdervish

About the painter:

Sally Rodriguez began painting in 2003 while living in Missoula, Montana, she is entirely self taught, and works in a wide variety of painting styles and mediums. Her work creates an ethereal experience filled with colorful characters and festive vibrancy. Educated at the University of California Santa Cruz she holds a Bachelors degree in Women's Studies, with a minor in Latin American History. Rodriguez, then 36 found artistic expression so powerful, that she has continued to explore reality through the means of color, texture, and form. Presently she works full time as an artist and a teacher. http://thefloatcenter.com/archive_415_515.html#gods

This Exhibit is in partnership with The Crucible

FLOAT Gallery
510-535-1702
http://thefloatcenter.com/

Nikola Tesla - The Forgotten Wizard

2008-08-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

A new level brilliance...

2008-04-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet discovered Bernd Weinmayer, it's time for a look. each time I visit his site, he has created even more amazing work. I dare say he just might be the leader of the pack in blown glass plasma sculpture.

Plasma Sculpture Class at The Crucible!

2008-04-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

There is still a chance to sign up for the Plasma Sculpture class at The Crucible! The class is taught by renowned Plasma and Light Artists, Ed Kirshner, and Christian Schiess. This is a rare and special opportunity to learn how to create your own sculptures. The class runs April 23rd to June 25th, Wed. evenings from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. Don't wait, call The Crucible now at 510-444-0919.

Ed Kirshner has left the building...

2008-03-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Just leaving the FLOAT Gallery was the amazing work of Peter Boyle and Ed Kirshner.

Included in the display are the compellation plasma jellyfish sculptures by Ed Kirshner and Bernd Weinmayer, a master flame worker from Austria.

Ed Kirshner

Artist statement:
Like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab, I hover over my glass and gas plasma work, spending many hours mixing, balancing and fine-tuning. Still, the plasma light behaves in a way that I can never completely control. I can change or direct its behavior by varying the pressure and mix of gases, or the frequency and the voltage of the power, but I can never fully predict the detailed effects any of my actions will have. Though frustrating at times, this unpredictability is at the very heart of my work. This is the personality, the mystery, the life that I try to create in my sculpture. Aurorasculpture.com

San Francisco Bay Area artists can take a class at The Crucible with Ed and Christian Schiess.

Plasma sculpture excites creativity!

2008-03-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Over the last 6 months we have had the opportunity to have some fantastic San Francisco bay area plasma artists show at FLOAT Gallery. TheFloatCenter.com

Michael Pargett

Michael Pargett enjoys the paradox between the high energy that creates the illumination, and the slow, sensual movement of the gas mixtures that can be achieved to present a visual experience that is as compelling as it is hard to describe. His expressions are at times humorous and at others inspired by a desire to honor the basic elements of the gasses themselves. During the filling portion of the creative process, he attempts to allow the gases themselves to express how they would like to manifest within the glass. “They feel as though they have something to say, if I only knew how to listen consistently” - Michael Pargett