Lauren Mabry, Loopy Block, 2019. Image courtesy of the gallery.
Heller Gallery in collaboration with Ferrin Contemporary, will open its doors to Melting Point, a group exhibition of glass and ceramic artists whose use of the melting point is central to their practice. Featuring nearly 100 works by 22 artists. The artists, both established and emerging, explore the inherent physical qualities of materials that are formed and reformed by melting, as well as express their concern for the environmental melting point our planet seems to be approaching.
Join Amber Cowan and Lauren Mabry in conversation with Diane Wright on August 17th at 1:00pm Register Here.
Melting Point is the degree when solid becomes soft, eventually becoming liquid and a boiling point is reached. Glaze melts, clay and glass soften, surface and form become pliable. Used metaphorically, as the planet warms, we are finding ourselves closer to the melting point both physically and socially. In 2020, forces combined under pressure of the COVID virus, politics exploded, and nature responded with melting ice, raging fires and extreme weather. Likewise, artists use the melting point as a metaphor in their work to express their political beliefs and sound the alarm using the fragile materials of glass and ceramic.
Participating artists represented by Heller Gallery include Stine Bidstrup, Nancy Callan, Sydney Cash, Amber Cowan, Morten Klitgaard, Laura Kramer, Tom Patti, Pamela Sabroso & Alison Siegel, and Norwood Viviano.
Participating artists represented by Ferrin Contemporary include Raymon Elozua, Peter Christian Johnson, Steven Young Lee, Courtney Leonard, Beth Lipman, Lauren Mabry, Gregg Moore, Katie Parker & Guy Michael Davis, Paul Scott, Sally Silberberg, and Robert Silverman.
Katya Heller of Heller Gallery says, “Adaptation has been the prevalent way forward over the last year and we are so pleased that it has given our two galleries — Heller Gallery & Ferrin Contemporary — a chance to team up. A mashup of the melting pot and the tipping point, ‘the melting point’ is a threat to the state of equilibrium which we have all felt dangerously slipping over this last, pandemic year.”
Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Contemporary adds, “As COVID-19 pandemic shut down Heller Gallery in the heart of Chelsea and Ferrin Contemporary in the Berkshires, we both realized that the artists we represent were deeply engaged with their work despite the challenging times. The opportunity to combine resources arose as we considered new ways to present our artists to the public, combine in person with virtual programs and work with our related networks built over the last forty years based in contemporary ceramics and glass.”
Melting Point, a group exhibition in collaboration with Ferrin Contemporary will be on view from June 24 to September 25, 2021 at Heller Gallery, 303 Tenth Avenue, between 27th/28th Streets in Chelsea.