{"id":261462,"date":"2025-11-14T01:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261462\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T01:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:03:14","slug":"glass-flora-and-fauna-flutter-in-the-delicate-work-of-kate-clements-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261462\/","title":{"rendered":"Glass Flora and Fauna Flutter in the Delicate Work of Kate Clements \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Combining painted panels with delicate planes of kiln-fired glass, Kate Clements<\/a> explores the nature of fragility. Glass is \u201ca material defined by its capacity to hold tension,\u201d she tells Colossal. \u201cIt can break, shatter, or shift at any moment. That awareness of impermanence has long been an undertone throughout my work: a nervous hum beneath the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clements works with a granular substance called frit<\/a>, which she composes into forms like leaves, insects, and birds directly onto a kiln shelf. When fired, these colorful drawings fuse into wafer-thin panels, which she then applies to painted panels or suspends in installations. Often incorporating patterns evocative of wallpaper and motifs that suggest architectural structures or niches, she plays with relationships between rigidity and fluidity and the artificial and the organic.<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cSolarium\u201d (2022), kiln-fired glass, hardware, and paint on panel, 63 x 83 inches. Photo by Will Preman<\/p>\n

\u201cThe material has become almost an extension of my hand and my body through mark-making and scale,\u201d Clements says, sharing that the process is quite meditative. \u201cIt\u2019s about precision and intuition coexisting\u2014knowing how to shape the material and when to let the glass move on its own terms in the kiln.\u201d<\/p>\n

The versatility of the medium, balanced with its inherent changeability, continues to fascinate Clements\u2014especially the tension between control and risk. Like any material fired in a kiln, it has the potential to react in surprising ways or transform differently than expected. And once assembled into large-scale works through a process the artist likens to collage, the thin panels appear very delicate, like sugar sculptures, as if they could crumble or break with the slightest touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier pieces leaned into that unease,\u201d Clements says. \u201cI was drawn to the way glass can induce anxiety\u2014the uneasy power of beauty that could, at any instant, turn on its head. That instability felt like a mirror of the world around us: alluring, dangerous, and unpredictable all at once.\u201d More recent works build upon this sensitivity while emphasizing the ethereal qualities of the translucent medium, suspending delicate panels from the ceiling to create more solid, architectural forms.<\/p>\n

Clements\u2019 sculpture titled \u201cAcanthus,\u201d reminiscent of a gleaming triumphal arch, is on view at the Nelson Atkins Museum<\/a> in the group exhibition Personal Best through August 9, 2026. New work is also in NOCTURNES, a solo show in the art gallery of Kansas City Community College, which continues through November 14. Find more on the artist\u2019s website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cSiren\u201d (2025), kiln-fired glass, paint, and hardware, 54 x 33 inches<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cSiren\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cFalse Principles\u201d (2022), kiln-fired glass, paint, and pins, 101.5 x 83 inches. Photo by Will Preman<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cFalse Principles\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cVerdant\u201d (2022), kiln-fired glass, hardware, and paint on panel, 100 x 84 inches. Photo by Will Preman<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cVerdant\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cOrpiment I\u201d (2025), kiln-fired glass, paint, and hardware, 48 x 30 inches<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cOrpiment I\u201d<\/p>\n

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