JAMIE HARRIS STUDIO
ARTIST BIO
I work primarily as a sculptor; my primary medium is glass, and yet I approach my art process with the sensibility of a painter. Through sculpture and lighting design, my work is about capturing the color, light, and fluid movement of the glassblowing process, exploring the innate way glass transmits, reflects, and absorbs color.
My work is about loud splashes of color, about capturing the innate way glass transmits, reflects, and absorbs color. My work is an ever-changing examination of color modulation, evoking emotional responses through visual contrast. But, more than that, I have always had a core concern for process. What so drew me to glassblowing at the beginning was the complicated process, the quest for technique, and all of the best aspects of my work have a hidden link to that athletic dance at the furnace.
My recent work has focused on assembling manipulated solid glass elements. In my Infusion Block sculptures and wall panels, I use the Italian-trained techniques of layering and banding multiple colored bubbles of glass as a way to generate washes of sensuous, painterly color in a kiln-cast solid mass. These reinterpretations of the incalmo traditional technique track in place the flowing movement of molten glass, capturing the subtle gradation from a whisper of transparent color to a saturated intensity. I’ve invented a process to create these sculptures, beginning by creating the colored motifs as bubbles of blown glass that are transformed into masses of solid-glass, which are finally cast into blocks and carved and polished into the final shape. These pieces capture for me the dance of the craft, the movement of the fluid glass at the furnace.
In my lighting design, I combine metal framework with organic glass to create sculptural lighting that is dramatic, modern, and space-defining. The lighting collection draws on the contrast between geometric symmetry and altered forms that reflect the movement of the hot glass at the furnace; my play on color juxtaposes metallic glass finishes and alabaster and opaline colors that react to the heat of the furnace to create smoky, atmospheric textures and shades. All of my lighting is bespoke and custom hand-made in my Brooklyn studios; the shapes, colors, and configurations can be easily configured to suit any individual project.