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Through the looking glass

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

The same goes for those who are in houses with a lot of glass in them, like the Philabaum Contemporary Art Glass Gallery, whose "Disparities III" exhibit opened this weekend. The exhibit features nationally known artists, each with a unique approach to using glass in their art.

The exhibit's most interesting aspect comes from artist Therese Lahaie. Her works utilize the translucence of glass and the element of mobility to create art that literally reaches out of the wall.

"My aim is to animate glass, drawing attention to its affiliations with light, water and air," Lahaie said.

One of her pieces, entitled "Cam Shaft-Ginko," uses a small motor to spin brushes that lift panes of glass from the wall in a wave-like fashion. Another series of works consists of curved pieces of translucent glass under which a white cloth is agitated by a spinning brush.

Since light is easily dispersed by the glass, the pieces glow and give the sense that the wall is breathing, the works rise and ebb as if alive. On some of them, the glass is hinged so it moves with the spinning of the brush. The pieces are all very calming, and one could easily imagine staring at them for hours upon end mesmerized.

"These are meditative pieces, inviting the viewer to focus on the fundamental rhythms of heart beat and breath, expansion and contraction," Lahaie said.

Milon Townsend's works also incorporate an element of movement yet without any kinetic motion. His first series, "The Mask Series," uses the light-bending properties of glass to give the illusion that the colors in the masks are moving inside. The harder a viewer stares at the masks, the more they seem to be imbued with life.

Townsend's other works are glass figurines whose very names - "Winged Torso-Male" and "Spirit Rising" - are reminiscent of motion.

The arms of the figures reach out into the air, frozen forever in contorted positions of potential movement. They are caught between one place and the next, leaving the viewer to supply origin and destination, past and future given only the present.

"My new works focus on the human figure, exploring themes of transition, passage and relationship," Townsend said. "Gesture, impression, direction and emotion are all simply implied - complete understanding will be different for each viewer."

Not all of the glasswork involves movement. Mary B. White's pieces are glass houses, composed of reused materials including scrap window glass, old steel gate parts and old Palette wood. Each house is distinctive from the others. Each has its own attitude and personality, purposely endowed with individuality by the artist.

"The foundations [are] metaphors for the history of the individual and the house [is] a metaphor and site for the soul and the spirit," White said.

"Disparities III" also features the work of artists Lonnie Feather, Robert Gardner, Mies Grybaitis and Koichi Matsufuji, all of whom utilize the medium of glass in truly unique and interesting ways.

Graig Uhlin can be reached at catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu.