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About Elysian Shadows
Rainbow Of Light Bridges The
Gap Between The Solid And The Ethereal
By Peggy
Heinkel-Wolfe
Principles of
architecture and light combine in one stunning installation
currently suspended from the ceiling at the Alpine Art Gallery.
Conceived and executed
by David Elliff and David Gappa, partners in VETRO Contemporary
Glassblowing Studio, Elysian Shadows uses a prism-like
progression of hand blown glass roundels to bathe the gallery walls
in a wash of reflected light.
This ambitious
installation begins with four undulating steel rods that run nearly
the length of the main gallery. Gappa’s architectural expertise
informs the engineering employed to hang the rods well above the
viewer’s head but still a few feet from the ceiling.
Fifty-plus overlapping
glass roundels – each hand blown unit measures over 20 inches in
diameter – cluster in red, blue, purple, green, and yellow and hang
like Tiffany lampshades from the rods.
The installation is
densely backlighted by several rows of carefully positioned track
lamps. These behind-the-scenes players help make possible the
effect of the colored shadows cast by the roundels. The wall behind
the installation and the floor beneath it vibrate with vivid hues
radiating from the ore-tinted glass.
The conceptual setting
for Elysian Shadows calls for wall space on all four sides.
If the installation finds a permanent home that is built to suite
the original design, the increased reflected light from the needed
fourth wall would indeed be powerful for the viewer.
Elliff and Gappa also
display individual, representative glass pieces in the exhibit that
are, perhaps, less gripping, if only because of their pedestal
moorings. Gappa’s Celestial Series of glass bowls,
vases, and paperweights swirls with the energy of a spinning
nebular, yet, like oozing light of Elysian Shadows, it
appears calm overall. Elliff’s Coral Reef Series includes
beguiling spheres of blue ocean current filled with
suggestions of such sea life as anemones and urchins.
Regrettably, Scott
Carlson’s Capitalism, which opened alongside Elysian
Shadows on May 12, has already been removed from the gallery
walls. That’s a shame, because gallery visitors might have enjoyed
the Jackson Pollock-Inspired installation of dozens of pots mounted
on the wall splattered – as were all the walls – with glaze.
Capitalism’s
departure doesn’t detract from the viewing experience of Elysian
Shadows. Gallery owner Shari Stovall plans to show the
installation through September.
(Picture by David
Gappa.)
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