SALISBURY — The current show at Waterworks Visual Arts Center, “Formed, Fired and Woven: Women in Material,” features the works of three female artists, and one of those, Robin Cass, will be at the center, 123 E. Liberty St., Salisbury on Sept. 24 at 5 p.m., offering a gallery conversation.
Cass, whose medium is mostly molten glass, said she sees this as an informal opportunity to speak and thought it might be interesting to share some sort of imagery or video of the process “because glassmaking is pretty fun to watch,” along with telling the inspiration behind her work and answering questions attendees might have.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing what people are curious about for the talk and happy to have it be a conversation,” she said.
There is no cost to attend the gallery talk; however reservations are requested by calling 704-636-1882 or emailing to admin@waterworks.com.
Pieces of each of the three artists’ works are available for purchase and visitors can have the opportunity to buy and see the exhibits for a longer period of time as the show has been extended through Oct. 31.
In information provided by Waterworks Visual Arts Center, the “exhibition features A Retrospective by the late Judith Laise, showcasing painting, sculptures and mixed media; Essential Deviations by Robin Cass, featuring intricate hot-sculpted glass and metal works; and Hand in Hand by Holly Guertin, presenting contemporary textile art created with felt, embroidery and crochet.”
Anne Scott Clement, executive director of Waterworks, said the decision was made to extend the show for multiple reasons noting they were able to get hundreds of students through to see the show.
She said they do the fifth grade art stop program and the first 700 came through, “which I thought was really exciting and we’ve got a wonderful hands-on activity up in the studio so the children will participate.”
All fifth grade students in Rowan County, public, private, independent and homeschooled, participate in this free program, said Clement, and the remaining fifth graders will participate in the next exhibit in November,
Plus, she said, those traveling for other nearby events during October can have a chance to visit and see the exhibit as well.
Cass shared that she has appreciated the theme of the show because it “gives material and process its due as far as its importance in making art and so it’s not just the means to an end but in a lot of ways that material exploration and that discipline and all those processes. Together, those create the experience for the viewer.”
Cass said material and process are key for her and thinks “that is the thread that Anne Scott was trying to pull together with all of us.”
A resident of Salisbury, Cass was born in Montreal, Canada, and raised outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She spent 26 years as a faculty member and other roles at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. A little more than two years ago, she relocated for a position at Catawba College as an associate provost and just recently transitioned to a position at Bennett College.
When she was first considering attending college, Cass said she wanted to go to art school; however, her parents said she had “to go to a real college first so I majored in anthropology at McGill University in Montreal.”
After changing majors four more times, she ended up studying political science. After two years, she was really missing art and her parents told her she could transfer to an art school and went to Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cass said she learned she is curious about lots of things and as an artist could “continue exploring all my curiosities and it all feeds into the arts and I don’t really have to drop anything. Being an artist allowed me to pursue all sorts of curiosities.”
In art school, she was a sculpture major and took a class in hot glass working and said, “I fell into the vortex of hot glass. It was so intriguing and mesmerizing. I couldn’t stop. I knew this was something I would regret if I didn’t give it a shot.”
Cass said she works with glass and metal, but molten glass is her main medium along with some additional glass-forming methods.
As for what drew her to glass, she said, it is “very alive and glowing and intimidating in a way,” adding that it evokes a sense of awe and wonder in her, which she said has kept her going and brings her back to it, molten glass in particular. So that sense of wonder and awe, where you are not quite able to understand what you’re seeing is sort of the big experience she wants to create for viewers, hoping they will take a closer look at the work and it will draw people in and leave them wondering.
When people see her work, Cass said, “I hope that sense of wonder and confusion is what I elicit.”
Her exhibit is retrospective and covers 25 years of work, as she said her oldest piece on display is probably from 2001 and her most recent are from the last few months. Cass said she always has pieces in the works.
She was able to pull from different time periods for the exhibit and show some of her favorite pieces and said she was “very grateful to Anne Scott and Waterworks for providing me this opportunity.”
Cass said she makes most of the material she works with and does some simple fabricating of metals but makes all of the glass, working with hot glass.
“Hot glass working is very collaborative,” she said, noting that “you always need help, it’s always about teamwork, so it’s very much about communication and trust, knowing each other and working within the perimeters that you have.”
As for where she gets her inspiration, Cass attributed that to multiple things including her curiosity about many things through the years. Coming from a family of scientists, she grew up going to science museums and natural history museums, which she said she finds “endlessly interesting” plus growing up seeing science-fiction movies with her dad, she said, the “fantastical, the freaks of nature or hybrids or things that are not categorizable, I find those extra interesting.”
Clement said the exhibit has been very well-received, noting that the various galleries have books where people can write in and said there have “been such nice sentiments about all three of the shows, and I think it’s been very special.”
