Artist of the Month
November 2018
Cobi Cockburn
Cobi Cockburn is a graduate of Sydney College of the Arts in Australia and an honors graduate of the Glass Workshop at the School of Art & Design, Australian National University. She received the Tom Malone Prize in 2015 and 2009, and the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2006. Cockburn's work is in the collections of the Palm Springs Art Museum and the Corning Museum of Glass. Cobi is represented by Bullseye Projects in Portland, Oregon.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
In the Vicinity of White 1, 2, 3, 2017; 81 x 275 x 1 inches (installed at Bullseye Projects); kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: D. Kvitka
(Detail) In the Vicinity of White 1, 2, 3, 2017; 81 x 275 x 1 inches (installed); kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: D. Kvitka
In the Vicinity of White (Grid) #4, 2018; 45.25 x 45.125 x 1 inches; kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: G. Piper
In the Vicinity of White (Grid) #5, 2018; 45.25 x 45.125 x 1 inches; kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: G. Piper
(Detail) In the Vicinity of White (Grid) #5, 2018; 45.25 x 45.125 x 1 inches; kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: D. Kvitka
In the Vicinity of White (Grid) #6, 2018; 45.25 x 45.125 x 1 inches; kilnformed and coldworked glass; Photo: G. Piper
Cobi Cockburn
Artist Statement:
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In the Vicinity of White explores the potential of colour and abstraction as stimulative artistic devices that spur human emotion beyond the inherent constraints of reality. Researching the historical, personal, and emotional attributes that surround the color white, these works are not purely a quest for the "ultimate white;" they are an investigation of the color’s conceptual and historical underpinnings. Focusing on the ability of non-representational imagery to bridge the material and abstract elements of our world and form a silent faith for the artist, this body of work explores the hue and its roles within art, existence, and faith.
About Cobi Cockburn
Cobi Cockburn creates kiln-glass panels using an intensive process that she has been developing throughout her career. Long canes of glass are pulled by hand, arranged, fused together, and then coldworked. This process produces subtle transitions in value, hue, and transparency, resulting in a body of work that is as much about glass as a material as it is an encapsulation of Cockburn’s interest in the modernist artistic movements of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. Cockburn sees these movements as visually distinct yet both are concerned with reducing an artwork to its essence. This process of abstraction, for Cockburn, is a way to affect the subconscious and delve, “…into the depths of what ultimately makes us human.” Cockburn's work has been published in New Glass Review, art ltd., American Craft and Craft Arts International.
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Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Bullseye Projects, Portland, Oregon, for providing the materials for the Artist of the Month.
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.
The Alliance informs collectors, critics and curators by encouraging and supporting museum exhibitions, university glass departments and specialized teaching programs, regional collector groups, visits to private collections, and public seminars.
