Artist of the Month
December 2022
Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids
Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids are a husband and wife team of artists working in glass. From Edremit, Turkey and Colorado, USA respectively, they draw from their collective culture, heritage, and experience to create their sculptures. Their signature “Cityscapes” offer a sculptural exploration of the nature of self as it relates to the places and things that shape our experience. Aytac and Davids are represented by Raven Gallery, Aspen, Colorado.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
Epiphany, 2021; 15 x 15 x 5.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Infinity Pool, 2021; 14 x 14 x 5.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Hatchling, 2022; 13 x 13 x 5.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Oxide, 2022; 12 x 12 x 4.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Midnight Storm, 2020; 14.5 x 14.5 x 5.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Polar Axis, 2022; 12 x 12 x 4.5 inches; diamond cut and sand engraved blown glass
Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids
About Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids
Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids are a collective husband and wife team of artists working in glass. Hailing from Edremit, Turkey and Colorado, USA respectively, this dynamic duo draws from a unique combination of culture, heritage, and experience to elicit profound expression in new works of glass art. They have lived, traveled, and created artwork together since 2014 and are currently enjoying a term as resident artists at a non-profit glass studio in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.
The signature body of work, Cityscapes, is a sculptural exploration offering reflections on the nature of self as it relates to the places and things that shape our experience. Drawing on both modern and ancient mythos as well as a meditation on the causal relationship between set and setting, the artists weave a new visual tapestry of form, light, and color. Glass is a unique medium because of both its elemental nature and inherent optic qualities such as refraction, dispersion, transmission, and reflectivity – which speak directly to the movement of light within a material. In these series, traditional vessel forms are manipulated into unconventional objects used to evoke landscapes viewed from a unique perspective. A variety of hot glass color applications, diamond cutting, and sand engraving coalesce and together represent the visual rhythms of a world we inhabit together.
The work begins in a glass blowing studio where color is applied to a clear bubble. Each piece is meticulously planned; some colors and patterns are applied to the interior of the bubble, whereas others are kept on the very surface. Once the color has been applied, the glass is blown out and shaped into a “blank” form which is eventually cooled to room temperature. After annealing, the blanks are taken into the cold shop where sections of the bubble are cut away and refined into landscapes with a large diamond saw. Finally, a resist is applied to the piece and details are sand blasted into the work, removing surface layers and either retaining or limiting transparency while revealing the range of color throughout each piece. Patterns, windows, and building details complete the cityscape motif and create a rich visual experience. As artists we see ourselves as story tellers, and each detail relays a sliver of information not only relating personal associations but also providing a foothold for the viewer to make their own connections and find meaning as it resonates with them.
Click here for the artists' resumes.
Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Raven Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, for providing the Artist of the Month.
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