Artist of the Month
March 2023
Gabe Feenan
Gabe Feenan began his glass career in the 1990s working in production studios in the San Francisco Bay area. He has been a resident gaffer at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, since 2002, and has been invited around the globe to learn from the best artists and schools. He is represented by Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Gabe Feenan
Artist Statement:
Elegant and refined, my pieces evoke strength, creativity, and balance with their stacked geometric shapes. My latest body of work explores the optical qualities of glass through technically challenging compositions. Lacey cane designs soften the bold geometry and provide contrast to the rigidity of form. Relying on pure ability and skill, I seek to emphasize the importance of a skilled artist's individual technique in a machine-made world.
About Gabe Feenan
Gabe Feenan’s work focuses on three simple forms – the sphere, cone, and cylinder. Feenan is interested in the way glass bends, flows, and filters light. Entrapped bubbles, hourglass forms, tapered sommerso, and heavy bases carry through each of the pieces, accentuating how the density of color and thickness of the material alter light. The crisp lines of Feenan’s design and the soft color tones pair elegantly in these beautifully designed sculptures.
Feenan has been invited as a visiting artist to international glass institutions including Pilchuck Glass School, The Glass Factory (Sweden), Odunpazari 7th International Glass Festival (Turkey), and the Biot International Glass Festival (France). In addition, he has taught at Pittsburgh Glass Center and at Wilson High School through the Hilltop Artists’ program in Tacoma. As a member of the Museum of Glass team for over 20 years, Feenan’s had a hand in creating pieces with world-class glassblowers such as Dante Marioni and Lino Tagliapietra.
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Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Canada, for providing the Artist of the Month.
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