Archway Gallery Current Exhibition
|
February 1 - 27, 2025 Reliquaries Featuring works in glass by Chris Alexander and guest artist Deborah Ellington Opening Reception Saturday, February 1 5 – 8 p.m. Artists' Talk at 6:30 p.m. Complimentary Valet Parking and Light Refreshments |
This exhibition by glass artists Chris Alexander and Deborah Ellington delves into the paradox of glass as a medium. Glass can appear transparent and opaque, solid and fractured, protective and delicate. It is a substance that holds within it the memory of its creation, reflecting the process and the hands that formed it. This complexity forms the heart of “Reliquaries,” an exhibition having to do with the nature of art, memory, and human experience.
A reliquary, traditionally a vessel for sacred relics, is a container that holds something revered and significant. In this exhibition, Alexander and Ellington reinterpret the concept of the reliquary through the lens of glass. Their works are not only physical containers but also metaphors for the sacred human impulse to create. The art embodies emotion and the passage of time, reminding us of the changing nature of the world and our attempts to find our place within it.
The creation of this body of work involved a unique investigation of media, process and intent. Attention was focused on determining how the glass could best express the artists’ narratives. The pieces invite the viewer to contemplate the shifting nature of reality, our collective history, and the intimate experiences that shape us. Chris Alexander and Deborah Ellington’s works offer an opportunity to connect with the sacred, the precious, and the ephemeral in our own lives.
Chris Alexander has been working in glass over thirty years. She learned traditional stained glass through a three-year apprenticeship with master glass artist Patricia Vloeberghs in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds degrees in architecture from University of Virginia and Georgia Institute of Technology. After working in commercial architecture for a number of years, she now focuses her studio art practice on work in stained glass, fused glass, and mixed media. She is the resident artist at Harmony Stained Glass in Pasadena, Texas, and has been a member artist of Archway Gallery for four years.
Deborah Ellington graduated from Albion College with a degree in Art Education, later obtaining an M.A. in Painting from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Ceramics from Sam Houston State University. After college, she taught K-12 in Michigan. She later took on significant roles in higher education, serving as an art professor and department chair at Lone Star College North Harris. She eventually transitioned to an instructional dean position, at Lone Star College Montgomery. Deborah has never stopped teaching. Even after retirement, she teaches fused glass workshops at Harmony Stained Glass in design, color, painting, and mold making. As a working artist, Deborah shows her art at Silver Street Studios, a part of the Sawyer Yards studio complex, in Houston, Texas.
A reliquary, traditionally a vessel for sacred relics, is a container that holds something revered and significant. In this exhibition, Alexander and Ellington reinterpret the concept of the reliquary through the lens of glass. Their works are not only physical containers but also metaphors for the sacred human impulse to create. The art embodies emotion and the passage of time, reminding us of the changing nature of the world and our attempts to find our place within it.
The creation of this body of work involved a unique investigation of media, process and intent. Attention was focused on determining how the glass could best express the artists’ narratives. The pieces invite the viewer to contemplate the shifting nature of reality, our collective history, and the intimate experiences that shape us. Chris Alexander and Deborah Ellington’s works offer an opportunity to connect with the sacred, the precious, and the ephemeral in our own lives.
Chris Alexander has been working in glass over thirty years. She learned traditional stained glass through a three-year apprenticeship with master glass artist Patricia Vloeberghs in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds degrees in architecture from University of Virginia and Georgia Institute of Technology. After working in commercial architecture for a number of years, she now focuses her studio art practice on work in stained glass, fused glass, and mixed media. She is the resident artist at Harmony Stained Glass in Pasadena, Texas, and has been a member artist of Archway Gallery for four years.
Deborah Ellington graduated from Albion College with a degree in Art Education, later obtaining an M.A. in Painting from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Ceramics from Sam Houston State University. After college, she taught K-12 in Michigan. She later took on significant roles in higher education, serving as an art professor and department chair at Lone Star College North Harris. She eventually transitioned to an instructional dean position, at Lone Star College Montgomery. Deborah has never stopped teaching. Even after retirement, she teaches fused glass workshops at Harmony Stained Glass in design, color, painting, and mold making. As a working artist, Deborah shows her art at Silver Street Studios, a part of the Sawyer Yards studio complex, in Houston, Texas.
FEBRUARY 2025 EXHIBITION EVENTS
February 1 (Sat) |
Opening Reception (5 - 8 pm) and Artists' Talk (6:30 pm) |
February 14 (Fri) |
Louis-Marie Fardet, Cello (7 - 9 pm) |
February 16 (Sun) |
Carya String Quartet (6 - 8 pm) |