Emily Nachison
My artwork explores the human perception of nature and transformation. Mythology, scientific history and New-Age idealism become starting points for an investigation into the cultural creation of landscape.
This series of work, titled Conversion, investigates the transformation of matter. Both installations, Hall of Conversion and Crystalline Conversion are comprised of suspended glass apothecary dishes. Each dish balances a cast glass sculptural piece that shares the exact same weight and volume as the rest. The glass pieces shape shift from one form to the next, illustrating natural cycles of growth and decay, while retaining the same volumetric proportion. This work serves as a reflection of our ever-changing, yet never dying, world. Our world is one of transformation and not destruction.
This body of work was fueled by a recent research trip to theĀ BeineckeĀ Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University where I had the opportunity to research and view 15th – 17th century alchemical manuscripts.
All images courtesy of artist. Photography by Dan Kvitka.
Hall of Conversion, cast glass and steel, 2013
Crystalline Conversion, cast glass and steel, 2013
Emily Nachison received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006 and a MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010. Nachison has had numerous solo exhibitions and has been included in multiple group shows across the country. In 2013 she received anĀ Artistic Focus Project GrantĀ from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, Oregon. Nachison is currently the Interim Fiber Department Chair and a Visiting Faculty member at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon. www.emilynachison.com