Richard Parrish: Aerial Perspectives of the American Landscape

On view February 12 – June 19, 2016
Opening Reception February 11, 2016
Gallery Talk and Meet The Artist: June 8, 2016   LEARN MORE

“As an artist and an architect, I find inspiration in both the natural and the human-made environments.  My work investigates the intersections and collisions between the natural landscape and the human impositions on that landscape.  It is concerned with both physical and temporal conditions, rooted in the landscape of the intermountain west in the United States.” -Richard Parrish 

 

These featured kilnformed panels by contemporary artist Richard Parrish are the most recent creations in his “Mapping” series.  Informed by aerial photography, the panels provide a birds-eye view of the landscape.  Fields, rivers, and crop irrigation patterns are presented in an altered spatial context, while being preserved as recognizable components of the composition. By manipulating the expected vantage point, Parrish controls our engagement with the subject matter and causes us to view the shifting topography of America from a different perspective. Parrish’s work serves as a continuation of the rich American landscape tradition. 

The thick panels are comprised of multiple layers of transparent and opaque glass and glass powders that are kilnformed to create surface relief and texture.  The surfaces are ground and cold worked to expose layers in much the same way as the surface of the earth is eroded, graded and cut to expose materials below the surface.  The resultant panels evoke images of maps, topography and geology.

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Artist Biography 

Richard Parrish’s glass practice is centered in Bozeman, Montana. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He was awarded best artist in his category at the Western Design Conference Exhibition in 2008 and 2009. His work was selected for the Corning Museum of Glass’s New Glass Review 27, and he was awarded the American Craft Council Award of Achievement in 2003. His artwork is in numerous public and private collections in North and South America, Europe and Japan. 

Richard has taught architecture and design at The University of Michigan and Montana State University. He teaches classes in kiln glass throughout the world, focusing on the visual elements of design; color theory; and inspiration, meaning and intent. 

Richard’s glasswork includes speculative work; functional objects; and architectural installations and design elements.