Jeremy Popelka
Artists Statement 2007
 
 
      Since moving to Wisconsin, I have been reworking the idea of constructed forms of sand cast glass sections.  This body of work was developed at the end of my graduate studies at the California College of Arts and has been the foundation of the glasswork since.  The glass forms were inspired by architectural, organic and geological influences .  
 It has always been important to me to give my glasswork a dual personality, with its inherent attribute of transparency obscured by sand scarred surfaces.  Although not definable, my sculptures functioned as artifacts of a bigger universe, with an instilled ambiguity by design.
    From work that was not extremely literal, I have ventured, or in a way regressed, to some of my core influences.  In this case it is the architecture of the farm, including grain elevators, barns and silos.  You could say this is the work I was always meant to make, predestined by my upbringing in a rural environment as well as having an artist father who found photographic delight in the weathered decay of the family farm.  There is an iconic quality to these structures, where they symbolize a passing generation as well as vestiges of a rampant twentieth century. Barns often only last a lifetime and maybe in that way it has been easy to relate to their precarious existence.  Their graceful decay is fertile ground for the basis of my series of ‘Prarie Ghost’ -forms which I have focused on for several years now.
       Utilizing sand cast glass as well as copper sheet investments I feel I have identified a language of forms that can portray certain biographical elements juxtaposed against the corrosive effects of  time and society.  The copper functions as the wall to the object, helping to define the shape as well as be the container for the poured glass.  I grind and polish the windows and doors to lighten the objects  perceived mass, revealing an interior of transparent glass. In this way the glass serves as support to the delicate metal shell, like paper for charcoal. I think in many ways my battle with glass over the years has come down to a way to release the medium of its labored technical process  that can often be a burden.   At the same time I have craved a way to work with glass that is similar to the spontaneity and discovery of drawing and sketching.    It seems like whatever I am focusing on at the time is my life’s work, but at this juncture my current work feels especially enduring.
 
J e r e m y  P o p e l k a
 
                Born 1960, Bloomington, Illinois
 
Education:            Masters of Fine Arts, 1989
                The California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
                Marvin Lipofsky, Mark McDonald Glass Program Chairs
                
                Bachelors of Fine Arts, 1984
                Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
                Joel Myers Glass Program Chair
 
                The Pilchuck School, 1981
                Student of Jamie Carpenter and Erwin Eisch Session
 
Professional
Experience:            Established  Popelka Trenchard Glass Gallery & Studio, 1998
                Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
 
                Teacher and Lecturer, 1993-1997
                The California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
 
                Glass Casting Seminars, 1991- 1993
                San Jose State University, San Jose, California
 
                Teaching Assistant, 1983
                Bertil Vallien, The Pilchuck School, Stanwood, Washington
 
Selected
Exhibitions:             American Glass Masters, 2003
                Fairfield Public Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay
                
                International Exhibit of Glass, 2001
                Kanazawa, Japan, “Honorable Mention” for Capsule
 
                Wisconsin’s Glass Masters. 2000
                Fairfield Public Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay
                    
                Art Annual 1998, Neville Public Museum, Green Bay Wisconsin
 
                Almost Alchemy, 1996
                Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California
 
                World Glass Now, 1994, The Hokaido Museum, Sapporo, Japan
 
                Translucent Metaphor, 1994
                Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California
 
                Local Media: With and Beyond Traditions, 1994
                The Mills Building, San Francisco, California
 
                Contemporary Cast Glass, 1994
                The San Francisco Craft and Folk Museum,
                San Francisco, California
 
                Glass Invitational, 1994
                The Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, California
 
                
                California Works, 1993
                California State Exposition Hall, Sacramento, California
 
                West Coast Glass. 1992
                The California Craft Museum, San Francisco, California
 
                Glass, 1992
                The Glass Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland
 
                Introductions, 1991
                Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, California
 
                Chain Reaction 5, 1991
                The San Francisco Commission Gallery, San Francisco, California
 
Publications:            American Craft Magazine    1992
                The Corning New Glass Review    1992    1994    2006
                World Glass Now Catalogue    1994
                Glass Magazine    1994
                Glass Journal    1995