Photo by Scott Lapham
ABOUT STEVEN EASTON
My work is a collision between obsession with art history and fascination with nature. In the emotional debris from this messy train wreck, my portraits, figures, architectural fantasies, and other glass castings emerge, thrive and grow. While visions of Greek and Roman sculptures, Assyrian carvings, and Egyptian hieroglyphics dance like sugar plums in my head, it’s exciting to sculpt portraits that feel ancient and universal, instantly recognizable in context of the history of portraiture, yet vitally alive with a contemporary sense of identity. There have never been glass portrait castings on this scale, I’m doing something that is unique, now possible through technology made available by the Studio Art Glass Movement.
Trees are my people; I was always a tree hugger. In forests serenity and inspiration finds me. Much of my figurative work in clay has morphed into depictions of “green men” and women, nature spirits cast in glass that looks like moss, chalcedony, agate, sapphire, and water. In these works, I combine architectural elements, bark textures, and classical references to develop organic portraits. I think of working in glass as making things out of jewels, casting diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. Glass is treasure. The potential of making art using a material that might last for thousands of years is thrilling because it is a link to sculptures that have survived from antiquity.
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
The Corning Museum of Glass | Corning New York
Musée des Arts Decoratifs | Lausanne, Switzerland
Alexander Tutsek Foundation | Munich, Germany
The Museum of Arts and Design | New York, New York
Newport Art Museum | Newport, Rhode Island
RISD Museum | Providence, Rhode Island
Alexander Tustek Foundation | Munich, Germany
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Selected for Networks Rhode Island | Artists Profile Project 2015
New England Home Magazine | "Glass Master" 2008
Verriales 2008 | "Light, a Source of Life Serge Lechaczynski, Galerie Internationale Du Verre" 2008
Museum of American Glass | "Particle Theories: International Pâte de Verre and Other Cast Glass Granulations" 2005
Verriales 2004 | "Body Serge Lechaczynski, Galerie Internationale Du Verre" 2004
Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Katalog Eins | EMF München 2004
Meridian Press | "Centennial Arts and Crafts Exhibition: Providence Art Club" 2001
Verriales 2001 | "New Series, Serge Lechaczynski, Galerie Internationale Du Verre" 2001
Verriales 2000 | "Extreme, Serge Lechaczynski, Galerie Internationale Du Verre" 2000
The Boston Globe | “Classicism: Serious and Sassy” Christine Temin, 1990
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne | "Expressions En Verre II" 1989
Zola Blann, No. 27 | "Glass, New Work Steven Easton: Recent Excavations," Autumn 1986
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
Selected for Networks Rhode Island | Artists Profile Project 2015
Recasting the Loving Cup From Traditional Silver to Contemporary Media | Newport Art Museum 2013
Wheeler School Public Arts initiative | Wheeler School, Providence, RI 2009
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts | "Fellowship Grant, 3-Dimensional Art" 2007
The New York Experimental Glass Workshop | "Fellowship Grant" 1987
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts | "Travel Grant" 1987
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2016
Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, Michigan | 44th International Glass Exhibition
2009
Chazan Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Passengers"
5 Traverse Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Accoutrements of Power"
2008
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts | "The Machinery of Heaven" Solo Exhibition
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2008 Light, Source of Life"
Machines with Magnets, Pawtucket, Rhode Island | "RISCA Fellowship Exhibition"
The Robert Lehman Gallery, Urban Glass, New York, NY | "Live Auction Preview Exhibition"
Museum of Arts & Design, New York, New York | "Opening Exhibition"
2007
Museum of Arts & Design, New York, New York | "Cheers, A Mad Collection of Goblets"
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Contruction/Deconstruction"
Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, Michigan | "Scale/Detail"
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2007 Contrast"
2006
The Wheeler Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Glass 2006"
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Storm Warnings"
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2006 Memory"
The Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island | "Fantastic Architecture"
Alexander Tutsek Foundation, Munich, Germany | "The Face Lost and Found Again"
The Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, Oregon | "Winter Games"
2005
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2005 Fear"
Cheongji, South Korea | "Cheongji International Craft Biennale"
Museum of American Glass, Millville, New Jersey | "Particle Theories: Internationale Pate de Verre and Other Cast Glass Granulations"
Galerie Latham, Geneve, Switzerland | "Serie Noire"
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Steven Easton - New Work"
2004
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2004 Body"
2003
Gallery Agniel, Providence, Rhode Island | "Body Of Work"
2002
The Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island | "Transparent Allusions"
Sarah Doyle Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI | "Glass Palimpsest"
2001
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Steven Easton / New Work"
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Centennial Arts and Crafts Exhibition"
2000
Galerie International du Verre, Biot, France | "Verriales 2000 Extreme"
The Wheeler Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "A Fitful Display"
1999
Sarah Doyle Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI | "A Show Of Flesh"
1998
The Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island | "Portrait/Figure"
South County Art Association, Kingston, Rhode Island | "Rhode Island Sculpture’s Seventh Annual Invitational"
1996
The Wheeler Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Glass Rhode Island"
1993
The Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island | "Fifteen Contemporary Glass Masters"
1990
Gallery One, Providence, Rhode Island | "Unfinished Business – More Examples of Asexual Reproduction"
1989
The Rye Art Center, Rye, New York | "Form Over Function"
The Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, Massachusetts | "CIC Artists, Past and Present"
AS220 Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Rhode Island Objects"
1988
AS220 Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island | "Harnessing the Electron"
The Fuller Art Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts | "Classicism Reconsidered"
1987
The New York Experimental Glass Workshop, New York City | "New Works II"
Kingston Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts | "Providence Artists"
2015 Selected to Network Rhode Island artists profile project.