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PEERING INTO THE FUTURE – Is what artists do. Writes Steve Klein of his participation: “I’m humbled to be a part of this exhibit. The museum provided a venue that encouraged artists to push limits with the material and to express feelings and views with no control or censorship. For me it was a gratifying and rewarding experience to use my voice as an artist to express my beliefs, concerns and convictions.” – Photo courtesy of Sezayi Erken
Seventy-five miles south of the Skagit Valley, at the Bellevue Art Museum, glass sculptor Steve Klein is delivering a powerful message. At BAM’s Biennial 2018, “GLASSTASTIC,” a new, juried exhibition showing the work of 40 Pacific Northwest artists, Klein’s work sits proudly amongst the multiple installations. Klein, an internationally recognized glass artist, is digging in his heels. He has taken on our moral failings and his narration is loud and clear: we have allowed the abundance and beauty that is the heart of our country to fall into the hands of corporate greed.
In his installation “Losing Our Way,” Klein has arranged a group of kiln-formed glass sculptures to articulate this theme.
As the viewer approaches the work, one is met by the strikingly handsome characteristics for which the artist is known; a strong sense of space, elegant line and a masterful use of glass.
One admires the vertically arranged opaque and transparent colored glass which have been formed into curved walls; a template from his well- known “Shelter Series.” But there is more.
Circumnavigating this installation, one realizes that he has drawn you in for his message.
Leaning into each of the four coliseum shaped pieces, the viewer is met by silkscreened images highlighting current dangers to our fragile environment.
On one of the walls sits a haunting quote from the late physicist Stephen Hawking “We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity.
We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.”
Klein is portending a bleak future too. His artist statement begins with the first stanza from America the Beautiful:
“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Klein continues, “America the Beautiful” was written in 1895 as a reaction to a magnificent cross-country trip via rail. Nowhere in this beloved patriotic song are the words, corporation, money or profits. Are we losing our way? The beauty of our land, clean air, abundant forests, pristine free flowing rivers, and healthy bountiful oceans are indispensable and vital to life and family. We must manage and cherish our resources for future generations, not for immediate profits. Our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond deserve the same beauty and majesty that inspired this song. Let’s not lose our way.”
Klein’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington: Museum of Art and Design, New York City; the Museo del Vidrio in Spain; Tsinghua University of Museum in Beijing; Tissot Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh; Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv; Museum of Northwest Art, Washington; and the California Museum of Art, Oakland.
Klein maintains a studio in La Conner Washington and lives nearby with his wife Diana and their dog Lucy.
BAM! GLASSTASTIC, the BAM Biennial 2018 at the Bellevue Art Museum runs November 2018 - April 14, 2019.
Meg Holgate, an established artist, is represented in Seattle, Los Angeles and on Whidbey Island. Several times throughout the year she and her husband Bruce Bradburn host the work of local artists at FORUM Arts on First Street.
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