Jeremy Popelka

Artist Statement

Popelka reflects on embracing traditional glass-making techniques.

      One of the allures that made me dedicate a career as an artist to using glass was the mystery and the magic that is embodied in this enigmatic medium.   Outside of the obvious, its luxurious transparencies, interplay with light, and brilliant saturated color, the material has been used historically to create objects that defy logic.  It is in this tradition that I pursued the process of Murrini making or the use of created glass sections to create patterns and segmented elements in glass vessels.  In the last year, I have refined some of the elements in the murrini so that I could more readily focus on colors embellishing a pattern and form.  After twenty years of pursuing this complicated process, I am often looking for something different in the approach and the Helix-Spectrum series has provided that.  It is sort of a return to art school where color theory and historical references often provide context to everything you do.  At the same time, the elements of these pieces satisfy my interests in natural sciences reflecting elements coming together in an evolving space and projecting references from the microscopic building blocks where all life emanates.  In each piece of this series, I am looking for a sort of pure statement about glass but also the summation of a forty-year career in the form of a vessel.

Brief Bio

Born on October 9, 1960

EDUCATION

1989 Master of Fine Arts with High Distinction, The California College of Arts & Crafts, Marvin Lipofsky, Mark McDonnell Glass Program Chairs

1984 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illinois State University Joel Phillip Myers - Glass Program

1981The Pilchuck School, Jamie Carpenter, and Erwin Eiesch Sessions

TEACHING and PROJECTS

2019 Art Residency Thailand, Prem Tinsulanonda International School, Mae Rim, Thailand

2018 The Great Unknown: Establishing a Glass Community in Bangkok, Strattman Critical Dialogue

Series Lecturer at Glass Art Society Conference, Murano, Italy

2017 Commissioned to establish the First Hot Glass Education Facility Bangkok Glass

8 weeks of setting up and training a group of art students how to blow and sculpt hot glass.

2016 & 2018 Sand Casting with Inclusions, The Corning Museum School, Corning, New York

2013-2014 Sand Casting Workshops, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point

2011 Guest Artist, Oxbow School of Art, Saugatuck, Michigan

2010 Glass Casting Class with Stephanie Trenchard, Pratt Center for the Arts, Seattle, Washington

2009 Visiting Artist, University of Wisconsin Glass Department, Madison, Wisconsin

2005 Sandcasting Workshop, The Pilchuck School, First Session

1997 Establishes Hot Glass Studio with wife Stephanie Trenchard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

1992-1996 Teacher and Lecturer, The California College of Arts & Crafts, Clifford Rainey Chair

1991-1993 Casting Seminars, San Jose State University

1983 Teaching Assistant, The Pilchuck School, Bertil Vallein Session

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2021 Studio Glass Movement in Wisconsin, the Hyde Collection, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend

2018 Bangkok Glass Art Festival, Bangkok, Thailand

For and Aft, A Vitreous View of Time, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend

2017 Gravity, Solo exhibit, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

2015 Chroma, Group Exhibit, Tory Folliard, Milwaukee, WI

2014 Taos Glass Invitational, Mission Gallery, Taos, New Mexico

2013 Wisconsin Glass, Inaugural exhibit at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI

Color, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

2012 Trenchard & Popelka: New Glass Work, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee

2009 Craft Forms Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2008 Wisconsin Glass, Center for the Visual Arts, Wausau, WI

2007 CCA: A Legacy in Studio Glass, The San Francisco Museum of Craft

SOFA 2006-2009, Tom Reilly Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

2005 Pilchuck 2005, William Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2003 American Glass Masters, The Fairfield Museum, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

2001 Honorable Mention, International Exhibit of Glass, Kanazawa, Japan

1998 Art Annual, The Neville Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin

1996 Almost Alchemy, The Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California

1994 World Glass Now, The Hokkaido Museum, Hokkaido, Japan

1993 Local Media: With and Beyond Traditions, The Mills Building, San Francisco

1993 Contemporary Cast Glass, San Francisco Craft and Folk Museum

1993 Glass Invitational, The Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco

1993 California Works, California State Exposition Hall, Sacramento, California

1992 West Coast Glass, The California Craft Museum, San Francisco, California

1991 Introductions, Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, California

1991 Chain Reaction 5, The San Francisco Commission Gallery, San Francisco,