SLAG: anti-art glass, reviewed online

April 2010, Rhiannon Rinas:

"Glassy displays

Ladders made of forearms, organs strapped to carts, blood in glass bottles and cultural Mexican-American creations hang on the wall. A shed stands in the background, inviting observers to violate its boundaries and see the creepy inner workings.

"SLAG: The Anti-Art Glass," the current exhibit in the Prichard Art Gallery, encompasses a new world of glass, sending a message that glass is not only for cute little figurines. It features creations from artists across the U.S. and Mexico and has been in production for five years.

"The popular notion (is that) these beautiful vases, platters, forms that look like flowers or whatever," Rowley said. "But I had this other sense of glass being something very different than that. The more I sort of understood the overwhelming perception of what glass was, the more I wanted to do something that highlighted a different approach and sort of expands people's understandings about what glass art can be."

This exhibit displays a range between colorful and fragile to twisted designs. Rowley said glass exhibits are expensive to host, and most of the five years was spent trying to raise enough money to make it happen. The artists involved were supportive, and kept going until they had the required amount of money. Rowley said this is about the most expensive exhibit the Prichard has ever done, but that he thought it was pretty amazing.

"The range between the de la Torre brothers is just kind of bright and colorful, and that sort of idea of glass being bright and colorful," Rowley said. "But then just put into these sculptural pieces that are just over the top in terms of their references to Mexican-American culture, Aztec-Olmec culture, Catholic upbringing. All sorts of things just colliding together. Then Elizabeth Lyons.  That shed is, I think, on the one hand, it's kind of off-putting."

Visitors have to push open the chained door of the shed and stick their heads inside to see what's going on inside. Rowley said the point is to make viewers feel like they're violating a boundary.

"It's creepy, but cool," Rowley said. "Lyons has created a ladder rungs made up of human forearm cast. It just blows you away."

The Prichard displays nine to 11 exhibits during the year, each lasting seven to eight weeks. Occasionally there will be exhibits on display for a week, and they usually encompass new media and videos. The Prichard displays a variety of artwork from local artists, students and faculty from the College of Art and Architecture, graduate students, regional and international artists.

"Our mission is to bring the greater art world out there to Moscow," Rowley said. "We're the venue where you can see what's happening in contemporary art in the region."

Artists aren't required to pay to show their work in the gallery. There are prices for preparing the creations and the Prichard Art Gallery takes on as much of the expense of exhibiting as they can.

Rowley said anytime an artist has the opportunity to present artwork, it forces artists to deal with issues and grow as an artist. Prichard Art Gallery encourages more experimentation with art. The amount of time it takes for someone to go through the gallery varies. Some spend upward of 45 minutes, but most spent less than 30. The gallery is not demanding of every visitor to spend a certain amount of time viewing the exhibit.

"You can come in and if you find something that really engages you and you want to spend a leisurely hour looking, then you can do," Rowley said."

Rinas, R. "Expanding UI's vision." The University of Idaho Argonaut. April 5, 2010.  http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/10012/47:testset/