In her art, Jill Casty's guiding impulse is the deep conviction and passionate feeling that in a world with so much suffering and darkness, contemporary art can still bring a moment of harmony and peace, of a beauty that can be a light, bright, affirming of the spirit of life. Working in both America and Italy, she has been on a personal journey in discovering and experimenting with the way that the wonders of glass are a fulfilling means of striving for forms of beauty that are appropriate and still vital in the modern world. Her current work in glass has been called “painterly.” She uses glass fusions as a painter uses a brush to create fanciful forms, layered rhythms, textures, flowing fields and discrete shapes of brilliant, dramatic color that changes its tones and moods in the play of changing light.
She then combines that open, joyful presence of glass with rhythmic, flowing forms of solid, closed materials, a variety of metals—which themselves can often still reflect light. These unique ensembles, assemblies of what seem to be opposites, are a search for, a discovery of the heartening harmony that can still be re-gained and re-discovered in a world of conflicts, of dissonance and discord. These intriguing sculptural combinations reveal that through all that assaults our spirit today, there can be a re-opening-of both eyes and spirit. That whatever unique forms that beauty takes, it is finally and brightly indomitable.
These expressive ensembles are wall-hanging or standing sculptures. The free-standing works and one of the types of wall-hanging pieces blend a series of fusions with a variety of metals in a creative, fulfilling interaction of textures and forms. Another type of wall-hanging works float individual painterly glass collages in a structural metal complement that is harmonious in tone and form with the theme, the internal drama of the glass.
Ultimately, in all their variations, her works are vibrant forms of joy. Finding joy in the lights and delights of color and form themselves, but also in the elusive, surprising, refreshing associations and intimations that color and form can reveal.
Swirling Grace ~ Wall Sculpture
Brushed and polished stainless steel, bronze, copper
+ glass collages ~ 38" wide x 35" high x 7" deep
Glass Collages for Swirling Grace wall sculpture
