River House Arts is pleased to present States of Matter: the Human Animal, an exhibition of new mixed media and glass works by Kristine Rumman and Adam L. Sanzenbacher.  The show opens with a public reception on Thursday, October 2 from 6 – 9 pm and is on view through November 2.

 

States of Matter: the Human Animal is will run concurrently with the “Month of Glass,” a series of events sponsored by the Arts Commission to celebrate and support glass art in the Toledo area.  

 

In this exhibition, Rumman and Sanzenbacher explore the relationship between human innovation and behavior. Through a striking array of works composed of natural and synthetic materials, the artists consider our past and future development as a species in the face of our continuing drive to control, manufacture, and manage our personal and collective realities.

 

Conceived and executed as a collaborative effort, the show is an expansion of a work the two completed in early 2014.  That first piece, Synthetic Emergence, looks at the “societal divergence from the natural to the artificial” through a series of thermoformed Plasto-Fascimiles crafted from glass structures inspired by natural topographical features. 

 

Only recently in our history have we been capable of directly manipulating our surroundings to fashion an ideal personal habitat. With the advantages of these newfound conveniences also comes a potential dissonance with the world around us.

 

                                                -Adam Sanzenbacher & Kristine Rumman, 2014

 

In addition to joint works, the exhibition also features several solo pieces including Rumman’s Pool, gem-like meditations on the preciousness of water and our complicated connection to it, and Sanzenbacher’s Pelts of Achievement, a series of richly hued plastic trophies topped with finely cast crystal fur-pieces. The plaques are designed to reward us for our ability to develop “the tools, techniques, and technologies which, in turn, have distanced us from our closest evolutionary ancestors.”

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Since receiving her BFA in 2007 from Bowling Green State University, Kristine Rumman has continued her studies in glass both here and abroad, including Seattle, Washington and the Czech Republic. She has also maintained a steady teaching schedule, conducting hot glass workshops in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as at the Toledo Museum of Art, the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, and Martin Blank Studios in Seattle to name a few.  Her work can be found in private collections throughout the country.

 

Adam L. Sanzenbacher graduated from Ohio State University in 2010 with a BFA in Drawing and Painting. Now working primarily in three-dimensional work as well as ceramics, he has exhibited throughout the Columbus and Toledo, Ohio areas as well as in North Carolina.

     

River House Arts Gallery is located in the historic downtown Perrysburg and features works of fine art and contemporary craft. Our regularly changing, museum quality exhibitions are always free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are 11am – 6pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays.