Vineyard Glassworks manager and resident artist Wil Sideman and Jennifer Brown discussed the array of glassblowing techniques she used to create her domes. —Dena Porter 
Visit Vineyard Glassworks in West Tisbury to see the collaborative project Jennifer Brown has done with them this year. —Dena Porter 
Some of the many pieces Jennifer Brown created during her residency at Vineyard Glassworks. 
Jennifer stands alongside her textile and glass creations at Vineyard Glassworks. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer plans to “stack” these glass domes inside one another. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer’s domes are inspired by her own layered textile creations. —Dena Porter 
You can find Jennifer Brown’s textile art at the Field Gallery in West Tisbury. This piece is entitled “Channels 3.” —Dena Porter 
Jennifer’s three stacked domes creates layers of texture, as can be seen in her textile work. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer’s glass creations are directly inspired by the fabrics she uses in her textile work. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer feels inspired since creating the glass domes that were based on her textile work. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer tested various glass domes she created that she will stack or layer as she does in her textile work. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer explored various techniques to create patterns and textures on her glass domes. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer used the graal glassblowing technique to create multiple layers of glass and then carved through the layers to expose patterns and colors. —Dena Porter 
Jennifer Brown’s “The Summer of Color” textile was created this year. —Dena Porter 
See Jennifer Brown’s textile and glass creations at Vineyard Glassworks in West Tisbury. —Dena Porter
Artist Jennifer Brown, who grew up on the Vineyard, recently took the leap from 2D to 3D, moving from flat, textured textile work to handblown glass. The resulting translucent and transparent pieces, with her signature blue hues, are gorgeous to the eye and luxuriant to the hand.
Brown’s new artwork springs from an unusual three-way collaboration of herself, Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks (where the pieces were made), and the Field Gallery, which represents Brown’s textiles. Glassworks manager Wil Sideman explains, “We started a visiting artist program five or six years ago. The idea was to bring glass artists from all over the world for a week to work with our team. This year, we wanted to keep it local, particularly by working with someone who didn’t have glassmaking experience, so we could translate their ideas into glass. We knew Jenn, and luckily, she was willing to come in and work with us.” The Field Gallery was all in, and the collaboration began in May.
Sideman says, “Over the course of five sessions, Jenn would come in, and we’d have at least a team of three. We’d look at her fabric swatches and sketches, and talk about the best way to approach [them in glass]. Then we’d make them.”
Brown says, “It was fun playing with what the glass wants to do.”
Sideman notes, “We try very hard not to influence the artist who comes in, because it would have been very easy for us to interpret the work, which isn’t what the relationship was supposed to be. All of us thought we’d be working in flat-dimensional work, but Jenn was thinking in three dimensions, which was a nice surprise and the ultimate goal of doing this. We don’t want to make artists work our way.”
Brown says, “The benefit of collaborating with someone local is that I could come in multiple times. Translating textiles to glass is a whole new medium. I’m trying to understand how glass works, the effects and colors I could get. Every time we’d work in the shop, I’d have to go back and study what we did and what we wanted to do next. With my textiles, I understand what the fabric does, what I want it to do, and how to do it. With glass, it was more of a challenge.”
Part of the challenge was having to conceptualize in three dimensions. There is, of course, the difference in the media. If you run your hands over Brown’s flat textile works, you find very shallow layers, since she works in reverse appliqué. Here, she layers the fabrics and then cuts away some of the top pieces, letting the textile underneath show through. The glass bowls, however, are fully three-dimensional, and their textures range from icy smooth to rippled, depending on the glassblowing technique.
Sideman and his team experimented with various methods to achieve the effects Brown desired. Three examples include a bowl with undulating waves of color. In traditional glassblowing, the lines would be vertical, but in Brown’s vessel they are oriented horizontally, recalling some of the seascape-inspired imagery in her textiles. She says, “It’s been interesting to see how the glass relates to the textiles. Color is a big part of it. But I am trying to create airy pieces with a sense of movement.”
Brown translates her technique of layering fabrics into three dimensions by nesting the bowls one inside the other. Because the glass is transparent, you can see the cumulative effect of their designs one in front of the other. “I love the surprise element of the meeting of patterns,” she says.
There is also a wonderful vessel with thick, uneven turquoise lines laid over transparent glass, made using the Graal technique, in which you create multiple layers of glass with the intention of carving through the outer layer.
Brown says, “The other thing I learned is that glassmaking is a social craft. You need a team of people to work with you, which is very different from being home alone with a little needle and thread. This experience was so fantastic in large part because of the technical skill, creativity, and openness to collaborate by the Glassworks crew, Wil, Russell Carson, and Courtney McCloskey.”
Sideman adds, “I think every time we do these collaborations it’s fruitful for us as glassmakers. We don’t always get to expand what we’re making because it’s often production ware, recreating designs we’ve done before. When we get something new, that’s always fun. We hope to continue to work with local artists and the Field Gallery. The crossover is really working for all parties.” Jennifer Pillsworth, the Field Gallery director, adds, “It is so exciting, and I credit Chris and Sheila Morse for encouraging this collaboration between two Island galleries that started as cottage businesses, and have really blossomed into well-established galleries in the community.”
In the spirit of collaboration, there will be two openings — one at each location, with both the glassworks and textiles on view.
Asked whether this experience will influence her textile art, Brown reflects, “I think it can’t help but to do so. It’s all creative work and exercising that creative muscle. I don’t know yet exactly how it will translate. It’s also getting to think about what is core to my work, even if it’s not in my traditional medium.”
Brown says of her glass vessels, “I’m hoping the viewer feels a sense of calm and happiness. And I want there to be delight and surprise in these pieces.”
Openings with both the glassworks and textiles will take place on August 22 from 4 to 6 pm at Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks, 683 State Road in West Tisbury, and on August 29 from 4 to 6 pm at the Field Gallery, 1050 State Road in West Tisbury.
