Katerina “Cappie” Thompson ( Eng. Cappy Thompson ; January 22, 1952 , city of Alexandria , Virginia ) is a contemporary American glass artist who creates mythological images using the technique of painted stained glass in the range from small painted vases to monumental stained glass panels in public interiors; also works in ceramics . Regularly holds master classes in glass painting.
| Cappie Thompson | |
|---|---|
| English Catherine “Cappy” Thompson | |
| Birth name | Catherine thompson |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | city of Alexandria (Virginia) |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Genre | art glass ceramist sculptor |
| Study | Evergreen State College |
| Style | postmodernism mythological painting |
As a master of stained glass painting, Cappie Thompson draws on the traditions of medieval painting . The plots of her works are mythopoetic narratives in colors [1] . She works in several genres: creates stained glass paintings on flat glass, similar in form to easel painting; paints ceramic dishes with genre scenes [2] . The artist’s most original contribution is painting with transparent paints on the inner surface of a glass vessel [3] . Cappie Thompson's works are represented in the collections of many museums in the world.
Since 1984, lives and works in Seattle , Washington .
Content
The early years
Cappie Thompson graduated from Evergreen State College (the so-called "Evergreen State" Washington ) [4] in 1976. Since that time, he has been professionally engaged in and ceramics .
Career start
The career of Cappie Thompson for many years connected with the state of Washington in the north of the Pacific coast of the United States . She received her initial art education in 1970-1971. in English Firehaven College , in Bellingham , northwestern Washington, on the shores of Puget Sound Bay . In 1976, she completed her undergraduate studies at Evergreen State College , Olympia , Washington, where she studied painting and drawing. By 1975, her first experiments with belong .
In 1984, Cappie Thompson moved to Seattle to work at the Pilchak Glass School (Pilchuck, in the local Salish tribe, means the Red River). Pilchak School is famous for its campus, founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly near the town of Stanwood, 50 km north of Seattle and including glass workshops. The campus is located on the northern spurs of the Cascade Mountains ; here annually (from May to September) summer programs are held for beginners and experienced artists from around the world. It is here that Cappie Thompson discovers the possibilities of painting, applied with special paints on the inner surface of a glass vase. Soon her first experiments were awarded the prestigious Stanislav Libensky Award (Eng. ). The technology used by the artist dates back to the traditions of the Gothic stained glass window . First, a black-and-white pattern is applied to the glass (followed by its firing). Then, pouring with colorful colorful compositions of transparent sections of glass inside the applied contours is performed. This new layer is also fired.
Gathering The Light 2003
In a permanent exhibition of English. The Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma , Washington, in the main hall is a monumental (345 x 450 cm) glass painting by Cappie Thompson “Gathering The Light” [5] , 2003. The panel contains a story and the mythology of the development of glass-blowing art. MOG encourages the development of a variety of glass art processing techniques in the Northwestern United States, fosters collaboration between glass artists and collectors. There are organized regular demonstrations of the existing glass-blowing workshop, where craftsmen create work right at the mouth of the existing furnace. Around the amphitheater are places for spectators [6] . The Museum building is remarkable for its 150-meter English. Glass bridge .
“I dreamed of heavenly animals” 2004
In 2004, Cappie Thompson completed a large-scale order for the south terminal of Seattle , Washington International Airport . The composition “I dreamed of animal spirits (I dreamed of heavenly animals)” [7] with a total area of 270 square meters looks like a giant map of the starry sky. The artist relies on iconography, which is close to popular popular prints of the 16th – 18th centuries. The plot is built around a sleeping couple in a tall tower house. Behind them, in the dark blue arc of the night sky, 17 animals appear, symbolizing the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. A chariot drawn by winged horses rushes through the sky. The sun and moon are seated in it; they strew stars on sleeping and traveling. The panel consists of 50 panels mounted in a rectangular steel structure, each weighing 100 kilograms. It took the author several years to experiment in Germany with new materials developed by a company ( Derix Glasstudios ) specializing in stained glass to successfully cope with such a volume. Over its one and a half-century history, Deriks Glasstudios has improved the composition and technology of applying a transparent, resistant to vibrations and temperature drops to the glass layer of paint (which is especially important for a functioning airport terminal). Finished glass was delivered from Germany to Seattle across the ocean by sea. [eight]
Painted Vases
The greatest success in the career of Cappie Thompson is associated with her painted vases. Putting paints on the inner surface of a glass vessel, Thompson combines at least three style traditions:
- "Story in pictures", developed in ancient Greek vase painting ,
- fabulously epic plots of medieval painting of Iran and Syria , and
- liturgical drama techniques characteristic of stained glass painting of the medieval cathedrals of Europe.
In published interviews (English) , copyright articles (English) and video lectures / 59 min. (Eng.) The artist calls figurativeness and narrative an indispensable part of her creative method.
The shape of a multicolor spherical vessel, belted by a plot developing in development, has parallels with the cyclical nature of the myth, with folk song. Perhaps that is why the fusion of styles and eras in her vases takes on such organicity.
Collections and Museums
Thompson's works can be seen in the permanent collection of the Corning Glass Museum (Eng.) (Stubing County, New York); in English American Museum of Crafts ( Manhattan , New York); at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art , Japan .
A number of her works are kept at the Smithsonian Institution ; at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts ; in museums in Australia (English) , Switzerland and Canada.
Notes
- ↑ In a short video fragment, the artist talks about the basic principles of his work. In the second part - the process of creating a glass vase vase, a kind of "Glass Theater" in the Tacoma Museum / Eng. Museum of Glass , VIDEO , 2 min. 47 sec (eng.)
- ↑ Artist page (glass painting, painted ceramics) on the Trever Gallery website, Seattle.
- ↑ Vase "I dreamed of celestial animals" 1997 , in the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art , Norfolk (Virginia) .
- ↑ "The Evergreen State", "Evergreen State" ( joking. Name of the state of Washington ).
- ↑ "Gathering The Light" / 2003 - painting with enamel paints on glass, 345 x 450 cm. In a monumental example of classical stained glass painting, Thompson unfolds vivid episodes from the history of glass processing. On an imaginary island, a medieval Chinese man in an exotic caftan and heroes dressed in European fashion of the 17th – 18th centuries coexist. An elderly gentleman in a suit of the Enlightenment, standing on a bridge in front of the entrance to this dream country, tells something to a girl who is listening carefully to him. Mermaids in the water stream and angels in heaven guard the peace of hardworking islanders.
- ↑ Hot Show / Glassblowers at work: making a vase for painting at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma VIDEO Archived copy of October 10, 2014 on the Wayback Machine / 1 hour 17 min., (English)
- ↑ I dreamed of heavenly animals / I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals. 2004 (length 27 meters) - the artist demonstrates the stages of the implementation of a major project. VIDEO 2 minutes. 16 sec (eng.)
- ↑ A colorful film describing the complex technological process of creating a set of glasses in Germany (Monumental composition “I dreamed of heavenly animals” / “I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals”) / VIDEO 33 min. (eng.)
Links
- The film “Cappie Thompson: Starfall in Alabama”, (18 min.) , In detail, in the smallest details, reveals the technology for creating a huge (640 × 1524 cm) stained-glass panel made of colored glass, which adorns the hall of the since 2005 , Alabama
- Photo of three panels in the lobby on the ground floor The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts , Alabama , measures 366 × 335 cm, 671 × 305 cm and 366 × 335 cm, respectively.
- A biographical sketch about the artist on the website of Evergreen State College, Olympia (Washington State )
- Cappie Thompson's Page on the Corning Museum of Glass, New York
- Artist page (glass painting, painted ceramics) (eng.) On the Trever Gallery website, Seattle.