Suspicious Cleavage Jones
Artist
Stephen Rolfe Powell
(American, 1951 – 2019)
Date1995
MediumBlown glass with murrini pattern
DimensionsOverall: 33 1/2 × 19 1/2 × 11 in., 21.7 lb. (85.1 × 49.5 × 27.9 cm, 9.8 kg)
ClassificationsGlass
Credit LineMuseum purchase, 2023
Object number2023.23
Stephen Rolfe Powell was an influential artist and college professor
at Centre College in Kentucky, best-known for creating sculptural
forms accentuated with psychedelic tie-dye patterns. Powell not
only mastered the centuries-old Venetian glassmaking technique
of making murrini to create surface patterns, he also pioneered a
kaleidoscopic aesthetic unique to his artistry. First, Powell worked
with a team of studio assistants to create thin rods of multi-colored
glass, known as canes. Next, murrini were made by slicing the
complex canes into cross-sections and carefully arranging them in a
vibrant pattern. Then, the intricate pattern, consisting of thousands
of murrini, was heated and embedded into the molten glass bubble
and distorted during the glassblowing process. Powell named his
works with humorous titles, like Suspicious Cleavage Jones, alluding
to the sensually-inspired forms.
On View
On viewLocation
- Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion, 2nd Floor, gallery, floor
Unknown
7th-5th Century BC
Unknown
