By Mari Kanagy, The Seattle Medium
Reflective, translucent, opaque. The many phases and faces of glass stare back at you as you enter the most recent exhibit at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. “A Two Way Mirror: Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass Art by Black Artists” was assembled by museum educator and curator Jabari Owens-Bailey.
Rounding the first corner of the exhibition, a passage from W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1903 book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” is displayed on the wall. Double consciousness is the exhibition’s central theme, an experience that Du Bois describes as “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.”
“I wanted to get into this idea of an identity that is predicated on seeing yourself, but also how the world perceives you as well as a Black person,” Owens-Bailey said.
The museum hosted an exhibition preview on Oct. 20. The following day, Owens-Bailey interviewed three of the show’s contributing artists before a crowd of about 50 people in the museum’s amphitheater.
As Owens-Bailey writes in the exhibition introduction, “Glass is a medium that reflects not only the inner truths of both the viewers and makers, but that of society as a whole.”
Owens-Bailey spent around two years putting this exhibition together. He contacted artists from around the globe, gathering work by Black artists that expresses their personal identity.
Three of the show’s 22 contributing artists, Chris Day, Barbara Earl Thomas and Cheryl Derricotte, sat for the artist panel on Oct. 21. They spoke about the methodology behind their art and their path to glasswork. Intertwined in this conversation was a discussion of race, history and opportunity, and how these ideas are reflected in their art.
“Strange Fruit” by Day represents the lynchings of Black Americans during the Jim Crow era in the South. Multi-colored glass vessels were elongated and suspended with rope, the knot formed into a noose at the neck of the vessel. The piece’s title references the 1939 Billie Holiday song “Strange Fruit,” which plays softly overhead. Day described how “Strange Fruit” was received at a previous showing.
“It was the shininess of the glass that engaged the people, that was the thing that brought people close to it,” Day said at the artist panel. “But unfortunately, as soon as they read the statement, they backed away.”
Day drew stylistic inspiration from two glass artists for this piece: Kara Walker and Fred Wilson, whose art is also featured in the exhibition. Walker uses explicit imagery in her work, etching in graphic scenes of slavery. Wilson employs a gentler, but engaging storytelling method, using dark, reflective glass to represent self perception and racial bias.
The artists on the panel spoke from different backgrounds and experiences: Day is from the U.K, Derricotte makes art in San Francisco, and Thomas is based in Seattle. They each shared a similar enchantment with glass.
“The thing about glass is it’s very seductive, and it’s beautiful,” Thomas said at the artist panel. “Glass does not need you. It’s so beautiful; you see a lump of it somewhere, you just walk toward it.”
Thomas’ piece, “Fire Breather. Story Vessel II,” is a vase that transitions from a red base, to clear glass at the rim, where it ripples as if engulfed in flame. The etching on its surface depicts the fire-breather amidst a landscape. Thomas aimed to capture “the magic of the everyday” in her piece
Derricotte depicts historical imagery in “Glass Boys: All Black I” and “Glass Boys: All Black II.” The pieces portray two photos of children glassblowers at a factory. The photos were taken around 1900, and are the only known record that these children worked at the factory. Derricotte used a method called powder printing, in which a design is formed using a stencil glass powder on the surface of a glass slab.
“There was a point in 2020 when everybody was saying, ‘Oh, where are the Black glass artists?’ I said, ‘Here they are, hiding in plain sight from 100 years ago in the factories,’” Derricotte said. “We have always been here.”
Owens-Bailey echoed this sentiment, noting how historical records often exclude the presence of Black people in many spaces, including glass making. Through his curation, Owens-Bailey aims to contribute to a more inclusive historical record. He hopes that this exhibition will normalize the presence of Black glass artists in the community.
“When I was putting this exhibition together, I wanted it to be a doorway, or the opening of the doorway rather,” Owens-Bailey said. “After this has happened, that doorway hopefully won’t need to be opened again.”
“A Two Way Mirror” will remain on display at the Tacoma Museum of Glass through October 2024.