Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Arts presents: Little Worlds, on view July 8- September 30, 2022.
Exhibition reception and artist talk: Friday July 8, 2022, 6-8:30pm. Talk at 7pm.
The exhibition can be viewed in-person at Foci MCGA Gallery or online at www.mnglassart.org/exhibitions
Glass artist and printmaker Jen Blazina blends surreal imagery and found objects in Little Worlds, an exhibition presenting new works in cast glass, bronze, and screen printed imagery on glass.
Artist Statement:
As an artist, I am intrigued with the idea that what is precious to one person will be discarded by another. My work is influenced by commonplace possessions, familial vignettes and photographs. These evoke an ephemeral sense of past memories. Whether found in a second-hand shop or passed down from my family, I am often attracted to and captivated by the lost beauty of subtle images and materials. By re-creating and casting momentos in glass and metal, I transform their history in my own voice. The process allows me to capture and hold on to another time in the past. Photographs and chosen objects allude to narratives of fleeting moments.
Artist Biography:
Jen Blazina is a sculptor and printmaker who uses glass as her primary medium. She currently resides in Philadelphia where she is a working artist and professor at Drexel University in the College of Media Arts and Design.
Blazina’s work is in multiple collections such as the Neuberger Museum of Art, The Imagine Museum, The Cranbrook Museum of Art, and the Corning Museum of Glass to name a few. Blazina has been awarded numerous residencies including: the Corning Artist in Residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; GAPP Residency at Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, OH; Bezalel Art and Design Academy in Jerusalem, Israel; and the Creative Glass Center of America in Millville, NJ. She has been awarded prestigious grants as the Bessie and Louis Stein Fellowship; Independence Foundation Grant; and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. She has just been nominated for the 2022 Pew Fellowship Award in the Excellence of Craft through the PEW Charitable Foundation of Philadelphia, PA.
Jen Blazina received her M.F.A. in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art, her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in New York and her B.F.A., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Purchase College.
Location: 2213 Snelling Ave, Minneapolis, MN,
Gallery hours: Friday-Monday 10am-4pm and Tuesday- Thursday 10am-6pm.
More information at mnglassart.org.
Established in 2009, Foci MCGA proudly represents a vibrant arts community as Minnesota’s only public access studio and education center. Our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is located in South Minneapolis and offers a full glass studio curriculum taught by artists locally and nationally recognized, as well as programming for youth, corporate group experiences, events, and exhibitions. Our goal is to be a safe space for all to feel welcome and engaged, creating experiences that motivate curiosity, build excitement, and advance mastery.
Seward Arts & Culture 