Czeching It Out

Gloomy skies in the District today prompted MAD to seek some light. Glass sculpture seemed like it might satisfy that need so I took myself to the Geoffrey Diner Gallery near DuPont Circle to see the exhibit Touch of Bohemian Glass.

Here's what I love: eleven (11) glass sculptures on one floor of a townhouse - enough to be able to spend some time with, but not enough to overwhelm.

Amanda, the assistant who opened the door for me, is a graduate student at the Smithsonian. While her area of interest lies in 18th and 19th Century objects, she told me that these contemporary glass sculptures look different all day long, depending on the light at any given time. Because of the nature of glass, the effect of light becomes part of the sculptures themselves.

Because of the interplay of light with the glass Gates, by Richard Cermak and Lenka Cermakova, appeared as two distinct colors depending on whether you looked at it from the side (black) or front (azure). Looking closely at the whispers of bubbles and wisps in Insomnia by Rony Plesel, reminded me of two loudspeakers, broadcasting its two-sided massage in golden green which I was told is uranium glass. Now I would have not picked these pieces out to be interested in, but stopping to pay attention and bothering to observe the details shed a new kind of light on my appreciation of the combination of elements.

These Bohemian glass artists are only part of CZ in DC a celebration of Czech culture presented by the Czech Embassy through this June.