Artist Info

MORGAN GILBREATH
Richmond, VA

GLASS | Functional objects and sculptural installations

Penland Affiliation | Penland Studio Assistant 2022

Artist Information | Studio artist; education: BFA Tyler School of Art (PA); teaching: Urban Glass (NY); exhibitions: Alma’s (VA), Sforzesco Castle (Milan, Italy), Grand Rapids Art Museum (MI), Toyama Museum of Glass, (Toyama, Japan), Boise Art Museum (ID), Schack Art Center (WA), Toledo Cultural Alliance (OH); residencies: Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Arts (NJ), Pilchuck Glass School (WA), University of Texas Arlington (TX); collections: Museum of American Glass (NJ), Aldo Bellini Glass Collection at Castello Sforzesco (Milan, Italy)

Artist Statement | Inspired by my background in labor-intensive crafts and my research of art and architectural history, I make artwork to explore how context, material, and gesture can encourage a life in which all things can be viewed as historically, spiritually, and artistically meaningful.
I utilize the stories and associations that come with found objects to develop the meaning of my work. My materials have included glass swept up from streets, dust from the ventilation of a bible factory, blessed liturgical candles, and waste glass gathered from glass shops. The narratives imbued within these reclaimed materials come together to create sculptures which display a relic-like quality. This begins to blur the line between secular and sacred, thus encouraging reverence and curiosity toward every part of the world around us. I want my work to reveal the immeasurable potential energy that I see within the mundane particles of our everyday existence.
*Hand wash only, condition with a small drop of olive oil*