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Artist Statement:

Within Joshua Hershman’s cast glass sculptural works he explores the invisible and counter-intuitive nature of light. Born almost blind, Hershman underwent years of corrective vision therapy to train his visual cortex to comprehend peripheral vision and depth perception. Enduring these repeated exercises he became acutely aware of the curious nature of visual anomalies and light distortions. Hershman’s current glass cameras reveal the invisible processes of photography in three-dimensions. These works ask the audience to see the camera as an alchemical tool for manipulating and translating light. From this perspective, we may seriously consider the profound implications that this “capturing light in imagery” has had on our species, both how we see our world and ourselves.

 

Bio:

Joshua Hershman is an American born artist dedicated to developing new techniques of glass working that combine optical physics with the fluidity of glass to make his contemporary sculpture. By harnessing light though hand-polished lenses, Hershman employs unique methods of casting, coldworking, and photography in his boundary-pushing work.

Being born with no peripheral vision or depth perception, decades of vision therapy led him to have a lifelong fascination with the complex nature of the visual system and the science of light and optics. By using cameras themselves as frames for his experimental photographic processes, Hershman asks us to look more closely into the simple act of taking a photograph. His work focuses on the significance that film and photography have played on the development of contemporary global culture, and shows how the lens is constantly redefining the complex nature of society.

 

About the artist:

Originally from Colorado, Joshua Hershman was born in 1981 and first began working with glass at the age of 17. In 2004, he graduated from the prominent Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. In 2008, he went on to earn a BFA with Distinction from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California. Most recently, he completed the Master’s program at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, in Sculptural/Dimensional Studies.

Over the past 21 years, Hershman has worked closely with several internationally recognized artists and exhibited globally. His work has received numerous awards, was included in the Bullseye e-merge international glass competition, Young Glass 2017, and can be found in numerous private collections. His work has been accepted into the permanent collection of the Ebeltoft Museum in Denmark and The National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia. Hershman has been invited to participate in several artist-in-residence programs including North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland, D&L Art Glass in Colorado, the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee, and most recently completed a semester-long residency at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He currently lives and operates a private studio in Oakland, California.

2018 Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark

2017 National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2016 Alfred University, Alumni Collection, Alfred NY

Solo Exhibitions

2018 Camera: Keepers of Memory Bender Gallery, Ashville, NC

2017 Residency Exhibition. Southern Illinois University, Vergette Gallery, Carbondale, IL

2016 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Penumbra, Turner Gallery, Alfred, NY

2012 Photocentric, JGK Gallery, Rochester, NY

2009 Day Residue, Pismo Fine Art, Denver, CO

2008 Day Residue, North Gallery, Oakland, CA

 

Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs

2019 47th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

2019 Transparency – an LGBTQ+ Exhibition, The Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA

2019 Survey Bay Area, Montague Gallery, San Francisco, Ca

2019 Cast: Art and Objects, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2018 SOFA Chicago, Bender Gallery, Ashville, NC

2018 Young Glass, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK

2018 Young Glass, The Glass Factory, Sweden

2017 Young Glass, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark

2017 SOFA Chicago, Bender Gallery, Ashville, NC

2017 Transparency, an LGBTQ+ Exhibition, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2016 SOFA Chicago, Bender Gallery, Ashville, NC

2016 44th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

2016 Art Palm Beach, Thomas R. Riley Galleries, Palm Beach, FL

2015 SOFA Chicago, AiBo Gallery, Chicago, IL

2015 GlassWeekend’15 at WheatonArts, Thomas R. Riley Galleries, Millville, NJ

2015 43rd International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI

2015 The Affordable Art Fair, AiBo Gallery. NY, NY

2015 Art Palm Beach, AiBo Gallery, Palm beach, FL

2015 The Next: A Studio Glass Movement Continuum, Tower Fine Art, Brockport, NY

2014 SOFA Chicago, AiBo Gallery, Chicago, IL

2014 The Armory Show, AiBo Gallery, NY, NY

2014 ArtHamptons, AiBo Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY

2013 Pilchuck On Display, Westin Hotel, Seattle, WA

2012 CCA Glass Program Alumni Exhibition, Oliver Center, Oakland, CA

2012 SOFA Chicago, Pismo Fine Art, Chicago, IL

2012 2012 Glass Weekend, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2010 e-merge 2010, Bullseye Gallery, Portland, OR

2009 Residents Exhibition, Quatre Bras Gallery, Lybster, Scotland

2009 In Camera, Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008 International Student Exhibit, Museum of Craft, Portland, OR

2008 New Visions, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA

2008 30 under 30, Varnish Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008 Juried Annual, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA

2007 Mash-Up, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA

2006 American Mythology, Oliver Arts Center, Oakland, CA

2006 Peep! Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA

2004 Cross Country Exhibition, Galerie Elena Lee, Montreal, Quebec

2004 In-Direction, Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Waterloo, ON

2004 Emergence, Material Matters Gallery, Toronto, ON

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