Jeremy Sinkus
USA, Massachusetts
Glassmaking is the human expression of a geological process. In fact, glass is geological. Minerals have always captivated me with their colour, clarity, and infinite geometric permutations.
Of all the images, objects and art Jeremy Sinkus has seen, still it is these natural crystalline forms that strike him. They express something enormous that is otherwise, almost impossible to voice. Akin to the felt language underlying a resonant piece of art, minerals speak precisely of their making. They require no interpretation. Jeremy Sinkus is fascinated by the sheer fact of their existence and circumstantial nature of their variety. Human participation was absent but nonetheless, he wanted to be part of it.
The opportunity to experiment with hot glass came in 1998 at a studio in central Massachusetts. The roaring furnaces, smell of burning bees wax and graceful movements impacted him. Jeremy Sinkus admired the team aspect of a glass blowing studio but needed a more independent approach to satisfy his ambition. In 1998 he began Flame working borosilicate glass was an obtainable approach into working with glass on his own. It was a life-changing technique for Jeremy Sinkus. A body of work was created to bring him through the steps and stages to grow into a professional working artist.
In 2015 Jeremy Sinkus began his journey in cast glass. This allowed him to apply techniques to make more authentic mineral designs. This method would give him the ability to sculpt, involve more precision and increase the scale of his designs. The use of familiar tools and techniques for working stone from his gem cutting years connects him even more to glass sculpting. These tools allow Jeremy Sinkus to venture into the deep process and experience of what made the mineral world so appealing to him creatively. Cast glass has taught him patience and channels a version of a 100.000.000 year geological process. This body of work gives him human participation in a form that would otherwise only be a geological event. His geological designs have reconnected him to the gem and mineral world. There, though realistic, they are seen as art. In the art world they are seen as contemporary.
Jeremy Sinkus now works out of him own 2400 square foot studio in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. It is entirely powered by a waterfall on the nearby Deerfield River functioning as a green energy studio. He uses flame working, metal fuming/deposition, cold working (lapidary), welding, woodworking, laminating and casting techniques to manipulate the glass daily. He continues looking forward to digging up new prospective ideas to geologicalize in glass.
