Pauly
Friedmen Art Gallery Grand Opening at Misericordia University
Featuring the
Glass Sculpture of Christopher Ries
Press Release -
June 2009
 The
new Pauly Friedman Art Gallery at Misericordia
University is holding its grand opening exhibit, “Guiding
Light,” featuring a stellar exhibition of large and extraordinary pieces by
legendary artist Christopher Ries. The much-anticipated installation will run
from Aug. 22 through Oct. 25.
“It is with well-thought planning
Christopher Ries is the opening artist for this historic occasion at
Misericordia University’s new art gallery,” said Brian J. Benedetti, gallery
director. “The art of Mr. Ries is like that of no other and shall leave a
lasting impression on individuals that experience it.”
A meet-the-artist champagne
reception is Saturday, Aug. 22 from 5-7 p.m. with a speech by Ries immediately
following in the new 2,700-square-foot art gallery in Sandy and Marlene
Insalaco Hall on campus. The two month event, which is free to the public,
will feature a myriad of original pieces ranging in size, scope and color, and
a talk with the artist.
“Glass is the essential material
which gathers, focuses, reflects, refracts, amplifies, filters, and transmits
light,” Ries said, describing his sculptures that are on display around the
world in art galleries, museums, and private, public, and corporate
collections around the world. “I use these special light-altering abilities
to create a kind of optical poetry.”
“We are living in the age of
photonics, where heretofore, theoretical knowledge of electromagnetic
radiation (light) is now being transformed into practical, life changing
applications. My work is a tangible symbol of this time,” he added.
Unlike many artists who work with
glass, Ries is not limited by size. Although the size of a sculpture does not
affect its quality, it does affect the impact: the larger the piece, the
greater the impact it has on its setting, according to the artist. Similar
artists’ pieces are rarely larger than 10 inches in any direction, but Ries
oftentimes sculpts works that are two feet or more in one direction, like his
“Moonstone,” “Opposing Views,” and “Clear Flame” sculptures.
Ries and his team create works
that weigh from just a few pounds to over 2000 pounds. Six years ago, he
created “Opus,” a disc-shaped sculpture weighing 1476 pounds and spanning 4
feet. He “communicates truth and beauty” through his sculptures by using
flawless blocks of crystal from Schott Glass Technologies in Duryea to create
“an absolute engagement between the object and its setting because the optical
glass contains and reflects the colors, shapes and movements throughout every
axis of its environment,” Ries said.
Most artists working with glass
melt it down and cast it for form, but Ries takes Schott’s solid blocks of
crystal and sculpts them like an artist working with traditional marble before
polishing it to achieve transparency. “My work celebrates the awe-inspiring
beauty and intellectual wonder of glass,” the artist said.
Born and raised on a farm in Ohio,
the rural Tunkhannock resident has a unique working relationship as “Artist in
Residence” with the international glass maker Schott Glass Technologies. The
local facility provides glass and support in exchange for a percentage of
Ries’s commissions and recognition wherever his sculptures are displayed.
Today, Ries is represented in dozens of art galleries and displayed in
collections from Mainz, Germany to Los Angeles, California and from Tokyo,
Japan to Pittston, Pennsylvania. He also participates in annual group
exhibitions as far away as the Netherlands and as close as Scranton.
His career and sculptures have
been recognized by many in the art world. “The compelling beauty of
Christopher Ries’s glass sculptures gives an eloquent expression to the ideals
of excellence,” said Sondra Myers of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Irvin J. Borowsky, founder of the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia,
said, “his work is timeless,” while James Yood, professor of contemporary art
criticism at Northwestern University, described his work in the following way:
“This is an art of such suggestiveness and finesse, of ceaseless transition
and surprise that is constitutes one of the most intriguing exercises in the
poetics of optics anywhere in contemporary art.”
Ries earned a Bachelor of Fine
arts degree in ceramics and glass from Ohio State University and founded OSU’s
glass department. As an undergraduate student, he became the department’s
first instructor. He also received a Master of Fine Arts in glass from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison. During his career, he has received numerous
awards, including the Aid to Individual Artists Fellowship from the Ohio Arts
Council, the Ohioana Citation for Distinguished Service to Ohio in the Field
of Art, the Distinguished Artist Award from the University of the Arts,
Philadelphia, and the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia named him the
Artist as Hero in 2005.
For more details about Ries and
his work, please log on to
www.christopherries.com. For more information about the grand opening of
the Pauly Friedman Art Gallery at Misericordia University, please call Dona
Posatko, gallery curator, at (570) 674-6250 or log on to
www.misericordia.edu. Beginning Aug. 22 gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 8
p.m. Monday through Thursday; closed Friday; and Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m.
to 5 p.m.
Misericordia University’s Pauly
Friedman Art Gallery occupies over 2700 square feet of space on the second
floor of Insalaco Hall. The multipurpose gallery will be used for performing
and visual arts, and will have a portable stage that can be used for small
musical performances and poetry readings. The gallery also features a
surround sound system, motorized blackout shades, three types of track
lighting and a bamboo floor. A custom-designed storage area will double as a
small theater for short, creative films produced and directed by Misericordia
students.
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