Work in progress, 2023 Courtesy of the Artists
Bri Chesler &
Minhi England
DELECTABLE
March 2 - April 15 , 2023
ONLINE ARTIST TALK:
To Be Announced at a Later Time
ARTIST RECEPTION
First Thursday Art Walk
March 2nd & April 6th
5:00-8:00pm *
HOURS:
FRIDAY
Noon-4pm
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
SCHEDULE YOUR FRIDAY VISIT
SATURDAY
Noon-4pm
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
DELECTABLE is a collaborative installation between Bri Chesler and Minhi England. The duo bonded after learning about shared traumatic life experiences, only to realize the conceptual parallels in their artistic practice. In 2017, Bri and Minhi founded a collaborative brand called Liquid Lush Studio and have since been collaborating artistically. Throughout that time, they have continued a partnership not only creatively but in a familial friendship. The two describe themselves as “widow wives” after caring for and witnessing cancer take the life of Jesse England. After surviving this new shared traumatic life experience, their connection grew stronger and motivated the two to continue a collaborative partnership.
Minhi England
DELECTABLE
March 2 - April 15 , 2023
ONLINE ARTIST TALK:
To Be Announced at a Later Time
ARTIST RECEPTION
First Thursday Art Walk
March 2nd & April 6th
5:00-8:00pm *
HOURS:
FRIDAY
Noon-4pm
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
SCHEDULE YOUR FRIDAY VISIT
SATURDAY
Noon-4pm
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
DELECTABLE is a collaborative installation between Bri Chesler and Minhi England. The duo bonded after learning about shared traumatic life experiences, only to realize the conceptual parallels in their artistic practice. In 2017, Bri and Minhi founded a collaborative brand called Liquid Lush Studio and have since been collaborating artistically. Throughout that time, they have continued a partnership not only creatively but in a familial friendship. The two describe themselves as “widow wives” after caring for and witnessing cancer take the life of Jesse England. After surviving this new shared traumatic life experience, their connection grew stronger and motivated the two to continue a collaborative partnership.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
Sometimes, seeing is not always believing. The utilization of the mirror references a collision between the world as we perceive it, and the world as it exists. Rather than flat, true reflections, mirrors in this installation are vaguely distorted, stretched, and obscured, just enough to be believable. The concept of perception and reality often clash with one another. How we perceive ourselves and our environment is a multi-layered phenomena that is shaped by cultural and biological factors. Externalperception is tied to our s tandards of beauty, which is often linked to ideals of perfection.
As we experience the world, our interpretation can become flawed. Skewed through the lens of trauma and grief, our self-awareness becomes parasitic over time. The pursuit of beauty can lead to a distorted sense of self-worth.
“Our installation explores emotional processes, the uncontrollable aspects of feeling, and how it reflects externally. The title Delectable, describes a compulsion to modify the world around us to be pleasing to the senses, almost to a sickening degree. Private thoughts are exposed as they transform into our demeanor, physical presentations, and adornments.
The aesthetic of our work is a wild and overwhelming visual buffet, displayed as infectious anatomies. Lush surfaces and a suffocatingly pink palette, act as reflections of our obsession with beauty. Pink is often associated with femininity and tenderness, but various shades can have conflicting associations. Magenta and bright pink can feel energetic and playful, while a soft pink can feel calm and soothing. Historically shades of pink embody flirtatiousness and sexual desire, but simultaneously are connected to innocence, creating a sense of comfort. The use of figurative imagery within the space evokes feelings of familiarity. However, upon closer inspection, the corporeal representations appear alien and unusual, revealing the transcendence of beauty into something much more freakish. As our perception becomes abraded by the intricacies of the human experience, our environment becomes a manifestation of our emotional scars.”
Sometimes, seeing is not always believing. The utilization of the mirror references a collision between the world as we perceive it, and the world as it exists. Rather than flat, true reflections, mirrors in this installation are vaguely distorted, stretched, and obscured, just enough to be believable. The concept of perception and reality often clash with one another. How we perceive ourselves and our environment is a multi-layered phenomena that is shaped by cultural and biological factors. Externalperception is tied to our s tandards of beauty, which is often linked to ideals of perfection.
As we experience the world, our interpretation can become flawed. Skewed through the lens of trauma and grief, our self-awareness becomes parasitic over time. The pursuit of beauty can lead to a distorted sense of self-worth.
“Our installation explores emotional processes, the uncontrollable aspects of feeling, and how it reflects externally. The title Delectable, describes a compulsion to modify the world around us to be pleasing to the senses, almost to a sickening degree. Private thoughts are exposed as they transform into our demeanor, physical presentations, and adornments.
The aesthetic of our work is a wild and overwhelming visual buffet, displayed as infectious anatomies. Lush surfaces and a suffocatingly pink palette, act as reflections of our obsession with beauty. Pink is often associated with femininity and tenderness, but various shades can have conflicting associations. Magenta and bright pink can feel energetic and playful, while a soft pink can feel calm and soothing. Historically shades of pink embody flirtatiousness and sexual desire, but simultaneously are connected to innocence, creating a sense of comfort. The use of figurative imagery within the space evokes feelings of familiarity. However, upon closer inspection, the corporeal representations appear alien and unusual, revealing the transcendence of beauty into something much more freakish. As our perception becomes abraded by the intricacies of the human experience, our environment becomes a manifestation of our emotional scars.”
ARTIST BIOS
Bri Chesler is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on three-dimensional design and sculptural installation. During her undergraduate studies, at the Kansas City Art Institute, a strong interest in transparency and molten media led her to explore glass. Chesler’s work is known for its nontraditional approach, combining different glass techniques with other media. Inspired by moments of intimacy that toe the line between our carnally driven desires and the hunger for empathy, she captures the intoxicating lure of indulgence and the vulnerability it inflicts on our fragile character. Drawing from the wild and erotic character of the natural environment her work reflects on cultural obsessions of beauty and their relationships to internal anatomies. By fusing similar elements found in biology and botany she creates forms that ‘flirt’ with the audience, exploring ideas of intimacy and desire. Bri Chesler has been featured at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington and was a 2019 Pilchuck Emerging Artist-in-Residence. She was also the recipient of the 2020 Chihuly Gardens and Glass Anniversary Scholarship and has been invited to teach at Pilchuck Glass School in 2022.
Minhi England is a Seattle based artist working primarily in glass and metal. Raised in a military family, she was brought up by a Korean mother and an American father. Although born in Germany, she was raised in upstate New York where she earned her BFA from Alfred University. During her studies she fell in love with glass and shifted her 2D practice to sculpture. Shortly after graduating in 2010, England moved to Seattle, yearning to make a home surrounded by diversity and culture.
At an early age she discovered the soothing nature of repetition in creation. Influenced by mass production and the hardships of poverty, she finds solace in creating in multiples, with reiteration, and pattern. The malleable properties of hot glass serve to personify her view of self. Through the force of breath, the molten glass pushes through its surrounding obstacles, signifying the ability to overcome and conform to encountered difficulties despite its complexity. England often combines rigid materials such as copper or steel with glass to symbolize the human experience. By incorporating mirrored glass surfaces, she invites others to perceive this personification and relationship people have with glass.
Since arriving at the PNW, England has been working as a professional glassblower and designer at numerous studios throughout Seattle. Her work has been showcased at the Bellevue Arts Museum and she is a recipient of Pilchuck Glass School’s Hauberg Residency program. She has been teaching and demonstrating her unique use of blown glass throughout the greater Seattle area as well as visiting programs across the nation.
Bri and Minhi will be demonstrating at the Glass Art Society Conference in Detroit in June 2023 as well as co-teaching at OxBow School of Art in July 2023.
For more information about the artists- Bri Chesler @brichelser
Internationally-Recognized Glassblowing Artist | MiNHi @m.i.n.h.i
@liquidlushstudio
Bri Chesler is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on three-dimensional design and sculptural installation. During her undergraduate studies, at the Kansas City Art Institute, a strong interest in transparency and molten media led her to explore glass. Chesler’s work is known for its nontraditional approach, combining different glass techniques with other media. Inspired by moments of intimacy that toe the line between our carnally driven desires and the hunger for empathy, she captures the intoxicating lure of indulgence and the vulnerability it inflicts on our fragile character. Drawing from the wild and erotic character of the natural environment her work reflects on cultural obsessions of beauty and their relationships to internal anatomies. By fusing similar elements found in biology and botany she creates forms that ‘flirt’ with the audience, exploring ideas of intimacy and desire. Bri Chesler has been featured at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington and was a 2019 Pilchuck Emerging Artist-in-Residence. She was also the recipient of the 2020 Chihuly Gardens and Glass Anniversary Scholarship and has been invited to teach at Pilchuck Glass School in 2022.
Minhi England is a Seattle based artist working primarily in glass and metal. Raised in a military family, she was brought up by a Korean mother and an American father. Although born in Germany, she was raised in upstate New York where she earned her BFA from Alfred University. During her studies she fell in love with glass and shifted her 2D practice to sculpture. Shortly after graduating in 2010, England moved to Seattle, yearning to make a home surrounded by diversity and culture.
At an early age she discovered the soothing nature of repetition in creation. Influenced by mass production and the hardships of poverty, she finds solace in creating in multiples, with reiteration, and pattern. The malleable properties of hot glass serve to personify her view of self. Through the force of breath, the molten glass pushes through its surrounding obstacles, signifying the ability to overcome and conform to encountered difficulties despite its complexity. England often combines rigid materials such as copper or steel with glass to symbolize the human experience. By incorporating mirrored glass surfaces, she invites others to perceive this personification and relationship people have with glass.
Since arriving at the PNW, England has been working as a professional glassblower and designer at numerous studios throughout Seattle. Her work has been showcased at the Bellevue Arts Museum and she is a recipient of Pilchuck Glass School’s Hauberg Residency program. She has been teaching and demonstrating her unique use of blown glass throughout the greater Seattle area as well as visiting programs across the nation.
Bri and Minhi will be demonstrating at the Glass Art Society Conference in Detroit in June 2023 as well as co-teaching at OxBow School of Art in July 2023.
For more information about the artists- Bri Chesler @brichelser
Internationally-Recognized Glassblowing Artist | MiNHi @m.i.n.h.i
@liquidlushstudio
