Artist to Know: Emmett Barnacle - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Artist to Know: Emmett Barnacle - Inside Art with Michael Rose

 

Glass is an age-old art form that has connected artists and viewers across centuries. For local maker Emmett Barnacle, cast glass is his medium of choice and the works he is creating in his Pawtucket studio are playful, detailed, and colorful. A gifted artist making sculptures in glass, Barnacle is an important creator whose work deserves attention both within and beyond his home state.

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A lifelong Rhode Islander, Barnacle attended Providence Country Day School and, after a stint studying business, matriculated to RISD, where he found a love for glass. The artist has exhibited his work widely and in just the last few years has shared his glass at exhibitions as far afield as Georgia, Texas, Illinois, California, Colorado, Michigan, and New York. Closer to home, recent shows have seen Barnacle’s work exhibited at places like Art League Rhode Island and the New Bedford Art Museum. From September September 2 - October 14, he will have work on view in the exhibition Cutting Edge Glass at Blue Line Arts in Roseville, California. The artworks that he has exhibited at sites across the country are all produced at a studio that he shares with fellow glass artist Steve Easton at a converted mill in the heart of Pawtucket.

 

 

Describing his work and process, Barnacle says, “Glass is an incredible medium with infinite possibilities. I was initially drawn to the seductive art of glass blowing with its fiery, glowing atmosphere but after going to RISD and discovering glass casting, the glass bug definitely bit me. Glass casting really is the art of many processes leading to a finished sculpture and requires care, attention, and focus to attain consistency. Without getting into too much of the technical side, I create a wax model then a mold, then heat the glass and mold to 1500°F so that the glass fills the mold entirely. After a lengthy cooling period, I begin grinding, polishing and fitting parts. I lean toward contemplative pieces, many influenced by the atmospheres I experienced growing up in the Ocean State.”

 

In a recent series of works, Barnacle has created glass ships that bear out the imaginative possibilities of both his medium and of his vision. Part riff on the classic ship model, part flight of fancy, they are charming and draw the viewer in to examine shape and depth. The colorful subtleties of glass provide an enticing backdrop for Barnacle’s ship forms and hint at the traditions of the local community which provide ample inspiration for his craft.

 

 

Asked to reflect on what he hopes viewers see when they look at his recent series of ship sculptures, Barnacle answers, “Of course I always hope people find them compelling. That said, I’d like the viewer to engage with the range of experiences and feelings which a space as vast as the ocean is bound to evoke. At first glance, some viewers might experience a sense of mystery; some might feel the playfulness. I will say that since becoming a father in the past few years, I find myself wondering as I create a piece, what would my kids feel or think if they saw this? For a native Rhode Islander such as myself, these ships are very familiar forms, but I suppose I’m asking the viewer to approach these sculptures with innocence and openness, while thinking about our connection with the ocean.”

 

 

Beyond his ship sculptures, Barnacle has explored other forms like doors and daggers. The unifying quality behind all of his work is a sensitivity to color and opacity as well as the potency that can come from a seemingly simple shape or volume executed in cast glass. A born Rhode Islander, Barnacle is leveraging the state as the homebase for his exciting creative practice.

 

Considering what he likes best about being a working artist in Rhode Island, Barnacle is effusive, saying, “Rhode Island is the perfect place for a working artist, with an amazing community of both glass and non-glass artists who love talking about ideas. Being around so many other supportive creatives inspires you to take your work to the next level. Obviously, we’re fortunate to have a world-renowned institution such as RISD right in our backyard, but it goes so far beyond that – I can’t think of a town in the state that doesn’t have some kind of artistic community doing great work, whether it’s photography, painting, crafting, or any media. It’s a golden age of some kind right now in Rhode Island. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”

 

 

Learn more about Emmett Barnacle at www.emmettbarnacle.com and follow updates from his studio on Instagram via @wildbarnacle.