Portland, OR – Bullseye Gallery presents Poetic Ghost, a solo exhibition by Bay Area artist Cassandra Straubing. Poetic Ghost, the result of a year-long collaboration with fashion designer Babette, is on view November 5 – December 23, 2014.
In her previous work, Straubing tackled the stories of labor by casting work clothing in glass. Neatly folded worn jeans or heavy work shirts draped over chairs are transformed from rough fabrics to transparent glass. Often accompanied by narrative titles, this transformation immortalizes the banal object and they become placeholders for the stories of migrant labor, mining, or masonry. “Glass,” says Straubing, “displays ghostly reminiscences, representing a personal history or memory left behind.” For Poetic Ghost the artist has turned her attention to garment workers. “Through the exploration of the blouse, my recent work celebrates the handed toils of the garment worker, honoring the mastery of their labor,” Straubing explains. The glass blouses, all based on designs by Bay Area designer Babette, are installed with the tools and materials of the trade, emphasizing both the history of the blouse as symbol of women’s liberation and its current status as a signifier of economic and social status.
Straubing earned an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and a BFA in studio art from California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo. In 2009, the artist took part in a residency at Bullseye Glass Co. in Portland, Oregon. In 2010 she received Bullseye’s Emerge kilncaster award. Cassandra is currently the head of the glass department at San Jose State University, California.