Emeryville, CA - Bullseye Bay Area Gallery presents Longing for the (Home)Land, a solo exhibition of glass work by Tali Grinshpan that reflects on multi-generational stories of immigration.
Glass has a deep and rich connection to memory, as demonstrated by its use as a vessel for preservation in both domestic and mythological contexts. Possessing the antinomic characteristics of strength and fragility, it symbolically embodies how easily history can be lost. It is for this reason that glass is an apt material for Bay Area artist Tali Grinshpan who, through her work, seeks to create "intimate spaces" of reflection where the "past speaks to the transient present."
In Longing for the (Home)Land, Grinshpan reflects on multi-generational immigration stories that are embodied in her personal history as an artist with two homes: her homeland of Israel and her current home in Northern California. Using pâte de verre, a technique that involves fusing grains of glass powder, Grinshpan creates delicate forms that recall curling flower petals or silky folds of fabric. Where the Heart Is (2018) and Somewhere (2018) both contain arrangements of these forms. In the former, the elements are arrayed in rows as a field of flowers, while the latter takes a circular shape reminiscent of an Elizabethan ruff. In both, a single red fold sits among white curls, speaking to ideas of finding one's place, one's home, in a new environment. "Our roots torn, we must grow new ones," explains Grinshpan.
Tali Grinshpan was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. She earned a BA in Business and Psychology and an MA in Organizational Psychology from Tel Aviv University. She moved to the USA in 2004, and currently resides in Walnut Creek, California. Grinshpan began studying glass in 2011 and has participated in professional residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, Washington, and North Lands Creative (formerly North Lands Creative Glass), Scotland, UK.
Grinshpan was a finalist in The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa 2016 and was awarded first prize in The Glass Prize 2017. Her work was selected for the New Glass Review 39, published by Corning Museum of Glass. Grinshpan's work is exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Exhibited courtesy of Montague Gallery.