Mind Over Matter

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Object Name: 
Sculpture
Title: 
Mind Over Matter
Maker(s): 
Place Made: 
United States, TN, Knoxville
Accession Number: 
2003.4.5
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 146.05 cm, Diam (max): 41.91 cm
Location: 
Not on Display
Date: 
2000
Credit Line: 
Purchased with funds from Olivia and Harlan Fischer, Elice and Rhodes Haverty, Polly and Buzz Strasser, and Florence and Robert Werner
Web Description: 
The human figure is a central theme in Richard Jolley’s work. In the 1980s, he applied drawings made of glass threads, melted with a small propane torch, to the surface of his blown vessels. In the 1990s, he began making larger vessels and sculpture, which combined glassblowing and hot-working with large propane torches. Jolley’s interest in form and line is apparent in his drawings, but it is in the fully three-dimensional, sculpted figures that his understanding of the body is revealed. With its colorful stacked elements, Mind Over Matter is one of a series of sculptures that the artist calls “totems.” This sculpture is appealing in its color and ironic humor, but it is the pathos of the animated characters that leaves the most lasting impression.

More Info

Department: 
Postwar and Contemporary
Provenance: 
Kaplan Gallery (1969-2018), Source
2003-01-07
Fischer, Olivia, Source
2003-01-07
Fischer, Harlan, Source
2003-01-07
Haverty, Elice, Source
2003-01-07
Haverty, Rhodes, Source
2003-01-07
Strasser, Polly, Source
2003-01-07
Strasser, Buzz, Source
2003-01-07
Werner, Florence, Source
2003-01-07
Werner, Robert, Source
2003-01-07
Category: 
Studio Glass
Color: 
Translucent, multi-colored
translucency
Technique: 
Blown, hot-worked, assembled
Copyright: 
© Richard Jolley

Description

Primary Description: 
Translucent, multi-colored glass; blown and hot-worked. Sculpture composed of four distinct elements, stacked in a totem-like arrangement. At the top is an orange male head succeeded, in descending order, by two blue rings, an orange male figure wrapped around a red post, two blue rings, an orange male bust wrapped around a yellow, egg-shaped form, three blue rings, an orange ball wrapped with blue glass, one blue ring, one purple ring, and purple glass base.

Publications (3)

Recent Important Acquisitions (2004) illustrated, p. 87; BIB# AI63129
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 2003 (2004) illustrated, p. 13; BIB# AI93746
The Gather (2003) illustrated, p. 6;