LOCAL COLOUR

Rails End Gallery presented Shadow Garden in our Main Gallery this July and August. Entering the Gallery from York Street you were greeted by a grove of 10 columns titled Sunset Over The Lake, 2020 situated in our perennial garden.  Once inside the space visitors could appreciate how  Shadow Garden came to be the title of this solo exhibition by Canadian glass artist Susan Rankin whose Apsley studio is not far from Haliburton. 

Sprigs and Flower Vases arranged on pedestals could be easily viewed from all angles and it was a delight to see such fragility described in a solid object, with such skill. Rankin's wall mounted wired forms with glass are study in opacity, light and form.  Cast shadows amplified each object as the viewer moved from flower to flower through the cool of Rankin's "garden". Rankin calls them Wall Brooches a nod to the timelessness of botanically inspired human adornments.  In one corner of the gallery were three standing forms, again wired, but enveloping translucent blown glass ovules.  They seemed to be incubating forms of some type, what could they hold?  A walk through the Shadow Garden  became an imaginary one by now so it was not such a surprise to see glass tendrils emerging from the standing form Life Cycle, or the way the light kissed Spring Grove of 5 on your way out the door.  A garden of delights. 

Enjoy this show - it has been a long time coming. 

Laurie Jones

Curator, Rails End Gallery and Arts Centre 

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 About Susan Rankin

"We are all constantly surrounded by something. The landscape that surrounds us shapes us and influences us as we function within it. In my continuing series of ‘Wired Forms’ the wired landscape, in its complexity, transforms the simple glass form. The ‘Wire Form’ series explored the combined use of glass and metal in a more sculptural format. This series liberated my work from the constraints of the functional vessel and has lead to the development of the ‘Grove Columns’.  I have worked with scale to create a presence; they demand that observers engage with them in a more physical and direct way.  Using numerous columns to define a space, I incorporate light through the multiple transparent or opaque glass elements. Drawing on natural and abstracted forms I have created a series of work, which is harmonious and compelling through the seasons."

Susan Rankin's lively, voluptuous vessels wrapped in vines, leaves and flowers have been shown in 34 solo exhibitions and numerous invitational and group exhibitions across North America in many of the most prestigious venues for contemporary glass. Rankin has work included in public collections at the Corning Museum, Claridge Collection, Michel-Pierre Grenier Collection, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Winnipeg Art Gallery, USB Bank (Canada), Department of Foreign Affairs, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Glazen Huis, Flemish Centre for Contemporary Glass Art, Lommel, Belgium, well as in many fine private collections. Susan Rankin lives in Apsley, Ontario. 

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Image detail shown:  Susan Rankin, vase