Erica Rosenfeld – Artist Statement
My work tells stories about the fabric of people’s lives and the rituals created to bring comfort to our lives. I am fascinated by the things (both spiritual and physical) that people cling to in order to find – and define – “identity”. How do we choose what we see? How does this affect what we remember? As families and communities, we create shared folklore to memorialize people, places and events. As individuals, we create personal mythologies to help us contextualize our past and imagine our future. Intertwining these themes, my work similarly enmeshes artistic disciplines in a memory-based, magical realism scaffolded by nostalgia.
Throughout my life I have been a collector and a hoarder. I am constantly reorganizing, cataloging and creating shrines and groupings with the objects that I find. I use glass, found materials, beads and food to create sculpture and jewelry, which remain my primary mode of expression. I began beading at the age of five, from which I realized a consistent impulse to create cohesive, sometimes incongruous, mosaics from smaller components. The found objects I use (photographs, fabric, candy wrappers and other curios) function as artifacts in each work’s constructed symbology, preserved in glass.
I make work that expresses time, conveys history, and serves as a means to preserve perceived memory. The wearable art I make acts as models for my larger scale work; my sculpture becomes a memory of its smaller counterpart. Some of this work is narrative and some decorative. I am inspired by the labor intensive and ritualistic nature of Prison Art; the philosophy and design of the Bauhaus Movement; the iconography and culture of the United States’ Post-World War II era.
Exhibitions
2012 Hanging Around: MAD Necklaces, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
Cutting Edge, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
50 Years of Studio Glass, Kentucky Museum of Art, Louisville, KY
2011 Body Work, Bullseye Gallery, Portland, OR
Threaded, Heller Gallery, NY, NY
Short Stories: Solo Exhibition, Vetri Gallery, Seattle, WA
The Wall, Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA/ Sun Valley, ID
Glass Weekend, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Annual Jewelry Show, Freehand Gallery, LA, CA
2010 Dark Garden, Specific Merchandise, LA, CA
LOOT, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
SOFA Chicago, Mostly Glass Gallery, NJ
Breakable, Heller Gallery, NY, NY
SOFA NY, Mostly Glass Gallery, NJ
Glass Quake, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2009 From Minimal to Bling, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
Visionaries Candlestick Exhibition, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
SOFA Chicago, Mostly Glass Gallery, New Jersey
Brooklyn Scenes, Bo Concepts, Brooklyn, NY
POP Craft, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
MAD Studio Artists, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
SOFA NEW YORK 2009, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Glass Weekend, Morgan Cont. Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2008 Jewelry at Large, Craft Alliance Gallery, St Louis, MO
SOFA NEW YORK 2008, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Bead Invitational, Pismo Gallery, Denver, CO
SOFA CHICAGO 2008, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
2007: One and Only, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
Shattering Glass, store at The Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY
Turkey Dinner performance, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
SOFA CHICAGO 2007, Palette Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM
Glass Weekend, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
SOFA NEW YORK 2007, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Fillette, Viscosity Gallery, Seattle, WA
Connections: Contemporary Glass by Mid Atlantic Artists,
Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ
Fellows Exhibition, Gallery at Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ
2006: SOFA CHICAGO 2006, Palette Contemporary Art and Sherrie Gallerie
Erica Rosenfeld Solo Exhibition, Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH
Making Sense, curator and exhibiting artist, Robert Lehman Gallery,
UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Glass Invitational, Turtle Gallery, Deer Isle, ME
Fusion, Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
SOFA NEW YORK 2006, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Wearing Glass, Glass Gallery, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, England
Jewelry Invitational, Art Forms, Red Bank, NJ
Bead Invitational, Pismo Fine Art Glass, Denver, CO
2005 SOFA NEW YORK 2005, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Wearing Glass, Gallery @ OXO, London, England
Artists of Urban Glass, Robert Lehman Gallery, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
New Glass, Turtle Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine
SOFA CHICAGO 2005, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
A Periodic Table, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Pixilated, Heller Gallery, NY, NY
SOFA NEW YORK 2005, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Up Against the Wall, Robert Lehman Gallery, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Body Glass, Gallery I/O, New Orleans, LA
Currency: Studio Glass Jewelry and Beads, Bullseye Connection Gallery,
Portland, OR
Patterns in Glass, Alianza Gallery, Boston, MA
2003 On Display, Heller Gallery, NY, NY
Gifted Rare Art Gallery, NY, NY
SOFA CHICAGO 2003, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Visiting Artists, Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA
Fresh, Heller Gallery, NY, NY
Hello, Good Buy, The Glass Gallery, Bethesda, MD
Fire and Ice, The Art of Contemporary Glass, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art,
Scarsdale, NY
Geometry in Glass, Alianza Gallery, Boston, MA
SOFA NEW YORK 2003, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
2002 Paintings. Works on Paper. Photos. Works in Glass. Furniture, Monique Goldstrom Gallery, NY, NY
Artists of UrbanGlass, Robert Lehman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Sale of Jewelry by Erica Rosenfeld, Habatat Gallery, Chicago, Il
SOFA CHICAGO 2003, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
SOFA NEW YORK 2003, with UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Ornamental Art III, jewelry, The Store at DeCordova Museum
Jewelry Show, Bullseye Glass Resource Center, Portland, OR
2001 Autumn Jewels, Carlyn Gallery, Dallas, TX
Beaded Diversity, Glass Gallery, Bethesda, MD
SOFA CHICAGO 2001, UrbanGlass, NY, NY
Performance
2011 Food Lab, Chrysler Museum
Food Lab, Pittsburgh Center for Glass
2010 T.V. Dinner, The Studio @ the Corning Museum, Corning, NY
2009 T.V. Dinner, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
B.B.Q performance, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Cocktail Party, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
2007 Turkey Dinner, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Turkey Dinner, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Publications
2011 New York Times
2010 New Glass Review, GLASS Quarterly
2009 GLASS Quarterly
2008 New York Times
2007 Interior Design
2006 New Glass Review
2005 American Craft, New Glass Review, GLASS Quarterly
2004 Glasshaus
2003 International Glass Art
2002 Crart, ill. Vetri, ill.
2001 New York ill., In Style
2000 Mademoiselle
1999 Oggie
Awards and Fellowships
2011 CGCA Fellowship at Wheaton Arts
2010 Artist in residence at the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass
2009 Nominated artist- Tiffany Foundation grant, Museum of Art and Design panelist
2008 Artist in residence at the Museum of Art and Design
2007 CGCA Fellowship at Wheaton Arts
2006 Niche Award
2005 New Glass Review “Juror’s Choice”
Collections
Museum of American Glass, Milleville, NJ
Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
Work Experience
1998 – present
Owner of Erica Rosenfeld Design, a company that creates glass jewelry, functional glass and sculpture sold in galleries, museum stores and boutiques internationally
Teaching:
2010 Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
2009 Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY
2008-12 Corning Glass Studio Corning, NY,
2008 University of Louisville, KY/ visiting artist
2007 Tecnolux Studio, Brooklyn, NY
2007 University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Visiting artist
2000-11 UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
2002-4 Crafts Students League, NY, NY
2002 92nd Street YMCA, NY, NY
2003 Creative Center for Women with Cancer, NY, NY
2003 Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA
1998 Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
1997 Exodus House, NY, NY
Assistant Teaching:
2002 Beth Lipman, UrbanGlass
2004 Steve Klein, Corning Center
2005 Klaus Moje, Northlands Center for Glass, Scotland
2005 Scott Chaseling, UrbanGlass
2006 Vivian Bell, UrbanGlass
2006 NYU @ UrbanGlass
2008 John Drury and Robbie Miller, Pilchuck
Education
1997 Kenyon College, B.A. Fine Art
