Bearing

"I like to try to do something new every time I make sculpture. Some of my pieces, when finished, look fairly simple, but the process is very complex. I am very interested in process; it's the way I get my ideas." —Michael Scheiner. Michael Scheiner studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence and at Ohio State University in Columbus. He has taught part-time at RISD for nearly 20 years. Scheiner is an accomplished glassblower who has chosen to focus on large-scale sculpture. He is interested in the contradictory fluid and rigid states of glass, and his work often incorporates other materials, such as wet clay, epoxy resin, and fiberglass. Bearing is an abstract, organic sculpture inspired by segmented forms found in nature. The tactile, soft yet muscled form refers to such different things as parts of the human body (fingers, intestine) and invertebrates (worms). According to the artist, Bearing “deals with issues of position, heading, and potential. It is made from mold-blown glass elements that were cut and fabricated to achieve the finished segmented form.”