FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cindy Mackey, cmackey@chrysler.org, (757) 754-4553
SARAH GILBERT SELECTED AS INAUGURAL 4FRONT ARTIST
FOR THE ROBERT M. MINKOFF FOUNDATION RESIDENCY
AT THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM GLASS STUDIO
NORFOLK, Va. – (October 1, 2013) – The Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, in partnership the Chrysler
Museum of Art, is pleased to announce that Sarah Gilbert has been selected as the inaugural artist for
4Front: Innovation from All Angles, a 14-day residency at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio in
Norfolk from January 8-22, 2014.
Gilbert was selected after an international search and competitive submission process. Applicants were
asked to submit ideas for a contemporary art project using glass that is groundbreaking in one or more
of the following areas: technique, concept, energy efficiency, and media fluency.
Gilbert’s project, Laboring, will involve body castings of members from the Hampton Roads community
during the residency. “Visitors will be invited to make a cast of their body using a direct and inexpensive
moldmaking material, dental alginate,” stated Gilbert. “These waxes will be transformed into composite
forms to create a variety of corporeal vessels. Visitors will have the uncanny experience of seeing their
bodies become objects, and they will ultimately see these forms become part of much larger,
collaborative form and event.” The project title plays with the multiple meanings of the word: working, as
well as giving birth and creating new possibilities in the world.
“The number and quality of applicants to the 4Front Residency were both impressive and daunting,”
said Andrew Page, director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation. “It was extremely difficult to narrow it
down to a single recipient. Through several meetings with our counterparts at the Chrysler Museum of
Art, however, we were able to arrive at an excellent choice. Sarah Gilbert is not the first person to use
dental alginate to create molds based on the human body, but she has refined the process to capture
extremely fine detail. What sets her work apart are her ideas of how to apply this technique to a
community-based collaborative performance project that directly involves the public and engages them
both on a visceral and intellectual level. We look forward to the playful and exuberant results from
Gilbert’s marriage of highly developed technical skills and challenging theoretical framework that
references Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin’s notions of grotesque realism as a celebration of the
life cycle and an investigation into the social fabric.”
“Everyone at the Glass Studio is thrilled to be part of this amazing partnership for emerging and
innovative artists,” said Charlotte Potter, Glass Studio manager. “The end result will be a patchwork of
our community that is sculptural and transformative.”
Gilbert will work at the Glass Studio during the two-week residency and give a public lecture or
performance. An updated website (4frontresidency.org) and a 45-minute documentary film will be
produced about the project and the residency. The public is invited to participate and watch the artist
work during the residency. Admission is free, and details and times for public viewing will be available
at chrysler.org.
Gilbert is an artist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. She is currently visiting assistant professor
of art at Reed College, as well as adjunct faculty in applied craft and design, a master of fine arts
program offered jointly between Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art.
She is a graduate of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work spans a wide
range of materials and processes, including glassblowing, new media, casting, film, photography, and
embroidery. Recent exhibitions include After Image at Reed College (Portland), Equations for a Falling
Body at Hunter College (New York), Imagined Communities at Gallery Project (Ann Arbor) and Memory
Upgrade at the Center on Contemporary Art (Seattle). The artist’s website, sarahgilbert.net, features
images and details about her recent work.
The Robert M. Minkoff Foundation (rmmfoundation.org), a 501(c) (3) organization, is focused on
furthering the use of glass in the field of contemporary art and advancing technical knowledge about
glass art process. The foundation invests not only in residencies and educational projects, but in
disseminating important new developments. For more information on the 4Front Residency, see
4frontresidency.org.
The Chrysler Museum Glass Studio is located across the street from the Chrysler Museum at 745 Duke
Street in Norfolk. The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art
museums with a world-class collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass
collections in America, The Glass Studio, which opened in November 2011, brings the collection to life
through innovative performance and educational programs. The Glass Studio offers free glassmaking
demonstrations, classes, and workshops for students and adults. The state-of-the-art facility
accommodates both aspiring and master glass artists with fully equipped facilities for a range of
glassmaking processes. For more information, events and programming, visit chrysler.org or call
(757) 664-6200.
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