Trace: Terri Grant and Purnima Patel is on view at Bellevue Arts Museum July 23, 2021 – January 2, 2022

Bellevue, WA—Glass artists Terri Grant and Purnima Patel are taking an in-depth look at the traces that surround and connect us in a new exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum. Trace: Terri Grant and Purnima Patel, which opens at BAM on July 23, features innovative glass works that explore the many meanings associated with the word trace.

The exhibition will feature over 40 works from Grant and Patel, highlighting each artist’s skill and commitment to pushing the boundaries of their craft. Among the featured works are several of Grant’s explorations into the emotional narratives contained within personal images, as well as Patel’s waterjet-cut sculptures. Through their carefully considered compositions, the artists extend an invitation to slow down and contemplate the many intricate details presented in each work.

Grant and Patel’s explorations for Trace began in 2019 when they, along with fellow artist Susan Harlan, were awarded Pilchuck Glass School’s John H. Hauberg Fellowship. The fellowship gave them open access to Pilchuck’s facilities, with the expectation that they would explore new ways of working with glass and engage in critical artistic dialogue in relation to the concept of trace both individually and collectively.

In the time that has followed, Grant and Patel have continued their thematic investigations within their respective studios, creating many of the works that will be on view at BAM.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Terri Grant was an emergency room physician for 28 years before retiring in 2019 to focus on her creative practice full-time.  She began working in glass in 2010, and has developed an innovative process and distinctive style, which employs hand-drawn glass threads to create highly textured and evocative imagery that references the human condition.  Her work was featured in New Glass Review 37 and 39, published by Corning Museum of Glass, and as part of the BAM Biennial in 2018. Originally from Seattle, Grant currently lives and maintains a studio in eastern Washington.

Purnima Patel is a glass artist based in Berkshire, UK. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, she works in a range of mediums including fused, cast, and lampworked glass. The vocabulary of her work is drawn not only from the material itself, but also through study of traditional patterns and practices, similar to the repeating patterns of mandalas, for meditation, prayer, healing, and art therapy. The observed patterns provide visual representations, rituals, and spiritual journeys that symbolize a cosmic and psychic order.

Her work invites the audience to engage with every relationship between the place, object and work, and requests the presence or participation from the audience to draw their own conclusions. The objects are a symbolic exchange and have a life of their own.

Trace: Terri Grant and Purnima Patel is organized by Bellevue Arts Museum and curated by Lane Eagles. Media Sponsor: KCTS 9. In-kind support from Seattle SignShop. 

ABOUT BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM

Bellevue Arts Museum provides a public forum for the community to contemplate, appreciate, and discuss visual culture. We work with audiences, artists, makers, and designers to understand our shared experience of the world. bellevuearts.org.

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