Signs and Signifiers
More Fire Glass Studio
36 Field St.
Oct 6, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

In her first solo exhibition at More Fire Glass Studio, Sarah Gilbert contemplates life’s questions: “How do we navigate our world? What are the tools we use? How do we keep from getting lost? How do we know when we are in the right place?” and “What are the dangers that can distract us from our final goals?” Seeking answers, Gilbert draws inspiration from the ingenuity of humankind and the animal world to develop methods and tools to ensure success and survival. Gilbert’s material of choice is glass, and her focus in cameo engraving as a way of creating imagery pulls from a long history dating back to Roman times. Her constructed narratives begin with layers of glass color and as she carves, the time consuming process of grinding away the surface enables her mind to reflect on her questions as her images emerge. Originally from Rochester, New York, Gilbert took her first glass class in 2000 at More Fire Glass Studio. She received her BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005, and in 2006 she moved out to the Pacific Northwest to work as a member of the Museum of Glass Hot Shop team in Tacoma, Washington. She has been there ever since, assisting artists from around the world in making their work in addition to developing her own practice. Gilbert’s work has been featured recently in the exhibition, Young Glass, at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark and Transparency: An LGBTQ+ Glass Art Exhibition at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.