Percy Echols II
Ben Orozco
Percy Echols II and Ben Orozco: The Fourth State of Matter
“Technological advancements present possibilities that resonate far beyond the strictly scientific. Creative artists are often the first responders, using new technologies to express imaginative vision.”- Korey Kline and Ed Kirshner, Art & Science magazine
Percy Echols II and Ben Orozco are two artists utilizing the marriage of art, science, and craft in the mesmerizing art forms of plasma and neon sculpture. The two artists are redefining the roles of glass and light in contemporary artworks that defy description.
Kline and Kirshner wrote: “Plasma is the fourth state of matter. Solids, liquids, gases and plasma make up most of the known matter in the universe. Plasma is defined as: a collection of charged particles containing about an equal number of positive ions and electrons and exhibiting some properties of a gas but differing from a gas in being a good conductor of electricity and being affected by a magnetic field. Plasma is generated by ionizing a gas, either by heating it to high temperatures or by passing high-energy electrons through it. Electrons are ripped from the tight hold of the nucleus and roam freely amidst the chaos of other vibrating atoms. These free electrons allow the plasma to conduct an electric current. As electrons vibrate in this plasma they are continually departing from and returning to the nest of the atom. They take the energy from the applied voltage to leave and must give up that energy as heat and light at discrete frequencies to return. This is the process that yields the color within the plasma.
Examples of plasma in nature include all the stars in the universe including our sun, as well as the aurora borealis, which occurs when protons and electrons are shot from the sun, usually during sun spot activity. These particles strike the earth’s upper atmosphere at a height of approximately seventy miles while the earth’s magnetic field directs the particles toward the earth’s magnetic poles. As the particles move, they collide with atmospheric molecules of oxygen and nitrogen and change their electrical charge. In our daily lives, plasma is most like fire, which is itself a plasma— generated by heat reacting with gases found in the atmosphere, primarily oxygen. The sun and the stars shine with plasma light and lightning is an electrical discharge generating plasma light.”
Passionate about plasma light sculpture, in May 2017 Echols launched a blog and podcast called Taming Lightning to connect with the larger plasma and neon community, build a network, conduct research, and share ideas among artists and makers who work with the medium. Light in Transmission: A Neon and Plasma Light Exhibition curated by Echols is on view now, virtually at https://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/litvirtual or in person at Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) through May 9. This survey of 14 artists presents a diverse range of light art within a variety of shared and differing experiences, skills, and techniques.
PGC’s first recipient of the Ron Desmett Memorial Award for Imagination with Glass, Echols began exploring plasma in 2014 at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. While pursuing his BFA at Illinois State University, the artist worked at a local neon and sign-making shop in Bloomington. Following graduation, in 2016 Echols worked at PGC as a studio technician apprentice, where he designed and built his first mobile neon lab, a compact and mobile system for vacuuming and filling vessels for plasma or neon tubing. He also performed his first public demonstrations, conducted workshops, and collaborated with artists such as Robert Mickelsen, Chris Ahalt, and Daria Sandburg. In the summer of 2018, Echols assisted plasma/ neon pioneers Wayne Strattman and Mundy Hepburn in teaching PGC’s first plasma summer workshop using in-house equipment, successfully testing his mobile plasma lab in an intense workshop environment.
Awarded in 2019 the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Grant and Residency[2] has allowed Echols to visit the Boston studios of Strattman and Hepburn during the inaugural Plasma Art Alliance meetup, to which he was invited as a committee member. He also visited Bay Area neon and plasma studios including those of Ed Kirshner, N3rd Glass, Cork Marcheschi, and Bruce Suba. International travel has included Sweden, where Echols met Tommy Gustafschiold, the last neon bender in Scandinavia, and taught a workshop with Kirshner and Jaime Guerrero at The Glass Factory in Boda Glasbruk.
Currently, Echols is collaborating with GEEX, the Glass Education Exchange, on the Intro to Plasma Series, forming a foundation for which glass artists, educators, and plasma enthusiasts can navigate the multitude of subjects, knowledge, and skills required for the artform. Echols and Ben Orozco came together via GEEX, an online platform that supports the immediate and future needs of educational glass programs through programming, resource-sharing, and communication. The founding principle of GEEX is that making any glass practice sustainable requires both financial and interpersonal support. GEEX is building an accessible framework—a glass textbook and classroom for the present and future.
GEEX graphic designer and web manager, Orozco is also an artist, designer, and illustrator based in Madison, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2019 earning a BFA with concentrations in glass, graphic design, and sculpture. In 2020, he completed a Fulbright-Hays fellowship in Småland, Sweden, researching Swedish glass and neon techniques.
Orozco’s work illustrates imagined and implied spaces—ones that make sense to our eyes but not always to our minds. By using graphic materials like cut paper, neon, and glass, the artist extends flat drawings and patterns into a slippery space of “2½ dimensions,” a term coined by neuroscientist David Marr. Orozco’s goal is to create a limbo of flat and 3-D, real and imaginary, tangible and intangible.
Though both artists were affected by the cancellation of the 2020 GAS conference in Sweden, Echols presented about plasma virtually. Both he and Orozco continue to spread the word about neon and plasma sculpture through their own work and by instructing others in person and online. To find out more, visit:
http://www.percyechols.com/taminglightning
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