Finding Home: Cast Glass by Susan Cox
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that we are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. An unprecedented 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. In a world where nearly 34,000 people are forcibly displaced every dayas a result of conflict or persecution, Susan Cox makes a poignant statement about the importance of home and the heartbreak of losing our place in the world.
Informed and inspired by her background in architecture, Cox’s cast glass forms reveal her unique understanding of the correlation between light and space. The artist considers elements that define the concept of “home,” including the evanescent qualities of childhood memories and the lifelong moments of looking back and looking forward. She explores the landscape where we feel most at peace or at home, as well as the act of individualizing a home to identify and make our own. Cox’s sculpture triggers examination of the home within each of us.
Working at her kiln and casting studio in Pound Ridge, New York, Cox earned a Master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University. In 2009 she turned to glass as a more immediate means of exploring ideas about light, space, and memory. In 2014, Cox was awarded a four-month residency at Bullseye Resource Center, Mamaroneck, New York, and was selected as an “E-merge” finalist. In 2015, she was honored by ArtsWestchester as one of their “50 For 50” artist’s, recognizing 50 outstanding artists living or working in Westchester County. Cox had her first solo exhibition “Finding Home,” held December 3, 2016 through April 4, 2017 at View Art Center, in Old Forge, New York.