A Quiet Passage, an installation of light sconces and terminus forms in clay and glass, solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, April 18 to July 22, 2002. A series of light sconces illuminated the length of the long, narrow gallery that connects the two wings of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Along this path sat three columns based on the terminus,* a four-sided, tapering form used in ancient times as a marker along a journey. In contemporary use, terminus refers to the idea of a terminal at a train station or airport, a point of departure or arrival. But terminal can also signify the end of a journey, a life lived, ending due to terminal illness.
A glass bowl rests atop each terminus form, gathering light. The widening halo of light created by the light sconces is echoed in the flared bowl forms that appear to hover above the grounded clay columns. The ceramic terminus forms and the glass bowls are delicately and tenuously connected, one earthy and organic, the other ethereal and elusive.
Mixed media. Terminus forms up to 130 cm in height.
From “A Quiet Passage”, solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, April to July 2002, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Curated by Helen Delacretaz.
Detail of Light Sconce No. 1.
White earthenware with black copper, terra sigillata, glaze, frosted slumped glass.
Terminus a Quo, 2002.
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl. 130 x 41 x 41 cm.
Terminus ad Quem, 2002.
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl.
130 x 41 x 41 cm.
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl.
130 x 41 x 41 cm.
Permanent collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Detail – Terminus a Quo, 2002
Detail – Terminus ad Quem, 2002
Detail – Terminus Ultimus, 2002
Ceramic, slumped glass, incandescent light.
43 x 94 x 14 cm
From “A Quiet Passage”, solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, April to July 2002, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Curated by Helen Delacretaz.
Light Sconce No. 2, 2001
Ceramic, slumpled glass, incandescent light.
42 x 84 x 14 cm.
Light Sconce No. 6, 2001
Ceramic, slumped glass, incandescent light.
45 x 41 x 15 cm.
Light Sconce No. 7, 2001
Ceramic, slumped glass, incandescent light.
43 x 48 x 15 cm.
Light Sconce No. 3, 2001
Ceramic, patterned cast glass, slumped glass, incandescent light.
54 x 30 x13 cm.
Light Sconce No. 4, 2001
Ceramic, slip trailed webbing, patterned cast glass.
54 x 20 x 13 cm.
Light Sconce No. 5, 2001
Ceramic, patterned cast glass, slumped glass, incandescent light.
54 x 30 x 13 cm.
Intermediate Terminus No. 2, 2001
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl.
54 x 18 x 18 cm.
Created as study for the larger terminus forms made for “A Quiet Passage”.
Chosen for the “First Taiwan Ceramic Biennale”, organized by the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Yingge, Taiwan, 2004.
Intermediate Terminus No. 1, 2001
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl.
54 x 18 x 18 cm.
Created as study for the larger terminus forms made for “A Quiet Passage”.
Intermediate Terminus No. 3, 2001
Ceramic, slumped glass bowl.
54 x 18 x 18 cm.
Created as study for the larger terminus forms made for “A Quiet Passage”.
An article on my solo exhibition A Quiet Passage, 2002, appears in Ceramics Art and Perception (n 52, summer 2003, pp 80–87), an international ceramics magazine from Australia. The article includes photos and the essay written by curator Helen Delacretaz for the exhibition catalogue.
Grace Nickel: A Quiet Passage exhibition catalogue is available at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Shop, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk.
*From Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary:
terʹmi·nus \tẽrʹmĭ·nŭs\, n.; pl. TERMINI. [L.]
1. Literally, a boundary; a border; a limit.
2. (Myth.) The Roman divinity who presided over boundaries, whose statue was properly a short pillar terminating in the bust of a man, woman, satyr, or the like, but often merely a post or stone stuck in the ground on a boundary line.
3. Hence, any post or stone marking a boundary; a term.
