Cove street Arts

The past two years of Covid isolation/semi-isolation have had a brighter side for many artists, including me.  We went into our studios to do something, anything, even to clean and organize (there was nothing else to do!).  In the process, we found unrealized ideas in old notebooks, unfinished projects in old boxes, and now we had the time to work on them.  What you see in this show are explorations of a  wide variety of external stimuli in an isolated setting that stimulated creativity.

I'd long been wanting to work on a series based on Carlo Scarpa's work- he was a designer for one of the big glass manufacturers in Murano, Italy, in the 1930's and 40's.  The resulting “Meanders” series of plates and bowls filled my mind, my studio, my time .  

Also hidden in the studio was a large stash of 5' long cobalt glass rods.   Something new to play with!  They became the cobalt lattice pieces in this show.

My influences come from many places, some distinct and acknowledged, others nebulous.  Fabric patterns and masks, contemporary and ancient.  Richard Serra's audacious curved steel walls.  Andy Goldsworthy's miraculous landscapes.  Yoichi Ohira's glass vessels.  And lately, the land-, water-, and wind-scapes of my new home here in southern Maine.  

Why did I choose to work in glass?  It's a fascinating and fluid material that brings its own ideas to any work.  I have a vision of the piece I want to create, but the glass sometimes has another agenda.  Often what results are new directions for my work.  I see the work in this show as the intersection of inspiration, time, and material – a jumping off point for further explorations which have many potential directions.

— Martin Kremer