Conversations…..Drawings, Sculpture & Artist’s Books by

Norma Penchansky Glasser

Powerful, graceful, serene, gesture……..all words that viewers will associate with Norma Penchansky-Glasser’s work in her new show at WSG gallery now.  Norma is a versatile artist, with a background in 2D and 3D work.  She studies the figure and movement constantly.  As a lifelong dancer, she pays particular attention to the nuances of motion, the smallest of gestures a person makes as he or she moves.  Odds are, if you have been in a dance or exercise class with her, she has been watching you……

Norma gave a brief talk at the gallery the other day, so the artist-owners could understand her process and the thoughts behind the work.  An excerpt follows:

“I am always watching the figure in motion…..capturing a moment.  I used to do more drawing directly from a model, but I pay attention to bodies in motion, whether it is in my 6:30 a.m. exercise class, my dance class, a person walking down the street….and as I think about the motion later, the seeing becomes sharper in my mind. I might be cooking and need to step away to draw the gesture I want to remember on the back of an envelope.  I might take those little drawings (notes) into the studio and either start drawing or sculpting in clay – it’s never the same, the process – it always morphs.”

Silent Pause, bronze, 10x 18 x 10″

Anna, watercolor crayon & wash on paper, 3 x 6′

The hand made books in the show are another approach to the figure for Norma.  What she said about the numerous books in the show was:

“I can’t stop making them!  I love making the paste paper and the variety of textures I can get with it.  The books come from my life experience.  You’ll see the corset image in the books and one of the reasons is that my grandmother was a corset maker.  And that’s interested me for some time.  But then, last winter, I found myself in a torso brace, that was not unlike a corset.  I was dependent on this brace to heal and I thought, as I saw it sitting in the corner one evening after I was able to take it off to sleep, I must use this experience in my art.

The flag book is the form I am most interested in, because it inherently has motion as you open it.  The books allow me to find an idea and collect information or images from that idea, again making the idea sharper as I work.”

A Simple Tree, monoprinted paste paper, mixed media, 6 x 8 x12″

written by Valerie Mann