The Arts Commission Announces Awardees for the 2023 Momentum | Intersection Glass Program

Momentum | Intersection committee member, Alli Hoag (Associate Professor and Area Head for Glass, Bowling Green State University) states: “Momentum | Intersection is now in its 6th year, and it is such a pleasure to see the breadth of creative innovation from each of the applicants in 2023. We wish to thank all the applicants for their proposals, which were each unique and very compelling, and our jurors, who thoughtfully considered each application to select our finalists for exhibition. Through the collaboration of NSG Pilkington, the Arts Commission, the Toledo Museum of Art and Artists, Designers, and Jurors; Momentum/Intersection aims to co-create a vital environment of exchange and innovation, and to continue the legacy that began with the Experimental Glass Workshop of 1962 in Toledo.”

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Molly Burke and Nathan Gorgen (Cincinnati, OH)
Byproduct Studios is a collaboration between artist and designer couple Molly Jo Burke and Nathan Gorgen. The collaboration centers on artmaking processes that allow the studio to utilize excess material from the artist’s respective practices and domestic life together to create new artworks. The creations play with perceptions of a material’s purpose, quality, and value, as waste remnants and the byproducts of their life are transformed through the process. Their work has been exhibited nationally including at The Ohio State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, The Columbus Museum of Art, and Furman University in Greenville, SC.

Molly Jo Burke, b. 1984, is a Cincinnati, Ohio based artist and educator. She creates artwork examining details of our environment and repetition of forms throughout various ecosystems using traditional and non-traditional materials. Her use of materials reflects on humanity's interactions with nature - sometimes beautiful but often destructive. Forms are inspired by cells, plants, coral, and the architecture created by living organisms. Burke received a BFA (2006) from Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), and MFA (2009), The Ohio State University (OSU), in 2019 she accepted the Barnett Fellowship from OSU’s Arts Administration Education and Policy Program to pursue her PhD. She has taught at OSU, CCAD, and Corning Museum of Glass. Her work has been featured most recently at Toledo Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.

Nathan Gorgen, b. 1986, is a Cincinnati, Ohio based artist and educator. His artwork explores the space between art and design, as well as digital and traditional fabrication and recycled materials. This manifests as objects on a continuum between furniture and sculpture with varying levels of functionality. Gorgen received his BFA(2008) in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and his MFA(2012) from the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). After graduation he worked in exhibition design and manufacturing before becoming the Lab Supervisor at the Studios for Art and Design Research at The Ohio State University (OSU) and then a Groundfloor Makerspace Technician at the University of Cincinnati. Gorgen has also taught at CCAD and OSU, and exhibited his work around the country, including at the Toledo Museum of Art, Inlight Richmond, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art.

James Friedberg and Gabriella Giungato (Milan, Italy)
James Friedberg had his first opportunity to work with glass at the age of 22. The transparency and the primordial nature of glass caught James’ attention from an early age. In 1999 James began a part time glass apprenticeship in Boulder, Co. Six months after starting his apprenticeship he quit his day job (waiting tables) and made a full-time commitment to glass.

During his early years he studied with Joe Cariati, Boyd Sugiki, Karen Willenbrink-Johnson, and Cesare Toffolo. To study with these masters he attended the Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck, and the Pittsburgh Glass Center. His desire to learn brought him to California College of Arts where he graduated in 2007, BFA. After college he settled in San Francisco, CA where he has developed a line of work including bowls, vases, sculpture, and lighting design. When Friedberg makes glass he combines the ancient practice of glass blowing with modern design and sculptural principals. He has worked for and with various artists and designers creating custom work and assisting in the creation and installation of their work.

Gabriella Giungato is a creative architect with a wide range of technical experience. She has worked passionately in various fields within the profession for almost 20 years, with specific attention to public spaces and the experience of the final user. Giungato constantly studies new approaches for embracing sustainability and wellbeing in projects. She has an extensive background in design, quality, technical knowledge and management of complex projects and is extremely detail oriented in her work.

Felicity Machado (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Felicity Machado is a multimedia artist whose work contemplates the information gleaned from site-specific ecologies and technology. Drawing upon her multicultural lens, as a Brazilian-Mexican-American, she utilizes multiple visual, linguistic, and data-driven/digital perspectives to create her work. These perspectives take the form of videos, installations, sculptures, and performances. Machado received her MFA in Sculpture Dimensional Studies from Alfred University and her BA from the University of California Davis.

Machado has shown work internationally at Dongduk Art Gallery, South Korea, 2020, and nationally at Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, NY, 2022, Turner Gallery, NY 2021, The Basement Gallery, CA 2019, UCLA Broad Art Center Sculpture Gallery, CA, 2017 as well as Pete & Susan Barrett Gallery, CA 2016. Felicity Machado has won awards such as the Freemon Gadberry Award in Sculpture and the Maria Cary Anti-Gravity Award 2019 and 2020 from the University of California Davis. Others include The President’s Circle and The Clinton & Margo Ternstrom Family Art Endowment Award 2017 and 2018 from Santa Monica College. As well as the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship 2015. Felicity Machado was a Yale Norfolk 2019 Waitlist Candidate and a recipient of the 2022 Chautauqua School of Art Residency in Chautauqua, NY.

About Momentum | Intersection

The Momentum | Intersection glass program is part of the Momentum Festival suite of programming. The Momentum Festival is generously sponsored by ProMedica, NSG Inc. / Pilkington North America, the National Endowment for The Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, the Toledo Museum of Art, private donors, and Toledo’s philanthropic community. If you’d like details on sponsorship information please contact Tyler Dean, Development Manager, at [email protected]

Additional information available at www.theartscommission.org