Nadine Saylor

Bio

Nadine Saylor, Assistant Professor of Glass and Sculpture at University of Nebraska, Kearney is originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania.. She received her BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and her MFA in Glass from Alfred University in upstate New York. Since then, she has taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania, and at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. In addition to teaching at the collegiate level, she has taught many workshops internationally including “Harbourfront Centre” in Toronto, “The Studio” at the Corning Museum of Glass and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.

Nadine has won several different awards for her work including “Glass Artist of the Year” in Cincinnati, and was a finalist for the “Niche Award” in Philadelphia. She has given demonstrations nationally and lectured internationally. In her work, she investigates the rise and fall of our country’s economy while preserving its history in the permanent material of glass. In her series entitled “Domestic Objects” her antique and ordinary objects become a recollection of the past, bringing to attention how much we have changed as human beings and how much technology has transformed our lives.

artist Statement

In my “Domestic Objects” series, I investigate the rise and fall of our country’s economy in the area known as the rust belt, in order to capture its history in glass. I like to think of my work as a time capsule that begins with a photograph or an antique that commences transformation into a larger than life glass icon. My work follows the path of a nearly extinct object that I might find at antique stores that may have become obsolete today. These objects become a recollection of the past bringing us to view how much we have changed as human beings and how much technology has transformed our world.

My work highlights ordinary objects by incorporating sandblasted images from the local countryside on the glass’ surface. Objects like buttons, thimbles, oilcans, watering cans, and other domestic icons are my subjects. The silhouetted image on the oilcan series raises questions of how today we are faced with consequences from such environmental concerns. These images illustrate our vanishing heritage and portray the idea of built in obsolescence that is so commonplace today.

I am interested in heritage and how our memories of childhood impact our lives. I recall the cornfields and cows that were spotted around my hometown and at the end of our street. My grandparents had a chicken house with very few chickens left and a barn with an old Pontiac convertible. Memories of lace, doilies, lacy curtains hanging in the windows, a piano, old ceramic dolls, and the train tracks out front, all of which are currently inspire my work.

Most recently, I have been using vintage decals that I fire on to the glass by picking the work back up and firing it in the glory hole. This is a process that they used historically to fire enamels on to blown glass. I have been using these vintage ceramic decals because they are a quick way to adorn my glass with imagery that has a historical reference.

exhibitions