"Flo Perkins has established a national
reputation for her glass botanicals. Her most recent work,
however, is a departure, referencing common objects such as
traffic cones, bowling pins and bowling balls in order to
translate new forms into blown glass. The result is work that
is decidedly more abstract than her previous series, as well
as more tied to Pop art because of her use of iconic images
from popular culture. The simplicity of the forms is deceiving;
her glass bowling pins, for example, are created from three
separate blown forms, which are joined together through the
traditional Italian technique of incalmo ("with calmness").
Perkins first conceived of this series on her various trips
to Belen to bowl at the Sugar Bowl bowling alley. Seeking
new forms with which to challenge herself, she chose the bowling
pin and bowling ball as beautiful objects that we don’t
often notice. After mastering the form itself, she then began
to experiment with color and scale. The sculptures included
in her exhibition at Addison/Parks Gallery play with high-brow
expectations of what constitutes subject matter for art, adding
an element of wry humor to the show."
