For Sarah Vaughn, a Southern Illinois native, rocks are precious objects.
“Considerations: An Installation by Sarah Vaughn” will be on view in Blowing Rock Art and History Museum’s Atwell Gallery from Feb. 15 to early August. The installation features over 3,147 glass rocks created over 10 years, all of which represent moments in time.
“I feel like everyone has a little pebble that they picked up somewhere that either sits in their car or in their desk or they carry it in their pocket,” Vaughn said. “I think a lot of people pick that up as kind of just a marker of that moment, like there’s something that drew them to it and whenever they see that, they’re able to recall that memory again.”
Vaughn said she always wanted to be an artist but first got into glasswork after she visited Southern Illinois University of Carbondale, where she ended up studying art. She found the glasswork studio while wandering the art department at a moment when something went awry with one of the students’ pieces, and the other students jumped in to help. The camaraderie among the students pushed her further into the glasswork profession.
“Glassblowing is a very mesmerizing process, and it is kind of magical especially, even if you understand it you’re still like, ‘How did you do that?’” Vaughn said. “On a technical level, there’s something really fun about trying to figure it out. I know what I want to make and then it’s almost like you have to reverse engineer it.”
Vaughn utilizes various techniques to achieve the results she wants, and rather than focus solely on glass blowing, flamework or casting, she often combines all three.
“I’m always jumping around and doing a lot of different processes and lining them together,” Vaughn said. “Which is great because I mean, if I ever get bored, it’s my own fault because I stopped trying to figure new stuff out.”
For Vaughn, working with stones is “slap-happy glasswork” in that there is no wrong way to create with them.
“Her technical skill with the medium of glass is astonishing, matched only by the physically and emotionally immersive environment she constructs with thousands of these discrete sculptures,” wrote Ian Gabriel Wilson, the curator of exhibitions and collections at BRAHM, in a press release. “This exhibition epitomizes BRAHM’s commitment to showcasing artists who challenge us to see the world—and ourselves—through a transformative lens.”
Vaughn said when people leave her exhibitions, whether they followed her thought process or their own through the piece, a small piece of her travels with them. Her emotions are tangible in the stones she transforms and creates, as well as reminiscent of the people who come and go from the exhibit.
According to the press release, the installation is supported through a Project Support Grant from The North Carolina Arts Council. The grant aims to make art accessible and engaging.
BRAHM is hosting multiple events to pair with the installation. Cocktails with the Curator on Feb. 20 is “one part gallery tour, two parts conversation, and a splash of cocktail party” with Wilson. Attendees will learn more about Vaughn’s installation and tour the gallery while sipping on a themed cocktail.
From April 28 to May 3, Vaughn will be in residency at the museum, and BRAHM is hosting a community day on May 3 where all visitors can meet the artist.
