JEFF MARTIN (b. 1984, Canada)
Jeff Martin lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. His practice for the series Excavated Vessels is one born out of the remains of past pieces. Originally known as a furniture designer, Martin created pewter elements for his furniture pieces from hand carved compressed cork molds. Once the pewter parts are “excavated” from the cork, the used mold was discarded, as the detritus of a completed piece. This waste has since become, through a method of patchwork reassembly and primitive carving, the void into which Martin blows his glass vessels. When the glass is blown into the carved chamber it expands and the texture of the cork begins to imprint onto the surface of the glass. The removal of the mold creates a vacuum which quickly fills the space between the cork and the glass with oxygen, igniting the cork and destroying the mold itself. The object that is left behind is thus a form of elemental memento mori, infused with the cosmic spirit of what was lost.
Martin has exhibited internationally with shows at the Royal Ontario Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Gardiner Museum, Museum of Vancouver, Expo Chicago, Collective Design Fair, New York, and as part of 1000 Vases, Paris Design Week. He is a 2019 Artist in Residence at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. His work has also been published in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Interior Design magazine, Elle Decor, Sweden and Casa Vogue, Brazil.
