As April 15 approaches, Alex Gabriel Bern-stein may have the most interesting list of ยwork-related expensesย of anyone in North Carolina. The artist, whose projects are on display at Hooks-Epstein Galleriesย annual glass exhibition, uses a diamond saw to carve his smooth yet intricate sculptures in a process that also casts, etches and polishes glass and metal with tools that we guess have to be ordered from some specialty site. His works, which take abstract, stone-formation-at-the-bottom-of-a-reef-like shapes, are viewed with light going through, not at them, illuminating their intricacies from the inside.
On the other end of the abstract–realism spectrum is the Washington state-based wife-and-husband team of Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen, who carve and paint glass into amazingly lifelike and detailed hawk and owl statues. Their art is no less time-consuming, with each bird taking up to two weeks of work to complete. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Through April 26. 2631 Colquitt Street. For information, call 713-522-0718 or visit
www.hooksepsteingalleries.com. Free.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: March 29. Continues through April 26, 2008
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2008.