Le Puppet Regime by Genevieve Geer
Stained Glass Marionettes + Sculptures
“You Never Know Who’s Pulling The Strings”
February 13th – April 12th
Opening Reception: Friday, February 13th from 6-8pm
We are thrilled to announce a solo exhibition with Philadelphia artist, Genevieve Geer of Le Puppet Regime. Genevieve makes brilliant stained glass marionettes of tattooed showgirls, circus freaks, Siamese twins, mermaids, strong men, minotaurs and more. Each piece has movable limbs so you can contort and pose your puppet in any way you choose.
We first stumbled across Genevieve’s unique work after she applied for our 2014 May Art Star Craft Bazaar. We had never seen anything like it before and it isn’t often that we come across cool stained glass work! Her application definitely gave us goose bumps. We were even more smitten after checking out the work in person. Not only does she make marionettes, but she also makes larger sculptural wall pieces and a line of jewelry.
Her exhibition at Art Star will include her popular marionettes but also some more of her larger sculptural pieces. The show will differ a bit from our typical exhibition. Though the larger pieces will remain up throughout the duration of the show, the marionettes will be available to take home the day of purchase. We will have a back stock to replace pieces as they sell. The show will open the day before Valentine’s Day, so bring your date to check out the show, mix and mingle with the artist, enjoy a beer + snack and pick up a one-of-a-kind art piece for your special someone!
Artist Statement: Genevieve Geer’s stained glass characters are articulated, modern day people, captured in an ancient art. They are holy in their medium, hearkening back to saints and sinners in churches everywhere, but they are living contemporary tales. Instead of stained glass as static object, well placed, well lit, and coveted as an architectural asset, these pieces move themselves to center stage. By pulling the characters out of the allotted window frame, Geer begins to force a reassessment of this medium. Further, by articulating each creature and character, the audience can no longer dismiss the work as sparkly background noise. They must look at each piece and divine it’s story, what it is and where it comes from.
The Artist’s process is painstaking and involved. The first steps are drafting a basic line drawing on paper and transferring the cartoon to glass, using hand mixed powdered glass paint that is then kiln fired. Cutting the glass, coppering, soldering, drilling and piecing together the final figure allows for variations and deviations at every turn, often resulting in creatures that stray from the initial drawing by happy accident. “Powdered glass paint is a medium unlike any other–one can have a general idea of what it will do, but sometimes it’s better than me, it knows what will look best, and when that happens, if I am smart, I lift the brush quickly off the glass, let it dry and get it in the kiln.”
Geer is constantly feeding her work, researching embroidered textiles and antique dishware patterns, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, contemporary couture fashion, Russian movie propaganda posters, illuminated manuscripts, and contemporary illustrators like Yuko Shimizu.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Genevieve Geer is a Philadelphia based artist working in glass, metal, wood and textiles. Originally from Massachusetts, she attended Parsons School of Design for Illustration and The Museum School in Boston for Animation. She moved to NYC soon after graduating and worked as a freelance prop fabricator over the next few years. When she relocated to Philadelphia in 2007, she began to experiment with a new medium, hot glass. She started out as a manager of a local public access glass studio for a year before taking an apprenticeship at Wheaton Village in New Jersey. There she developed her blown glass skills, but was also introduced to casting, kiln forming and flat glass techniques. After two years she returned to Philly and she and her husband built a studio in their Kensington home. In 2012, after seeing a stained glass show by the artist Judith Schaecter in Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, a spark was lit and Genevieve began to research and experiment with stained glass. In this one medium she found a meeting place for her training in illustration, animation and hot glass. Her company, Le Puppet Regime, came into being soon after, and features articulated, movable stained glass characters and scenes.
Visit http://www.genevievegeer.com/ for the artist’s full portfolio.
Find a selection of her work at our shop + on our website.