“Bull’s-eye”
Craig McCullen
Baton Rouge Gallery
Baton Rouge
Through Dece. 21' artist talk on Dec. 7
“X Marks the Spot,” “Too Close to the Sun,” and “Missed it By that Much” are among the pieces on view as part of “Bull’s-eye” by Craig McCullen, a stained-glass artist based in Lafayette and owner of Whoojoo Glass and Art Gallery. The pieces in the exhibit feature large circles of blown-glass called rondels; the exhibit is named for the prominence of the rondels in his work.
“The true name for this exhibit is 'Ten Ways to miss the Bulls’-eye,'” he wrote in an artist statement for the exhibit.
The names of the pieces are meant to point viewers in that direction.
Walking through the gallery, “Bull’s-eye” takes up double what an artist’s work typically takes up, filling the entire front room, and it changes the light in the entire room. Every piece is hung a couple of feet from the wall with a light shining through it, so people can see the way that the piece refracts lights, sometimes creating a double image on the white wall. One’s perspective of the light shifts as they walk through the gallery, and from different angles, the piece and its refraction look slightly different.
The pieces are beautifully composed and visually interesting, but they’re not so over the top that one couldn’t imagine having one in their own home. McCullen’s work takes an ordinary light and refracts it into something beautiful. The rondel in “X Marks the Spot” has a special texture that forms what could be an x or maybe some kind of marine life swimming through deep water. “Horus (Phases of the Moon)” features textured pieces of aquamarine that call to mind a serene river.
Stained glass is often found installed in buildings like churches or backlit in special installations in museums. Rarely can you see both sides of the work at once or even this refraction caused by the light going through the front of the piece. The way the Baton Rouge Gallery has chosen to show this work emphasizes the texture in the glass that might otherwise be missed.
The exhibit also features a number of box-shaped stained glass sculptures. Though the pieces are smaller and don’t feature the same signature rondels, they are assembled with varied textured glass that’s easier to notice just by looking at the piece. These, he wrote in his artist statement, are designed to have multiple focal points and are made to be “fun spaces that tickle your eye.”
No matter the final product, what is apparent when viewing McCullen’s work is that he loves glass, not just as a medium but the individual pieces of it which compose his work. His work hangs, swaying slightly in the breeze drafted in by people entering and leaving the gallery in the middle of City-Brooks Park, and you almost wish there was a little music accompanying the experience. The exhibit might be playing with the idea of missing the mark, but “Bull’s-eye” doesn’t miss.
