Hank Murta Adams

Lives in Troy, New York (2008)Adams was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1956. He received a B.F.A. degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1978 and studied at the Penland School in North Carolina as well as at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. He currently lives in Albany, New York. Hank Adams' work bridges the vast gap between tradition and innovation. His busts recall centuries-old traditions expressed in marble, bronze and wood. Rather than portraits of mythic gods, heroes, nobility or politicians, Adams models a more generic image, intended to serve as a generalized reference to mankind. His busts have a spiritual kinship to the French artist Jean Dubuffet, whose figures are raw, spontaneous and direct.Surprisingly, the often fragile nature of glass is transformed in his treatment to a material of great mass and durability like the busts of his historical predecessors. Whereas traditional materials tend to absorb light, Adams' sculpture captures light and enables it to act as an internal resonator, enlivening the surface from within. In addition to a heavily faceted and pitted surface, Adams energizes his forms with embedded debris. These veiled references to a modern industrial world charge the work with political and cultural overtones, endowing a certain dysfunction to his character. Hank Murta Adams is a contemporary glass artist working in cast glass. He studied with Dale Chihuly at Rhode Island School of Design and continued his glass education at Penland School in North Carolina and Pilchuk Glass School in Washington. His work blazes new trails in glass while addressing centuries old subject matter – the human bust. Adams challenges the tradition of beautiful glass by keeping the surface rough and unpolished. He also takes advantage of the nature of glass, in its ability to capture light, creating a glowing transparency different from traditional materials with the dense surface of marble or bronze. for HOT COLOR cool glass 5/08 Anne Gochenour