Karyne Messina

Artist Statement

As a psychoanalyst, I believe we are the result of what we have experienced up until this very moment in time: An idea I began thinking about many years ago. As an artist, I try to incorporate the essence of this concept into each piece of art I construct. Hence, I think many of my glass and metal pieces come from stored images of objects I encountered as a child growing up in the Florida Keys coupled with a panoply of later observations I've made throughout my life.

I believe my work originally emerged as a reflection of my intrigue with creatures from the sea; creatures I came across as I explored the canals, marshes and shorelines along the edges of the Gulf of Mexico that folded into the Atlantic Ocean. The coral rock, though hard on my feet as a child, led to an appreciation for piercing, sharp points. Washed ashore jellyfish and Portuguese Man o' War, with their bulbous forms and stinging, dangerous tentacles led to my affinity for full shapes with swirling tails of glass. Seashells taught me about one of natures most impressive examples of circular, curling objects infused with brilliant color. Plunging beneath the sea, I took in a plethora of breathtaking beauty. The reefs of my childhood were filled with forms and shapes of every type replete with magnificent color. Breaching creatures of the sea formed other lasting impressions as they shot through the water with power and might. This is where I learned about the beauty of color and form and the interplay each has with the other. It is in the world of glass and metal where I recreate my abstract impressions of what I observed so long ago as well as what I gleaned from life in the ensuing years. It is where I blend together images from childhood and the years that followed with glassblowing and metal work: An ever-evolving process like the sea.