Glass through glass: Therman Statom unveils new work in RAM's window gallery

Therman Statom talks with a member of the Racine Art Museum staff Thursday while installing his work, "Outside the Box," in the museum's Windows on Fifth Street gallery.

Therman Statom's art is displayed around the world and he's known as a leading figure in the contemporary-glass movement. But Thursday the 56-year-old artist was thinking about Menard's.

Statom is in Racine this week building his remarkable new installation "Outside the Box" in the Racine Art Museum's "Windows on Fifth Street Gallery." Statom designed and built much of the installation in his Omaha, Neb. gallery, but assembling the final piece in RAM's window was its own creative process. He painted windows, shaped and polished leaves, positioned sculptures and taped neon tubes to walls in preparation for Saturday's unveiling.

"Outside the Box" is the sixth installation in RAM's window gallery. Statom's work replaces Arline Fisch's "Creatures from the Deep," which was installed in 2008.

Statom's installation is a collection of glass sculptures and paintings. The sculptures include a house, ladder and chair - three standard objects Statom works with. Each of the objects comes with layers of meanings, he said. Here's a summary of his work as described with a 1993 sculpture in Los Angeles:

His work incorporates simple forms which, when combined with other shapes, tell a story or establish a theme. Over each form Statom adds a layer of brushed paint, bringing the artist’s hand back into the creative process.

The three major sculptures in the RAM installation are linked together with smaller sculptures, paintings on glass, neon tubes and the hanging leaves.

"It's one big painting, essentially," Statom said of the work.

Statom uses mirrors to bring the viewer, and the surroundings outside of the window, into the installation. He described the mirrors as "temporal."

"It takes what's outside and brings it in," said Statom, who is the first artist to use mirrors in the RAM window gallery.

Statom's glass house sculpture in RAM's window.

Statom and a member of the RAM staff hang a leaf in the window gallery.
The Johnson Bank building is reflected in the gallery's exterior glass.

Statom designed "Outside the Box" in his studio in Omaha, Nebraska. Having lived in Washington, D.C., he moved to Omaha five years ago because it's centrally located in the country.

"People say the coasts are the center of the art world, but the Midwest is a great place to create," he said.

Statom taped out the RAM window space in his studio and created the various pieces over several months. He described using "intuitive treatments" in his work designed to deeply connect with people.

"The decision process doesn't have a linear structure," Statom said. "It's more emotionally based." He added intuitive perception underlies all creativity, be it in fields as diverse as art, education or science.

"So many decisions are intuitive," Statom said. "Even hard sciences come from intuition. This is about that perception."

But while he relies on his intuition, Statom is an expert craftsman with 25 years of formal training and practice at creating art. His works are on display in museums in Paris, Lausanne, Switzerland, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit and San Jose. He also has many sculptures and paintings for sale in galleries around the world.

"It's not subjective where you can do anything you want and justify it," he said about his creative process. "I couldn't just come here and paint everything pink because I like pink."

Instead, Statom described a variety of elements that influenced the final piece being installed at RAM. Natural and artificial lighting, weather, trees the shape of the space, the lake, and people he's met in the city are some of the influences he cited in the RAM installations.

Searching for a word to describe Racine, Statom finally said: "The city is just 'multi.'"

Back in April, Statom taught art classes to 200 elementary students. He said teaching is increasingly important to his career and turned him from an introspective studio artist into someone trying to reach out into communities.

"I consider education art, just like this," Statom said.

Along with the Racine installation, Statom has a new work on display in Orlando. "Stories from a New World" is a 6,000 square-foot collection of glass art based around explorer Ponce de Leon's pursuit of the Fountain of Youth in Florida. Statom said Europeans' migration to America changed the world by giving people an escape from monarchies and a new freedom to live and create.

"It really affected everything," he said.

By comparison, the RAM installation isn't political, Statom said. Instead, he created an abstract piece designed to connect with the viewer on a "primary, intuitive sense that exists in everyone."

"I wanted it to be inviting," he said.

Statom (back left) and members of the Racine Art Museum staff lift the base of Statom's giant chair sculpture into place on Thursday afternoon. The back of the chair still had to be added to the piece.

In person, Statom comes across as a humble, warm man who easily slips between art theory and chatting with museum staff. He's also very trusting. It's RAM staff members who assembled and even placed parts of Statom's work in the windows. While Statom created the larger pieces in his studio, he still had painting and metal polishing to do Thursday.

Executive Director Bruce Pepich played a role in the piece when he allowed Statom to paint on the glass wall that creates a backdrop for the Windows on Fifth Street gallery while separating the interior of the museum from the street traffic. Statom is the first artist to paint on the panels.

"It fits beautifully with the piece," Pepich said.

"Appreciate you allowed me to do it," Statom said. "I didn't expect you to say yes."

Statom and RAM Executive Director Bruce Pepich (right)

The paint in the background is the first time an artist has painted on RAM's glass wall that separates the gallery from Fifth St. The sculpture in front is not Statom's piece.

Statom's piece will change throughout the year. In six months he'll return to Racine to switch in new sculptures and paintings. The space's connection to the outside world - as opposed to a controlled interior museum space - brings a seasonal aspect to the installation, he said.

All together, the installation offers a new way of seeing. With the difficult times, Statom said, the combination of sculpted glass, paint and light offered an abstract glimpse of Racine's future.

"It shows what the city can become," he said.

Statom's glass ladder blends in with reflections in the Fifth Street window.