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[[Planetary Reef 60 inches wide. 2010. An evolution of cross-bred materials forms this otherworldly landscape. ]]

Sally Resnik Rockriver (artist, b. 1970) Glass Secessionist, Blown Glass, Ceramics, and Video. Rockriver makes geochemical reactions that create a new geology. Her work narrates a journey to Unfound Planets. Pieces are theoretical specimens that could be found in far away places. In 1996, Rockriver believed there were other planets with chemicals, physics, and heat similar to those in her studio. In 2005, she entitled her geological blown glass: "New Planets". This body of work utilized planetary geochemistry and physics to create worlds that she thought could be in the Universe. In 2013, NASA announced the discovery of the Planet HD 189733b "Azure", which recirculates molten sand and glass. Rockriver's current work features the Planet Azure and its Glass Storms. In her pieces, sprays of glass cool into a crystalline webbing. Gases erupt from molten pools and grow into enormous domes that trap colored fumes. The final works are "Frozen Moments" of a geochemical event. Rockriver expresses her vision while harnessing a scientific process that informs the content of her work.

FOUNDER OF A MOVEMENT By the turn of the century, Rockriver's work was considered too experimental and technically unsound. However, her processes were actually carefully crafted approaches that generate specific geological results. No artists or collectors had seen the hot combination of glass and ceramics. Her main sympathizers were the minds of Contemporary Art. During her 2002 solo exhibition in New York, she was hailed by Roberta Smith in the New York Times, as "some kind of contender". By 2004, her combination of glass and ceramics was recognized by the ceramics world in the Ceramics Monthly cover article. It took a decade for Rockriver's work to be valued by the glass audience. In 2010, Jessamy Kelly received her PhD dissertation on the combination of glass and ceramics fromthe University of Sunderland. She researched the glass artists of the world, and found only a handful that were pertinent to the study. Upon final evaluation, Rockriver had the earliest work that combined glass and ceramics at high temperatures. In 2012, at the Ox-bow School of Art, Rockriver taught an intensive course entitled "Beyond the Limits", which required sudents from SAIC to approach glass in the greater context of their own art. By 2013, Rockriver found Tim Tate's theory of Glass Seccessionism and realized that there were others like her who were rejecting traditional approaches. Rockriver's work engendered a generation of young artists who embrace experimental glass processes as art.

PROCESSES:

FUME BLOWN WORLDS The spherical forms are influenced by the reactive effect of heated chemicals. By trapping ceramic glazes into molten glass, the hot salts release a gas that provides enough pressure to blow a bubble. The resulting form is a hollow orb with exploded powder bouncing around the interior. When the gases remain trapped, they deposit a dark metallic smoke. Escape holes are melted into some pieces to allow fumes to escape. This results in a clear sparkling dome that can be peered into.

BLOWN GLASS WITH CERAMICS GLAZES Dried ceramic glazes are poured into a blown glass vessel during the puntied phase of the blowing process. As they are introduced into the glory hole, glazes will crackle, bubble, web, or fuse. The altered surface will form differing textures depending on the depth of heating.

INCLUSION OF EQUIPMENT RESIDUE One of the characteristic of Rockriver's approach is that she find interest out the outskirts of he medium. It was the incorporation of kiln residue that put her work in the context of its creation. she was able to break away from the vessel and clearly show her works a geological spaces. Her finished pieces nest in a harvested foundation from her glory hole floor and became landscapes of a unfound world.

CUTTING AND BREAKING By opening solid columns, geode formations are revealed. Cutting vessels transforms them into cave spaces. Glass is broken or cut to emphasize the fact that works are rock specimens and landscape worlds.

"It is not clear if Ms. Rockriver is the next Dale Chihuly, an unusually festive heir to Eva Hess, or an artistically inclined scientist, but she is definitely something." Roberta Smith, NEW YORK TIMES, Art in Review