Ric Kasini Kadour’s essay, “Paul Schwieder’s Glass Poems”, is published in the catalog Paul Schwieder which accompanies the August 16-October 31, 2014 exhibition “Stone. Glass. Wood.” at the West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park. In the essay, Kadour charts the history of the studio glass movement from its humble beginnings in a shed behind the Toledo Museum of Art.
Paul Schwieder’s Glass Poems
By Ric Kasini Kadour
Having a beautiful object is like owning a poem. A jumble of words are aesthetically, sometimes rhythmically, arranged to convey a meaning greater than its prosaic self, a gestalt. Art objects are similar in that they combine complex histories, a myriad of narratives, into single forms. One can reduce a piece of sculpture to its basic elements—glass, stone, wood, etc.—but in doing so, one misses the entire point of the object’s existence: to show the viewer something greater than the sum of its parts; to expose the viewer to a greater, deeper meaning. This is what a poem does. This is how having beautiful objects is like owning a poem.