Viper

1/3/19 "Viper," a sculpture by Carol Milne

The Bellevue Arts Museum curates a major exhibition every two years with a focus on a single craft medium. In the past, we’ve enjoyed remarkable works in metal, fiber, ceramic and wood. This year the BAM Biennial is all about glass. Called BAM! Glasstastic, the exhibition “focuses on the work of established and emerging Northwest artists, craftspeople, and designers, with an emphasis on new work.” 

Many works were colorful and dazzling, which is one reason I love glass as an art medium, but one piece was a spectacular standout: Viper, by Carol Milne, who knits glass into sculptural pieces. For the artist, the room-size installation in this show represents the current time’s “polar swings and unscrupulous behavior.” “In literature,” says her artist statement, “the meaning of a snake swings from the negatives of venomous and vengeful, to the positives of fertility, rebirth and healing. Viper is snakelike in appearance but is meant to represent the good side, the aftermath, the snakeskin left behind. . . . Viper is hope for transformation and purification in the year ahead. . . . With hard work and compassion, we can knit ourselves back together.”

Showing through April 14, the biennial is worth the drive across the lake!