Pictured: Flock of Freedom II readies to take flight at Chasen Galleries at The Mark. Photo Courtesy of the artist.

Stepping into Chasen Galleries at The Mark is like stumbling headfirst into a forest of multicolored glass, some strange Narnia fashioned of intricate and eye-popping glass sculpture that’s been carved, cut, blown, blasted, fused, fastened and dyed into shapes and compositions that defy the imagination. It’s a feast for the eyes and a nightmare for the wide-elbowed. Soaring above it all, artist Collin Rowland imagines a flock of glittering glass birds, frozen in flight over this kaleidoscopic kingdom. The artist’s latest large-scale installation, he installs the project next week.

Called Flock of Freedom II, the installation comprises 25 birds made of metal, epoxy resin and glass, each a distinct sculptural piece crafted by Rowland. And when arranged in formation upon the wall of the gallery, they become the artist’s winged homage to the simple majesty of birds in flight, moving as one in an entrancing display of pattern and rhythm in the sky.

A true multimedia venture, every sculpture in Flock of Freedom II begins with a hand-drawn sketch made in nature. It’s a grounding element that Rowland tries to preserve throughout the project, even as the sketch passes first through the computer and then to the laser-cutter that will carve the bird from aluminum for him. “That hand-drawn aspect of the original design adds an emotional connection,” he says. “And I don’t want them to look mass-produced and manufactured.” So after laser-cutting, Rowland takes a metal grinder and gives each bird its final shape by hand.

Once satisfied with the shape, Rowland builds each bird with heavy coats of spray paint and epoxy resin, mixing ink dyes and metallic powders into the pour, mounding and layering the material to create organic textures and patterns on the surface. “I try not to control things too much,” he says. “I just let
things happen.” And while the resin is still malleable, he adds the final adornments in beads and broken glass. The end result is something that straddles the figurative and the abstract, playing with obvious symbolism as a whole while letting each individual component find its own path. It’s a message Rowland hopes comes through.

“The job of an artist is to slow down enough to notice the beauty and the miraculous that’s all around,” he says, whether that miracle is flying through the air above them or beating inside their very own chests. “And I just wish that everyone knew they were an artist.”

Flocks of Freedom II will be installed at Chasen Galleries at the Mark next week. Flocks of Freedom is currently on display at the Chasen Gallery location on Osprey.

Pictured: Flock of Freedom II readies to take flight at Chasen Galleries at The Mark. Photo Courtesy of the artist.