{"id":10643,"date":"2021-05-06T07:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T11:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/?p=10643"},"modified":"2022-07-18T21:13:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T01:13:22","slug":"features-going-beneath-the-surface-with-april-surgent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/2021\/05\/06\/features-going-beneath-the-surface-with-april-surgent\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURES – Going Beneath the Surface with April Surgent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Engraving Glass to Expose Oceans in Peril <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If an elderly Bohemian master glass engraver and political dissident with a passion for poetry offered to help you explore the secrets of the universe, what would you say? \u201cYes,\u201d obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least, you would if you\u2019re April Surgent<\/a>, a renowned glass and multimedia artist, whose work explores ocean ecology and climate change. In 2003, she enrolled in master craftsman Ji\u0159\u00ed Harcuba\u2019s glass engraving workshop at Pilchuk Glass School. Determined to save glass engraving from obscurity, Harcuba taught contemporary approaches to the craft, encouraging his students to listen to the world and its \u201csecrets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Large<\/a>
A Moment. Forever Ago. <\/em>(2019) by April Surgent, 17 x 25.5 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Small<\/a>
Where the moon dances with the ocean.<\/em> (2017) by April Surgent, 24.175 x 24.175 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing he taught was that engraving is easy and that anybody can do it,\u201d Surgent tells me. Perhaps sensing my doubt that I could coax photorealistic images out of a notoriously breakable material, she explains that while Harcuba taught technique, his focus was accessibility and liberation. \u201cThe first thing he teaches in his class is just to go for it and explore and not be bound up by the historical limitations of the craft. He was really pivotal in empowering me to just explore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before she met Harcuba, Surgent was studying glass blowing, a diversion that \u201csaved\u201d her as a teenager. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really in a lot of trouble, but I was on that trajectory,\u201d she says. \u201cI found glass, and it was something that I fell head over heels in love with.\u201d Studying at the Australian National University, however, Surgent found that making cups and bowls left her uninspired. She considered dropping out of glass, until, in her third year of study, she got a scholarship to Pilchuk Glass School and switched her focus to engraving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make one of her cameo engravings, an engraving where an underlying layer of material is exposed as a background for a low-relief design, Surgent emphasizes the importance of good materials. \u201cGlass has an annoying way of breaking a lot,\u201d she says, smiling. She buys hand-rolled sheets of coloured glass from Bullseye Glass Co., cuts them down to small panes, and melts them together in a kiln. \u201cI\u2019m melting them together kind of like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Fleeting Landscape Study<\/em> (2020) by April Surgent, 17 x 26 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having already worked out her composition on paper or her computer, Surgent takes the glass to her engraving lathe. Using the rapidly rotating wheel, like a metal smith\u2019s grinder, and using water to keep dust down and the glass cool, she carves her designs. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot like drawing but like taking the paper to the pencil,\u201d she tells me. A small panel can take her a week, and a larger piece with multiple panels can take a couple of months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picturing glass shattering and shards flying, I ask if the work can be dangerous. Surgent shakes her head, assuring me that \u201cit\u2019s a pretty benign process.\u201d The biggest danger is inhaling glass particles, so Surgent wears a HEPA respirator, eye protection, and ear protection (it can get loud). She says, \u201cEverything is very calm. It fits my low energy vibe pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This calm also helps prevent mistakes. \u201cIt\u2019s a really slow process, so to remove too much material takes some effort and some time,\u201d Surgent explains. \u201cMore often than not, if I have to remake a piece, it\u2019s because there\u2019s been a crack, or it\u2019s broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/a>
Portrait of an Iceberg<\/em> (2015) by April Surgent, 18.875 x 29.125 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Black<\/a>
Sea & Sky<\/em> (2019) by April Surgent, 30 x 30 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Black<\/a>
In Our Absence<\/em> (2019) by April Surgent, 22 x 33.25 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going slow and steady is part of Surgent\u2019s life philosophy. In a time when technology is developing faster than ever and demanding we keep pace, Surgent tells me that working with her hands in a meticulous, measured way helps her disconnect from the tizzy. She feels that the way we live our lives has changed immensely in the recent decades, saying, \u201cI feel like we can learn so much from history, and I feel like the engraving, in a way, keeps me connected to history in a more abstract way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another connection for which Surgent advocates is that between art and science, which was made tangible for her in 2013, when she travelled to Antarctica with the National Science Foundation\u2019s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program<\/a>. Surgent tells me that \u201cit was the first time that I\u2019d really seen research science in action, and it just kind of blew my mind how similar what I was doing\u2026was to what the scientists were doing. And obviously they were doing it very meticulously in a very professional and methodical way, but ultimately, I felt we were looking for the same things through very different lenses. Not necessarily that I was trying to figure out what southern giant petrels had for lunch or that type of thing, but the secrets of the world basically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An understanding of the world has never been more imperative. The devastating effects of climate change are something that Surgent explores in her work in the hopes of connecting the public to what can be an abstract, distant concept. After seeing the diminished glaciers in Antarctica, Surgent worked with research teams in the Hawaiian Islands in 2016, the Farallon Islands, California, in 2017\/18, and Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, in 2018 to learn more about ocean ecology and the impact of climate change. She emphasizes that her work is not a translation of science but is informed by the research. Surgent takes her observations home in the form of notes, pictures, and videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A large, derelict fishing net washed ashore at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Photo by April Surgent. All fieldwork images taken under permits: NMFS Permit No. 16632-01 and PMNM-2016-011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
Wildlife biologist Sadie Youngstrom removes a ghost net from the shoreline in an effort to reduce the threat of wildlife entanglement at Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea Marine National Monument. Derelict fishing gear is a life-threatening hazard to both marine and terrestrial wildlife. Photo by April Surgent. All fieldwork images taken under permits: NMFS Permit No. 16632-01 and PMNM-2016-011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
A great frigatebird (Fregata minor palmerstoni \/ \u2018Iwa)<\/em> perches atop plastic marine debris and spreads its wings at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Frigatebirds have the highest ratio of wing surface area compared to their body weight than any other bird, which allows for outstanding aerial maneuverability. Photo by April Surgent. All fieldwork images taken under permits: NMFS Permit No. 16632-01 and PMNM-2016-011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or, sometimes, a boxful of garbage. Stationed at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, 1,200 miles from Honolulu, Surgent was shocked that the island was covered in \u201can insane amount of debris.\u201d Seeing familiar objects like a tennis ball, a toothbrush, and a shoe, Surgent reflected, \u201cEverything was something that I personally used, and it was this kind of like, \u2018holy cow, maybe it does matter what I do.\u2019\u201d With the help of the research biologists, Surgent collected hundreds of disposable lighters that, back home, she assembled into her arresting piece Portrait of an Ocean<\/em>. Biologists continued to mail her lighters from the surrounding atolls, and the installation grew from nine-by-nine feet to ten-by-eighteen feet. While the deliveries had to stop in 2020, Surgent hopes they\u2019ll start again soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Portrait of an Ocean<\/em> (2017) by April Surgent, 9 x 9 feet, disposable lighters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
Detail of Portrait of an Ocean<\/em> (2017) by April Surgent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
Securite<\/em> (2019) by April Surgent, 10 x 18 feet, disposable lighters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of her more recent pieces, The necessity of establishing another way of life<\/em>, reflects what its name suggests\u2014the way we\u2019re living is not sustainable, and we need to change. Informed directly by COVID-19\u2019s bringing the world to a halt, the piece postulates that widespread behavioural change is feasible. \u201cI think that humans are incredibly adaptable, and that change is possible,\u201d Surgent says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that vein, she emphasizes that she doesn\u2019t want her work to be all \u201cdoom and gloom.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m actually making [some pieces] now that just embody what it feels like to be in nature, big open spaces, and hopefully start to build connections and relationships,\u201d she tells me. \u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly difficult for people to feel connected to or care for things that they don\u2019t inherently understand or that they\u2019re not already connected to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
The necessity of establishing another way of life<\/em> (2020) by April Surgent, 17 x 11.25 inches, cameo engraved glass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Surgent\u2019s work will be featured in an exhibition at the Traver Gallery<\/a> in September 2021. You can also find her on her website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*
Featured image: The Last Frozen Ocean<\/em> (2015) by April Surgent, 18.375 x 27.5 x 0.75 inches, cameo engraved glass
All images courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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