Originally published in The Voice of San Francisco in August 2024
She Bends: Neon as Soulcraft at the Museum of Craft and Design
The Museum of Craft and Design presents an exhibition curated by Kelsey Issel and Meryl Pataky of She Bends, an organization dedicated to building a more equitable future for neon art. She Bends: Neon as Soulcraft is an inquiry into the significance of manual trade skills and their impact on our connection to the material world. The art of neon bending is the focus of the exhibition, and the work of both student and teacher neon artists will be on display with an emphasis on the process of this art form.
Collaboration and Education
The exhibition showcases collaborations between neon artists during three residencies held across the United States. During a community-driven selection process, teaching artists were matched with student artists in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The exhibit focuses on neon bending for its embodied engagement and the diverse knowledge base that the craft naturally demands. A neon artist has to be versed in chemistry, craft, physics, and spatial relationships. What does this exposure to lateral thinking skills do to young adults? Does the group of skillsets required during neon bending contribute to innovative approaches to sustainability, social responsibility and creative problem-solving?
As a token of these collaborative events, participants are tasked with gathering the remnants and discarded glass from the residencies into a large site specific “quilt”, revealing the labor and dedication behind neon bending and capturing the process of learning in a collaborative object.
The Artists
Dani Kaes (Seattle, WA), Leticia Maldonado (Los Angeles, CA), and Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez (Philadelphia, PA) were chosen as teacher artists based on the strength of their proposals. These teachers were matched with student artists Melissa Jean Goldberg, Mayra Zambrano, and Christen Baker respectively.
Dani Kaes began as a traditional glassblower and transitioned into neon after apprenticing as a commercial neon bender in a prominent Seattle sign shop. She continues to work neon as her main art form independently and commercially, citing its inherently temporary nature as its most valuable feature. She describes her work as “nothing she would ever want in her house” because it’s “big, bright and always flashing”. Leticia Maldonado grew up in West Covina, CA and was raised in Las Vegas, NV. She grew up surrounded by the bright, eye-catching signs atop the famous casinos. Her imagery consists primarily of floral motifs delicately arranged, and ranging from small to large scale. Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez combines poetry, images, glass and objects to create signage that draws inspiration from her Puerto Rican and Persian heritage. Her work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums, and her sculptures are included in journals documenting innovative artworks in glass.
Melissa Jean Goldberg is an interdisciplinary emerging artist focusing on glass and photography. She’s best known for using these mediums as materials to convey freezing moments in time. Her current body of work is exploring concepts of feminism and the objectification and commodification of women, using language and glass as materials. Mayra Zambrano was born and raised in the Inland Empire. She is a Chicanx artist working in glass, ceramics, painting, sculpture and wood. She approaches mixed media as a signifier to her biculturalism. Christian Baker is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the complex relationship between attention, desire, and the economy that emerges from it. Interests in technology, new media and visual art drew her expression into forms such as glass, neon, sculpture, photography and 3D scanning.
Never-Before Seen Works
The exhibition features the reveal of the previously unseen works created during the two-month long residencies, alongside tools of the trade that provide insights into the working process of the craft of neon.
Guest Curator Kelsey Issel notes, “Learning how to make neon, or any embodied craft for that matter, has so many residual implications-material responsibility, problem-solving, mindfulness. We wanted to use this opportunity to guest curate at MCD to create access to the neon trade for young adults to be taught not only by skilled neon technicians but also by women artists, who have dedicated time to this craft beyond its commercial purpose. The experimentation and meditation on this material performed by artist benders is not only pushing the boundaries of the medium but has social benefits that we are very excited about.”