Fall 2019 work
Harmattan 
Grotto 
Hexacorallia 
Stiniva IV
A wonderful feast for the eyes, curated by Olivier Castaing, the show in Limoges, France features 14 artists from around the world working in ceramic. With:
Anna Barlow, Bachelot & Caron, Charlotte Coquen, Christina Erives, Jae Yong Kim, Juujuu Kim, Yuko Kuramatsu, Kaori Kurihara, Shayna Leib, Susan Nemeth, Marie Rancillac, Dong Won Shin, and Jessica Stoller.
A culmination of 3 years of work and research, this exhibition has featured both my French Dessert Series and the American Series side-by-side for the first time. A huge thank you to Helene Huret and Olivier Castaing for such a great display. For detailed images of the above desserts, click here.
“A raspberry set on a piping of whipped cream set on a crispy tuile, itself set on a bavaroise; tarte au citron, forêt noire, Mont Blanc, all those exquisite French pastries transformed into masterpieces of illusion in the hands of Shayna Leib, who indulges a passion for hyperrealism with fascinating technical virtuosity. She combines glass-which she has worked with for more than twenty years-with porcelain, creating perfect replicas of forty extremely sophisticated pastries, and setting them against forty American desserts. Culture against culture. In this elaborate trick, everything is artificial. Every detail fools the eye: glossy icing, chocolate ribbons, mousses, golden crusts, fruits, textures, sculpted sugar, colors. The cremè de la cremè, a feast for the eyes-but you could chip a tooth on it!”
-Olivier Castaing
Curator of Céramiques Gourmandes. Bernardaud Fondation- Limoges, France
Below are images from the exhibition in Limoges
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Musée Des Arts Décoratifs- Bordeaux, France, June 2019
Photos courtesy of Helene Huret
Stiniva Expanded
I was asked to expand an existing work, Stiniva 1, for a client. This presented some serious challenges as working with transparents is immeasurably difficult. I liken it to playing a piece of music written in G flat major, where the musician has to “translate” 6 notes out of a full octave to a lower half-step note as they play.
Transparent pieces are similar in that they require translation at every step. I work with about 12 different shades and tones of transparent blue glass. In areas with a lot of height and density, I have to choose a shade lighter than I think I will need because the tone compounds, resulting in a darker buildup of the shade. In lower areas, I have to choose a darker shade than I think I need, because the opposite is in effect. And depending on the angle the glass is cut at, it will completely change the tone of the blue that is registered. For this reason, working with subtle transitions between tones is exhausting, and something I don’t often do.
To make matters more difficult, I had to create an addition that exactly matched the edges of the existing work. I have about 40 shades of transparent blue in my studio with very very subtle differences in color and tone which had to be sorted to find the exact shade to match a work that is 6 years old.
Because these canvases need to be created like a 3D printer creates an object, from one side of the canvas to the other, the Stiniva addition was the most challenging piece I’ve created to-date.
The original Stiniva
To view more images of the final project, click here.
Shayna Leib, recently named one of the 30 Most Amazing Glass Artists alive today.
www.graphicdesigndegreehub.com/30-most-amazing-glass-artists-alive-today/
The Chandelier & Cabinet piece project
This last year, I was asked to create two pieces for the personal residence of a high profile client. She requested a chandelier for over her dining room table and a piece for her kitchen cabinet. They both posed great design and engineering challenges due to weight, size, transportation and installation difficulties.
Chandelier: 68″ L x 10″ W x 34″ L
Cabinet piece: 66″ L x 11″ H x 10″D
Permanent Installation: The Deep Aquarium, Hull, UK
The Deep Aquarium, Hull, England
photo: Lisa Brown
photo: Karl Andre
photo: Karl Andre
photo: Karl Andre
