One’s-Self I Sing examines human existence against “Deep Time,” or geologic time, a vast span of years beyond our immediate comprehension. The glass objects serve as a record of human making, a tribute to the individual and the collective of humanity, of growth and achievement marked by the objects we make and the history they hold. Keen-eyed visitors will see objects from the MMA’s own permanent collection, including the apron bow from Edward Hopper’s New York Restaurant, the scythe from Winslow Homer’s Answering the Horn, and a gate, wagon wheel, and fence post from John Steuart Curry’s The Tornado, among others. The white resin “rocks” are the geologic foundation from which the glass, and humanity, emerge and ascend.
The title is drawn from the Walt Whitman poem of the same name.
One’s-Self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.
Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.
Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.
Beth Lipman is a nationally recognized glass artist with works in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Corning Museum of Glass, Detroit Institute of Arts, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and many others. She recently completed ReGift for the Toledo Museum of Art and Living History for the Wichita Art Museum.
Museum commission, through the gifts of Heather Kettler, Robert D. & C. Corcoran Tuttle Fund of the CFfMC-Julie Tuttle, John Tuttle, Thomas and Elizabeth Tuttle, Susan Bengtson, and Sally Peterson, with additional funds from: Sue Savoie, Susan Cloutier Crain, Paul & Karen Jackson, Allen & Sandy Beck, John & Claudia Berry, Herbert & Karen Driver, James & Susan Geisler, William Haug & Jane Curtis, Gay Landstrom, Lois Lange, Mary Price & Tom Schaub, Patricia Roy, Karen & John Wells, Robert & Cathleen Dubault, Donald & Nancy Crandall, Lisa Lee, Steven & Caroline Mayberry, Joe Panici & Rick Murak, Jon & Sue Thompson, Tom & Liz Trzaska, Keven Burchfield, Steve & Molly Parker, Alice Dodgson, Timothy & Marilyn Ryan, Susan Abbey-Ludwig, Penny K. Carpenter, Robert & Charlotte Chessman, Roberta S. Fleischmann, Lori Hausbeck, Roxanna Herder, Alysa Hunton, Rich A. Nelson, Carol Pyka, Patti Sevensma, Larry & Sandy Austin, Martino Bartoli & Beth Davis, Jennifer Green, John W. Hornacek, Sharon Mazade Susan Newton, Susan Woodruff, Marcia Brichan, Billie Bruce, Janet Watkins