‘She Bends’ brings female artists and their glowing, gas-filled work to Museum of Glass

Neon isn’t dead. It’s just gone from advertising to fine art.

That’s the summation a visitor to Tacoma’s Museum of Glass might make after seeing “She Bends: Redefining Neon Legacy” which opened Saturday. The show is all about fine art, not signage. Although, a few pieces do hearken to that heritage.

A foot-high “REPENT” set against a background of wildflowers glows yellow in Meryl Pataky’s installation “A Modern Guilt”. There’s also an argon-lit folding patio chair and pillow in the piece. It’s a statement on the climate crisis, the artist said.

Pataky and Kelsey Issel are the San Francisco-based curators of “She Bends” which will be on view at MOG until October. All of the nine artists in the show are women.

“(Neon) is rooted in advertising, capitalism, commercialism and now it’s moving into a more fine art world,” Pataky said Saturday. “Most importantly, by women, and younger artists.”

She Bends is the name of the organization the women run that’s comprised of female artists who bend glass tubes, fill them with noble gases and electrify them — commonly known as neon.

But neon is only one of the gasses used by artists — and sign makers — to produce a variety of colors and styles. Just about every color can be made, said artist Jude Abu Zaineh, with the exception of brown.

Her piece, “tend to grow (watermelons)“ is a wall of melon slices. The seeds are painted but the flesh and rind shine in shades of red and green. The colors come from various combinations of glass tubes, phosphor coatings and gasses.

Light-hearted at first glance, Abu Zaineh’s artwork references the New York-based artist’s Palestinian heritage. Watermelon is a cherished food in Palestine and the colors reflect the country’s flag. It’s a symbol of Palestinian resistance and perseverance, she said, and also ongoing dialogues about social justice.

“I’m really thinking through some of these discussions, but also presenting it in a way that it becomes alluring and exciting and more conversational,” she said Saturday.

Some of the pieces in the show are, well, garish. But that’s the intention of the artist, Pataky said. Others are subtle. Her glass candelabra (“Ru’ach”) glows with an ethereal light from helium gas.

Carissa Grace’s “Comforter” looks like a section of chain link fencing, but made from glass tubing in soft pastel colors lit by charged argon gas.

Pataky’s work in neon has given her an appreciation for its roots in Americana. The signs that once directed travelers to roadside motels and imbibers to downtown bars are disappearing.

“People are replacing neon with LEDs all the time,” Pataky said. “It’s really sad.”

The show’s opening weekend includes neon glass bending in the museum’s hot shop on Sunday.

If you go

What: “She Bends” on view until October 2023.

Where: Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma.

When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday.

Admission: $18 adults; $16 seniors, college students, military; $10 children (6–18); Free for children under 6; Free on third Thursday of every month, 5 a.m.-8 p.m.

Information: museumofglass.org/

Neon demonstrations: May 10-14: Visiting artists Gas Filling Tube Suckers; May 27-29: local neon artists; September 2-4: Local neon artists; October 11-15: Visiting artist Jay Macdonell.