Travis Adams
Glass Artist and Creator
From the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Travis Adams has embarked on an incredible journey as an artist and glass maker. Currently, Adams’ work is inspired by firsthand connections with Gongshi, or Chinese Scholars Rocks, and the interface of topology and glass. He draws influence from artists such as Barbera Hepworth, Henry Moore, and Max Bill, and continuously explores formal ideas involving our connections to nature. This, he believes, is a theme worthy of life-long exploration.
About the Artist
Born and raised in Shelbyville, Travis Adams has embarked on a winding journey to becoming a glass artist and maker. He was first introduced to the practice of visual art at an early age by the prolific painter and mentor Joe Burks II. Ever since, Adams has traveled extensively in the pursuit of his passion and dedicated his life to the development of his language as an artist.
Adams obtained a B.S. in Financial Economics from Centre College. It was there he was introduced to glass by renowned artist Stephen Rolfe Powell. He would later hone his glass skills as lead assistant to Powell for several years. He went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture with a concentration in glass from Illinois State University. During his tenure at Centre and ISU, he traveled to China for expanded education and academic research.
While at Centre he studied broodmare pricing at Keeneland’s auctions, ventured briefly into the financial sector upon graduation, and helped establish a small non-profit before fully yielding to the call of glass. Though Adams lived in and explored numerous locations to establish his practice, he has made his way back to Kentucky to launched Trifecta Design LLC in collaboration with leading, contemporary designer, Tomas Frenes. The one-of-a-kind glass studio experience known as Trifecta: Glass – Art – Lounge in Lexington, KY now serves as Adams’ home studio and hub of continued exploration.
Highlighted at the Headley Whitney Museum
Seme Di Vordelo (Seed of the Vordelo)
This abstracted seed pod structure is composed of 145 varying vortical forms. Adams’ created the term Vordelo as a combination of a traditional Venetian glass blowing form, the rondel (flattened disc shape), and a vortex shape. The vordelo’s mirrored internal surfaces visually draw the sculpture’s environment into the embryo while the vortical shape carries surrounding sound into the piece. Thus, the viewers interaction with the form ‘feeds’ the seed and the piece becomes to the viewer as the viewer is to Nature. Our environments inform our internal being and Seme di Vordelo reflects this concept back to viewers in a contemplative abstraction.
The construction, itself, relays an understanding of mathematics within the natural world as a system for the creation of visual art. Seme di Vordelo is comprised of interlocking dodecagons (twelve-sided polygon) that stack to create the 12 layer form. The vordelo diameters range from 4.5 in to 12.25 in producing a form over 10ft in height. The scale of the form intentionally confronts the viewer with questions of spatial relationships and interconnection with themselves and the object. Adams create’s a meditative mood within the form with internal hue gradations and softness within the road edges of each component. He invites each viewer to experience their own unique energetic exchange with his latests creation, Some di Vordelo.
Tear Doused Torches:
The human body produces tears in response to a plethora of emotions, though they are all function as a release. The forms in this installation explore the experience of both the release felt in loss and the joy felt in fond memory. Each piece incorporates the common symbol of communication with the vortical form, while expressing the idea of archived memory/knowledge in the hand engraved wood grain detail on the bell of the vortices. Each piece embrace the influence of Adams’ mentor, Stephen Powell, with a moment of color where each tear meets the vortical form. Is the torch out or simply transformed by the presence of each tear drop? The choice of clear glass calls one to question to transitory nature of memory and knowledge, but also its preciousness in carrying us forward through life.
Distilled Memory
These are some of Adams’ latest works that explore concepts of communication, memory and archival knowledge. Joe Burks’ influence on Adams’ work can be felt in these forms as the adopt the vortex as a symbol of Devine communication. Each composition incorporates fragments of glass tree bark that represent the archiving of knowledge and memory. So too, the trees themselves (specifically the white oak in these forms) are symbols of knowledge and fertility within these pieces. The vortical forms are interpretations of past and present communication of that knowledge at work in the artist’s life and work.
Finally, Adams’ embraced the influence of distillation in the area as a metaphor for the way in which memory, or the essence of a memory, is filtered through our subconscious and conscious self. As an extension of Adams’ interest in our interconnection with nature, these pieces also function as a meditation on our exchange with the natural environment. The branching forms are in direct geometric alignment with the to angles created by the edges and tips of the vortices. Finally, Adams’ utilized Leonardo da Vinci’s tree branching summation formula to create the exact proportional relationship of each bark piece as the form branches up. These spatial relationships build out a composition rooted in the mathematical balance of Nature of which we are an integral part.
Gongshi Series
My current sculptural focus emerged from the interface of topology and hot sculpted glass. These forms are inspired by my firsthand connection with Gongshi, or Chinese Scholars Rocks, along with influence from such artists as Barbera Hepworth, Henry Moore, and Max Bill. The sculptural compositions invite the viewer to examine their relationship to the object through void space and changing color relationships. My study of traditional Chinese painting in Chongqing, China has led to a continued interest in fluid mark making and its translation into three-dimensional form. The resulting objects reflect spirit through the inherent qualities of glass and spontaneous expressions within the process. I invite all viewers to study their own fluid movement within space while enjoying these forms.
The Zaisheng Sprout Series.
The Zaisheng Sprout series expresses feelings of emersion and regrowth. Utilizing live bark textures translated into glass, the living form is archived within the sculpture and the viewer is challenged to sense beyond the familiar interpretation of tree. This prompts a new relationship to the material and offers new connections to the natural environment that continuously informs our intuitions.
Trifecta: Glass – Art – Lounge is a newly formed multi-faceted art and design glass studio and fine art gallery under the umbrella of Trifecta Design LLC in Lexington, KY. Our team of artists and designers have re-imagined the glass art experience by offering an immersive environment that captures patrons’ senses.
Each element of the truly one-of-a-kind Trifecta experience connects visitors with the social, tactile, and magical processes that is glass art. Resident artist and owner, Travis Adams, works with a team of gaffers to create his elaborate sculptural works along with Trifecta Design’s luxury products and bespoke projects. At Trifecta: Glass – Art – Lounge the dance of glass comes alive and new discoveries are born from fire.
