The Elverhoj Museum of History & Ar presents “Cultural Fusion,” featuring the works of artist Helle Scharling-Todd, on view through July 24.
The exhibit features stunning glass panels that are sandblasted or fused, contemporary mosaics, and stainless steel sculptures.
This Danish-born artist is known for her public art in both Denmark and the United States. The pieces in the Museum Gallery, however, are the “private art” that Scharling-Todd works on between public projects.
Her color-rich art is created with emphasis on space, form, color, line, rhythm, and content. The artist explains the various types of art she will display at Elverhøj: “These sculptures consist of layers that I erode, which get a very organic look . . . that is both raw and refined. . . . I see a relationship to contemporary life, which seems to have these components.”
Mosaics fascinate Scharling-Todd because she “loves the colors and translucency of glass and the impressionistic pieces that together form a mosaic.” Her mosaics are both free-standing and wall-hung; inspiration for them ranges from human themes to images of the Earth seen from the air while flying.
Her tall, standing sandblasted pieces have, she says, “a delicate translucency that I like.” There are also a number of smaller hanging fused glass pieces, which have a common theme of the human body in motion in 3-D.
Growing up on the small island of Langeland, Denmark, Scharling-Todd attended Copenhagen University, then the Academy of Fine Art in Ravenna Italy for mosaics and the Krefeld School of Art and Architecture in Germany for glass work. She also studied the development of mural art in Mexico. She has a BA in art history and teaching from Aarhus, Denmark. Scharling-Todd now lives in Ventura, California. She has spoken at world symposiums on mosaics in Brazil, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, and Italy.
www.elverhoj.org