The Nature of Time

MSP Terminal 1, Gate E8
February 4, 2021 - July 2021

Reversed painting on glass originated in medieval Europe and was used widely in religious art. Since the 15th century the technique spread, developing into folk art traditions across Eastern Europe, India, and Asia. Typically, the glass was decorated on the back either with unfired paint or gilded.

The technique starts with details, highlights, and shadows, builds backgrounds last and is signed backwards.

Michèle’s process combines both paint and gold to create images of color and light. The gold leaf applied at the end, when the paint is dry, shines through multiple translucent layers of color.

The Nature of Time is a tangle of figures, baroque patterns, tumbling flower mandalas inspired by nature and the passage of time.

“My images are glass tapestries in which I invite the viewer to get lost – and found – in palettes of gold, copper, and pools of color.” -Michèle Coppin