Low Down Articles
Artist Profiles - Robert Moeller
Article 47 of 73
From the book Artists of the Gatineau Hill by Catherine Joyce. This article first appeared in the "Artist Profiles" column in the March 28, 2007 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Cathedral of Glass
Robert Moeller's passion for the luminous possibilities of glasswork began in a church in 1980 when sunlight fell through the stained glass windows of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in Berlin. The colours glowed as if from within, cascading over him in bands of radiant light. Upon his return home Robert began exploring the medium that would one day become his life's work.
Born in Ottawa in 1963, Robert initially studied science for one year at Ottawa University, then shifted to psychology for his BA. He obtained his Masters in Educational Psychology at Waterloo and began his career as a Psychometrist with the Durham Board of Education. Six years later he returned to Ottawa to work at the Riverside Professional Centre.
As a child he had always loved art classes but the prevailing attitude toward the arts was eloquently captured on a towel dispenser in a university washroom: "Arts Degrees. Take One." That cultural message kept him in his steady day job until the imperative to express himself more deeply precipitated a move to the Gatineau Hills.
Robert's work is inspired by David Suzuki's Declaration of Interdependence: "We are the air, we are the water, we are the earth, we are the sun". He evokes that sacred balance in his triptychs of glass - each one a haiku of exquisite precision. By layering Japanese paper and translucent mica from the earth, threading fine copper filament for the wind and beads of crushed glass for rain, he captures that sense of interdependence as the sun pours through his altar pieces, allowing the fragile qualities of the elements to shine through.
"I grew up in the Catholic Church but Nature is now my sacred space. With the triptychs I wanted to keep the idea of looking at a church window but replaced the images of the saints with trees and textures representing the elements that sustain life in the forest and beyond. We have to shift our focus, to see the fragility of the planet and what we are doing to it.
"I remember sitting in Notre Dame Cathedral and gazing up at the ceiling with its blue vault painted with gold stars. The columns seemed like gigantic tree trunks as if the sky had opened up above. I thought - why not build a cathedral made of forest trees and open sky? Now in my work I seek this purity of focus, this peaceful, meditative space,"
Of late Robert has been drawn to photography in his continuing search for the luminous qualities of the world around him. On sunny days he often goes on long walks to document the fields of light dwelling within the smallest details - blue shadows on the snow, glint of ice on water, the beaded sunrise on a leaf. His glasswork is a mirror of such beauty but he knows it cannot compare with the original. Surrounded by a quality of light that no artist can equal, each moment in Nature just is.
After years of exhibiting his work at the Lansdowne Spring and Christmas Craft Fairs, and at the annual Art in the Park in the Glebe, Robert joined the Studio Tour in 2006, showcasing his glass altar panels, textural plates, bowls and platters from his new home and studio overlooking Wakefield Village.