Grace Knowlton Untitled

The untitled works shown in the northwest section of City Hall Park are three spheres by Grace Knowlton (1932–2020, b. Buffalo, NY) made of Design-Cast, a man-made stone. The largest measures seven feet in diameter and is painted jade, black, and silver. The other two spheres measure five and six feet in diameter, respectively. The mottled surface of the Design-Cast is visible beneath the abstract drawings that cover the spheres.

The three works on display represent the most recent stage of development in Knowlton’s work. As a painter, Knowlton desired three-dimensionality for her work and planned to attach rubber shapes to her canvases. The idea for her spheres evolved out of her work with clay, which she used to create molds for the rubber attachments.

Knowlton first began experimenting with clay spheres as capsules for space and has since gone on to fabricate spheres of concrete and Design-Cast. With each new medium the focus of Knowlton’s work shifted. When working with concrete, the artist was most concerned with form and volume; the spheres of Design-Cast, represented in this exhibition, reflect Knowlton’s concern with the surface of the work and are virtually “paintings in the round.”