Heller Gallery is pleased to present Stranger Together, our first gallery exhibition of Brooklyn-based artists Alison Siegel and Pamela Sabroso.

In Stranger Together the two artists have delved deeper into their collaboration. The duo’s exuberant, vessel-based forms take on the shape and surface structure of the plants, fruits, vegetables and shells used to make their molds. A key part of the exhibition will be pom pom installations made with contributions from their community, including Siegel’s grandmother. The foraged and found materials used in their pieces come from excursions to Dead Horse Bay beach, their walks in New York City and a trip to Sabroso’s native Peru. Methodical and meditative preparatory work, which includes everything from making parts and wax molds for blowing glass to pom pom parties with friends and family, is punctuated with high-risk glass-blowing sessions. ‘In order to be creative you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable. And when you are honest about who you are, you reveal a unique and strange perspective. Our combined creations are Stranger Together,’ says Sabroso of her and Siegel’s work.

Siegel & Sabroso started collaborating in 2014, and found that their ideas grow into forms through drawings, discussions and the physical action of making together. Their joint process encourages more risk-taking and gives them the ability to bring two distinct perspectives to each object. The final work has an effervescent, animated quality and their pieces imprint as colorful, fresh and unconventional.

While their sophisticated, labor-intensive process date-stamps their work to the 21st century, the two artists channel a more essential creative freedom that recalls the early American Studio Glass practitioners’ exploration of glassblowing in the tumultuous Age of Aquarius.

Pamela Sabroso holds a 2007 BFA in Crafts and Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. Alison Siegel received her BA in Fine Arts in 2009 at Alfred University. The two met, live and work in Brooklyn, NY.