Cora Jane Glasser is a third generation New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and residing in Manhattan. She received her education in New York City public schools, and earned her undergraduate degree at Queens College, studying fine arts as well as anthropology, sociology, history, and literature. She received a Juris Doctor degree from Hofstra University and further art education at the Arts Students League. International travels led her to become interested in the ruins of ancient civilizations, which later morphed into an interest in urban construction and demolition sites.
Glasser was born in Brooklyn, raised there and in Queens. Her family history is deeply entrenched in the history of the City. Her grandparents were part of the Eastern European immigrant population which quickly and literally wove itself into the fabric of New York. Her father’s family worked in a building trade (glaziers, actually, a trade brought with them from the old country), and her mother’s in the garment and entertainment industries. She was raised watching her grandmother work at her sewing machine (the old Singer sits as a tribute in her studio), as well as the large radio around which everyone gathered to listen to news and entertainment, and argue politics. Her father liked to give family tours around the city, pointing out buildings and landmarks and talking about what it was like growing up in New York.
Growing up through the 1950s and 1960s, she experienced the many changes brought about by the Civil Rights and Feminists movements. She saw progress give way to over-development of the physical environment and gained an appreciation of the stories of her grandparents and parents. She gained an acute sense of the passage of time, of presence and absence. After the death of her father in 2002, she operated his business for several years, getting some hands on experience in what was traditionally not a “girl’s” job.
Her art practice, always a work in progress, is influenced by her life experiences:
“From childhood, I have been acutely aware of construction and demolition sites, with their iconic language of color, form and energy. They convey tensions between old and new, presence and absence, solid and void. These are universal matters. I take my imagery from these sites, using fragments of memory and current, fleeting impressions. I approach my work by deconstructing, fragmenting and abstracting, and then rebuilding by pulling iconic visual cues to the surface with the use of color, form, and texture. This non-representational process evokes gut recognition, and an ambiguous sense of place…. Recently, I have expanded my interest in the constructed city to include visual interplay between the man-made and the natural. In the series, “Sunrise in the West”, I explore sunlight as structure – how, it reflects, diffuses and fairly inhabits buildings, insinuating itself, overpowering metal, glass and concrete.”
-Cora Jane Glasser
Glasser’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows nationally and internationally, and is held in private, corporate and municipal collections. She works from her studio in Long Island City, overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
“Art describing urban life has a long history, but Glasser has something new to offer: the chaos of city life lyrically written, in light of gritty construction, asphalt streets, and renderings indicative of the abstract forms that occur in urban life. “
-Jonathan Goodman, art writer and educator
“Glasser probes the physical and emotional persistence of presence and absence in urban life.”
-Ann Aptaker, writer, curator, educator
