Aaron Pexa is an American artist and architect. He earned his MFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2014. He also holds a dual Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from Washington University in Saint Louis, and Bachelors in Studio Art from Carleton College. Prior to studying glass at RISD, Aaron worked as an architect and urban designer in London and New Orleans. This past summer he received a travel grant to research glassmaking techniques along Finland’s Glass Trail, and prior to his CGCA residency was at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou on a Chinese Government Scholarship to promote cross-cultural exchange. Core to his practice is utilizing glass and its optic qualities as sets, atmosphere, and props to create narratives. During his residency, Aaron will produce a series of glass dioramas and objects that will serve as backdrops for short films that explore imagined mythology and modern-day fairy tales.

“As an artist, I incite rupture and introduce bewilderedness into our surroundings. My work in sculpture, installation, performance, and video fractures and reframes everyday environments through the creation of artifacts, sleight of hand actions, and experimental operations. I use video to explore ideas, document process, create environments, tell stories, frame visual effects, animate objects, and generate fictional space. In the capture and manipulation of fleeting moments, the framed events focus the viewer intently on the present, rupture stabilized vision, and transport us to a bewildered actuality.”