MAY 30, 2018

“Balance” by Rick and Tracey Bewley in the lobby at NBC Oklahoma’s OKC Penn location

As part of NBC’s remodel, Rick and Tracey Bewley, who have ArtFusion Studio at 12th and N Western Avenue, created a fused glass and metal sculpture that stands nine feet tall and fits on a 9-foot-by-9-foot square platform, just below the skylight. It’s a striking addition to the bank; they are calling the sculpture “Balance,” a sly reference to bank balances and numbers but also to what they were trying to accomplish with the effect.

The colors in the glass show up both in their home above their studio and in all their work – from large projects to small pieces. Sometimes they even show up in the designs Tracey creates for MTM Recognition, where they both work and where they met years ago. She’s the head of the Del City company’s design department with a degree in fine art and he’s the head of research and development and manages its offshore manufacturing. He’s also a craftsman artist, having worked previously as a trim carpenter and a fabricator and with different materials like plastic and metal.

Married for 17 years, the Bewleys have worked together on fused glass projects for 15 of those years, honing their art as they go. They even produced this year’s glass bowls given to step-up donors to the Allied Arts Campaign.

“Making something out of glass is kind of magical,” Tracey said.

Their fused glass work started when they met a consultant on a glass project through their work at MTM. Since they were interested in learning how to work with glass, they took a three-day intensive course from him in Minnesota and an MTM project to see if he would do it. When he didn’t want to do a mass project for MTM, the Bewleys decided to take it on themselves.

So they bought a kiln and the supplies and tools to produce the glass and they got to work. But after doing the math, and with a priority to finish projects on time as promised, they realized they didn’t have enough time with just one kiln to finish each of the 160 pieces. So they bought a second, larger kiln and got to work, driving to the studio at 4 a.m. to switch out the glass pieces.

These days, after work hours and on weekends, the Bewleys work in their art studio creating fused glass sculptures and other works.

“If we didn’t have such cool day jobs, we would probably do this full time,” Rick Bewley said.

For the NBC sculpture, they loved playing with the big design space and figuring out how to emphasize the glass panels and not the metal holding it. Each panel is a separate hand-cut piece of glass with at least two fused glass panels. Some of them are cut out, and each piece has its own texture.

“We made a specific effort to make sure that all of the pieces had some sort of fused glass element to it, so that it would be uniquely from us,” Tracey said.

When it came time to install it, NBC’s Ken Fergeson had to help as they worked to fit each piece together for the first time.

“We never saw it assembled with the glass until we assembled it on site,” Rick said.

Customers and employees agree that the Bewleys work has been a welcome part of NBC’s facelift in Oklahoma City on North Penn.

“We enjoyed working with the Bewleys on this project for our bank, which has truly become a conversation piece among those who see it when they walk into our lobby,” said H.K. Hatcher, president and CEO of NBC Oklahoma. “The glass sculpture is such an interesting and compelling piece, and it’s a wonderful addition to NBC’s art collection.”

UPCOMING SHOWS AND OTHER ART ON VIEW

Oklahoma City University’s School of Visual Arts will feature Tracey and Rick Bewley’s work during a new exhibit opening with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 1, 2018. See “Reflection: An Exhibition of Glass and Light” the Hulsey Gallery of OCU’s Norick Art Center.
You can also see their work in Oklahoma City metro area in the following spaces, among others listed on the studio’s website, artfusionstudio.com:
“Balance,” NBC Oklahoma, 13401 N Penn, OKC, a nine-foot cubed fused glass and steel sculpture.
“Leipzig,” Southern Nazarene University’s Science Building, a 10-foot-cubed sculpture of neon-colored acrylic and chromed steel that hangs in the entryway. The sculpture, named after a German scientist, echoes the microscopic images of blood pathogens and cells.
“Learn, Grow, Reflect,” a sculpture of fused dichroic glass and textured aluminum outside Wilson Elementary School.
Two large fused glass and steel-layered pieces hang on the walls of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.
A fused glass and metal sculpture comprises a wall in the Allied Arts headquarters. The Bewleys also created all the glass bowls that were given to step-up donors in the recent Allied Arts campaign.
A nine-foot tall steel cut-out sculpture, created in collaboration with Dan Garrett, stands in Deer Creek High School and depicts a deer with antlers; antlers are the school’s mascot.

WHAT IS FUSED GLASS?

Fused glass features layers of glass fused together in a kiln. Different temperatures produce different effects, and molds will affect the shapes. The Bewleys will often put the color on underneath and a transparent sheet of glass on top, but sometimes they use more layers – and multiple colors.

Sculptors bring 'Balance' to NBC Oklahoma's OKC lobby