Artist statement

My work grows from personal narratives, family histories, and the ways memory becomes embedded in the body. I am interested in how experiences shape our sense of identity and remain with us as we change. I often think of the body as a container that holds, carries, and changes over time. Throughout my practice, I have explored femininity, gender, family, childhood, and belonging.

 

I work primarily with glass, while moving between techniques, processes, and materials. I am drawn to its fragility, strength, luminosity, and ability to change. Working with glass is much like performing a delicate dance. The choreography required to manipulate the material in such a hot and intense environment demands precision, intuition, and collaboration. Each piece becomes an exploration of this fragile balance, where every movement, shift in temperature, and interaction with the material can affect the final form. I may begin by forming glass while it is hot, then return to it later to cut, reshape, assemble, or manipulate it before bringing it back into heat.

 

This repeated process also shapes the way I work between two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. I may flatten a three-dimensional object into a surface and later return it to physical space, or bring an image, pattern, or piece of fabric into an object or body. I am interested in how forms change as they move between these states, and how a different way of seeing can emerge through that movement.

 

I am interested in the space between control and unpredictability, and in what can happen when a material does not fully follow the form I intended. I often allow the process to change the work rather than trying to return it to its original state. Humor and playfulness also enter my work, giving me a way to approach vulnerable subjects with openness and allowing discomfort, tenderness, and uncertainty to exist together.

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BIO

Sitar Balaban (b. 1994, Israel) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with glass and incorporating textiles, metal, concrete, and print-based processes. She is currently an MFA candidate in Glass at the University of Texas at Arlington. Balaban received her B.F.A. with honors in Ceramic and Glass Design from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

Balaban’s work has been exhibited internationally in Israel, France, and the United States, including at the Eretz Israel Museum, the Arlington Museum of Art, the BIG Festival in Biot, France, and EN Gallery in Seattle. Her work has also been featured in New Glass Review 45 and the Glass Fashion Show by Laura Donefer during the Glass Art Society Conference in Corning, New York.

She has received scholarships and awards from the Polonsky Foundation, AIDA, Penland School of Craft, and the University of Texas at Arlington. Balaban has participated in international programs and at Pilchuck Glass School, the Corning Studio, and D.O. Studio in Mexico.

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