Art Review | Megan Biddle: Through Line at No. 5 Butchie Alley
Exhibition Dates: September 6 - October 12, 2025
Philadelphia, PA
My visit to the opening of Megan Biddle’s exhibition of glass sculptures and monoprints at No. 5 Butchie Alley in early September was my introduction to the gallery and to Biddle’s work. I was intrigued by both and arranged to come back and talk to Megan when it was quieter. Little did I know that a Sunday afternoon visit would include a delicious slice of plum Dutch Baby freshly made by the gallerist, Terri Saulin, who is also a ceramicist and chef. I was also treated to a crash-course explanation of glass casting by Megan, who teaches at Tyler. I’ve never worked in glass and after hearing all that goes into it, I probably never will. But understanding the pâte-de-verre technique Megan uses gave me a better appreciation of her experimental and process-driven work. The granular texture of the medium also explained why the glass pieces look like sugary confections. In pâte-de-verre, glass powder or frit (crushed glass) is mixed with a binder to create a paste that is then applied to a mold, fired in a kiln, then cold-worked for any clean up. The fused powder takes on a mysterious translucence with elusive sparkles. You almost have to look sideways to see them through the matte finish.
The 2D and 3D works explore symbolic abstractions of tubular shapes. A publication of Biddle’s sketchbook concurrent with the exhibition shows the genesis of the artworks. The title of the exhibition, Through Line, seems both descriptive and slyly mordant. There is an unabashed dalliance with biomorphism. Our bodies are filled with various lines: tubes, ducts, canals, and conduits. The glass works in the exhibition hang on walls or sit on shelves (with the assistance of handsomely understated hardware) like specimens. There is an intimacy established by their size and color. The palette of both the sculptures and works on paper falls within the part of the spectrum culturally devalued as girly or frivolous: pinks, lavenders, and purples. They are also the colors of body parts and bruises. That double reading or dichotomy is a key to finding a way into this complex work.
There are 12 glass sculptures and four monoprints in the show. Six of the sculptures are part of a series called “Rockfaces.” These have components that are made using investment molds of rocks from the Wissahickon that Biddle brought home. These cast-glass rock bases are white. She adds extrusions of small colored tubular shapes and masses to the rock faces. The results are gestural, organic fragments that could be fossil specimens or cosmic doodles. Every part of these small gems are considered. Biddle applies a pink metallic foil to the backs. Because they are installed slightly away from the wall they cast a rosy glow. The tubular forms on the surface seem to draw vitality from the depths.
The other sculptures play with notions of inside and outside, hollowness and solidity, gravity and weight, and expectation. The piece titled “Drained” is a wonderful example with its humorous elegance. Its shape is a flaccid, pendulous sausage-like tube colored in reverse ombré purples. There is a small opening at the top where the tube flops over, pinching together both sides around the pivot. Intellectually you know this is how a soft tube would behave, but here we have a simulacrum that is hyperreal and makes up its own rules regarding buckling and deformation. Other pieces in the series are singular bone-like shapes or bundles of tubes. They all explore how the manipulation of materials can be both imitative and transcend the familiar.
Biddle’s monoprints are thoughtful companions for the sculptures. In our discussion, Megan talked about how the prints illustrate the processes that the sculptures capture. What at first glance seem to be random squiggles reveal themselves to be explorations in understanding complexity through repetition and variation. These works are made with stencils, watercolor and gum arabic on Mylar. Simple materials used to convey the mysteries of time and space, and our relationship to them.
I aways enjoy a good technical explanation. Until now I have been using the word pâte de verre without really knowing how it was done. Not anymore!