In “From Woods to Water, the Interelationship of Living Things” artist Roman Tybinko presents a two-year, seasonally changing installation of both indoor and outdoor artwork on glass. Tybinko’s paintings are in vitreous enamels, the Medieval glass-stainers’ medium. Tybinko was intrigued by the lack of uniformity on surfaces of historic glass which led him to study painting with vitreous enamels. Artworks inside Highfield Hall will be in light boxes using incandescent light, while outdoor installations in Highfield’s Sunken Garden will be housed in wood frames mounted on steel, and will be naturally lit. These works on glass are meant to be day lit, but their imagery is subject to weather conditions, time of day, seasonal changes and position of the sun on the horizon. The resulting images are layered and created by internal reflections and shadows. There are degrees of uncertainty that their imagery will be seen the same way each time it is visible.

Having recently moved from the Philadelphia area, Mr. Tybinko and his wife are now year-round residents of Falmouth, and joyfully so despite the degrees of precariousness that is part of living on land that extends out in the Atlantic Ocean. He says these works address this theme of precarity that is shared by every living thing on this land and in its surrounding waters. Industrial glass is a sturdy material that allows our interior spaces to be naturally lit as well as warmed, but it can also shatter, and that fragility is also a built-in metaphor for a concern about our human-altered climate. The artist is optimistic that this installation will weather it well, as we also do well when we focus our attention on the natural world around us.

Dates: June 3rd, 2025 – June 6th, 2027

Location: Sunken Garden and in Highfield Hall