CALL FOR ENTRIES: Jutta Cuny-Franz Memorial Award 2019

The Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation, centered at Museum Kunstpalast in Germany, is calling for submissions to the Jutta Cuny-Franz Memorial Award for 2019. Participants cannot be older than 40 years of age by 2019 and their chosen artwork must be from either 2017 or 2018. Each artist can submit three artworks in the form of images, with no more than three images per work, and the artist must own all rights of the images. The biennial award, which is endowed with 10,000 Euro (roughly 12,300 US dollars) is granted to artists whose works feature glass in a significant display of skill and creativity. In addition, two Talent Prizes are awarded, each consisting of 1,500 Euro (roughly 1,845 US dollars) and there are Honorary Diplomas granted as well. The deadline is October 14, 2018 and those who are interested may apply here. Applications may be submitted in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish but any further correspondence will be in English. A choice of entries will be published in the Journal Neues Glas/New Glass. Winners are selected by a jury and the awards will be announced in the Spring of 2019.

Libbey Glass Company, Punch Bowl and Stand with 23 Cups. Thick colorless glass. H 21 ½, W 23 ⅞, D 23 ⅞ in. courtesy: libbey glass company.

Wednesday May 9, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

EXHIBITION: The Toledo Museum of Art celebrates the industrial glass empire that has supported it since 1901

In 1995, when the legendary graphic designer Steff Geissbuhler was asked to re-imagine the logo of the Toledo Museum of Art, he chose a bluish-green color for his window-shaped logo that evoked the hue of float glass as a way to acknowledge the importance of industrial glassware producer Libbey Glass. The company's owner, Edward Drummond Libbey, was the founding patron of the museum, and his generous endowment made it possible to not only acquire significant paintings and sculptures that make it a top-flight art museum, but to offer free admission with no support from the city of Toledo. In 2017, another large gift from Libbey, Inc. endowed the top post at the museum, and Brian Kennedy is now known as the Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey Director. In yet another honor of its great patron, the museum has turned over its Glass Pavilion exhibition space to two centuries of its corporate patron's production, using its own extensive holdings of unusual or notable glass objects by Libbey for its current exhibition "Celebrating Libbey Glass, 1818 - 2018," which runs through November 25, 2018.

A detail from DuGrenier's work Super Art, a work involving glass and bees, which was displayed in New York City's Fulcrum Gallery in the 1990s.

Thursday May 3, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

Designer and artist Robert DuGrenier inducted into Illinois State University's fine art hall of fame

This April, Townshend, Vermont-based artist Robert DuGrenier was inducted into the Illinois State University’s College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame nearly forty years after receiving an MFA in Sculpture from the university. DuGrenier trained as a glassblower and goldsmith at Philadelphia College of Art and Hornsey College of Art in London before continuing on to ISU. His career has been defined by works inspired by environments that gradual change due to the forces of nature. DuGrenier visited ISU to receive the award and presented a hot glass workshop and lecture.

Tom Moore, Pyrotechnic Puffer Fish, 2016. Blown and solid glass, epoxy. H 19¾, W 20, D 11 in. (larger fish) photo: grant hancock.

Thursday April 19, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

Playful glass goblet work takes top honors, $15,000 prize, at contemporary art competition in Australia.

The 2018 winner of the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s annual Tom Malone Prize is Tom Moore, who utilized 15th-century Venetian glassblowing techniques to create two whimsical puffer fish in a work entitled “Pyrotechnic Puffer Fish.” The Tom Malone Prize, now in its sixteenth year, highlights accomplishment and experimentation in Australian glass art with $15,000 in prize money. Moore’s “Pyrotechnic Puffer Fish” was one of sixty applicants and, as the winner, will be incorporated into the gallery’s State Art Collection, which houses works by other winners. Additionally, Moore’s work will be shown in the gallery’s annual Australian contemporary art exhibition alongside the thirteen short-listed artists, such as Holly Grace and Jason Sims, through May 28, 2018.

(front view) Song File #1 - Friends of Prometheus by Julie Alland

Julie Alland, Song File #1 - Friends of Prometheus, 2016. Kilnformed and engraved glass, magnetic audiotape, vintage glass box. H 4 ½, W 6, D 4 in. courtesy: julie alland.

Tuesday April 17, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

EXHIBITION: Philadelphia glass museum seeks to join the visual and the auditory in "Sound + Vision"

The relationship between sound and art has often been explored by artists who attempt to unite the visual and auditory worlds. Through June 10, 2018, the National Liberty Museum of Philadelphia will feature “Sound + Vision,” an exhibition of glass instruments and sculptures that grant a new perspective on sound and visual expression. Thirty-four featured artists created their own interpretations of the relationship between glass art and sound, ranging from glass instruments, some of which are playable, to mosaics of music legends. “Sound + Vision” presents the relationship between music and art through a multitude of stylistic glass works in a collection of different artistic skills and techniques.

Andrew Erdos and Yasue Maetake, Amorphous Terrain, 2018. Blown glass, copper corrosion stain on pulp (kozo, abaca and cotton), steel, industrial safety glass, cane and jute rope. H 144, W 60, D 54 in. photo: kariya hirofumi.

Thursday April 5, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

OPENING: A new collaborative work by Andrew Erdos and Yasue Maetake debuts on Friday in NYC

Andrew Erdos creates large-scale installations using glass (and often video) that engage the concepts of cycles of time and nature. Yasue Maetake is known for exploring environmental themes in monumental sculptures. The two, who are both based in New York, will unveil a collaborative site-specific installation entitled “Amorphous Terrain” on Friday, April 6, which will run through May 13, 2018 at mhPROJECTnyc. With the setting of an anonymous Manhattan office, the towering crystalline structure alludes to the breakdown of time and the shifting power dynamics between artist and material. The ambitious glass arrangement blends the ephemeral qualities of its chosen artistic materials such as hand-pulled glass cane and the industrially-made found objects like broken factory windows. The opening reception for “Amorphous Terrain” will be on Friday, April 6 from 6 PM - 9 PM.

GlassBarge 2018 Port Map. courtesy: corning museum of glass.

Wednesday April 4, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

The Corning Museum's glassblowing barge readies for its summer-long tour of New York State waterways

The Corning Museum of Glass has announced the dates and times of ports of call for its four-month waterway tour known as "GlassBarge," a project which commemorates both the 1868 relocation of the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company from Brooklyn to Corning, New York and the last 150 years of glassmaking in Corning. The summer tour will bring glass-blowing demonstrations along the same route that the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company took through the Hudson River and Erie Canal. The company shipped its glass blowing equipment via the New York Waterways to Corning, where it eventually became the corporation known as Corning, Inc., which founded the museum in 1951. To honor this pivotal relocation, CMoG conceived of and built a 30-by-80-foot barge equipped with patented all-electric glassblowing equipment meant to bring the history of glass out of the museum and into the towns along New York State canals and rivers. Furthermore, the tour, which will kick-off on May 17 at Brooklyn Bridge Park (in conjunction with UrbanGlass, which publishes the Hot Sheet), is meant to honor the continued importance that waterways have on New York’s culture, communities, and industries. After its start in Brooklyn, the tour will conclude on land in Corning on September 22nd with a community-wide celebration. Before its end though, the tour will be hitting Poughkeepsie, Albany, Buffalo, and Seneca Falls, among other cities throughout the summer. The full list and accompanying dates are below.

Robin Rogers, who has been running the Perry Glass Studio as interim director, will now hold the full title. photo: eckard wheeler

Tuesday March 27, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

The Chrysler Makes it Official: Interim manager Robin Rogers is the new Glass Studio manager and program director

When Charlotte Potter left the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, last fall, her outsize role as the museum's Glass Studio manager and program director was filled on an interim basis by longtime assistant manager and technician Robin Rogers. Now the Chrysler has made it official and removed the "interim" from Rogers' title as the Perry Glass Studio manager and program director. In a prepared statement, museum director Erik Neil said he was pleased with Rogers’ performance filling in for Charlotte, adding that Rogers was “very effective in his interim role, increasing participation in classes and programs.” Not only that, but Neil also praised Rogers’ artistic practice.

Close-up of jellyfish tentacle by Kait Rhoads. courtesy: kait rhoads.

Monday March 26, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

Artist Kait Rhoads taps the social aspects of glass work to spread the word about ocean ecology (and celebrate her 50th)

From her murrini-dappled blown vessels to her woven copper-wire-and-glass assemblages, Kait Rhoads' works are often inspired by the colors, forms, and patterning of oceanic forms. Her connection to the water was forged when her family lived on a sailboat in the Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands during her childhood. To celebrate her upcoming 50th birthday on March 31, Rhoads is having a party that will bring together her love of the aquatic, her glass artwork, and her social network for a good cause. She is inviting friends and volunteers to come participate in the construction of jellyfish tentacles for a large-scale art project, which will be displayed at the totally renovated Pacific Seas Aquarium set to replace the 52-year-old North Pacific Aquarium at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. The new aquarium is set to open in Summer 2018. When completed, Rhoads’ project will consist of three large-scale glass jellyfish, each roughly six feet long, that will function as chandeliers in the aquarium’s atrium.

Carole Frève at work.

Tuesday March 20, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

EXHIBITION: Carol Frève makes a literal "connection" using the compatibility of glass and copper in Montreal show

Carole Frève is known for combining glass and copper in projects that contain a narrative essence, drawing not only the eye but human emotion. Currently on view through March 30, 2018, the Espace VERRE Gallery presents Carole Frève’s exhibition, "Connectivity." The works featured in the exhibition ponder the effect an electric current has on copper plating. With the integration of electric currents, sensors, LEDs, and integrated circuits, Frève wishes to establish a dialogue between the art and viewer. She encourages them to draw their own conclusions, to pose questions and find answers within themselves and the art.

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.