Viewing articles by Malcolm Morano

Benajmin Edols and Kathy Elliott, "Surge" series, 2015. Blown Glass, wheel carved. H 17, W 11 1/2, D 7 in. photo: ben townsend

Tuesday August 9, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

The collaborative career of Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott featured in museum exhibition in Japan

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Museums, New Work

Benjamin Edols and Kathy Elliott have been creating polished, largely opaque, and intensely colored glass forms over a 24-year collaborative career. The full range of this prolific partnership is currently on view at the Toyama Glass Art Museum. Entitled “Light Marks,” and on exhibit through September 25, 2016, the show marks the first time their modestly-scaled, buoyant works have been shown in a full career retrospective. In addition to the 46 works that span the pair's history, four previously unseen examples from their latest "Deluge" series of more-transparent, meticulously carved vessels, are also included in this extensive exhibition.

Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, "Man View III," 2015. Kiln-fired paint and photo decals on glass, wood/metal support. H 32, W 21, D 1 1/2 in. courtesy: susan stinsmuehlen-amend.

Thursday July 28, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

OPENING: Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend’s new group exhibition more than a family affair

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Opening

Curators will sometimes put together a group of artists who explore similar territory as a way to present varied takes on an individual theme. A new exhibition at the Studio Channel Islands' Blackboard Gallery this August groups works allied not only by subject matter but by blood ties. Glass artist Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend will join her husband, painter Richard Amend, and son, ceramic sculptor Wyatt Amend, in the wittily-titled exhibit "Making Amends," which will run from August 4th through the 27th. Individual works as well as cross-media collaborations will reveal shared artistic methods and concerns that take the exhibit's rationale well beyond simple familial ties.

Dale Chihuly, Golden Amethyst Persian Wall, 2016. Blown glass. H 35, W 74 in. courtesy: chihuly studio.

Wednesday July 20, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

Gallery exhibition in the Berkshires offers Chihuly at a human scale

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News

Dale Chihuly is best known for his monumental glass sculptures that transform museums, botanical gardens, or even cities where they are installed, remaking and forcing new ways of seeing well-known spaces. This summer offers a unique opportunity to see new site-specific Chihuly works in a more intimate setting. Through August 28th, Schantz Galleries is presenting its first-ever exhibition of Chihuly’s work, and it's a rare chance to see Chihuly work at a relatively more modest scale. That said, three site-specific installations are on display, a Persian Wall and two Chandeliers in addition to many smaller works, such as work from his "Venetians" and "Black Cylinders" series.

Dr. Christopher Maxwell will take his place as curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass in October 2016. courtesy: corning museum of glass.

Tuesday July 19, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

After two-year vacancy, The Corning Museum of Glass welcomes new curator of European glass

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Museums, News

Filling a position that was vacated when Audrey Whitty left for a position at the National Museum of Ireland in 2014, the Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) has appointed Christopher Maxwell as its new curator of European glass. Currently working as a European associate at the U.S.-based art dealer Travis Hansoon Fine Art, Maxwell will be responsible for cataloging and exhibiting the Corning’s extensive collection of European glass works that date back to the early medieval period, when he assumes his new post in October 2016. Maxwell has worked in various roles including curator at the U.K.'s Royal Collection Trust, and as an assistant curator of ceramics and glass at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow in 2014.

Ron Desmett and Kathleen Mulcahy, co-founders of Pittsburgh Glass Center. courtesy: pittsburgh glass center.

Wednesday July 13, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

An improbable success story, Pittsburgh Glass Center’s 15th anniversary is indeed a celebration

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

Pittsburgh Glass Center will celebrate its 15th anniversary this month, marking an important milestone for a glass institution that seemed like a long shot when it opened in 2001 in a run-down part of a small, economically stagnant city. Fast forward to today, and it has become a destination for some of the world's most famous glass artists, a respected exhibition venue, and a source for high-level master classes. The Pittsburgh Glass Center is an improbable success story; and, in many ways, its story is the tale of renewal that is Pittsburgh's in the 21st century. PGC and the city will celebrate the milestone on Saturday, July 16th, with an event called “Ignite + Imbibe: Handcrafted Beverages by the Fire.” From 6 PM to 9 PM, those in attendance can drink beverages from local distilleries and watch glass artists give vessel-themed glass blowing “pourformances,” while toasting this scrappy center for glass art that has willed itself into the upper tiers of public access studios in the country.

Tuesday July 12, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

BOOK REPORT: Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace

FILED UNDER: Book Report

Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace Essays by Mark Doty, Daniel J. Hinkley, Patricia Kirkpatrick, and Linda Tesner Marquand Books, 216 pages. $39.56 (via Amazon). The decades-long artistic collaboration between artists and partners Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace comes to life in a 216-page book that includes over 100 high-quality photographs of mixed-media work, as well as a lengthy essay by Linda Tesner, the director of the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art at Lewis & Clark College. There is no shortage of chronological or technical detail in these pages, though one longs for a stronger analysis of what unites the pair’s varied bodies of work which range from figurative drawings on glass vessels to abstract assemblages.

Ed Carpenter, Crocus, 2016. Stainless steel and laminated glass. H 852, W 240 in. photo: ed carpenter and deoa.

Wednesday July 6, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

Glass figures prominently into monumental new public artwork unveiled in Taiwan

FILED UNDER: Announcements, New Work, Opening, Public Art

A 72-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide public sculpture designed by architectural installation artist Ed Carpenter was unveiled in June 2016 in Taichung, Taiwan. Made from stainless steel and laminated glass, the sculpture stands at the intersection of two public parks outside of the Taichung City Council building.

Andy Paiko, Indefinite Sum #6, 2016. Blown, sculpted, etched, lacquered, mirrored, assembled glass, brass, leather. H 21, W 96, D 12 in. image: kenek photography, courtesy of wexler gallery.

Thursday June 30, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

Ornate assemblage artist Andy Paiko wins Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

Artist and designer Andy Paiko — known for his highly intricate, often kinetic, glass fabrications — has received a 2015 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award. The biennial juried award grants $20,000 to 30 artists to provide “the opportunity to produce new work, to push the boundaries of their creativity.” If Louis Comfort Tiffany's designs advanced glass lamps and jewelry as art, Andy Paiko has effectively been doing the reverse, provoking us to consider art glass objects as functioning, moving, active utilitarian devices. That very distinction between aesthetic and functional value seems to be a boundary that he seeks to erase.

Arts In The Village Dedication Barrys2 2

Richard and Carolyn Barry have donated generously to both Old Dominion University and the Chrysler Museum of Art. courtesy: old dominion university

Tuesday June 28, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

Major Chrysler Museum benefactors donate private collection to nearby university in $35 million gift

FILED UNDER: Architecture, Exhibition, News

Prominent Norfolk, Virginia-area philanthropists Richard and Carolyn Barry, whose names adorn the Chrysler Museum of Art's glass curator position, have just announced that their art collection will be gifted to Old Dominion University in nearby Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Barrys' collection is part of a $35-million gift to the academic institution that is earmarked for the construction of a new museum building to house their collection— which includes over 100 sculptural objects from some of the most prominent Studio Glass artists such as Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, and Harvey Littleton.

Beth Lipman, Distill #13, 2015. Cast iron, enamel, chrome plating. H 12, W 7, D 6 in. photo: arts/industry program of the john michael kohler arts center and kohler co.

Thursday June 23, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

OPENING: Beth Lipman leaves glass behind in newest body of work

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, Opening

Of the thirteen new works Beth Lipman will unveil Saturday, June 25th, at an opening at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York City, none include the material of glass with which she made her career. Instead, the works in the exhibition entitled "Distill" are primarily cast iron. For this body of work, Lipman made dioramas by arranging ancient flora, such as conifer and ginkgo, alongside pieces of miniature furniture in cardboard boxes, which were then filled with molten iron. The result is a series of fossil-like tableaus, where seemingly ancient pieces of modern furniture are overtaken by organic matter.