Viewing articles by Chelsea Liu

Matthew Curtis, Ediface Pair Blue Gold, 2018. Blown and fused glass, stainless steel. H 23 1/2. W 17 3/4, D 8 in. courtesy: beth hirsch

Tuesday June 19, 2018 | by Chelsea Liu

CONVERSATION: Matthew Curtis on light, craft, and exhibiting internationally

Through July 15th, Australia-based artist Matthew Curtis is showcasing his latest body of work in the exhibit "Matthew Curtis: Intersect" at LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe. The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet asked him a few questions about how his work has been developing, what it's been like to exhibit internationally, and where he sees himself going from here. Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet: Does the work in this exhibition represent a new direction for you? Matthew Curtis: This work signifies a subtle shift in my use of the material. It is a continuation in exploring the blown glass bubble, in slicing these elements and compiling them into fields of components. These are then fused together, creating a plane of glass, reminiscent of the cross section of the internal structure of organic growth. So there are similarities in both narrative and structure, yet I have been able to work with more abstracted color fields.…

Gabe Feenan, Rider, 2016. Blown and solid hot-assembled glass. H 30 1/2, W 10, D 3 in. courtesy: the artist

Thursday June 14, 2018 | by Chelsea Liu

EXHIBITION: Bellevue Arts Museum readies its "Glasstastic" biennial surveying Northwest glass art

From Chihuly to Tagliapietra, glass has long had a storied history in the Pacific Northwest. That the Bellevue Museum in Washington will be devoting the last in its series of materials-based biennials to the medium is a fitting finale for the fifth iteration. The museum's juried exhibition has been occurring every two years, and offers a curated platform for regional, established and up-and-coming voices in art, craft, and design. On the heels of past shows on clay, fiber, wood, and metal, this fall's 2018 "Glasstastic Biennale" will celebrate the medium perhaps closest to Seattle’s heart. As executive director and chief curator of BAM Benedict Heywood stated in an exhibition announcement: “With Seattle being the undisputed center for the development of glass as an art form in North America, it was natural that this medium should have been selected to culminate the Museum's series of media-based biennials...The simplicity of its composition, the complexity of its production, the many forms it can take—blown, cast, frit, stained—as well as its many uses, from the stained-glass of a medieval cathedral to the modernist skyscraper, from the Venetian goblet to the IKEA tealight, attest to the fact that glass is a paradoxical material, that has inspired the artists of the Northwest for generations."

Matthew Curtis, Section Teal Uranium, 2018. Blown and fused glass, stainless steel. H 11 3/4, W 17 1/4, D 7 3/4 in. courtesy: beth hirsch.

Thursday June 7, 2018 | by Chelsea Liu

OPENING: Mesmerizing new work by Matthew Curtis debuts in "Intersect" exhibit at LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe

Mesmerically patterned and radiant, the works of Australian artist Matthew Curtis are something uncanny in how they read as both organic and artificial. Inspired by what Curtis describes in his artist statement as the "exquisite architecture of cellular growth and how these biologically derived structures are reflected in our built environment," the interplay between the man-made solidity of the materials and the light and delicacy of glass filaments. With an opening on June 8th and running through July 15th, they will be on view at LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in an exhibition entitled "Matthew Curtis: Intersect."