Viewing articles by Andrew Page

Pam Koss pictured during the 2016 Glass Art Society Conference in Corning, New York.

Tuesday May 8, 2018 | by Andrew Page

After 14 years, Pam Koss will step down as executive director of the Glass Art Society

Following next week's ambitious 2018 Glass Art Society annual conference in Murano, Italy, the artist organization's long-serving executive director Pam Figenshow Koss has announced that she will step down. Though she plans on staying on through the end of June 2018, the announcement issued late last night brings the curtain down on her 14-year tenure.

In Chicago, James Yood delivered the 2014 Glass Art Society Conference Strattman Lecture entitled “W(h)ither Glass? The Next 50 Years.” photo: heather ahrens. courtesy: glass art society

Tuesday April 24, 2018 | by Andrew Page

In Memoriam: James Yood (1952 - 2018)

An important critical voice on visual art fell silent last weekend with the sudden death of James Yood, who regularly penned articles for Artforum, art ltd., and Aperture in addition to Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly, the print magazine which produces the Hot Sheet. Yood's first article as a contributing editor to Glass was a Spring 2001 review of a Jim Dine exhibition in Chicago, where Yood immediately revealed his keen eye not only for sculpture, but sensitivity to the unique nature of glass and the commitment required to unlock its unique material properties. Calling the exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery "more of a roller coaster experience than one might have expected going in," he pointed out how Dine's embedding of found tools contrasted with Mary Shaffer's exploration of similar terrain. Unintimidated by Dine's art-star reputation, Yood drew a pointed contrast with another artist's richer approach: "Dine seems to use glass as some kind of silicon paint, as colored or clear substance that is optically penetrable and an excellent sheathing for his tools, while Shaffer sees glass as volumetric and weighty, often using slumping as a device to emphasize gravity and process."

Jeremy Lepisto in the studio. photo: adam mcgrath

Wednesday April 18, 2018 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for ... Jeremy Lepisto

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What have you been working on? Jeremy Lepisto: Currently, my time is divided between my full-time position at the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design as a Technical Officer in the Sculpture Workshop as well as the School’s Work Health and Safety Officer, completing a long-overdue PhD degree, fabricating for others. and making new gallery work. As part of my PhD research, I'm creating a collection of stacking sculptures that compile together (physically and metaphorically) into a mixed-media series of sculptures. The shape and structure of these sculptures are based on the form of a common shipping container. This research looks to explore the duality of effects delivered to the agencies of people/places/objects through the utilization of the modern shipping container. …

Attendees at Expanding Horizons 2017 included (L to R) mentor Mark Morris with student Jeremiah Brown from YAYA, New Orleans; student Dantrell Blake with mentor Alex Krueger from Project Fire, Chicago; student Santiago Aquilera with mentor Josh Laabs from Ignite, Chicago; student Nia Fairley with mentor Joe Waropay from Ignite, Chicago; student Taquita Pendelton with mentor Tracy Kirchmann from After School Matters Program, Chicago; and student Tanner Martin with mentor Trenton Quicho from Hilltop, Tacoma.

Wednesday April 4, 2018 | by Andrew Page

Deadline Extended: Week-long, expenses-paid program for under-served glass students accepting applications through April 15th

Offering talented high-school-student artists from under-served communities the opportunity to experience glass art at a new level, the Expanding Horizons program will return in 2018. Applications will now be accepted through April 15th, 2018, for the expenses-paid week-long program designed to give high-school-aged students in after-school glass-art programs around the U.S. a chance to experience the wide world of glass art in greater depth. The project is a partnership between the Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass and the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation. (Disclosure: Glass Hot Sheet editor Andrew Page is also the Minkoff Foundation director)

Tuesday April 3, 2018 | by Andrew Page

The Museum of Arts and Design announces its new director will be Cranbrook's Christopher Scoates

The Museum of Arts and Design has selected Christopher Scoates as its next Nanette L. Laitman Director. Currently leading the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, Scoates will bring a diverse range of accomplishments in his four years at the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, art college including building an experimental media department, recruiting a more diverse board, and proven proficiency in fundraising, all of which were cited as highlights of his track record in the official announcement by the New York institution that has seen a parade of directors come and go. Glenn Adamson took over from MAD's long-serving director Holly Hotchner in 2013. He was replaced in 2016 by Jorge Daniel Veneciano, who served only five months at the post before resigning in January 2017. As a new search was underway, MAD board president Michele Cohen served as interim director, and she will be succeeded by Scoates when he officially takes the reins on July 1, 2018.

Thursday March 22, 2018 | by Andrew Page

In Memoriam: Ulrica Hydman Vallien (March 24, 1938 - March 21, 2018)

Prominent Swedish artist and designer Ulrica Hydman Vallien, whose dramatic painted glass designs of intertwined snakes and floral imagery, as well as expressive animal and human faces, became synonymous with the identity of the Kosta-Boda glass company for the past four decades, died suddenly just days before her 80th birthday, which would have been this coming Saturday. The news broke via her husband Bertil Vallien's brief but poignant Facebook posting yesterday: "My beloved ulricas warm heart stopped beating Tonight. An incomprehensible loss. Bertil"

Thursday March 8, 2018 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Spring 2018 edition of Glass (#150)

The Spring 2018 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#150) has hit newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. The cover article is devoted to the work of Hiromi Takizawa, who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years but remains in close contact with her family and friends in her native Japan. Teaching full-time at Cal State Fullerton, she is overseeing a complete rebuild of the glass studio as she continues to explore the metaphorical concept of distance. Contributing editor Victoria Josslin cites Takizawa's 2010 dissertation title from her MFA studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, which was "Duality and Parallel Lives," as the artist's primary preoccupation which "she has continued to explore, expand, and deepen" in the eight years since completing her degree.

Christopher Taylor led the Philadelphia-based Clay Studio for over seven years before accepting the position as Pilchuck's new executive director.

Wednesday February 21, 2018 | by Andrew Page

Pilchuck's new executive director, Christopher Taylor, is former head of prominent ceramics nonprofit

In the months since James Baker announced he'd step down as Pilchuck's executive director last August after eight years at its helm, the board of Pilchuck Glass School have been searching for a replacement to lead this international glass center. Tonight, Baker's replacement has been announced: Christopher Taylor, who has been leading The Clay Studio based in Philadelphia since 2011, will be relocating to Washington State. The official announcement by Pilchuck cites Taylor's success growing the ceramics organization, expanding its audience, and boosting fundraising power, as well as his potential in helping to grow the glass center's outreach to youth and underserved youth in the Northwest Coast area.

Thursday January 11, 2018 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass seeks full-time assistant curator

FILED UNDER: Help Wanted, Museums

The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah, Wisconsin, is seeking a graduate-degreed candidate with museum experience to fill the open position of assistant curator. With a wide range of responsibilities -- from maintaining exhibit records to assisting in their organization, from overseeing exhibit installation to managing the museum's collections database, from maintaining donor records to engaging visitors through tours and written materials -- this full-time position that reports to the museum's executive director, Jan Smith, requires a masters degree in art, art history, museum studies, or related experience, as well as demonstrated ability in the Past Perfect museum collection management software.

A sought-after instructor, Signoretto was a regular at Pilchuck, and also taught in Japan. Here he is at Corning, where he was filmed for a documentary by Robin Lehman for his "Glass Masters at Work" series.

Thursday January 4, 2018 | by Andrew Page

In Memoriam: Pino Signoretto (1944 - 2017)

FILED UNDER: In Memoriam

One of the most famous and widely hailed glass masters in the world, Pino Signoretto, known for his incredible facility in sculpting from hot glass, died at the age of 74 on December 30th, 2017. Equally comfortable fabricating for international artists such as Salvatore Dali, Kiki Smith, and Jeff Koons, he never abandoned the traditional clowns and other classic Murano figures, which he rendered at larger scale and with greater fluidity than anybody else. A funeral service was held at the church of Santa Maria e San Donato, one of the oldest churches in Venice, on January 3rd, 2018, to honor the man Alfredo Barbini once called the rare type of maestro who comes along once in a century.

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.