OPENING: Gene Koss debuts new work at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

At his new exhibition "From a Distance," which opened on Saturday, January 9, Gene Koss unveiled a wide range of mixed-media work. The new glass-and-metal works at Arthur Roger Gallery in downtown New Orleans reference two very different environments — the majestic rural landscape of Wisconsin farmland where Koss grew up, and the more vulnerable Mississippi River Delta ecosystem, where man-made engineering vies with the unruly river and gulf waters that are held at bay, imperfectly, through an elaborate system of levees and dams.

Wednesday January 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: April Surgent exhibition debuts at the Museum of Northwest Art on Saturday

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, New Work

Opening January 9, 2016, April Surgent's exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art entitled "Observations of Life on Ice" employs the age-old practice of cameo glass engraving to comment on and investigate very contemporary issues of our environment in flux. The La Conner, Washington, museum's mission is to connect "people with the art, diverse cultures and environments of the Northwest." The Seattle-based artist's newest work is based on her eight-week residency in the Antarctic during 2013, when she was admitted to the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artist and Writers Program. (Disclosure: GLASS Quarterly editor Andrew Page moderated a discussion at the 2015 SOFA Expo in Chicago in which Surgent was a panelist.)

Tuesday December 22, 2015 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: Toyama City Institute of Glass Art seeks coldworking professor

FILED UNDER: Education, Help Wanted

The Toyoma City Insitute of Glass Art, which has been offering 2-year certificate programs in glass at the basic and advanced levels since 1991, is looking for a professor or associate professor of coldwork for a two-year contract, which may be renewed. The Ideal candidate will have a fine art degree in glass, experience as an artist or in higher-education, and bring at least 10 years of coldworking experience. Applications must be received by January 29, 2016. The position begins on September 1, 2016.

The interior display area at JamFactory, Adelaide

Tuesday December 15, 2015 | by Andrew Page

JamFactory announces new juried prize for Australian and New Zealand glass artists

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, Call for Submissions, News

When the Ranamok Prize was awarded for the final time in 2014, New Zealand and Australian artists lost the region's richest award recognizing the best work being done in glass. Today, JamFactory announced it would step in to fill the void with a new juried glass prize set to debut in 2016. Carrying an award of AU$20,000 (about $14,300 in U.S. dollars), the new biennial FUSE Glass Prize was born out of a lengthy discussion between the Adelaide-based art center and prominent glass collectors Jim and Helen Carreker. The couple are the founding donors for the prize in addition to six other individual collectors and a foundation.

Tuesday December 8, 2015 | by Andrew Page

GLASS magazine awarded National Endowment for the Arts funding for 2016

FILED UNDER: Award, News, Print Edition

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly $15,000 for 2016, part of $27.7 million in arts funding the government agency is distributing to 1,126 projects across the nation next year under its "Art Works" major funding category. The Art Works program has a "focus on the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields," according to the NEA announcement.

Tuesday November 24, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Hot Off the Presses: GLASS #141, Winter 2015-16

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Print Edition

The Winter 2015-16 edition of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#141) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes this week. On the cover is a detail of an exuberant work by Tony Cragg, which was exhibited as part of the fourth iteration of Glasstress, a collateral exhibition at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Cragg is one of more than 150 contemporary artists who have taken Adriano Berengo up on the offer to come to his Murano studios to realize work in glass with the assistance of a team of highly skilled glass masters. Cragg exhibited work at the very first Glastress in 2009, his participation giving the event added prestige as he also represented his native Britain in the main Venice Biennale in 1988. Cragg chooses materials for their ability to behave according to a set of rules and processes, building up cross sections into sculptures that vibrate with rotational energy, which is especially appropriate for working with glass, something he's done since his early works with found objects. Cragg's untitled work on the cover is a fitting image for the new issue which features artists who embrace the material's unique properties and process in service of very different visions.

Thursday November 19, 2015 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for .... Anne Petters

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?Anne Petters: I'm currently a visiting artist in the glass department at Southern Illinois University for the Fall 2015 semester. Being in the academic environment with access to so many art studios offers an incredibly valuable opportunity to reflect on my sculptural work, and to find new facets to a specific pate de verre printing technique I've been developing and teaching in recent years. I discovered this process on the search for a translation of a specific image I had in my mind, trying to picture and freeze transient moments of thought for my “Disegno” series in 2011.

Wednesday November 18, 2015 | by Andrew Page

CURIOSITIES: MIT’s Peter Houk interviewed about unearthed 1957 glass time capsule

FILED UNDER: Curiosities, Design, Education, Events, News, Video

Even before construction of the new nanotechnology lab at MIT has been completed, the facility is already yielding unexpected discoveries. Workers digging into the campus near Building 26 unearthed a sealed glass time capsule that had been buried in 1957 by students and their famous MIT professor Harold Edgerton (1903 – 1990), best known for his strobe photography that froze splashing liquid or the impact of bullets and explosions. The flameworked capsule stuffed with paper and scientific samples bears clear instructions not to open until 2957, or 1,000 years from its time of burial. In an official MIT video, director of collections Deborah Douglas talked about what remains enclosed in the sealed capsule. Whether it will be opened or not is unclear from the video.

Tuesday November 17, 2015 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: The new Glass Wheel Studio expands art offerings in Norfolk, Virginia

FILED UNDER: Events, Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

The Norfolk, Virginia, glass scene, dominated by the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio, just got bigger with last weekend's opening of a brand-new multi-media art center last Saturday evening, November 14. Unlike the museum's program of demos and performances, the Glass Wheel Studio aims to "serve as an incubator for extraordinary ideas and aim to encourage artists across all disciplines to pursue and elevate their craft." (Disclosure: Glass Wheel Studio is an advertiser in GLASS Quarterly magazine.) As its name implies, the organization puts a special emphasis on work in glass but is open to artists working in all materials. The 8,500-square-foot facility features two rotating galleries and affordable artist studios. Each year, it will provide 13 visual artists an immersive studio practice program, which provides opportunities "for research, experimentation, and professional development." The inaugural exhibition features the glass work of Philadelphia-based artist Jon Goldberg, founder of East Falls Glassworks. Also featured is work by Natalie Abrams and Liz Berk. The

Monday November 16, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Today is the 100th birthday of the iconic Coca-Cola bottle design

FILED UNDER: Design, Museums, News

Even though aluminum cans and plastic bottles predominate, there's something about an ice-cold Coca-Cola served in its signature voluptous glass bottle that never fails to impress. The thick glass, shaped to perfectly fit into the hand and with raised lettering, telegraphs ripeness in its organic hourglass form. The patent for this design was issued on November 16, 1915, making today the centennial of this celebrated product packaging that is known around the world. The original design is referenced today in a variety of packaging materials for the world's best-selling soft drink. But it is in the greenish glass blottle that the form is most powerful, providing a visual and tactile sensuality that retains its power despite the proliferation of sophisticated package design in the century since. The story of how this quintessential design came to be is little-known and quite amusing.

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.