Two new Dan Graham installations in Paris embrace urban flux

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

Through October 25th, the busy Place Vendome, ground zero for Parisian fashion boutiques, will feature two new works by American sculptor Dan Graham, whose architectural installations employ partially mirrored surfaces and refraction to juxtapose viewers with their surrounds and one-another. Two Nodes (2015) features two mirrored cylinders that mix reflectivity with transparency to create a constantly shifting environment that distorts bodies, and overlaps images. In an adjacent outdoor work, Passage Intime (2015), Graham invites users to traverse a narrow passageway, which also provides shape-shifting reflections to viewers, as well as draws narrow boundaries of shared public space.

Tuesday October 20, 2015 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions For ... Doreen Garner

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

Anyone who dismisses the material of glass as too beautiful or perfect to communicate signifcant content or emotion hasn't encountered Doreen Garner's raw mixed media work, which cultivates strong reactions ranging from from desire to disgust. Walk into an exhibit of this 2014 graduate of RISD's MFA program and you know this is sophisticated work that plows deep psychological territory, confronting viewers with sometimes-disturbing works that take on the human body, sexuality, race, gore, and objectification. By adding unexpected materials such as latex or petroleum jelly as well as organic substances such as human hair, this Philadelphia native cannily pursues her agenda of peeling away layers of distance, digging down into a primordial strata of experience and consciousness. There's no shortage of concept either, with her recent work confronting the assault on black bodies in the name of medical research. The work's boldness is no surprise to those who saw the artist's 2014 "Observatory" exhibition in which she exhibited herself as a specimen unclothed in a glass box covered in glitter and stuffed condoms. There's nobody in glass taking on these issues in this manner, or with this level of risk-taking. GLASS recently interviewed Garner via email about where her work is going and where it can be seen.

Thursday October 15, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Matt Szösz awarded 2015 University of the Arts Borowsky Prize

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

The Irvin Borowsky Prize in Glass Arts, a $5,000 award and artist residency organized by the University of the Arts since 2013, has been awarded to glass artist Matthew Szösz for 2015. Designed to recognized "an artist whose work advances the field of contemporary glass art," the recipient is also given a residency at the Philadelphia university's studios, and is invited to give a talk, which Szösz will deliver on November 12, 2015. This year, two additional Jurors' Awards were announced, going to the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio programming director and manager Charlotte Potter and artist-educator David King.

Wednesday October 7, 2015 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: National Glass Centre in Sunderland, England, seeks new director

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Help Wanted, Museums

The National Glass Centre in Sunderland, England — an ambitious hub for glass education, research, fabrication, and exhibition — is seeking a new director. The art center is part of the University of Sunderland, and also in the national porfolio of the Arts Council England, meaning it receives substantial funding from the British government. The gallery showing new design and sculpture using glass attracts 250,000 visitors per year, and the center also is the classroom and workshop for 130 students at the University of Sunderland's arts, design and media program. The ideal candidate for the director position will "lead the organisation through the next stage of its development, ensuring its place in local, national, and international networks," according to the official job posting.

Wednesday October 7, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Iittala launches limited-edition “City Bird” series with an eye on social media

FILED UNDER: Design, New Work, News

In a bid to update its 40-year-old line of Tokkia birds, and to give the series a little cutting-edge social media juice, the 135-year-old Finnish glass house Iittala is launching a limited edition of its famous blown-glass birds only available in select markets for which they were named. Only 200 numbered examples of the blown-glass "City Bird" collection will be hand-made, and obsessive collectors must travel to Shanghai, Toyko, Paris, New York, and Helsinki to buy them all.

Thursday October 1, 2015 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Dante Marioni, Rik Allen at Traver Gallery

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, Opening

New work by Dante Marioni and Rik Allen is being unveiled at Traver Gallery in Seattle this evening. Marioni is continuing to push scale and precision in his newest work that features bravura canework patterning rendered at unforvingly large scale. A 39-inch-tall blue leaf, titled Standing Reticello Leaf (2015) is a further exploration of his attempts to push traditional technique to new levels, marrying it to a decidedly contemporary color scheme. The outsized scale takes this work out of the realm of design in a bid to make a monumental statement on technical skill and skills passed down for centuries.

Thursday September 24, 2015 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: North Lands Creative Glass accepting applications for next Artistic Director

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Help Wanted, News

British artist Emma Woffenden's three-year term as artistic director of North Lands Creative Glass will expire in 2016, and so this art center located on the rugged Northeastern coast of Scotland is accepting applications for Woffenden's successor, who will start on October 1, 2016. The Artistic Director advises the North Lands board of directors regarding the organization's artistic direction, and directs and plans its annual master class and conference programs. The artistic director also serves as an advisor on the artists chosen for the residency program.

Thursday September 24, 2015 | by Andrew Page

UrbanGlass to celebrate local handmade whiskey in early October

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, News

UrbanGlass, in partnership with the Kings County Distillery, will host BourbonGlass on Wednesday, October 7th from 7 PM to 9 PM. A fundraising cocktail party for the arts nonprofit that publishes GLASS Quarterly and the Hot Sheet, the event will take place in the 17,000-square-foot studios of UrbanGlass. Guests will be able taste the distillery's line of small-batch whiskeys and learn about the history of whiskey production in Brooklyn, as well as specifics about the five-year-old distillery from master blender Nicole Austin. Austin helped design a custom whiskey glass being made for the occasion by artist and designer William Couig. Each guest will take his or her tasting glass home as a gift.

Wednesday September 16, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Chrysler Museum of Art officially announced as site of 2017 Glass Art Society Conference

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, Museums, News

The Glass Art Society has announced that the Chrysler Museum of Art, the main building and neighboring glass studio, will host the 46th annual gathering of the glass art world. With the theme: "Reflections from the Edge: Glass, Art, and Performance," the 2017 conference will run from June 1st through 3rd, 2017, and will be co-chaired by Diane Wright, the glass curator at the Chrysler Museum; Charlotte Potter, manager and program director of the museum's glass studio; and community members Virginia Hitch and Colin McKinnon. Performance art using glass, a focus of the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio under Potter's leadership, will be a central focus of the 2017 event, according to today's announcement. The event will follow the 2016 conference taking place in Corning, New York.

Wednesday September 16, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Full Program Released for the 2015 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Education, Events, News

The full schedule for the 2015 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass — complete with times, dates, and maps — has just been released. Among the highlights of this year's symposium, which has the theme of "New Technologies in Practice," is a Chelsea gallery tour that includes stops at Andrea Rosen Gallery to discuss Josiah McElheny's latest work, Sean Kelly Gallery to hear about Idris Khan's recent work in glass, and Heller Gallery for a presentation of new work by April Surgent as well as a panel discussion on the challenges of taking over a glass program and inheriting its technology. Panelists include glass program heads Helen Lee (UWisconsin, Madison), Kim Harty (CCA, Detroit), Marc Petrovic (CIA, Cleveland), and Sharyn O'Mara (Tyler, Philadelphia). A reception at the loft of a downtown art collector will cap off the first day's activities.

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.