HOT OF THE PRESSES: Glass #139, Summer 2015

FILED UNDER: New Work, News, Print Edition

The Summer 2015 edition of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#139) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. It comes bundled with the just-published 2015 edition of New Glass Review, a special subscriber bonus at no additonal charge (It is also available at select newsstands, but at a higher cover price). On the cover is a striking work by sculptor Rachel Owens, who employs glass for the same light-mediating qualities that draw so many sculptors. But she is especially focused on its metaphoric resonance. She began to notice broken green glass on the sidewalks of her Greenpoint, Brooklyn, neighborhood shortly after moving to New York after earning an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Keeping its sharp edges intact and giving it shape using a resin casting process, she has made it a primary material in her work, tapping into its associations of consumption and violence—two forces she zeroes in on in her critique of the excesses of our culture of rampant consumerism and its dire implications for the natural world. An in-depth conversation with Owens explores the importance of her investment in making her own work, which brings together concept and material for a powerful, multi-layered effect.

Tina Oldknow in the Heineman Gallery. photo: allison lavine

Tuesday May 26, 2015 | by Andrew Page

A conversation with Corning’s Tina Oldknow on the announcement of her retirement

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Museums, News

This morning, The Corning Museum of Glass will announce that Tina Oldknow plans to retire from the position of senior curator of modern and contemporary glass in September 2015. Oldknow has been in this high-profile position since 2000. Her 15-year-tenure has been marked by numerous exhibitions, publications, and frequent appearances as a lecturer, critic, and panelist (including those I've moderated). Her visibility, as well as prodigious output as an author and curator, have made her perhaps the most-visible and best-known figure in the world of contemporary art made from glass, and one of its most-enthusiastic proponents. Oldknow's retirement will come just months after the March 2015 opening of The Corning Museum's new Contemporary Art + Design Wing, which she curated, and for which she made several major acquisitions while being intimately involved in its planning and design. Oldknow also wrote the exhibition catalog for the new wing, entitled Collecting Contemporary Glass: Art and Design After 1990 from the Corning Museum of Glass (2014).

Wednesday May 20, 2015 | by Andrew Page

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Emerging Canadian glass artists vie for $10,000 prize

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Call for Submissions

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 RBC Award for Glass, which goes to artists working in glass professionally for no more than 10 years, and who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Organized by the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, the competition's winner will receive $10,000. The jury is made up of contemporary glass artists (there is also a $10,000 award for ceramic artists) and is limited to artists who sell their work, and who have developed their skills "through training and/or practice in the field." The deadline for applications is September 14, 2015, and winners will be presented with their awards at a gala event in Waterloo, Ontario, on November 14, 2015.

Thursday April 2, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Susie Silbert to deliver Metropolitan Glass Club lecture linking Tiffany to Studio Glass

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, News

Meeting the first Tuesday of the month, from Fall through the Spring, the New York Metropolitan Glass Club brings together historic and contemporary glass collectors, dealers, and enthusiasts for a monthly lecture presented at an Upper West Side church that features a number of significant Tiffany windows. The setting will be especially appropriate for the upcoming April 7th meeting, in which design historian, GLASS magazine contributor, and educator Susie Silbert discusses the relationship between the legendary designer Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Studio Glass movement.

Tuesday March 24, 2015 | by Andrew Page

The glorious new Corning wing pioneers the use of Gorilla Glass to make display cases disappear

FILED UNDER: Architecture, Design, Exhibition, Museums, News, Opening

As readers of the Spring 2015 edition of GLASS (#138) know, the design of the new Contemporary Art + Design wing at The Corning Museum of Glass is based on the power of natural light to allow artwork in glass to come alive. The issue's feature article ("A New Frame for Contemporary Glass") and back-page essay by the wing's architect Thomas Phifer ("Designing the New Contemporary Wing of The Corning Museum of Glass") reveal a single-minded focus on bathing glass in indirect natural daylight to provide optimal viewing conditions. With architect Phifer viewing the museum wing itself as a vitrine, how to approach protecting the work without interfering with the visual effects so painstakingly achieved? The answer came when the architect, together with the Corning team and exhibit designer Kubik Maltbie, hit upon using the museum's corporate parent's specialty-glass known as "Corning Gorilla Glass," which is widely used in smart phones and tablet computers for its strength, lightness, and optical clarity.

Tuesday March 17, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Flameworkers to gather in South Jersey for international conference this weekend

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, News

Headlining the 2015 International Flameworking Conference (IFC) at Salem Community College taking place this weekend (March 20 - 22) will be Junichi Kojima, a.k.a, Rose Roads, and David Willis. Collaborative demonstrations by Eric Franklin and Jason Chakravarty will also be a major draw. The three-day event kicks off Friday evening at 7 PM with a presentation by the Chrysler Museum of Art curator of glass, Diane Wright who will deliver a lecture titled "From B.C. to Boro: A Short History of Flameworking" at the Sol and Jean Davidow Performing Arts Theatre at Davidow Hall on the community college's Carneys Point, New Jersey, campus.

Richard Whiteley addressed a panel discussion that included Dan Clayman, Sharyn O'Mara, and Jack Wax during the 2013 symposium at UrbanGlass.

Sunday March 8, 2015 | by Andrew Page

CALL FOR PAPERS: UrbanGlass announces October 2015 symposium of academics and educators

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

Two years after the successful inaugural symposium in December 2013, UrbanGlass is again partnering with the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation to present a gathering of department heads, professors, and educators to discuss best practices in the lecture hall and studio. The upcoming symposium, titled "Issues in Glass Pedagogy: New Technologies in Practice" will be taking place from October 22 -24, 2015 in Brooklyn, New York. The meeting of glass art educators will focus on new technology, with an empahsis on which of the new developments have the most relevance to the practice of glass art. The keynote presentation will be delivered by Tina Aufiero, artistic director of Pilchuck and the former director of the BFA Design & Technology Program at Parsons in New York City. Titled "bits + bytes: migratory investigations," Aufiero's talk aims to discuss the "technological implications for the field of glass."

Wednesday March 4, 2015 | by Andrew Page

Rui Sasaki wins the 2015 Jutta Cuny-Franz Memorial Award

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

Japanese artist Rui Sasaki, who spent time in the U.S. earning her MFA from RISD (2010), has been awarded the 2015 Jutta Cuny-Franz Memorial Award, which comes with a prize of € 10,000 (more than U.S. $ 11,000). The award is given each year to an artist who is under 40, and judges only consider work within the past two years. This year's award saw 164 applications from 28 countries. Two Talent Awards of the Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation were also given to Maria Bang Espersen of Denmark, and Anne Weber of Germany. Each will receive an award of € 1,500.

Denise Pepper at work in the studio.

Wednesday August 6, 2014 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for ... Denise Pepper

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, New Work

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on? Denise Pepper: My art practice is professionally motivated, forming sculptures that intentionally redefine common objects from the mundane. Fundamentally a glass artist, I specialize in pâté de verre glass casting, but also enjoy creating art for public sculpture exhibitions. I'm very much a maker in my art practice and desire in my art glass practice to form a unique and highly crafted pate de verre glass casting process developing innovative skills and techniques. My art glass practice focuses on the replication and presentation of detail and intricacy found in traditional lace making. I've also explored this medium with its application in fashion principally associated to undergarments.

The Canadian and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario is currently seeking a new curator.

Tuesday August 5, 2014 | by Andrew Page

HELP WANTED: Curator sought by the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Help Wanted, News

The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is searching for a new curator to replace Christian Bernard Singer, who announced his resignation in June. The new curator will be expected to bring their own vision to the Waterloo, Ontario based Gallery, which prides itself on pushing the boundaries, both materially and conceptually.

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.