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white lace bowl #5

Thursday August 7, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

OPENING: “New Works” from Tobias Møhl debut at Traver

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

Venetian inspired, but with an unmistakable Scandinavian twist, the glass work of Tobias Møhl is simplistic, yet striking. His blown glass platters, vessels, and bowls, almost exclusively in shades of black, gray, and white, are characterized by lace-like intricacy surrounded by flowing, clean lines. The Danish artist’s newest exhibition—aptly titled “New Works”—will be on display at the Traver Gallery from August 7th through the 31st.

"Lightness of Being / New Work," 2012 Dennos Museum Center

Thursday July 24, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

OPENING: Howard Ben Tré museum exhibition in Tacoma debuts this September

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, News, Opening

Howard Ben Tré, an artist who redefined the scale possible in glass sculpture with monumental glass totems often accented with metallic foil surfaces, will have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Glass, in Tacoma, Washington. Entitled “Lightness of Being,” the show opens September 14, and has been described as an indoor forest of vertical shapes, featuring towering sculptures cast in glass and bronze, some as much as 8-feet tall. The show seems to reprise work shown in 2012 at the Dennos Sculpture Center in Traverse City, Michigan.

Toby Fraley, one of the Pittsburgh Glass Center's artists in residence, will be displaying his work in this year's Biennial. photo: nathan shaulis

Tuesday July 22, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

Pittsburgh Glass Center gives glass a larger role in regional art biennial

FILED UNDER: New Work, News, Opening

Though not quite following the 2-year interval its name suggests (it was last held back in 2011), the 2014 Pittsburgh Biennial is an exhibition and celebration of regional artwork, and, thanks to a new program at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, it also includes fresh expressions in glass thanks to the pairing of artists who don't work in glass with skilled glass makers. In the 20 years since the biennial exhibition was launched at the Center for the Arts, it has steadily grown to become the largest showcase of contemporary art in Western Pennsylvania, and has spread out to take place at several venues in the Pittsburgh area.

Claire Lieberman, Camo Frosted Sparkle Shooter, 2010. H 7 1/2, W 4 1/2, D 2 1/4 in. photo: ken kashian

Tuesday July 15, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

OPENING: Claire Lieberman brings her glass guns to Brooklyn art center

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

Located on Brooklyn’s Red Hook waterfront, the Hot Woods Art Center will host the opening reception for a duo exhibition on July 25, featuring the glass firearms of multimedia artist Claire Lieberman. Since 1999, Lieberman has explored and subverted the functionality of form with her “Ice Gun” series. The guns, like something from an 80s sci-fi flick, are meant to be cartoonish in their design. Over the years, they have only become less and less realistic, most lacking vital components, such as bullets and triggers, that would make the firearms functional. This “purely aesthetic” effect is enhanced by the glass from which these pieces are sculpted. While some are colored, creating an almost candy like appearance, the majority are clear, as if crafted from ice.

A fire on June 8 resulted in damages to GlassRoots, a non-profit organization that specializes in glasswork education.

Thursday July 10, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

GlassRoots recovers from fire, raises funds to rebuild

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

GlassRoots, a Newark, New Jersey-based organization that prides itself on engaging at-risk youth through the art of glassmaking, has recently faced troubles of its own. In the midst of the appointment of new executive director Barbara Heisler and the introduction a several new programs, misfortune struck on June 8 in the form of an electrical fire. The fire, which sparked under the street in front of the studio, resulted in smoke damage, as well as power losses and surges that damaged essential glassblowing equipment.

Tuesday July 8, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

Exhibition to celebrate the life and work of Jaroslava Brychtová

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, News

“Celebrate!” an exhibition at the Heller Gallery, endeavors to do just that, celebrating the life and career of Czech artist and sculptor Jaroslava Brychtová, who will turn ninety on July 18.

L to R: Judges Louis Thomson, Clare Maddison, winner Harry Morgan, and judges David Reekie and Karen Murphy

Monday July 7, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

U.K. Glass Artist organization announces winners of design awards

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, Design, News

UPDATED 7/15/2014

Hirofumi Isoya, We only live, only breathe 2（detail), 2014. Glass. H 67, W 39 1/4, D 1/4 in.

Thursday June 26, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

OPENING: Artists in glass and other media take on a post-Fukushima Japan in New York exhibition

FILED UNDER: New Work, News, Opening

Opening tonight in New York City is a group exhibition of Japanese artists whose work in various media including glass wrestles with a new reality in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that unleashed their destruction on the Japanese coast in spring of 2011 and led to one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. The redefined landscape of the post-Fukushima era is the subject of the show entitled “Duality of Existence — Post Fukushima” and debuting this evening at Freidman Benda. Japan has a uniquely complex relationship with nuclear power as the only nation to have endured a nuclear attack (with the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagisaki in the waning days of WWII in 1945). Following the nuclear disaster and radiation release in 2011, the country struggled to understand the truth of the extent of the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant which is considered a combination of natural and human factors, and the government control of information about safety created a firestorm of discontent and soul-searching.

Barbara Heisler will become the organization's permanent executive director on July 1, 2014.

Thursday June 26, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

GlassRoots interim executive director Barbara Heisler promoted to permanent position

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

GlassRoots, the Newark, New Jersey, not-for-profit organization that uses glass to teach life lessons to at-risk youth, has a new executive director. The Board of Trustees announced on Monday that Barbara Heisler, who has been acting as Interim Executive Director since July 1, 2013, will be promoted to full executive director effective July 1, 2014.

Christian B. Singer, current curator at the Clay and Glass Gallery, has decided to step down.

Tuesday June 24, 2014 | by Elena Tafone

Curator for Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery steps down, leaving behind impressive exhibition record

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

Having spent the past five years invigorating the exhibition program at the Canadian Glass and Clay Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario (just under 2 hours drive from Toronto), Christian Bernard Singer will step down as curator, moving to Montreal with his spouse. The Gallery seeks a candidate to replace Singer by the end of November 2014.