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Rui Sasaki, Liquid Sunshine, 2016. phosphorescent crystal mixture, glass, solarium light, motion detector. H 91, W 228, L122 in. courtesy: artist website.

Monday April 3, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

CONVERSATION: Checking in with Rui Sasaki on residencies, exhibits, and her new teaching post

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, News

Rui Sasaki is a Japanese conceptual glass artist and educator who, in recent years, has gained international notoriety for her ethereal and sometimes surrealistic work. She completed her MFA at Rhode Island School of Design in 2010 and has since been invited to participate in many artist-in-residence programs and exhibitions all over the world. Last month, Sasaki wrapped up a month-long residency in Stockholm funded by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, and she has three major exhibitions opening in the coming months: “Inervals between Nature and Artifact” curated by Koichi Yoshimura in Osaka, Japan, “The Poetics Of Weather” on view at a historical temple in Hoen-ji in Kanazawa, Japan, and “Young Glass 2017” at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Ebeltoft, Denmark. Beginning in April, Sasaki will work as a faculty-member at Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo in Kanazawa, Japan, the traditional craft epicenter of the eastern world. Recently, the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet had the opportunity to discuss Sasaki’s work and source of inspiration with the artist herself via an email conversation.

Lino Tagliapietra standing in front of his 2013 panel, Campo dei Fiori (Field of Flowers), installed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Thursday March 9, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

OPENING: Lino Tagliapietra at the Morris will be maestro’s second art museum exhibit in Mid-Atlantic

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition

Master glass artist Lino Tagliapietra will showcase works from the past 15 years in an upcoming solo exhibition at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, opening with a private reception on Saturday. "Lino Tagliapietra: Maestro of a Glass Renaissance" brings together works from private collections as well as the artist’s personal holdings. The exhibition has been organized by Morris Museum curator Alexandra Willis with consultation from Jim Schantz, director of the Stockbridge, Massachusetts, gallery that bears his name. New York City's Heller Gallery was also involved in the organization and support of the exhibition.

Marita Dingus, Cage Glass Girl, 2016. Mixed media. H 28 1/2, W 9, D 4 in. courtesy: traver gallery, seattle

Wednesday March 1, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

OPENING: Marita Dingus seeks solace from political upheaval in mixed-media works at Traver

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, New Work, Opening

Mixed-media artist, Marita Dingus, will exhibit her most recent body of work at Seattle’s Traver Gallery beginning March 2. "The Gathering" will feature figurative sculptures made from discarded materials—an aesthetic for which Dingus has come to be known, but this exhibition will also include some of her largest-scale work to date. Dingus takes inspiration from African tribal art, particularly the bristly Nkondi sculptures of the Kongo people. Nkondi sculptures are anthropomorphic figures traditionally used to summon spirits for the purpose of correcting and healing social strife.

The glass art museum in Ebeltoft, Denmark, will showcase emerging talent in juried exhibition. courtesy: museum website

Friday February 17, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

Danish glass museum exhibit to feature “Young Glass” competition finalists

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

On June 10, 2017, the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark will open an exhibit of work by the finalists in its fourth Young Glass competition. Since it was initiated by this museum of glass art in 1987, the juried once-a-decade competition has strived to promote and reward emerging talent in the medium. Four cash prizes totaling €42,000 (approx. $45,000 US) and two artist residencies will be awarded to the winners.

Imagine Museum benefactor Trish Duggan, and museum executive director Nate Jessup, at hard-hat tour. courtesy: imagine museum.

Tuesday February 14, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

A brand-new glass museum set for grand opening in St. Petersburg, Florida, by end of 2017

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

St. Petersburg, Florida, may seem an unlikely hub for glass art, but the city that holds the world's record for the most consecutive days of sunshine is also soon to be home to a new museum devoted entirely to the material as a medium of sculpture. The brand-new Imagine Museum is currently being installed in a repurposed building just nine blocks away from the Morean Arts Center, which boasts a now-permanent collection of Dale Chihuly’s work. The Imagine Museum expects to have a grand opening before the end of 2017, but it is already hosting events even as it undergoes a major renovation of its building, which has in previous incarnations been a bank, nightclub, and, most recently, a charter school. The museum is in the process of installing signage and building out its museum store. The first floor is on schedule to be complete by the end of February, where it will host occasional activities and events before the museum officially opens.

Ulysses Grant Dietz is the chief curator as well as the decorative arts curator at the Newark Museum.

Monday February 6, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

Newark Museum chief curator Ulysses Dietz to kick off 2017 lecture series at the Art Glass Forum

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

The Art Glass Forum in New York City is holding its first meeting of 2017 this evening, February 7 with a presentation by Newark Museum chief curator as well as decorative arts curator Ulysses Grant Dietz. Since he was appointed decorative arts curator in 1980, Dietz has curated over 100 exhibitions covering a wide range of historic periods, including Studio Glass. The title of his talk is "Modern from Day 1: Collecting Glass at the Newark Museum, 1912 to Today." Dietz was named chief curator of the museum in 2012, and will focus his talk on the wide span of the historic and contemporary glass objects in the Newark Museum's permanent collection.

Helen Lee won the top prize for her work entitled KowTow. courtesy: bullseye glass

Tuesday January 31, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

OPENING: Bullseye Glass to unveil its “Emerge/Evolve 2016” exhibit at Pittsburgh Glass Center

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

This Friday, February 3rd, the Pittsburgh Glass Center will present "Emerge/Evolve 2016," an annual juried exhibition of kiln-glass artists organized by the Bullseye Glass Company of Portland, Oregon. "Emerge 2016" will feature up-and- coming artists who participated and placed in Bullseye’s ninth biennial juried competition for kiln-glass. Of the 370 contenders, more than 40 artists—representing 16 different countries—were selected as finalists, and a total of seven prizes were awarded. The panel of jurors included Stefano Catalani, curator at the Bellevue Arts Museum; Kim Harty, assistant professor of crafts/glass, College for Creative Studies, Detroit; and Sue Taylor, professor of art history at Portland State University.

Dafna Kaffeman. Wolf 01, 2010. Glass, aluminum, and silicon. courtesy: the artist and lorch + seidel contemporary, berlin.

Tuesday January 24, 2017 | by Gabi Gimson

MassArt gallery unveils first glass exhibit in 30-year history as major Boston arts venue

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

On Monday evening, when the Bakalar & Paine Galleries at Massachusetts College of Art and Design unveiled its new exhibition, "VITREOUS BODIES: Assembled Visions in Glass," it marked the first time glass art was displayed at this prime visual arts venue in the Fenway-Kenmore area of Boston, a cultural destination. Bringing together works by 13 multidisciplinary artists including Dan Clayman, who had spent the Fall semester at MassArt as a visiting professor, the show also includes work by an international group made up of Kanik Chung, Petah Coyne, Mona Hatoum, Timothy Horn, Michael Joo, Dafna Kaffeman, Jacob Kassay, Maya Lin, Lucy and Jorge Orta, Arlene Shechet, Thaddeus Wolfe, and Rob Wynne. Also debuting on Monday, but at a different location on the MassArt campus was a second work by Clayman, his largest installation to date. (Disclosure: Clayman serves as an advisor for the Robert M. Minkoff Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass, which is organized by GLASS magazine.)

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.