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Joe BenVenuto, Vessel, 2016.

Sunday July 16, 2017 | by Stella Porter

Seattle glass community unites to fund alternative cancer treatments for Joe BenVenuto

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Auction, News

Friends and colleagues of Joe BenVenuto are uniting to help the glass artist as he explores alternative treatments for anaplastic astrocytoma, a brain cancer with which he was diagnosed last year. BenVenuto has undergone a round of radiation and chemotherapy treatment, but he must now seek non-traditional treatments to mitigate the growth of the tumor for as long as possible.BenVenuto is looking into alternative treatments such as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and other holistic treatments in the U.S. and abroad. But some of the costs of radiation and chemotherapy as well as alternative treatments are not covered by his insurance, leaving him to shoulder the cost on his own. Hoping to give Joe a chance to recover without being limited financially, his friends at Preston Singletary Studio decided to help. The studio will host a benefit open to the public with a silent auction at Traver Gallery in July. His friends are also raising money through an online donation page.

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Sidney Hutter, Twisted Abstract Strip Vase #29, 1996. Plate glass, dyed adhesive. H 16 W 10 3/4 D 10 3/4 in. courtesy: the artist

Saturday July 15, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

CONVERSATION: Featured in museum retrospective, Sidney Hutter reflects on a world of change in glass

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Museums, Opening

Sidney Hutter, who has witnessed both the beginnings of Studio Glass, its growth, and current transitional moment, is highly tuned to the advancing technology, economic highs and lows, and the ever-shifting interests of collectors and galleries. The arc of his 40-year career can be observed in a retrospective exhibition now on view at the Sandwich Glass Museum through October 29, 2017. The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet recently took the opportunity of this career-spanning exhibition to talk with Hutter about his signature explorations of glass vessels that subvert function, as well as his observations of how the glass art world has changed since he began building vessel forms out of plate glass while still a graduate student at MassArt.

An adult class in session at the Bergstrom Mahler Museum's glass studio. photo: bergstrom mahler museum website

Friday July 14, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

HELP WANTED: Bergstrom-Mahler Museum seeks a full-time glass studio manager

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Help Wanted, Museums, News

The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass is seeking a full-time glass studio manager to program, oversee and teach classes for all ages; oversee studio equipment use; and engage in community relations by organizing events and outreach. Additionally, candidates may have to fire and assemble glass work, purchase studio supplies, recruit volunteers and instructors to teach and assist programs, and assist in developing a budget. Though this is a full-time position, the hours will be heavily based on the hours of program offerings.

René Lalique, Moissac, 1930. Opalescent Glass. H 5 in. courtesy: hickmet fine arts.

Thursday July 13, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

Museum exhibit explores context of René Lalique’s groundbreaking designs in jewelry and glassware

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, Museums

French artist and designer René Lalique mastered jewelry, he mastered glass; but at the core of it all, Lalique mastered the ability to innovate and evolve in response to the rapidly changing cultural landscape of fin de siècle France, as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. To provide a glimpse into the inner workings of Lalique’s mind— presenting the audience with a new point of view on the sources of inspiration behind his highly designed creations— Musée Lalique in Wingen-sur-Moder, France is displaying “Back to the sources: The world that inspired Lalique,” an exhibition that will remain on view until November 5, 2017

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The exterior of the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, with its signature chimney that vents its active glass studio in its center. courtesy: museumofglass.org

Wednesday July 12, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

Taking a page from Corning’s successful GlassFest, the Northwest glass museum launches public event

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, Museums

GlassFest is the massive four-day glass art celebration that has taken the Gaffer District in Corning, New York, by storm. Although the event is sponsored and supported by the world-renowned Corning Museum of Glass, it is the business association known as the Corning Gaffer District itself which throws the event — closing its Historic Market Street off to car traffic to instead fill the space with art, food and entertainment vendors. Having completed its 8th celebration in May 2017, GlassFest has become a cherished community event celebrating glass artistry in and around the town of Corning, proving that glass can thrive outside the walls of the famed museum and setting a precedent for other cities to follow. Taking a page (and the name) from the New York event, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma will be co-hosting its first ever glass festival, Glass Fest Northwest, a free event to showcase Pacific Northwest glasswork. Taking place on Sunday, July 23rd from 12 noon to 5 PM, the event will feature over two dozen local artists and artisans who will join together with area art institutions to celebrate, display and sell artwork made from glass. There will also be live glassmaking demonstrations, food, beer and wine, music and family-oriented activities for the community to partake in.

Alison Kinnaird, Bed of Roses II, 2015. Optical glass, wheel engraved, LED lighting with dichroic colour. H 20 W 13 D 7 in. photo: robin morton

Wednesday July 12, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

OPENING: Alison Kinnaird marries tradition and innovation for exhibit at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Image Gallery

In a former church in the Scottish countryside just 12 miles south of Edinburgh, Alison Kinnaird works at her copper engraving wheel and plucks away on her harp. Her large-scale, figurative panel pieces as well as her traditional harp music are the artist's pursuits of forms of expression that are universal, something that can be found in the recesses of tradition as well as the cutting-edge. An upcoming exhibition in her studio will feature multiple smaller scale works as well as two installations, one of which has been touring Scotland since 2014. The exhibit, entitled "Art in Glass" will open on August 4, 2017, as a part of Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe.

Pae White, Qwalala, 2017. Hand-cast glass, structural sealant. H 7.9, L 246, W varies. photo: Enrico Fiorese

Tuesday July 11, 2017 | by Stella Porter

Timed to the Venice Biennale, American Pae White’s project mixes architecture and glass art

FILED UNDER: New Work, News, Public Art

American artist Pae White’s newest work, Qwalala, is at once a visceral experience of color and a carefully crafted work of architecture. The outdoor installation, measuring 246-feet-long and almost 8-feet in height, is made of thousands of glass bricks winding in a snake-like form. The public art piece was installed to coincide with the Venice Biennale, and is part of a city-wide series of outdoor exhibitions across Venice, and was commissioned by Le Stanze del Vetro (which translates into “rooms for glass” in English), where it opened on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

courtesy: karlis bogustovs

Monday July 10, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

Themes of innovation and sustainability explored at decennial “Young Glass” juried exhibition

FILED UNDER: Award, Events, Exhibition, Glass Quarterly, Museums

A lot can change in 10 years, and at the once-a-decade exhibition "Young Glass," the progression within glass art is on full display. Since it's launch in 1987 at the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark, the competition has intended to inspire and encourage innovation in the realm of glass art.

courtesy: engravedglass.cz

Monday July 10, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: International Symposium of Engraved Glass in Kamenický Šenov

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

Applications are still being accepted for the 7th International Symposium of Engraved Glass in Kamenický Šenov, Czech Republic. Registration for active participation is open until July 15, 2017 for the event taking place September 11- 17, 2017 at the Kamenický Šenov Glass Museum.

Amber Cowan, Bridesmaid's Forest, 2017. Flameworked American pressed glass, mixed media. H 30 W 38 D 12 in. courtesy: the artist

Saturday July 8, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

OPENING: Amber Cowan’s upcycled transformations get museum treatment at the Fuller

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition

Amber Cowan likes to “hang out” with her figures before she assembles them. She likes to take her time and get to know the bits of cullet and used milk glass that she finds in old factory yards, thrift stores, flea markets, or is gifted by friends and strangers alike before she intuitively incorporates them into her dense floral wall pieces, or flameworks them into something else entirely before placing them. However, her current show at the Fuller Craft Museum on view through October 8, 2017, is somewhat of a departure from the monochrome, recycled assemblages with which she has made her name. Also included are a few large-scale installation pieces, still made from recycled milk glass, but involving fewer tiny details. Cowan said in a phone interview that these installations “gave me an immediacy to the material, and all the things that related to my other work, but in a more kind of quick and fun sense that wasn’t this laborious process.”

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.