Viewing: Artist Interviews

John Kiley's Fractographs (2016) are shattered optical crystal blocks, 21 by 13 1/2 by 3 inches.

Wednesday August 3, 2016 | by Andrew Page

A conversation with John Kiley about his “big break”

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

From Cassandria Blackmore to Marta Klonowska to Yorgos Papadopoulos, there is no shortage of artists who use shattered glass as a central element of their work — but John Kiley, among the best glassblowers in the U.S., has taken a unique approach. Unlike the plate glass used by the previously cited artists, Kiley went for 3-inch thick blocks of optical crystal, which he shattered and then reconstructed, producing a stunning visual record of the violent encounter between a sledgehammer and glass. The aggressive fracture blooms into space like a ribbon of chaotic energy ripping through the serene frame of the thick optically pure crystal. Kiley's recent work already had an undertone of violence as he cut away sections of his exquisitely blown spheres to create architectonic constructions, but there was always a strong measure of restraint. In the newest work, in the painstaking reconstruction of the glass, the rigorous nature of Kiley's practice is preserved. But make no mistake: This work represents a literal and figurative break for the artist sought-after for his signature precision. The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet caught up with Kiley as he was preparing for the opening of his new exhibition "10,000 MPH" opening this evening at Traver Gallery (and running through August 27, 2016) to talk about this bold new direction. (Editor's note: See the video at end of this post for 360-degree views of the new works.)

Amy Lemaire

Tuesday May 31, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Navigating flameworking’s rich trade routes: A conversation with artist and educator Amy Lemaire

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, New Work

With a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn — both in painting — Amy Lemaire would seem an unlikely expert to offer insights into the flameworking world. And yet she has immersed herself in the field, where she occupies key roles as an educator, instructor, researcher, and communicator, in addition to being a practicing designer and artist. An adjunct professor at the leading flameworking program at Salem County Community College, she also leads the Bead Project at UrbanGlass, (which publishes the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet), where she also teaches flameworking to university students. Noting major shifts in the flameworking landscape driven by the liberalization of marijuana laws as well as technical advances in the field, the Hot Sheet recently spoke with Lemaire about her own practice, and how the scene is changing.

Monday May 9, 2016 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for ... Rui Sasaki

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

In 2010, I had the good fortune to be invited as a visiting critic to an especially strong RISD graduate show of glass MFAs, which that year included Charlotte Potter, Matthew Day Perez, and Rui Sasaki. I was impressed across the board, not only with the work, but the confidence with which all three artists worked with materials, embracing readymade and non-glass media in their respective thesis projects. Rui Sasaki presented a 4-hour video of her multi-day performance art piece that involved a block of ice made up of the same amount of water in the human body. A test of endurance and risking hypothermia, she curled her nude body around the block to hasten its melting, displaying a similar block of ice while the document of her marathon performance was screened. Since her graduation, she's taught glass and contemporary art at Worcester State University in the U.S., and Kyoto University of Art and Design as well as the Toyama City Institute of Glass Art in Japan. Working with "transparent materials," which includes ice and glass, she is building on her long-standing interest in the concepts of "home" and, by extension, "intimacy," something she felt the profound loss of when she left Japan to study in Rhode Island in 2007. Since her graduation, she's been traveling widely to residencies in the U.S., Sweden, Belgium, and Japan, as well as to exhibitions around Europe and Asia. As she writes in her artist statement: "Wandering is a part of my work to achieve the definition of intimacy in empty space and intimacy without space. Through my work, I document the intimacy and memory of the home." The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet recently caught up with Rui at her residency in Norway, where she answered some questions about her latest projects. —AP

Tuesday April 26, 2016 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for ... Alli Hoag

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, New Work

Alli Hoag, who holds a BFA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a 2012 MFA from Alfred, is obsessed with boundaries. If there's a line through the varied work she has produced both in her own practice and through international residencies at locations such as the Cite des Arts International in Paris, France and S12 Galleri og Verksted in Bergen, Norway, it is her interest in the possibilities and limitations of connection — interpersonal as well as between individuals and the world around them. Hoag's art-making is driven by this interest. As she writes in her online artist's statement: "The act of making becomes an action of physical wish fulfillment. The physical result becomes a proxy, a body without organs — it exposes our innate drive to connect yet reveals the deficiencies in our physical capabilities to do so." Despite being especially busy with her recent appointment to assistant professor of the glass area at the three-dimensional studies program at Bowling Green State University, Hoag took some time for an interview with the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet.

Artist Ben Young at the Kirra Galleries booth at SOFA Chicago.

Tuesday December 1, 2015 | by Joanne Kim

A conversation with New Zealand glass artist Ben Young

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, New Work

The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet caught up with Ben Young, a self-taught artist from New Zealand who was a recent finalist for the Ranamok Glass Prize. Represented by Kirra Galleries at the recent Chicago SOFA 2015 art fair, Young started out as a boat builder, but discovered glass a dozen years ago. He says he's found glass the perfect medium for his creative expression.

Thursday November 19, 2015 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for .... Anne Petters

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?Anne Petters: I'm currently a visiting artist in the glass department at Southern Illinois University for the Fall 2015 semester. Being in the academic environment with access to so many art studios offers an incredibly valuable opportunity to reflect on my sculptural work, and to find new facets to a specific pate de verre printing technique I've been developing and teaching in recent years. I discovered this process on the search for a translation of a specific image I had in my mind, trying to picture and freeze transient moments of thought for my “Disegno” series in 2011.

Wednesday November 11, 2015 | by Andrew Page

3 Questions for ... Jean-Simon Trottier

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?Jean-Simon Trottier: For the past two years, I've been working continuously on a collaborative project with my partner Montserrat Duran Muntadas. We have created several sculptural installations that explore the issues of immigration and borders. For this project, we were especially inspired by seeds of various plants as metaphorical symbols of freedom. Because the organic forms of our sculpture were inspired by nature, this especially made our technical research an enriching one, while giving us pieces that surpassed our expectations.

Wednesday October 28, 2015 | by Sia Lenaburg

EXHIBITION: Tina Aufiero makes provocative words into challenging glass sculptures

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Events, Exhibition, Opening

Artist Tina Aufiero doesn’t make Word Art — written language rendered in glass and presented in a gallery context — as a way to reclaim meaning, as some of the best-known practioners of the genre such as Jenny Holzer do, but rather to consider how her own perception of a word develops in time while she is creating the piece. For Aufiero, meaning develops as a response to the process of creation. She works with a variety of materials, but returns to glass, possibly because the material is uniquely suited to conveying elusive concepts and surface reflections with a purity of expression. Though her work has been described as whimsical, the playfulness of her art speaks to deeper questions of our everyday language, as well as elusive concepts such as “love” and “happiness.”…

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.

Rachel Owens, "Smile Always" exhibition at Zieher Smith & Horton in 2015.

Saturday August 8, 2015 | by Andrew Page

On Tuesday, artist Rachel Owens to lecture about her glass-and-resin work that critiques consumerism

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Events, News

On the evening of August 11th, internationally-exhibiting artist Rachel Owens will speak about her work and process during an evening lecture at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn (UrbanGlass publishes the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet). The artist, whose work graced the cover of the Summer 2015 edition of GLASS (#139), explores the corrosive effects of consumer culture driven to unsustainable levels of desire by retail mercandising and marketing. Ownes makes sculptures of molded broken glass and resin, which she employs for its seductive and repulsive push-puil.