BOOK REPORT: RISD celebrates a half century of its glass art program with publication of Wonder: 50 Years RISD Glass

FILED UNDER: Book Report

As part of a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the glass department at the Rhode Island School of Design, the institution is publishing a book that both documents the history of its influential program and is also itself a work of intellectual inquiry. Titled Wonder: 50 Years RISD Glass, this book is an ambitious project authored by notable scholars and critics in the art world, many RISD alumni themselves. Their contributions not only serve as a commemoration, but stimulate inquiry and analysis in the way that the program itself encourages. The book will be released this month at a Seattle launch part at Dale Chihuly’s Boathouse on October 15th. It's a fitting location as Chihuly was RISD’s first full-time glass instructor, and has gone on to become perhaps the best-known artist working with the material. An East-Coast launch is scheduled at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City on November 13th.…

Penland School of Crafts, Inspired: Life In Penland's Resident Artist and Core Fellowship Programs, cover. courtesy of Penland School of crafts

Wednesday March 8, 2017 | by Hailey Clark

BOOK REPORT: Penland publishes a lavish celebration of its unique residency program

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Book Report, Education

In many words and pictures, Penland School of Crafts' new book, entitled Inspired: Life In Penland’s Resident Artists and Core Fellowship Programs, tells the story of this North Carolina craft center's mission and artist outcomes through the voices of its staff and 32 of the artist residents. These voices share their positive experiences during their time in residency, whether it was for 8 months or the uniquely long 3 year fellowship, and how they benefited from the institution's educational and residency programs. Over the course of 192 pages, this new coffeetable book delves into the history of Penland, first founded in the 1920s (it established its first glass program in 1965), and the core reason for its existence: to provide the perfect balance of solidarity and isolation for upmost creative growth. This hardcover book, according to Penland executive director Jean McLaughlin on page 8, "aim[s] to acknowledge the remarkable near-fifty-year history of these two programs and begin to document this history through the stories of participating artists."

The cover of GLASS: Virtual, Real scheduled to be published in Fall 2016.

Tuesday March 7, 2017 | by Andrew Page

BOOK REPORT: Contributing editor William Ganis on reviewing Koen Vanderstukken’s scholarly work

FILED UNDER: Book Report, Print Edition

The back-page "Reflection" essay in the newly published issue of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (Spring 2017, #146) is dedicated to an in-depth book review of a new scholarly work by Koen Vanderstukken, an artist and head of the glass program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet talked with the reviewer — the magazine's contributing editor William Ganis, who is also the chair of art and design at Indiana State University — about his assessment of this major new work.

The opaque steel walls of the flameworking studio at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion include a wide picture window that allows the public to view its activities through the exterior walls. photo: © floto + warner studio

Friday December 23, 2016 | by Andrew Page

BOOK REPORT: Toledo Museum of Art celebrates 10-year mark for iconic Glass Pavilion with new tome

FILED UNDER: Book Report, Museums

With an unusual curved corner that echoes the rounded-glass-wall architecture of its subject, a new hardcover book entitled simply The Glass Pavilion ($44.95) is a 144-page love letter to the The Toledo Museum of Art's eye-catching annex designed by the Prizker Prize-winning Japanese architecture firm SANAA. Featured on the cover of GLASS magazine when it opened in 2006, the Glass Pavilion added 76,000 square feet of ethereal exhibition space and a state-of-the-art working glass studio to the 100-year-old museum. The museum wanted to make sure the new building devoted to art would be architecturally significant as would befit a facility dedicated to the same material on which museum founder Edward Drummond Libbey built his industrial empire. It was also at the Toledo Museum that Harvey Littleton held his famous 1962 workshop that many consider the birth of Studio Glass.

Thursday December 22, 2016 | by Andrew Page

BOOK REPORT: A conversation with artist and author Paul Stankard on the publication of his 3rd book

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Book Report

GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: You've already published an autobiography, No Green Berries and Leaves (McDonald & Woodward, 2007), and a manual for artists entitled Spark the Creative Flame (McDonald & Woodward, 2013). What inspired you to come out with Studio Craft as Career (Schiffer, 2016) and how does it differ from your first two books? Paul Stankard: Well, my first book was a memoir, and the second one was a guide to finding and renewing motivation. But I decided to write this book because I was hearing so many people trying to make it as artists who believed it was all about who you knew. I wrote this book to say 'Wait a minute, it's not who you know, it's all about the work.' I wanted to give people a way to educate themselves about what excellence is, and to hand over tools for self-directed learning. People who read this book will hopefully think about how they need to see themselves in competition, not only with the best work in the contemporary realm, but also the best work that has come before. It's about studying the best work that's been done in your field and engaging in a dialog with it — to understand it, and to respond to that work in your own unique way.

Cover of 'Chihuly Faxes,' available now through Chihuly Workshop. courtesy: chihuly workshop.

Tuesday November 22, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

BOOK REPORT: Dale Chihuly: Fax Machine

FILED UNDER: Book Report

Faxes may have given way to email, but contemporary technology was an integral part of Dale Chihuly’s artistic practice throughout the 1990s. Now, a new book entitled Chihuly’s Faxes compiles 130 of these faxes hand-picked from an archive of 7,500. Treated as a medium for design ideation and instant communication, Chihuly’s faxes are described by lauded novelist, essayist, and critic, Francine Prose as “dreams about art.” Prose, a former president of PEN American Center, has written a foreword to the book, and her essay includes an analysis of “technology’s role in communicating bold ideas.” The new book is available now through Chihuly Workshop.

Sunday October 30, 2016 | by Andrew Page

BOOKS: Laura Donefer’s 2016 Glass Fashion Show immortalized in print

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Book Report

If you missed Laura Donefer's 2016 Glass Fashion Show that brought the Glass Art Society conference in Corning, New York to a spectacular close last June, you're in luck. The razzle and dazzle, not to mention the sparkle and glitter, have been documented in the superb photography of Stephen Wild. Artfully arranged on the page, a compilation of the best images has just been released as a handsome hardcover book. (Disclosure: The introduction was adapted from an article on the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet.) The book is a must-see for those present for the festivities, who now have a chance to revisit the thrill and savor the highlights, such as Jasen Johnson emerging with his glass guitar and scantily-clad entourage to kick things off.

Tuesday July 12, 2016 | by Malcolm Morano

BOOK REPORT: Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace

FILED UNDER: Book Report

Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace Essays by Mark Doty, Daniel J. Hinkley, Patricia Kirkpatrick, and Linda Tesner Marquand Books, 216 pages. $39.56 (via Amazon). The decades-long artistic collaboration between artists and partners Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace comes to life in a 216-page book that includes over 100 high-quality photographs of mixed-media work, as well as a lengthy essay by Linda Tesner, the director of the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art at Lewis & Clark College. There is no shortage of chronological or technical detail in these pages, though one longs for a stronger analysis of what unites the pair’s varied bodies of work which range from figurative drawings on glass vessels to abstract assemblages.

Wednesday April 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Rethinking the Littleton myth, Koen Vanderstukken explores alternate glass-art histories in new book

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Book Report, News

The head of the glass studio at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada, Koen Vanderstukken was driven by curiosity to delve deeper into the evolution of glass as an art medium than the concise story that Harvey Littleton was singlehandedly responsible. This inquiry, which he undertook in 2008, led him to ponder the intrinsic complexity of the material of glass that drew artists such as Larry Bell and Robert Smithson who had little connection to the Studio Glass movement as led by Littleton, and evolved into a book project. (Disclosure: GLASS is planning to run an excerpt from Vanderstukken's new book in the Fall 2016 edition. Also, editor Andrew Page is the author of an essay that appeared in a Black Dog Publishing book.) Taking notes, researching, and writing, on his own time, he has completed the manuscript and sourced images to illustrate his points. The 288-page book is scheduled to be published in September 2016 in partnership with U.K.-based Black Dog Publishing but Vanderstukken needs to finance half the printing costs, and has turned to crowd-sourcing, where in less than 24 hours, he's raised 20-percent of his goal of $15,000 US. The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet spoke with Vanderstukken about the book project and his fundraising initiative. Excerpts from our telephone interview below:

Thursday February 11, 2016 | by Geoffrey Isles

A newly-launched online treasure trove of knowledge on Venetian glass is a breakthrough

FILED UNDER: Book Report, Education, Museums, News

If there were a skills test in glassblowing, the ultimate exam would probably be flawlessly executing a 17th- or 18th-century Venetian goblet. In Venice, those that reach the pinnacle of skill in this form (and who have achieved full technical knowledge about glassblowing) are recognized with the title “Maestro,” but, here in the U.S., the highest award is when a member of the small pantheon of American glassblowers such as a James Mongrain would be impressed enough with your finished “cup” to say “Hey! You’re really good!”

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.