OPENING: Corning to exhibit the lesser-known invertebrate sculptures by the Blaschkas

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, News

The father-and-son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, famous for their lampworked glass flowers that make up the Ware Collection at Harvard, were better known in their day for their models of sea creatures. While their flowers are what gives them the most contemporary attention, such as the recent "Lifeforms" exhibition of realistic work at Pittsburgh Glass Center in which the German model-makers are cited as inspiration for a juried show, a new exhibition opening in May at The Corning Museum of Glass will put the focus on their models of sea creatures. More than 70 Blaschka invertebrate sea creatures, drawn mostly from the collection of the Cornell University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, will be on view, as well as numerous drawings and instruments used to craft these finely detailed objects.

Thursday March 10, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Silvia Levenson solo show opens at the Murano Glass Museum in Venice

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, New Work, News

Argentinian-born artist Silvia Levenson's traveling exhibition "Identidad Desaparecidos ('Missing Identity' in English)" has been on view in Buenos Aires, Spain, France, Latvia, and at the Katzen Center at American University in the Washington D.C. area. An examination of the lingering trauma experienced by Argentine society under brutal dictatorship that Levenson and her young family fled will open in her adopted country of Italy on March 12th (Levenson has been living here since 1980). On Saturday, the Murano Glass Museum will open Levenson's first solo exhibition in Venice, and it will include a unique site-specific work that will circle the gallery area with 119 kiln-cast baby clothes represting the number of the children taken from their mothers who, thanks to the ongoing efforts of the "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" have been able to learn their biological identity through DNA testing.

A rhino by Kelly O'Dell greeted visitors to the opening of "Lifeforms 2016"

Saturday February 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Scenes from the kick-off reception for “Lifeforms 2016” at Pittsburgh Glass Center

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

More than 500 people attended last night's opening of the second "Lifeforms" exhibition at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, some drawn by the nonprofit's 15th anniversary celebration. But the main event was the exhibition of 55 life-like "biological glass models" inspired by the highly realistic plant and invertebrate models made by the now-legendary father and son team of Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka. Spurred by the interest generated by the first "Lifeforms" exhibition in 2013, the 2016 jurors — artist Amber Cowan, PGC executive diretor Heather McElwee, artist Robert Mickelsen, artist Kait Rhoads, and art administrator David Francis — sorted through 177 submissions from around the world, including some from as far away as China, Argentina, and Russia. Though an homage to the Blaschka's lampworked forms, the exhibition was open to artists working with any technique to manipulate glass. According to the Website dedicated to the application process for the show, entries were judged for "accuracy in representing the organism, aesthetic beauty, presentation, and originality." You can view all the submissions here.

Wednesday January 27, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Tyler faculty showcased in group exhibition in Philadelphia

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

Opening at the Philadelphia Art Alliance tomorrow evening, January 28, 2016, is a group exhibition entitled "Hush," featuring work by four members of the Tyler School of Art's glass faculty: Megan Biddle, Amber Cowan, Jessica Jane Julius, and Sharyn O’Mara (the department head). Ranging from site-specific installations to sculptures and drawings, the work in the exhibition shares a common focus on concepts of "reflection (literal and figurative) and distillation," according to the official announcement.

Tuesday January 19, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Jeff Zimmerman takes on the temporal in latest gallery exhibition

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, New Work, Opening

Glassblower Jeff Zimmerman will showcase his recent explorations of water and time, ongoing themes in his career, at an opening this evening at R & Company, a design-art gallery in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood. In both functional and sculptural works, Zimmerman investigates natural processes -- a splash of water, the formation of ice crystals, the movement of ice floes.

Thursday January 14, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Seattle art patron Becky Benaroya gifts glass collection — and $14-million — to Tacoma Art Museum

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, News

The Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington, has scored a coup as the recipient of a $14-million gift from Becky Benaroya, who, with her late husband, Jack, has been acknowledged as among the most generous and powerful Seattle art patrons. In the Benaroyas seven decades of marriage, they assembled a collection of 225 works of art, with an emphasis on Studio Glass and regional Northwest painters and sculptors. For Becky Benaroya's 93rd birthday, she has promised not only the Benaroya art collection, but nearly $14 million to pay for a new wing at the TAM to house it, as well as to finance the salary of a dedicated curator of the collection and its upkeep.

Tuesday January 12, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Gene Koss debuts new work at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening

At his new exhibition "From a Distance," which opened on Saturday, January 9, Gene Koss unveiled a wide range of mixed-media work. The new glass-and-metal works at Arthur Roger Gallery in downtown New Orleans reference two very different environments — the majestic rural landscape of Wisconsin farmland where Koss grew up, and the more vulnerable Mississippi River Delta ecosystem, where man-made engineering vies with the unruly river and gulf waters that are held at bay, imperfectly, through an elaborate system of levees and dams.

Wednesday January 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: April Surgent exhibition debuts at the Museum of Northwest Art on Saturday

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, New Work

Opening January 9, 2016, April Surgent's exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art entitled "Observations of Life on Ice" employs the age-old practice of cameo glass engraving to comment on and investigate very contemporary issues of our environment in flux. The La Conner, Washington, museum's mission is to connect "people with the art, diverse cultures and environments of the Northwest." The Seattle-based artist's newest work is based on her eight-week residency in the Antarctic during 2013, when she was admitted to the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artist and Writers Program. (Disclosure: GLASS Quarterly editor Andrew Page moderated a discussion at the 2015 SOFA Expo in Chicago in which Surgent was a panelist.)

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.

Tuesday November 17, 2015 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: The new Glass Wheel Studio expands art offerings in Norfolk, Virginia

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

The Norfolk, Virginia, glass scene, dominated by the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio, just got bigger with last weekend's opening of a brand-new multi-media art center last Saturday evening, November 14. Unlike the museum's program of demos and performances, the Glass Wheel Studio aims to "serve as an incubator for extraordinary ideas and aim to encourage artists across all disciplines to pursue and elevate their craft." (Disclosure: Glass Wheel Studio is an advertiser in GLASS Quarterly magazine.) As its name implies, the organization puts a special emphasis on work in glass but is open to artists working in all materials. The 8,500-square-foot facility features two rotating galleries and affordable artist studios. Each year, it will provide 13 visual artists an immersive studio practice program, which provides opportunities "for research, experimentation, and professional development." The inaugural exhibition features the glass work of Philadelphia-based artist Jon Goldberg, founder of East Falls Glassworks. Also featured is work by Natalie Abrams and Liz Berk. The

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