Wednesday March 22, 2017 | by Hailey Clark

3 Questions for ... Sarah Mizer

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Exhibition, New Work

Glass artist, Sarah Mizer, explores polarization, overindulgence, and nostalgia in her exhibition "Of Most Excellent Fancy," on view through April 1, 2017 at a project space in Laurel Park, North Carolina, that is the contemporary art component of a novel retail wine market called the Crate Project. Drawing inspiration from Vanitas Dutch still life imagery, and dialog from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mizer created three groups of art forms that reside on individual walls. Each set of works evoke a sense of conflicting ideas, such as life and death, like Vanitas imagery, while incorporating her own experiences from her time as an artist residence at the Penland School of Crafts. In these three questions, Mizer expands on how her botanical studies mesh with 17th-century sources of inspiration.

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Thursday March 16, 2017 | by Awura Barnie-Duah

OPENING: Iranian contemporary artist’s richly mirrored work featured at Chrysler Museum of Art

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, Museums, Opening

Kandinsky and Mondrian are two Western painters credited with pioneering the form of geometric abstraction. But artwork that focuses on patterns of color and shape rather than figuration goes back to ancient art forms, especially in Islamic Art, where depiction of religious figures has been carefully avoided in respect for the faith's ban on idolatry. The mirror sculptures of Monir Farmanfarmaian, an Iranian artist, bring together influences of Western avant-garde painting and centuries-old Islamic art in works of refraction and geometric abstraction. An opening reception this evening at The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, will kick off an exhibition of Farmanfarmaian's work that will continue through July 30, 2017.

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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.

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Thursday March 2, 2017 | by Awura Barnie-Duah

EXHIBITION: James Mongrain celebrates the glory of Venetian glassblowing at the Museum of Glass

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Museums, News

Towering, taut, and ornate, 130 exquisitely blown glass works are currently on view at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, where they will remain through October 15, 2017. These are the fruits of a four-year collaboration between master glassblower James Mongrain and patron and prominent collector George R. Stroemple. Organized into four groupings entitled the Adriatico, Atlantis, Poseidon, and Arcobaleno series, the works result from Mongrain's extremely disciplined approach to traditional Venetian glassblowing techniques, and represent his response to the more than one hundred 19th-century Venetian glass objects in Stroemple's collection, which are also displayed in the exhibition. This show is an homage to the traditions that inspired Mongrain to devote his career to mastery of the techniques and aesthetic rules of this historic high-water mark for glassblowing skill.

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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.

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Thursday February 23, 2017 | by Hailey Clark

OPENING: Kazuki Takizawa takes on weighty topic in upcoming solo exhibition at major craft gallery

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, New Work, Opening

UPDATED: 05/16/2017

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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.

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Wednesday February 15, 2017 | by Hailey Clark

OPENING: The Newark Museum explores art boundaries with upcoming exhibit

FILED UNDER: Exhibition, Museums, Opening

On February 22, 2017, the Newark Museum will open a provocative exhibition titled "When Objects Became Art," which presents early twentieth-century glass and ceramic works from its private collection to foster a new understanding of the dividing line between decorative and fine art. 

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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.

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Wednesday February 1, 2017 | by Awura Barnie-Duah

OPENING: Berengo’s Glasstress project comes to Boca Raton, Florida

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

Adriano Berengo is back with another Glasstress exhibition, this time in partnership with an art museum in Boca Raton, Florida. Known for bringing artists who don't usually utilize glass as a medium together with his team of glass maestros in Murano, Berengo has built Glasstress into an art-world brand since it debuted as a collateral exhibition at the 2009 Venice Bienalle. In addition to his Glasstress exhibits at the international exhibition, Berengo has also been developing "Glasstress World" in which Berengo Project artists display their work in partnership with major museums around the globe.

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