CONVERSATION: Deborah Czeresko, who won the Netflix glassblowing competition Blown Away, tells all

New York-based artist Deborah Czeresko has a foot in two glass camps. She was drawn to glass by the precision of Venetian glassblowing, which she studied at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop under the tutelage of William Gudenrath, now resident advisor at the Corning Studio. (Disclosure: Czeresko is currently a board member of UrbanGlass, the successor of NYEGW.) But she is also an accomplished conceptual and performance artist, and has fabricated work for Kiki Smith and Rob Wynne, among other prominent contemporary artists. When not making her own work, or fabricating for others, she is often at work on her lighting-design line that helps provide income. Surprisingly, despite her wide-ranging skill and high-level art-world connections, Czeresko is not presently represented by an art gallery, though that might change given her recent star performance (and victory) in the Netflix reality show Blown Away. If you've somehow missed the big debates about the program, think of the Great British Baking Show except, instead of fancy desserts, the contestants are asked to create on-demand glass artworks under time pressure. The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet caught up with Czeresko to discuss her experience behind and in front of the Blown Away cameras in an exclusive interview with the show's winner.

The new executive director of the Glass Art Society Brandi Clark spent a year as interim director.

Wednesday July 17, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

After a year as interim executive director, Brandi Clark earns the full leadership position at the Glass Art Society

After a year-long national search, the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society (GAS) has named Brandi Clark its new Executive Director.

Artist Jessica Julius takes over as glass-program head at the renamed Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia.

Tuesday July 16, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia debuts a name change and new glass-program head

On July 1, 2019, the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia debuted its newly expanded name and officially became the "Tyler School of Art and Architecture." The change is part of a reorganization of the existing programs at this art school, which is part of the larger institution Temple University. In October 2018, the Temple board of directors voted to eliminate the separate departments of Craft as well as Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, unifying them under a single "Department of Art." Recently, there has also been a shuffle in Tyler's glass-program faculty, with assistant professor Jessica Julius, who has taught at Tyler for more than a decade, taking over as program head, while her predecessor Sharyn O’Mara will continue as a full-time professor with more time to devote to her own art practice.

Megan Stelljas, Banana Bunch, 2019. Glass. H 6 ½, W 10, D 6 ½ in. courtesy: traver gallery

Thursday July 11, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

OPENING: John Drury continues mapping an alternative history of glass art with show at Traver Gallery

“As in Also: An Alternative Too,” a group exhibition curated by Glass contributing editor John Drury opens this evening at the Traver Gallery in Seattle on July 11. The exhibit features work from artists that question the boundaries of glass including Scott Darlington, Jen Elek, Eli Hansen, Amy Lemaire, Robbie Miller, Morgan Peterson, Jerry Pethick, Brian Pike, George Sawchuk, Buster Simpson, Megan Stelljes, Leo Tecosky, and Simon Klenell.

Lino Tagliapietra in front of Aurora. courtesy: schantz galleries

Wednesday July 10, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

OPENING: Lino Tagliapietra to attend Friday's exhibition opening at Schantz Galleries in Massachusetts

Glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra will be visiting Schantz Galleries in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on Friday, July 12, 2019, from 3 PM to 5 PM. It will be the public opening of his solo exhibition titled "Visionary," which features 40 of his latest works. The exhibition honors Tagliapietra for his unusual and intricate explorations that continue to expand the boundaries of the glass medium. The new work reveals Lino's innovative use of color and pattern. Owner Jim Schantz told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet that the title of the show is an acknowledgement of the ways the artist continues to experiment and explore new ways to create within the glass medium.

The exterior of the Canberra Glassworks facility.

Wednesday July 10, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Canberra Glassworks seeks Australian applicants for first Klaus Moje Award

Canberra Glassworks has announced the next iteration of its annual Hindmarsh Prize, which has honored contemporary glass artists from the Canberra region since 2016. The first biennial Klaus Moje Glass Award (KMGA), named for the artist and founder of Canberra’s Australian National University School of Art Glass Workshop, has broadened the focus to include participants from across the nation of Australia, and honors the legacy of one of the most important pioneers of Australian glass, Klaus Moje (1936 - 2016). The deadline to apply is August 14, 2019.

The Bullseye Resource Center in Los Angeles. courtesy: bullseye glass company

Sunday July 7, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Bullseye applications for Spring/Summer 2020 residencies due September 1st

Bullseye Glass Company is now accepting applications for its 2020 winter/spring artist residency program. The residencies take place in five locations: the Bullseye Studio in Portland, Oregon, and in each of the Bullseye Resource Centers, which are located in Santa Fe, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York. Accommodations are not provided, except at the Portland location if needed. The deadline to apply for the residencies (taking place between January and June 2020) is September 1st, 2019.

The management team of the combined Rago and Wright auctioneers. (L to R) Richard Wright, CEO; David Rago, President; Suzanne Perrault, President. courtesy: rago

Wednesday July 3, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

Lambertville, New Jersey-based Rago Auctions, an important venue for secondary-market glass art, has merged with Wright Auctions

Rago Auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey, and Wright Auctions of Chicago and New York City have recently announced the merger of their business operations. Both houses will continue to operate under their individual names at their respective locations but will start sharing technology, expertise, and marketing efforts while also collaborating on co-branded projects. With a combined $65 million in annual sales and an expanded team of 75 employees, the two businesses hope that there's power in numbers. It remains to be seen how this impacts their respective pools of consignors and buyers.

Reforestation of the Imagination is the latest project by Ginny Ruffner, now on view at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday July 2, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

EXHIBITION: With an augmented-reality app she developed, Ginny Ruffner empowers viewers to unleash their imaginations at the Renwick Gallery

Artist Ginny Ruffner's exhibition "Reforestation of the Imagination," which just opened at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, enlists cutting-edge technologies in the artist's ongoing quest to celebrate and explore the power of the imagination. Viewers who attend the exhibition, which is on view through January 5, 2020, are asked to download a unique augmented-reality app on their mobile devices. Ruffner developed it working with Seattle-based animator and media artist Grant Kirkpatrick. With the help of the app, the gallery's monochromatic landscape is transformed digitally, and the six glass tree stumps that stand as targets to aim mobile devices come to life with colorful organic growth. Without the use of technology, the space is desolate. With digital programming, the "trees" bloom spiraling branches and elaborate foliage referencing Ruffner's powerful reimagining of what may result in the near-future from climate change.

Stephanie Sara Lifshutz, You Heard me the First Time, 2019. Neon, mixed-media. courtesy: heller gallery

Thursday June 27, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

EXHIBITION: "Collaborations with Queer Voices" celebrates identity and decodes language at Heller Gallery

Artists Matthew Day Perez and Kate Hush asked 10 artists to consider language, which can be especially charged for those in the LGBTQ community. Building on the success of their provocatively named business venture, FagSigns, Perez and Hush then fabricated the artists' ideas into working neon signs, which are debuting at an exhibition that opens this evening, June 27, 2019, at Heller Gallery in New York City. The show entitled "Collaborations with Queer Voices," which is timed to Pride month and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, continues FagSign's conversation about neon's role in electrifying the voices of marginalized individuals.

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.