Viewing:

Karl Unnasch, Operant (An Oldowonk Cataract), 2019. Reclaimed dump truck, stained glass, glass tchonks, steel, paint, polycarbonate, LEDs. H 17, W 9, D 26 ft. courtesy: the artist.

Wednesday June 26, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

Karl Unnasch's latest public-art project in Boston uses his extensive stained-glass expertise to illuminate discarded machinery

Artist Karl Unnasch, a Minnesota-based stained-glass window maker, has been gaining notice in the past few years for his large-scale installations that employ two-dimensional stained glass panels to bring new life to cast-off three-dimensional objects. The other-worldly results — pieces of industrial machinery outfitted with vibrant, pictorial windows that glow from within — reflect on the artist’s rural Midwestern upbringing. His piece Slumgullion (The Venerate Outpost), a log cabin outfitted with various types of art glass, was recently recognized by Americans for the Arts as one of 50 outstanding public art pieces created in 2018. In an ongoing Boston installation, Unnasch’s sculpture that brings together stained glass and an old dump truck explores the intersection of the natural landscape and the road construction process.

While on a Fulbright in Finland, Jonathan Capps conducted a hot-shop demonstration for Kirsti Taiviola's (far right) design students at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. Capps was assisted by Sara Hulkkonen (far left). courtesy: jonathan capps.

Tuesday June 25, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

In Finland on a Fulbright Scholarship, artist Jonathan Capps found eager exchange and interest in an American approach to glass

As the economics of handmade glass production are battered by globalization, the centuries-old glass-making culture in Europe is increasingly opening up (see the 2018 Glass Art Society conference in Murano, or the upcoming 2020 conference at Kosta Boda) and looking internationally for ideas of how to reinvent their businesses. One example comes in the story of Jonathan Capps, who graduated from Ohio State with an MFA in glass in 2016. Last year, Capps applied for and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend a year in Finland working with the Nuutajärvi Glass Village Cultural Foundation (NGVCF), which operates out of a shuttered historic glass factory and was set up to preserve and study traditions of Finnish glass art. Capps was driven by his interest in learning a Scandinavian approach to working with glass, but it quickly became clear that there was an equal interest in his uniquely American approach. The culmination of Capps’ year in Finland came with a group exhibition titled “Why Not? Finnish American Art Glass,” which is on view at the formerly thriving Nuutajärvi Glass Factory through September 1, 2019. Between his studio research and informal artist residency at Tavastia Vocational College (a local glass school) glass school, Capps soon became aware of a strong interest in his own way of doing things. Through his interactions with artists and teachers at Tavastia, and the welcoming embrace of local glass artists and designers, Capps became intimately involved with Nuutajärvi's search for a new type of glass identity.

Center for Craft Windgate Fellow Brian Fleetwood. courtesy: center for crafts

Tuesday June 25, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

Where most fellowships aim at emerging artists, two new $20,000 opportunities at the Center for Crafts are aimed squarely at mid-career

The Center for Crafts, the non-profit arts organization based in Asheville, North Carolina, that advances the field of art from craft media, has announced two new $20,000 Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowships targeting mid-career artists. While the Craft Research Fund has been providing fellowships since 2005, most are limited to emerging artists or recent graduates. Following a July 2018 meeting with national leaders of the art, craft, and philanthropy fields at the Center for Craft, a new fellowship program was designed for artists of any age throughout their career.

Pieces from Blown Away on display in the museum's amphitheater hot shop. courtesy: corning museum of glass

Friday June 21, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

Glass reality show Blown Away to premiere July 12th on Netflix, Corning Museum of Glass sets up exhibition of show artifacts

The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) in Corning, New York, has intensified its involvement with Blown Away, an upcoming glass-art reality television program, by displaying pieces made during taping of the show. The exhibit is set up in the museum’s Ampitheater Hot Shop, and not the main exhibition spaces. The reality show, which premiered on Canada’s newly launched Makeful satellite channel in February, is scheduled to debut in the U.S. on Netflix on July 12, 2019. Perhaps sensing the show's potential to introduce new audiences to the beauty of glassblowing, the Corning team, which had joined the production as evaluators and offered hands-on assistance to the glass artists during Blown Away's final rounds, is upping its involvement in the reality television program with the exhibition as well as planned appearances at the museum by the show's as-yet-unreleased victorious contestant. The winner of the competition will visit the museum for two working sessions this summer and a “Blown Away Residency” is planned in October, where the artist will perform demos for museum visitors.

Richard Royal, Illusion, 2019. Hot sculpted glass. H 23, W 11, D 5 in. courtesy: schantz galleries

Thursday June 20, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

EXHIBITION: New larger-scale work by Richard Royal on view at Schantz Gallery

On view through the summer at Schantz Galleries in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is an exhibition of new work from Richard Royal, one of the pioneers of the Studio Glass movement. Three years in development, Royal’s latest body of work is a geometric series that achieves a larger scale and features a commanding palette of primary colors. After 11 years of developing a process and system, Royal’s geometric series is playful but structurally complex, with titles offering homages to famous figures in art and architecture.

Carissa Grace, Comforter, 2019. Argon, phosphor coated glass. courtesy: Carissa Grace.

Saturday June 15, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

EXHIBITION: Recent Alfred University grads in group neon exhibition in New York City

Today, June 15, 2019, neon works from eight recent graduates from Alfred University’s School of Art and Design in Alfred, New York, will be shown in an exhibition on New York City’s Governors Island. Curated by assistant professor of glass Sarah Blood, the exhibition, titled “Language of Light,” includes the work of BFA graduates Carissa Grace, Astrid Hunter, Bryanna King, Caroline LaCava, Natalie Schults, Olivia Piazza, Adam Taylor and Gil Travers, whose undergraduate study with Blood focused on light.

Lorraine Peltz, Landslide, 2019. Oil and acrylic on canvas. H 48, W 36 in. courtesy: the artist

Thursday June 13, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

An artist and critic's life partnership explored in a Chicago exhibition

On view through August 25, 2019, at the Ed Paschke Art Center (EPAC) in Chicago, the exhibition “Lorraine Peltz: This Must Be the Place” investigates the multi-layered relationship between painter Lorraine Peltz and her late art-history professor husband (and prolific Glass magazine contributing editor). James Yood, who died suddenly in 2018, was a longstanding champion of Chicago artists working in many different media, and a prominent figure in the glass-art community, penning essays for numerous books in addition to his writings for this publication. He was also a charismatic professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he taught for many years.

An image of Judith Schaechter with a taxidermy armadillo that was presented along with the presidents award in San Antonio, Texas, on June 4th. courtesy: judson studios / kyle j mickelson

Wednesday June 12, 2019 | by Gabriela Iacovano

Judith Schaechter, who bridges contemporary and traditional approaches to stained glass, is honored by stained-glass associations

Artist Judith Schaechter has single-handedly pioneered traditional stained glass as a medium for contemporary exploration, staunchly advocating for the celebration of decorative and craft arts in academia and beyond. At a stained-glass artist conference in Texas on June 4, 2019, Schaechter was presented with the first-ever joint president’s award (and a taxidermy armadillo) from the American Glass Guild (AGG) and Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA). In addition to recognizing Schaechter’s contributions to the worlds of stained glass and glass art at large, the award commemorated the consolidation of the two groups for their first joint summer conference, which took place in San Antonio, Texas.

Jane Rosen, Ladder Morandi, 2019. Handblown pigmented glass, limestone, and fossil limestone. H 72, W 69,D 18 in. courtesy: traver gallery.

Wednesday June 12, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

OPENING: Traver Gallery highlights art inspired by nature in two adjacent exhibitions

Adjacent exhibitions now on view at the Traver Gallery in Seattle feature work by artists Jane Rosen and Hiroshi Yamano, both of whom look to the natural environment in appreciation for the world around us. Though united in general interest, Rosen and Yamano use distinctly different approaches to glass and varied materials to illustrate a sensuous connection to the natural world.

Allan Wexler, Vessicles, 2019. Glass, fiberglass, plumbing fixtures. courtesy: wheatonarts

Tuesday June 4, 2019 | by Meghan Hayfield

OPENING: The third "Emanation" exhibition at WheatonArts brings fresh perspectives

The third iteration of “Emanation,” the biennial exhibition launched by former WheatonArts’ glass studio creative director Hank Adams in 2015, features a different approach as well as a new curator. While under the leadership of Adams, the 2015 and 2017 exhibitions brought well-known high-profile contemporary artists, such as Judy Pfaff, Donald Lipski, and Mark Dion, to the remote Millville, New Jersey, glass center to work with skilled assistants and realize new work in glass. The 2019 edition was overseen by independent curator Julie Courtney, Adams’ hand-picked successor to organize the exhibit, and she has focused on prominent but somewhat less well-known artists, many from the Philadelphia area where she is based. The resulting artwork is varied and sometimes unexpected, and overall offers a more youthful and spontaneous feeling.

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.