Viewing: News

Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty, Small Octopus/Purple. Lampworked glass. H 3 1/2, W 8, D 3 1/2 in.

Thursday February 20, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

EXHIBITION: "Fins, Whales, and Octopus Tales" gathers a diverse range of ocean-themed work in glass for Texas gallery show

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Events, Exhibition, News

"Fins, Whales, and Octopus Tales" is the title of a lively group exhibition of contemporary glass art concerned with depicting the undersea world. While all the work in the exhibition shares an association with the sea, Barbara Kittrell, curator and co-founder of the Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery in Dallas, Texas, didn't want to lock the artists into narrow parameters when she invited them to be in the show, which runs until March 1, 2020.

courtesy: glass light hotel.

Wednesday February 19, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

The Glass Light Hotel, a longtime dream of Norfolk arts patrons Doug and Pat Perry, opens for business while gallery construction continues

FILED UNDER: Architecture, Design, News, Opening

Like their fellow Chrysler Museum of Art art patrons Richard and Carolyn Barry, who built a university art museum to exhibit their extensive collection, Doug and Pat Perry decided to construct a building where they could showcase their considerable holdings of glass art. But unlike the Barry Art Museum at Old Dominion University, the Perry collection is now on view at The Glass Light Hotel, where the majority of the viewers are staying the night at this boutique inn in the heart of downtown Norfolk, Virginia. A hotel that can also be a home for art was inspired by the Perry's trip to a Glass Art Society conference in Louisville, Kentucky, where they were transfixed by the first 21c museum/hotel, where contemporary art projects are integrated throughout. "We came back and said, 'Wouldn't it be neat to have a boutique, artsy, glass-art-themed hotel in downtown Norfolk?' " Doug Perry told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in a 2016 interview about the project.

A Tiffany mosaic adorns a chapel wall at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, where the Art Glass Forum meets.

Tuesday February 4, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: New York glass art and design group invites emerging scholars to submit papers

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Call for Submissions, Events, News

The Art Glass Forum | New York invites submissions for short papers to be presented at its third annual Emerging Scholars Lecture exploring the use or history of glass as an artistic medium. This group of glass collectors, dealers, curators, and aficionados seek proposals from current and recent graduate students as well as young professionals for a 20-minute illustrated lecture that presents original research. The purpose of the Emerging Scholars Lecture is to "provide a forum for sharing and discussing new research and discoveries with a community of glass scholars and enthusiasts," according to the group's website.

Smaller Simone Crestani Ecamilla Brunelli Metamorphosis 2017Bottigliedet1

Simone Crestani & Camilla Brunelli in collaboration with EditaMateria, Metamorphosis, 2017 courtesy of Camilla Brunelli

Tuesday September 12, 2017 | by Joseph Modica

EXHIBITION: Notable design collaboration among the over-140 events at first-ever Venice Glass Week

FILED UNDER: Design, Exhibition, New Work, News

Lending their shape and form, insects are the basis of a new collection by two Italian designers who seek to capture the marriage between design and nature in glass objects. The “Metamorphosis“ collection is a result of the collaboration between two artists, Camilla Brunelli and Simone Crestani. Using delicately blown glass vessels, the artists sought to capture the rigidity and translucence of shed insect exoskeletons. Running through September 17, the exhibition is taking place as part of Venice Glass Week, where it is being shown at the T Fondaco dei Tedeschi on Venice's Grand Canal. The event is the first iteration of a brand-new international glass event with a focus on Murano glassmaking. Opening September 10, 2017, and running through the 17th, the week includes over 140 events paying tribute to Venice and Murano's rich history involving glass. including conferences, exhibits, and educational activities. The "Metamorphosis" exhibition is part of this much-larger festival of Italian glass art, design and history which celebrates one of Venice's most influential artistic exports.

Artist and professor Helen Lee at the 2015 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium.

Thursday September 7, 2017 | by Andrew Page

A salary survey seeks insights into compensation levels in the field of glass art and design

FILED UNDER: Art Market, News

What's the average starting salary for a glass professor at a private art college? How about someone starting at a state school? How much debt is incurred on average to earn an MFA in glass? Until now, these questions, and more basic ones such as the going rate for a glassblowing assistant in the hot shop, have simply been unavailable. Now, artist and assistant professor Helen Lee, who heads the Glass Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is trying to crunch these numbers as part of an ambitious confidential research project she is undertaking to collect and analyze data on how much people are paid for their work in the glass art arena. Lee will share a summary and analysis of the results of her survey at the 2017 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass. As an incentive to participate, those who take part and include an email address will receive a detailed report on the project's findings. Over 100 responses were received in the first two days, so this project promises to provide a significant sample size.

Julie Conway designed this pendant light, called "Tuffo" wth a clear crackle to cast a dramatic shadow pattern that has been incorporated into the Motif Seattle's logo for the 2017-18 artist residency period. courtesy: julie conway

Friday September 1, 2017 | by Andrew Page

DESIGN: Julie Conway wins visiting-artist competition at Seattle hotel

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Design, New Work, News

Seattle-based artist and designer Julie Conway has been named "visiting artist" for the Motif Seattle, a hotel that, true to its name, blends its identity to the vision of an area artist on a rotating basis. The recently redesigned hotel works with the artists to create a unique design "motif" that is incorporated into everything from the hotel's business cards to the room keys to elements of staff uniforms, and the collaboration is promoted on the hotel's social media presence. Conway was chosen from 20 applicants, and will receive a $2,000 honorarium. As part of her role as Motif Seattle's 2017-2018 visiting artist, Conway will be listed as the hotel's visiting artist throughout the hotel, and her work will be featured in the relaunched Website for the Motif Seattle later this month. She will also be running private glassblowing events for the hotel's clients throughout the term of the residency.

Albert Paley in collaboration with William Carlson, Arc, 2010. Formed and fabricated steel and stainless steel, cast glass. H 22 1/2, W 31, D 22 in. courtesy: the artist. photo: chuck lysen

Thursday August 31, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

OPENING: Museum exhibit explores Albert Paley’s two-decade wrestling match between steel and glass

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Museums, News, Opening

At the intersection of architecture, steel forging and glass casting lies the work of Albert Paley. This convergence is explored in an exhibition entitled "Complementary Contrasts: The Glass and Steel Sculptures of Albert Paley" opening at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, on September 9th, 2017. Running through September 2018, the year-long exhibit aims to view glass and its applications through the eyes of artists who may not work in the medium exclusively.

Friday August 25, 2017 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Fall 2017 edition of GLASS (#148)

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News, Print Edition

The Fall 2017 edition of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#148) will hit newsstands and subscriber mailboxes next week. The issue marks a major upgrade in paper quality to better showcase our recent total redesign. The result is superior photo reproduction with richer colors, deeper saturation, and sharper details, all of which make the cover image of a tautly furled thread vessel by Toots Zynsky even more striking. In the featured article, regular magazine contributor Alexander Castro spends time in Zynsky's Providence, Rhode Island, studio, where he learns of the creative ferment spurred by the artist's recent Specialty Glass Residency at The Corning Museum of Glass and Corning Incorporated. Access to new materials have rekindled Zynsky's passionate interest in experimentation, which Castro investigates as he also considers her established, and much-coveted, sculptural vessels made through a process of fusing thousands of delicate glass fibers that are hand-formed into complex objects that display "tidal movement," which Castro writes "isn't superfluous but integral to their being."

Landau (right) mingling with clientele during Glass Vessels and Tools of the Trade at Studio 211 at the Bemis Building during April 2017. courtesy: jessica landau photo: ian lewis

Tuesday August 22, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

CONVERSATION: Jessica Landau, on team Chihuly, finds time for own work and promoting other artists

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, News

If Seattle’s Jessica Landau could be in two places at once, she would be. Her “alternative” gallery space in Seattle’ Bemis Building, Studio 211, just hosted an event displaying the works of Greg Owen, Amanda McDonald-Stern, Alix Cannon, Dan Friday, and Tony Sorgenfrei. She also teaches glassblowing two days a week at Wilson High School in Tacoma, and works as a glassblower for Chihuly Studio, full-time. Somehow, she still finds time to create whimsical flameworked artwork and jewelry, most notably her series of mustaches, and work toward a master’s degree in business administration.

James Baker's leadership of Pilchuck began in the summer of 2010.

Tuesday August 15, 2017 | by Andrew Page

Pilchuck announces James Baker will retire in early 2018, begins search for executive director

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Education, News

Effective February 2018, James Baker, who has served as the executive director of the Pilchuck Glass School for seven years, will step down from the top staff position at this influential Washington State arts center with locations in Stanwood and Seattle. Baker's appointment in the summer of 2010 ushered in a period of stability and growth at Pilchuck, after the brief tenure of his immediate successor, Arthur Jacobus, who resigned in December 2009 after taking over just a year earlier from the long-serving Patricia Watkinson. Under Baker's watch, Pilchuck added a Pioneer Square exhibition gallery in Seattle's arts district, while also upgrading and making its studios and shops in the main location in Stanwood more energy efficient. Pilchuck, and by extension Baker, was recognized with a 2016 Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass Organization Award, which specifically credited the leadership of its executive director.

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.