Viewing: News

Monday January 2, 2017 | by Malcolm Morano

North Lands Creative Glass announces first summer program under artistic director Jeffrey Sarmiento

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, News

North Lands Creative Glass has announced its 2017 summer program, its first under recently appointed artistic director Jeffrey Sarmiento. The program of classes and a conference will be centered around the theme of faith. The program, titled "Leap of Faith," is billed as exploring the relationships between glass and belief in its varied forms — religious belief, social dogmas, and artistic conviction. Master-classes will be headed by artists Anne Vibeke Mou, Annie Cattrell, Beth Lipman, and the duo of Michael Schunke and Josie Gluck. The one-day conference, "Taking a Leap: Concept, Conservation and Innovation in Architectural Glass," is organized in collaboration with Bullseye Glass Company, and will take place on July 16th, 2017, in the county of Caithness in the northern reaches of Scotland.

Thursday December 1, 2016 | by Andrew Page

It’s Official: 2018 Glass Art Society Conference to be held in Murano, Italy

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, News

UPDATED 01/10/2017 For it's 47th annual conference, the Glass Art Society is going overseas for the first time since the 2005 Adelaide, Australia, conference sent intrepid artists on long-haul flights Down Under. The 2018 event is set to take place in Murano, Italy, from May 16th through 20th, a notably longer duration than recent conferences, which have been three-day affairs. Led by Lino Tagliapietra, the conference steering committee for 2018 includes Cesare Toffolo, Lucio Bubacco, Davide Salvadore, Marina Tagliapietra, Roberto Donà, Adriano Berengo, and the Consorzio Promovetro Murano, an association of craft and industrial businesses in Venice dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Murano’s artistic glass and centuries of history.

Wednesday November 30, 2016 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: GLASS #145, Winter 2016-17

FILED UNDER: News, Print Edition

The Winter 2016-17 edition of GLASS (#145) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes this week. The four feature articles explore different aspects of the profound transition affecting glass art and design. Whether it's the aging of a loyal collector base that sustained its growth for decades; new technologies competing with, if not displacing, hot glass studios as the showpieces of college and university art departments; or the steady march of globalization finally encroaching on the price points at the high end of design, GLASS brings you unique insights into the changing dynamics of the field.

The Bousilles, or Whimseys in English, were a collection of factory worker experiments made in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tuesday November 29, 2016 | by Andrew Page

MusVerre, a new glass museum in Northern France

FILED UNDER: Architecture, Museums, News, Opening

While the conversion of a former glass factory into a museum is not in itself unusual, the recently expanded MusVerre celebrates a peculiarly touching history. Beginning as a 1967 exhibition of curiosity pieces made by factory glassblowers in the 19th and early-20th centuries, the project of MusVerre reached new heights with its grand reopening in a new building designed by Raphaël Voinchet and W-Architectures earlier this month in Sars-Poteries, France. The inauguration is being celebrated with an exhibition by Ann Veronica Janssens, a Belgian artist whose “relevance, power and poetry... recurrent use of glass as a material and the very particular fit of the “wide-angle” space [of the new museum] to her work made this invitation an obvious choice,” for the museum’s curators.

An image of the largest fair for glass art work taken during SOFA CHICAGO 2015. photo: kate jordan

Tuesday November 22, 2016 | by Mary Roll

RED DOT REPORT: What sold at SOFA CHICAGO 2016

FILED UNDER: Art Market, Events, News

In the gallery above, the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet presents its annual "Red Dot Report," surveying works that sold at the SOFA CHICAGO art fair in early November. With the Chicago Cubs historic World Series win, and their celebratory parade the following Friday impeding access to Navy Pier, this year's SOFA got mixed reviews from exhibiting dealers. Maurine Littleton, owner of Maurine Littleton Gallery, in Washington, D.C. said that while this year's fair was better than last year, the pre-election contentious political climate and the Cubs crowds weren't helpful to sales. While the overall the fair was okay, it didn't match the really strong SOFA she had in 2014, said Littleton, adding that the two subsequent years have fallen flat. Kurt Nelson, owner of Palette Contemporary Art and Craft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said that while the show was big enough this year, there was so much work in glass that it seemed almost saturated.

A pinhole camera self-portrait of United States Artist fellow April Surgent from her artist website.

Saturday November 19, 2016 | by Andrew Page

April Surgent named 2016 United States Artists Fellow, to receive unrestricted $50,000 award

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

The prestigious fellowship awarded annually by the organization United States Artists seeks to identify the most accomplished and innovative artists working in a variety of fields, and reward their efforts through an unrestricted $50,000 award. With the recent announcement of 2016 fellows, engraver April Surgent joins artists Einar de la Torre & Jamex de la Torre, Beth Lipman, Sibylle Peretti, Judith Schaechter, Joyce J. Scott, Mary Shaffer, and Therman Statom as artists working with glass to be recognized for this top honor.

Newly hired chief advancement officer James Gerhardt signals a new fundraising push by the museum to finance ambitious new initiatives.

Thursday November 17, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Looking to diversify its funding sources, The Corning Museum hires high-level development officer

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Museums, News

Since its founding in 1951, The Corning Museum of Glass has been funded primarily by its major benefactor, Corning Inc. Now, the Corning, New York, institution has announced a high-level appointment on the development side that reveals its bid to diversify its sources of unearned income. With a number of as-yet-unnamed expansion plans set to follow the March 2015 opening of its $64-million North Wing, the museum that lays claim to "the world's best collection of art and historical glass" is revving up its fundraising engines. James Gerhardt, who will hold the title of chief advancement officer at the museum, brings extensive non-profit fundraising experience to the post, including a recent stint in Philadelphia as the chief advancement officer at the National Museum of American Jewish History, which opened in 2012. What makes Gerhardt's newly created position at Corning significant is that unlike previous development positions at Corning, he will play a role on the institution's leadership team when he starts on November 30, 2016.

An undated portrait of artist Joyce J. Scott.

Wednesday October 26, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Glass Art Society to honor Joyce Scott and Wayne Strattman at 2017 Conference

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

The Glass Art Society has announced that its annual "Lifetime Achievement Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contributions to the Studio Glass Field" has been awarded to Joyce J. Scott for her mixed-media work that takes on serious issues such as racism and violence. The artist association has also awarded artist and designer Wayne Strattman its "Honorary Lifetime Membership Award for Outstanding Service to the Glass Art Society." Both artists will be presented with their respective awards during the 2017 Glass Art Society Conference set to take place at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia from June 1st to 3rd, 2017.

Thursday October 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

Uroboros announces plans to close in early 2017

FILED UNDER: Announcements, News

In a letter posted under the News section of its website, and sent to customers last week, Uroboros founder and president Eric Lovell announced plans to close his nearly 44-year-old glass production facility in Portland, Oregon. Though Lovell stated that he hopes to sell the business to allow for continued employment and product supply, he made it clear that the company in its current incarnation will "discontinue operations in early 2017." He cited the high costs of meeting new city and state regulations, as well as the gentrification of the Portland area where Uroboros operates, and his own advancing age. Though the company has been under intense scruitiny from environmental regulators for its use of cadmium and arsenic as well as other chemicals, like its Portland neighbor Bullseye Glass, Lovell says: "It is not any one of these factors, but a combination of all of them," that led to the decision to close.

Rui Sasaki, Object Lessons "Residue" (overview), 2014. Glass, ash (from plants in Awashima), fluorescent light, mineral oil. H 31 1/2, W 23 1/2, D 47 1/4 in. Project at the Awashima Artist Village, Kagawa, Japan.

Thursday October 6, 2016 | by Andrew Page

AWARD: Rui Sasaki receives $5,000 UArts Borowsky Prize for 2016

FILED UNDER: Award, Events, News

Japanese native Rui Sasaki has been named the 2016 Borowsky Prize winner, a $5,000 award named for the late University of the Arts trustee Irvin J. Borowsky, and awarded by the Philadelphia arts institution each year. The prize seeks to identify "an artist whose work is conceptually daring, exemplifies technical skill and innovation, and advances the field of contemporary glass," and includes the invitation for the winning artist to present a lecture. Sasaki, who is currently based in Toyama, Japan, will deliver her lecture on November 10, 2016. In addition to the top prize, juror's awards have been given to prize finalists David King (who also won a juror's award in 2015) and Sean Salstrom.

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.