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Urban Glass

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Thursday October 3, 2013 | by laguiri

Dramatically curved glass building generates hazardous light reflection
FILED UNDER: Architecture, News
A pioneering use of curved glass in the building at 20 Fenchurch Street in London has broken new ground in engineering. The strikingly bold design, which the popular press has dubbed "the Walkie-Talkie" building, has also raised unanticipated problems for Rafael Viñoly Architects. The voluptuous curve of the building facade focuses the lights rays at certain times of the day, creating a high-temperature beam of light that has damaged a parked car. The London Evening Standard recently reported on the hotspot created on Eastcheap Street by the building, which has already been blamed for melting parts of a parked Jaguar, including the wing mirror and Jaguar emblem. Reuters reported that some business owners near the building have experienced sun damage and carpet burns in front of their stores, and a TV crew even fried an egg in the hot spot, which has registered 161 degrees Farenheit.

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Sunday September 29, 2013 | by Andrew Page

BOOK REPORT: A look at Louis Comfort Tiffany’s use of Favrile glass in his art glass objects
FILED UNDER: Book Report

Though there are numerous books on the lamps, stained glass windows, and jewelry of Louis Comfort Tiffany, it is rare that the focus is on the art objects of the highly influential Art Nouveau artist and designer. The newly published book The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany (The Vendome Press, $75) addresses that.…

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Friday September 27, 2013 | by Andrew Page

Seattle benefit smashes fundraising goal for glassblowing family’s cancer fight
FILED UNDER: Events, News

Taking a page from the highly successful benefits that have raised millions for arts organizations, the Seattle glassblowing community put on a festive art-filled event to generate money to help the local glassblowing family of Paul Cunningham and Kate Thorbeck care for their 2-year-old son, Finn, who has been battling leukemia since a diagnosis eight months ago.…

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Thursday September 26, 2013 | by Andrew Page

Less Is Sometimes More: William Morris “recomposed” Mazorca pieces allow details to come to the fore
FILED UNDER: New Work, News

When Mazorca was unveiled for a 2005 retrospective at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, it was a bid for large-scale impact on the part of William Morris, known for the ability to create convincing organic texture in glass works that celebrate and reference the earthy qualities of tribal art from around the world.…

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Friday September 13, 2013 | by Andrew Page

Editor’s Letter
FILED UNDER: Editor's Letter
"The New York Experimental Glass Workshop" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. It's a multisyllabic mouthful that manages to capture in its wordiness a sense of defiant self-importance that, in 1977, possessed Richard Yelle, just out of graduate school, to launch a nonprofit art studio in the center of Manhattan. His hubris was the best thing to happen to glass since Pilchuck. In fact, it was the first year-round open-access facility of its kind in New York City, or any major metropolitan area in the U.S. Against all odds (and the best efforts of the utility company to shut off the gas for unpaid bills), this brazen act of establishing a beachhead for glass art in the cultural capital would take root, nurtured by the collaborative spirit of artists drawn to the material; the astonishing technical skills of people like Joe Upham, Christian Snyder, and the many studio directors; and the endless fascination with the material that drew high-profile contemporary artists and those walking in off the street into a lifelong exploration of this unique material for expression.  In a feature article timed to the reopening of UrbanGlass after a two-year renovation and transformation, we explore the "Experimental" spirit, which has endured over the 36 years since the organization opened in a basement studio at 4 Great Jones Street. Across two addresses in Manhattan, and two in Brooklyn (including the temporary space out of which UrbanGlass has continued to operate visiting artist residencies, classes, and a cold-working facility during construction), the facilities have steadily grown in size and engineering, but the constant has been its role as a venue for new work to be made. In the words of many of the key players in the evolution of this organization, we tell the story of its evolution and rebirth.  A different life cycle is explored in Harold Duckett's investigation of Richard Jolley's permanent installation at the Knoxville Museum of Art, set to open next spring. Possibly the largest work in glass in the world, the glass-and-steel commission will occupy the massive Great Hall of this regional arts museum, and allow Jolley to take his recurring themes into new territory in complexity and scale. The irreverent collaborative project of John Drury and Robbie Miller known as CUD celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and we present a consideration of their calibrated artistic confrontation. Enemies to all that is decorative in glass, the two gently provoke the community of makers they are very much a part of, with art that borrows materials from everyday life to make work that is urgent in its rough-hewn qualities, compendiums of the moment in which we live in all its texture, serendipity, and rawness.  And finally, this issue's cover article examines the work of Dan Clayman, one of the most refined cast glass sculptors working in the material, whose work practically vibrates with stillness as its artist ruminates on memories of place, the qualities of light, and the many levels on which it can operate. Regular contributor Robin Rice traces the arc of Clayman's luminescent quest to solidify light, to make the abstract and poetic qualities of perception into something we cannot avoid, but must engage and be illuminated by in the process.

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Wednesday September 11, 2013 | by Andrew Page

U.K. glass artist group to examine art and technique at annual conference
FILED UNDER: Education, Events, News
In October 2013, the Contemporary Glass Society will devote their annual conference at the National Glass Centre to an exploration of the tension between art and technique. The roster of artists speaking or demonstrating include such European starss a s Markku Salo (Finland), Luke Jerram (U.K.), and KeKe Cribbs (U.S.). The "challenges and opportunities for glass art are the theme," conference organizers write in a prepared statment. The October 12 and 13 event will take place at the National Glass Centre at the University of Sunderland.

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Wednesday September 4, 2013 | by Vaughn Watson

OPENING: Tagliapietra debuts new work in bold color palette inspired by Australia visit
FILED UNDER: Opening
Glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra will be unveiling a new body of work this week at the Traver Gallery. Entitled “Profumo del Vetro” (“The Aroma of Glass” in English), the exhibit will feature over twenty never-before-seen pieces by the celebrated artist, and include works with bright new colors inspired by a trip to Australia.  In a press release, the artist writes about visiting Down Under: “I must say that my experience there has come through strongly here. They embody my personality.” The nature of this experience certainly comes through in each piece’s color story as well as the artist’s use of flamboyant embellishments and patterns. The shapes of many pieces are reminiscent of the unique flora and fauna that are often romantically associated with the subcontinent of Australia.

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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.