Michael Janis at work in his Washington Glass School studio.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Michael Janis: My artwork often deals with the complex questions of identity and patterns of behavior. I layer frit powder drawings of figures with elements of text or shapes to create a story. As a “lapsed architect,” I often find architectural elements working their way into the imagery that I layer and fuse together.
Michael Janis, Inheritance, 2010. Kilnformed and blown glass. H 14, D 17 in. photo: anythingphoto.net
I’ve been teaching a class in Bullseye Roll-Up, and I’ve been taking some of my panel series and hotworking the pieces to create narrative sculptural forms. The work Inheritance (2010) is somewhat autobiographical, where the portrait has been divided into elements from my past, including buildings, text from a letter from my father, and Australian flora patterns. The form is deliberately contorted, which I feel adds to the narrative (especially since it is not about my skills as a blower).
GLASS: What artwork have you experienced recently that has moved you, and got you thinking about your own work?
Michael: Kseniya Simonova, the Ukrainian artist that makes incredible sand drawings. I make frit powder drawings; but my process is very slow and deliberate for precision. Kseinya’s work is completely different than mine, and she works with a time element as part of her performance; I really respond to how her work is so narrative, and the dynamic quality to her story is quite engaging.
GLASS: Do you have any upcoming exhibitions you can talk about?
Michael: I’ve got a solo show at the Fuller Craft Museum that I am obsessing about, and am trying to make sure that the work is tight. The show is next year, but I want to have some very large works to be featured, and that means I’ve got to start working on the metal framework now. Habatat Galleries’ 38th Annual Invitational will feature my work in their international glass show, and I am also completing some work for exhibition at Maurine Littleton Gallery during Washington, DC’s Craft Week events that take place in April. Maurine will also be taking my work to SOFA Chicago in November. I’ve also just recieved the Bay Area Glass Institute‘s 2010 Saxe Fellowship Award, and I am excited to be doing a workshop out at BAGI later in the year.