Curator Kelly Conway to discuss Chrysler Museum’s glass collection in New York City lecture

The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. courtesy: the cma

The glass curator at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, will be in New York City next week to deliver a lecture entitled “What’s New in Glass at the Chrysler Museum.” On Tuesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at the monthly meeting of the New York Metropolitan Glass Club, a group of collectors, dealers, and devotees of historic glass, curator Kelly Conway will discuss how this fine art institution is incorporating glass into its exhibitions.

Kelly Conway, Curator of Glass, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia.

Unlike other institutions that often segregate work in glass into media-specific exhibition areas, or banish it to the decorative arts wing, the Chrysler Museum has been introducing work in glass into contemporary art galleries, and even juxtaposing contemporary glass sculpture with work in its Classical wing, as in the case of a special exhibition of cast glass dresses by Karen LaMonte which was staged as part of the 2009 “Art of Glass 2” celebration in the greater Hampton Roads, Virginia, area.

As a special bonus for anybody interested in the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, a half hour before the 7 PM meeting, there will be a guided tour of St. Michael’s Church. Designed by architect Robert W. Gibson and completed in 1891, the church was built of Indiana limestone in the Northern Italian Renaissance or Romanesque-Byzantine style. This brief tour beginning at 6:30 will include a discussion of Tiffany chancel decorations, as well as the seven lancet windows depicting St. Michael’s victory. In addition, the altar, altar screens, altar furnishings, credence, and chancel rail were also designed and produced by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.

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