Approximately 1,000 registrants converged on Seattle for the 2011 GAS Conference.
The 41st annual conference of the Glass Art Society officially began today, June 2nd, at the registration desks at the Sheraton Seattle, and next door at the Washington State Convention Center, where the technical display opened its doors at 8 A.M. In a welcome twist for exhibiting suppliers, the Corning Museum of Glass mobile hot shop was set up alongside the displays of tools, glass, and equipment on the fourth floor so that approximately 1,000 registered attendees were able to visit the tables during lulls in the hot glass and flameworking demos.The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet was there to record interviews throughout the first day, from chats with the GAS executive director to artist interviews at the show and during the Gallery Hop, which took place the first night of the conference because it was timed to coincide with Seattle’s ongoing First Thursday Art Walk.
In the early afternoon, the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet caught up with Glass Art Society executive director Pamela Koss for a brief chat about how the previous night’s fundraising evening at the Chihuly boathouse had gone, and how the conference was shaping up.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsX06zic3iU]
Koss was also asked to look ahead to upcoming highlights of the Seattle conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEKXyEpoLiQ
As usual, the afternoon of the first day of the conference was devoted to awards presentations and a keynote address. New GAS president Jeremy Lepisto offered an overview of the society’s sources of funding and displayed charts comparing revenue with the expenses. One of the founding members of GAS Fritz Dreisbach introduced the next speaker Scott Benefield, who was the recipient of the Lifetime Membership Award for his years of service to GAS as past president, longtime editor of GASNews, eight years as a board member, and combined 15 years as a member. Accepting the award, Benefield shared his meditations on the changing role of the conference and his observations on changes in the world of glass art.
The Hot Sheet had a chance to chat with Fritz Dreisbach and get his opinion on the importance of the conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4spBDlzkf8
Health problems kept Ann Wolff from attending the conference to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award personally, but in her place, the curator of the Ebeltoft Museum in Denmark, Dagmar Brendstrup, read a statement from Wolff, and Berlin gallerist Uli Seitz joined her at the podium to discuss Wolff’s work in detail, with slides and even a short film.
The keynote address was by Derrick Cartwright, Director of the Seattle Art Museum, who presented a lecture entitled “Don’t Touch the Glass!—or—the New Place of Participation in 21st Century Art Museums“ that blended his look at the moves by museums to make art institutions more interactive with their public and the challenges of doing so with a medium such as glass. In a thoughtful and scholarly presentation that mentioned work in glass from Fred Wilson, Kiki Smith, Jaume Plensa, Ginny Ruffner, and Howard Ben Tre, among others, Cartwright concluded with the observation that glass might well be the perfect medium for making museums more interactive, saying “the transparent colr, reflected brilliance and near infinitely malleable properties of glass combine to make it a material better suited for engagement than any other material we can think of.”
The organizers of "Superposition" Matt Szosz, Alex Rosenberg, and Helen Lee share a lighter moment at the opening of their exhibition in Seattle.
The opening reception was shortened to one hour to allow more time for the Gallery Hop, which included the debut of the “Superposition” juried exhibition at a nonprofit arts space, a Lino Tagliapietra exhibit at Traver Gallery, and various glass shows around the city, including an exhibition by Robin Cass, which you can see in a video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpCMBJhq99A
At the end of the evening, the Hot Sheet caught up with GAS president Jeremy Lepisto at Traver Gallery to get his thoughts on how the first day had gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWBce8D9xS8
We also asked Lepisto what had been the highlights for him personally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCoc6fCFpcc
Stay tuned to the Hot Sheet for additional interviews and news from the 2011 GAS Conference.