In London, artists and athletes unite and compete.
While the 50th anniversary of Studio Glass continues to get major coverage in the U.S. (on this blog and the print edition of GLASS: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly among other venues), glass artists across the pond are gearing up for a major event of their own. Taking their cue from the upcoming Summer Olympic games in London the Contemporary Glass Society, a glass artist organization in the UK., is organizing “Glass Games 2012.”
Their goal is to organize, host and advertise an on-going series of competitions regarding live glass making, flame working, glass blowing, and sculpting in teams, pairs and singles. The Society’s application delineates very few stipulations beyond a flexible admission deadline. Individuals, studios and schools are encouraged to participate, and to create their own glass making events. As an art making process, the creation of glass is uniquely athletic and often team-based, perfect for the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics. Competitions of this nature have occurred among glass artists before, but the scale the Glass Games propose, with events running from June 1, 2012 to September 30, including a master glassworks exhibition in the middle, is entirely newfangled.
Looking to the once-popular Bowling Green State University’s Glass Olympics, competitors can display a wide range of speed, dexterity and teamwork in a myriad of ways. Past competitions hosted by BGSU’s Glass Olympics include: make a cup in under 10 minutes, smallest goblet, and most fanciful four-legged animal. No regular glass blowing demonstration, these events encouraged the creation of new works in new ways – in record time. Former head of Bowling Green’s Glass department, Scott Darlington, praised the 10-school wide competition in a review in the Sentinel-Tribune, as an event that fosters teamwork (a crucial component of glass works) between artists “who will be working in the same field for the rest of their lives.”
Other popular and recurring events are hosted by Sonoran Glass in Tucson, Arizona, starting with their Flame OFF! Having just completed their 10th year running of the competition, they boast crowds of more than 500 annually. This event is unique in that spectators can bid on the works that are racing to be created before their very eyes. Sonoran Glass also hosted a glass bead making competition this past October, a marathon style flame working event that benefited the non-profit, Beads of Courage, which assists children with terminal and chronic illnesses. Last April, So Cal Flame Surfers participated in the Bead Challenge as well, with competitors wielding torches for 6 hours. This endurance testing event managed to generate $4560 in revenue for Beads of Courage. Competition is the purest form of entertainment, and when flames are involved it’s really hard to beat.
Perhaps most famous for its ability to to showcase the inherent athleticism and intrigue that comes with working in glass, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, is gearing up for another edition of its now annual Glassfest this May. They, too, host a Flame Off, but what the title lacks in punctuation, it makes up for in its focus on making contemporary art rather than the more typical pipes that seem to dominate most flameoffs. For an institution that regularly hosts popular glass blowing demonstrations, encourages participants and viewers to shatter various glass objects and is home to the Hot Glass Road Show, the Flame Off could provide an admirable blueprint for the Glass Games 2012.
-Katharine Morales