OPENING: Fuller Craft Museum traces the evolution of Dan Dailey’s work from two to three dimensions

Dan Dailey, Signal, 1992. Glass. courtesy: fuller craft museum

This Saturday, February 18th, the Fuller Craft Museum in conjunction with the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass 50^th Anniversary Celebration of the American Studio Glass movement, will open an exhibition titled “Dan Dailey: Working Method” that will help demistify the process, technique and vision behind a unique body of work in glass.

The exhibition, which will run through September 3rd, 2o12, will explore the various techniques and methods of art-making employed by the artist throughout his 40-year career. Dailey is known for his work with antique Vitrolite sheet glass and blown glass in combination with metal, which he often uses to bind his pieces together. An eye-catching range of colorful glass silhouettes is often the product of his work. Though he has worked solo in the past, most of Dailey’s recent projects were completed with the help of an entourage.

Dailey’s sculptures often consist of a single figure representing a specific concept such as motion or a feeling such as passion. Some of his other figures represent characters who are fixtures in everyday life such as a bartender or cabdriver. He contrasts highly detailed parts that intrigue the viewer to lean in close with larger minimally detailed surfaces. He also uses pate de verre to add to the character of his sculptures.

Like a writer does through words, Dailey tells a narrative through his pieces—the story of human nature. “A lot of my art is affected by my observations of humanity,” said Dailey in an interview with GLASS Quarterly in 2008. Even in my most cynical work, the value of humanity is preserved.”

Dan Dailey, Jazz Jungle, 1995. Glass, Vitrolite, patinated gold-plated bronze. Collection of the artist.

Dailey’s sketchbook is an integral aspect to his work. Each of the works on exhibit at the Fuller Craft Museum begins with a drawing from Dailey’s sketchbook that represents the idea behind the work. Ideas are the building blocks of all Dailey’s creations—refined and developed through a series of drawings which increase in detail from stage to stage. His drawings are the prerequisites to all his pieces, then models and maquettes are built to further along the process.

“The sketchbook provides total freedom,” said Dailey. “But drawing also clarifies and codifies my thinking.”

The exhibition will include a pairing of each work with the drawings and models used in planning and production, as well as images and video of Dailey and his team at work. In this way this exhibition offers a unique perspective to the viewer interested in the unveiling of the process and ideas behind the creation of studio glass.

—Suzann Caputo