VladimÍra Klumpar’s work has, up until the past few years, been a re-examination of nature. Seeds, leaves, flowers, trees, water, and waves informed previous work. Smoothly contoured lines dominate pieces that, with their earthy tones of blue, green, brown and orange, feel almost organic. In her new exhibit, New Sculpture & Drawings, which just opened and is on display until May 28th at New York City’s Heller Gallery, she doesn’t jettison all of the naturalistic elements found in her past pieces, but applies them in different and surprising ways.
A piece from Vladimira Klumpar's Breakthrough Series
She replaces the curved lines that once ruled her glass sculptures with sharp, angular lines and acute angles. Five of the nine new pieces on display are part of what she is labeling her, “Breakthrough” series. Flat, dimpled sheets of glass sit upright as smoothly rendered shapes protrude outwards in shapes that resemble rhombuses, pyramids and isosceles triangles.
The Collect 2011 show takes over London’s Saatchi Gallery for the third consecutive year starting today, May 6th, and running through May 9th. The event, put on by the U.K. Crafts Council, hosts 37 craft galleries showcasing ceramics, jewelry, furniture, woodworking, fine metals, and silver in addition to glass. New work from artists including Tobias Mohl will be displayed and for the first time a project space will exhibit site-specific artist installations. What isn’t new is the Art Fund Collect, a £75,000 prize awarded to UK curators to purchase a piece of craft art for their museum or gallery.
Berengo Studio, in collaboration with Venice Projects, presents a retrospective of work by Richard Jolley that opens today and runs through May 22nd.
Finally, Dale Chihuly will be displaying new works at Taver Gallery’s Tacoma location. The exhibition starts Saturday, May 7th and runs through July 24th. Chihuly, who was born in Tacoma, will show his new cylinder series as well as several older pieces. For those on the East Coast who are interested in seeing some of Chihuly’s work, he also has a solo show up at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.