Editor's Letter

by Andrew Page

Tech prognosticators have deemed 2016 the year that virtual reality hits the mainstream. To artists exploring the unique optical properties of glass, immersive environments are nothing new. To remind the world of the rich terrain already mined by a wide range of artists, we present this issue’s cover article by GLASS contributing editor William Ganis, who surveyed the richly populated landscape of installations, architecture, and sculpture employing repeat reflectivity, partially mirrored glass surfaces, and the perceptual shifts that can be achieved using glass to alter our relationship to space and our place in it. Discussing Lucas Samaras’ 1966 Mirrored Room, the complexly layered optical environments of Dan Graham and Larry Bell, and Thilo Frank’s cultivated confusion of reflective overload, Ganis leads on a journey that he traces all the way back to the visual intensity of gold mosaics of the Byzantine era. It’s a reminder of the universal aspect even in such a revolutionary technological leap.

Hourglass

In memoriam: Marvin Lipofsky (1938–2016); Seattle art patron Becky Benaroya gifts glass collection—and $14 million—to Tacoma Art Museum; Toots Zynsky chosen for next Specialty Glass Artist Residency at Corning; Glenn Adamson stepping down as director of the Museum of Arts and Design after two and a half years; Gene Koss unveils new body of work in New Orleans; the Glass Wheel Studio expands art offerings in Norfolk, Virginia; the Ringling Museum of Art’s Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion to break ground in April—and open in the fall of 2017; Therman Statom named United States Artists Fellow, awarded $50,000.

Reviews

Armelle Bouchet O’Neill at Ken Saunders Gallery, Chicago; Jeff Zimmerman at R & Company, New York; Klaus Moje at Sabbia Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Kate Baker at The Depot Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Jennifer Halvorson and David Schnuckel at the Bullseye Resource Center, Mamaroneck, New York; Erich Woll at Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York City.

UrbanGlass News

New Year, New Look!

Reflection

by William Warmus

Art Basel Miami 2015: An Appraisal

Total Immersion

by William Ganis

Long before recent rapid advances in virtual reality and other digitally derived experiences, “analog” art environments have employed the optical effects of glass to transport viewers into new realms of experience.

The Rise and Fall of Vitraria

by Lise Kjaer

The brief run of an ambitious, cutting-edge museum in Venice devoted to exploding the boundaries between glass and contemporary art is a tale both cautionary and instructive.

The Natural

by Randy B. Hecht

Massive monumental glass works that interact with the rugged natural landscape are part of a singular quest for connection by Greek artist Costas Varotsos.

Crossed Lines

by John Drury

With their elaborately worked surfaces and elegant restraint, Clare Belfrage’s works traverse boundaries and borders with breadth and diverse inspiration.