Montreal's Verre Art Glass was the very first iteration of the Elena Lee Galerie, and it opened in 1976.

Tuesday November 22, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

Pioneering art dealer Elena Lee looks back on four decades of the Canadian Studio Glass scene

When we think about the first galleries devoted exclusively to glass art, names such as Heller, Traver, and Habatat, spring to mind, as the pioneering dealers who helped the field develop a commercial base. Few know of a parallel story that was unfolding simultaneously just north of the border, where a bold gallery owner hoisted a Canadian flag for glass art in 1976. When European-born Elena Lee opened the doors of her first gallery, Verre Art Glass, in Montreal, Canada, she had been inspired by her travels and what she found during a visit to Erwin Eisch's studio in Frauenau. Her husband, Stuart, was originally from Quebec, and she had a young son, and so they all relocated to Montreal, where she launched a career that would stretch for more than 40 years.

Tuesday November 15, 2022 | by Sponsored Content

Registration for the 2023 GAS Conference in Detroit is now open

The Glass Art Society has announced the location and dates for the upcoming 2023 annual conference, which will take place in Detroit from June 7th through 10th. Following their post-pandemic return to in-person programming with 2022’s Tacoma conference, the Detroit event is planned to be in-person and tickets are already available for purchase at a special early-bird discounted rate, which will expire on January 10th. Along with attendee registration, applications for exhibition slots and scholarships are also open.

Friday November 11, 2022 | by Marziya Hasan

A labor of love that opened in the midst of the pandemic, the Neon Museum of Philadelphia is closing down for good

After opening its doors to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, the Neon Museum of Philadelphia will be closing for good this December 11th. Founder Len Davidson opened the museum less than two years ago after spending decades exploring neon art. The museum consisted of a collection of pieces highlighting neon art and commercial signs and advertisements of past businesses in Philadelphia.

Monday October 31, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

Judith Schaechter at Claire Oliver Gallery for her 8th exhibition, entitled "MAKE/BELIEVE"

Judith Schaechter’s "MAKE/BELIEVE" is currently on view at Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem. Presented in lightboxes, six new stained glass paintings will remain on display through December 17th, 2022. Drawing on the past few years, the exhibition reflects Schaechter’s experiences through the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Using centuries-old techniques combined with innovative engraving and layering processes that she developed herself, Schaechter narrates stories of social upheaval and change. Along with the stained glass pieces, she also designed a custom wallpaper that will be put up in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition.

Thursday October 6, 2022 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: John Kiley's work adjacent to Dale Chihuly's in Traver Gallery exhibition debuting tonight

For the first time, John Kiley is exhibiting his work adjacent to his former employer Dale Chihuly at side-by-side exhibitions at Traver Gallery. The dual shows, entitled "Perspective" and "Chihuly", are opening this evening, October 6, 2022, in Seattle. This opportunity is a career high-water mark for Kiley, who worked for Chihuly from 1994 to 1998 before going on to work on Lino Tagliapietra's team and on his own projects. In a telephone conversation with the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet, Kiley shared a memory of the time he was tapped to help Chihuly develop some design concepts for the chandelier series that would become the legendary "Chihuly Over Venice" installation in 2016, an unexpected honor for an up-and-coming glassblower. He remembers Chihuly leaving him to his own devices for a few hours in a studio that happened to have no glory hole, then returning to take a look at what he'd come up with on his own. He won't forget the sharp sting of rejection as the annealer was opened. "He basically said it was crap," Kiley recalls frankly, adding that he only had four or five years of glass experience under his belt at that point.

Tuesday October 4, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

DEMO: "Oiva's Birds" will take flight at Corning's amphitheater courtesy of the Saariko Brothers, visiting the museum rom October 12 - 15th

The Corning Museum of Glass is hosting it’s fourth annual Imagination to Creation: Oiva’s Birds demonstration and celebration this October. Featuring fourth-generation glassmakers from Finland’s historic Iitalla glassworks, brothers Pete and Juha Saariko will be demonstrating the late Oiva Toikka’s bird-making techniques at Corning’s Amphitheater Hot Shop from October 12-15.

Saturday October 1, 2022 | by Andrew Page

The UrbanGlass Gala celebrates RIchard Yelle, who founded The New York Experimental Glass Workshop 45 years ago, and helped steer the artist collective's maturation into the glass art flagship its become today

Forty-five years after its founding as a scrappy artist collective located in a basement on Great Jones Street in Manhattan, UrbanGlass has steadily evolved, moving three times, renovating its building, and reaching an ever-expanding audience. In 2022, the nonprofit art center occupies a state-of-the-art 17,000-square-foot space in Downtown Brooklyn at the epicenter of New York City's dynamic cultural landscape.

Wednesday September 21, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

EXHIBITION: The Toledo Museum of Art features a rare 19th-century glass dress as a highlight from its vaults

Despite it's fragility, the beauty of glass has proved an irresistible allure for the fashion world since ancient times, and the material today can be found in everything from accessories to complete ensembles. One need look no further than the Glass Art Society Fashion Show to see how contemporary artists ingeniously incorporate glass into wearable sculptures that are a showstopper at the artist conference. Evidence of the enduring appeal of mixing glass and fashion is currently on view at the Toledo Museum of Art is presenting its very own glass dress, a Libbey creation from the 1893 World’s Fair with a rich history and perhaps an uncertain future.

Wednesday September 7, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: WheatonArts Creative Glass Fellowship seeks 2023 artists, new director looks to cultivate "synergy"

WheatonArts is accepting applications for its 2023 Creative Glass Fellowship, seeking exceptional artists to live and work at the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, for 3-week and 6-week sessions in the Spring and the Fall. Offering a stipend, on-campus housing, access to Wheaton’s world renowned studio spaces, and institutional support, the fellowship is a robust opportunity to explore and create glass. The deadline to apply is September 16, 2022.

Friday September 2, 2022 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Fall 2022 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#168)

Helen Lee, Like Clockwork, 2015. The Fall 2022 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#168) is arriving in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands. On the cover is a detail of a work by Helen Lee entitled Like Clockwork (2015), appropriate for the cover article entitled "Multilingualism" because it's language. The work's glass cane patterns signify letters of an alphabet used to spell out a poem about the artist and her parents. The cane also references the chromosomal helices by which DNA passes genetic code through generations. This work, like all of Lee's artwork functions on multiple levels, often wrapping science together with emotional poignancy, and the blending of languages is second nature to this artist, who is also head of the glass program at the University of Washington, Madison. The cover article explores how Lee's art practice intersects with her career as an educator (she's also the founder and driving force behind the GEEX online ed forum), as well as a prominent advocate for economic and social justice causes. As article author Jennifer Hand explains in her article, "Instead of seeing each of these iterations as distinct aspects of Lee's practice, one need only look at the development of her artistic career to see how each facet informs and enriches the others."

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.