CONVERSATION: John Moran, Blown Away Season Three finalist, discusses the Netflix reality show and its portrayal of glass art

John Moran, whose no-holds-barred hot-sculpted works have taken on sacred religious icons as well as cultural ones such as Mickey Mouse, McDonald's, and Osama Bin Laden, identifies himself on his Belgium Studio's website as a "politically and socially engaged hot glass sculptor." Writing about his work on his website, Moran states he sees "the barrage of consumerism, religion, and politics colliding with depictions of social injustice, secular beliefs, and popular culture," and he is unafraid of engaging controversial subjects as he works out of Gent (sic) Glas, the nonprofit studio he founded in 2014 in Ghent, Belgium. In her feature article on Moran (Winter 2019, Glass #157) Glass contributing editor Emma Park wrote: "Moran has become known for works that are satirical and shocking, with unflinching portrayals of human suffering." Given his view of the "absurdity and hypocrisy of society," it is somewhat surprising that Moran not only took part as a contestant in the third season of Netflix reality show Blown Away, but deemed it "an incredible experience" in an exclusive interview with the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet. Against arguably the strongest grouping of glass artists in the three seasons, Moran made it to the final rounds of the program (you'll have to watch it to see if he won), and we are pleased to present an in-depth conversation about his experience.

Thursday June 16, 2022 | by Sponsored Content

Exquisite technique and bold experimentation go hand-in-hand in the UrbanGlass Summer course lineup

The roster of artists teaching the UrbanGlass 2022 summer intensives share a dedication to rarefied technical skills as well as highly experimental processes. Together they make up a unique group of instructors at the forefront of new directions in neon, kilnforming, flameworking, and glassblowing. All are coming to Brooklyn, New York, this summer for the city's unique artistic energy that has been a destination for generations for its power to recharge and inspire creative explorations.

Diptych in Orange and Blue, fused sheet glass, H23.5, W30.25, D0.625 in. photo: Heller Gallery

Thursday June 9, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

Karlyn Sutherland fuses glass and architectural expertise into articulated atmospheres at Heller Gallery

FILED UNDER: Exhibition

June 9, 2022 - July 15th, 2022 …

Stanley Epstein founded the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group (MCGG) in 1983, to bring together glass artists and collectors in the New York City metro region.

Wednesday June 8, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

IN MEMORIAM: Stanley Epstein (1936-2022)

Lawyer, husband, father, grandfather, and avid collector and patron of glass art, Stanley Epstein died on Wednesday June 1st, 2022 at the age of 86. A private family funeral was held on Saturday June 4th at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey. Founder and former president of the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group (MCGG), Epstein left an indelible mark on the New York glass community, building a personal collection of glass art and supporting numerous glass artists along the way.

Tim Edwards in the studio.

Sunday June 5, 2022 | by Andrew Page

Tim Edwards wins the 20th annual Tom Malone Prize, which includes a $15,000 (AUD) award

For it's 20th anniversary, the Art Gallery of Western Australia's Tom Malone Prize has been awarded to Tim Edwards, an artist who grinds and carves blown glass to create works with visual complexity that play with depth of field and dimensionality. Edwards took top honors, and a $15,000 (AUD) prize, for his 2021 work Ellipse #8, which challenges viewers to discern whether it is two- or three-dimensions.

L to R: Erica Rosenfield (artist), Devin Mathis, (Executive Director Urban Glass), Cynthia Manocherian (Board of Directors, Urban Glass and co-host), Carol Yorke (Board of Directors, Urban Glass), Gerard Conn, Ann Jake, Nola Anderson (author and curator), Richard Whiteley (Senior Programs Manager, The Studio, Corning Museum of Glass), Lani McGregor (Director, Bullseye Glass) Bill Gudenrath (Resident Advisor, The Studio, Corning Museum of Glass), Amy Schwartz (Director, The Studio, Corning Museum of Glass), Jane Bruce (artist & Board of Directors, Urban Glass), Jeff Manocherian (Museum of Arts and Design Board of Directors and co-host), Katya Heller (Chair of the Urban Glass Board and co-owner Heller Gallery) and Feline Moje (granddaughter of Klaus Moje)

Sunday June 5, 2022 | by Andrew Page

The definitive monograph of kilnforming master Klaus Moje (1936 - 2016) is celebrated with an international book launch party at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn

On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, not yet six years after his September 2016 passing, Klaus Moje and his singular achievements in kilnformed glass were celebrated in the launch party of a stunning new monograph with vivid photographs expertly reproducing the bold chromatic patterning of his most-important works. The artist's continent-spanning life and career are the subjects of the recently published Glass: The Life and Art of Klaus Moje (NewSouth Press, 2022) by Moje's hand-picked author, Nola Anderson, who flew from Australia to take part in the gathering in Brooklyn, New York.

Leslie Jackson Chihuly and Dale Chihuly. copyright: chihuly studio

Wednesday June 1, 2022 | by Andrew Page

Dale Chihuly and Leslie Jackson Chihuly pledge $2 million to Pilchuck, which the artist co-founded in 1971

In 1971, Dale Chihuly, two teachers, and 16 students traveled to Pilchuck Tree Farm, a 54-acre parcel of forested land in Washington State, where they held an experimental summer workshop in glass funded by a $2,000 grant. Sixteen days in, the team had set up a crude but functional hot glass furnace and a glory hole, and cobbled together primitive housing. The event would not only lay the foundation of the Pilchuck Glass School's first half-century, it was also the site of an important early artistic exploration of glass installation in a natural setting in the form of Chihuly's Pilchuck Pond Installation, in which he floated clear blown glass forms in a pond like oversized organic bubbles, among the first of his career of interventions in botanical settings. It was a fitting, if surprisingly generous gesture, when on May 15th, 2022, Dale and Dale and Leslie Jackson Chihuly announced a $2 million gift to Pilchuck to support the continued role of Pilchuck as a place of experimentation and discovery in the material of glass.

Monday May 30, 2022 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Summer 2022 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#167)

The Summer 2022 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#167) is arriving in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands. On the cover is a majestic white Raven by Preston Singletary, whose work is currently featured in a multimedia exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Based on extensive research Singletary did into his native culture, and specifically Tlingit creation myths, the artist sought to advance the legends of his Native American forebears by depicting them in contemporary materials. The resulting high-profile exhibition "Raven and the Box of Daylight" stands as one of the successful artist's most widely viewed exhibitions and advances his stature as a Tlingit representative to the wider world.

Sunday May 22, 2022 | by Andrew Page

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Toyama Institute of Glass Art 2022 Artist Residency

The Toyama Institute of Glass Art (TIGA) has opened up applications for its “Artist in Residence” program for 2022, open this year only to artists who already live in Japan due to the country's strict COVID-19 restrictions. The TIGA artist residency has been on the forefront of glass art and cultural development since it launched in 2010. Founded with the mission of enriching the city’s cultural scene, the selected artist will have the opportunity to learn from and interact with Toyama’s community and education resources alongside producing their own original work. If chosen, the artist will be invited to stay at the Toyama Studio guesthouse for the duration of the residency and be given access to the Toyama Glass Studio facilities, including the hot shop, kiln shop, and cold shop as well as studio assistants upon request.

Tuesday April 19, 2022 | by Sadia Tasnim

Tacoma readies itself to host the first in-person GAS conference since 2019

In just about one-month's time, the Glass Art Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary at its first in-person international conference in two years. For the first time since 2019, the international glass tribe will be convening in Tacoma, Washington, for an event themed “Between Here and There”. The concept is to honor the past half-century since the organization was founded (technically it kicked off 51-years ago with a 19-person gathering at Penland in 1971 [see the feature article "Power in Numbers" in the Spring 2022 edition of Glass #166]), but the pandemic has been pushing big anniversaries a year ahead (see Pilchuck's 50th anniversary, for example). The conference will not only be looking backwards, but in presentations and spirit, it also seeks to peer ahead into what the next 50 years might bring. Running from May 18 through the 22nd, the event packs lectures, demos, and various panel discussions in to three days of events divided between the main venues of the Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, Area 253 Glassblowing, and the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.

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.