Thursday March 26, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Scientific glassblowers ready to coordinate rapid manufacture of borosilicate ventilator splitter to address hospital equipment shortages due to coronavirus pandemic

Flameworkers from around the U.S. and the world have coalesced through a Facebook group to discuss a collaborative initiative to hand-make borosilicate splitters that would, in theory, allow multiple Covid-19 patients to share a single ventilator to address the potentially catastrophic shortage of such medical equipment as the pandemic overwhelms hospitals around the world. The idea was the brainchild of Joshua McMenamin, a Boulder, Colorado, flameworker, who came across a 2006 article in the Academic Emergency Medicine journal about the possibility of sharing a single ventilator with up to four patients in a dire emergency. The technique was used successfully during the Las Vegas mass shootings when one hospital was overwhelmed with patients. McMenamin, who the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet was unable to reach for comment, was featured in a local television news program, and quickly gained support of the community of glassblowers through Facebook. On the COVMD Glass Medical Devices Facebook group, flameworkers from around the globe have been crowdsourcing diagrams and schematics, as well as sharing the results of their outreach to hospitals. The effort has been fueled by the enthusiasm of volunteers to turn their home studios into emergency manufacturing sites.

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Sunday March 22, 2020 | by Andrew Page

RESOURCES: Glass Art Society launches artist relief fund for membership, starting with $10,000 in funding but accepting donations

The Glass Art Society, which has already been helping the glass community to locate emergency relief resources through its website, has launched a targeted fund to help members of this international artist organization to weather the economic challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. GAS executive director Brandi Clark told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet that the fund is not actually brand-new, but the organization is repurposing an existing fund to respond to the needs of its membership. "The original fund was created several years ago as a way to help those in our glass community that have an experience -- whether medical, accidental, or natural disaster -- that impacts their ability to make a living and continue their practice," explained Clark in an email exchange. "The distribution of the funds had never been fully fleshed out, but the COVID-19 pandemic and its reach motivated us to quickly put together a way of getting those funds to those that are feeling its impact the most."

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Sunday March 22, 2020 | by Andrew Page

RESOURCES: CERF+, collecting for new emergency relief fund, is also surveying artists for advocacy to federal relief agencies

In 1985, glassblower Josh Simpson began collecting money during craft shows, together with Carol Sedestrom Ross (president of a craft fair), in an effort to support fellow artists who found themselves in desperate financial circumstances because of an emergency. This early informal effort grew into the nonprofit organization known as CERF+, which now has a full-time staff based in Montpelier, Vermont, and distributes grants and loans to artists, produces informative brochures about planning for disasters, and also advocates for the craft field in Washington, D.C. The COVID-19 pandemic, which is rapidly shaping up as a global health and economic emergency, is likely to impact artists and arts nonprofits around the world. CERF+ has quickly set up the "CERF+ COVID-19 Response Fund," a grant program for which they are collecting donations.

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Saturday March 21, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

A year in the making, June exhibition curated by Shelley Muzylowski Allen still on schedule at Blue Rain Gallery, depending on state of coronavirus crisis

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, Exhibition, New Work, Opening

Artist Shelley Muzylowski Allen is expanding her role, adding " curator" to her already extensive resume for an upcoming show at Blue Rain Gallery, intended to "expand our understanding and visual vocabulary in Studio Glass art," according to the show announcement. In light of the current health crisis, Blue Rain's Santa Fe location is temporarily closed to the public (though still offering private viewings by appointment), but the gallery's executive director Denise Phetteplace is hopeful that Allen's invitational exhibition featuring 22 artists will open as planned in three months' time. "Currently we are operating with some optimism," Phetteplace told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet in a telephone exchange. Acknowledging the importance of slowing the spread of the virus, the gallery is shuffling its schedule for the next two upcoming exhibitions, but Allen's invitational exhibition is at the moment set to run as scheduled, opening June 12th and running through the Fourth of July.

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Thursday March 19, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Glass Art Society pivots from cancelled conference to providing crisis resources, including launching its own relief fund

On Monday, March 16, the Glass Art Society decided to refocus its efforts from the cancellation of its 2020 conference to connecting glass artists with resources in the face of the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. "As the situation in the States took a dramatic turn, Brandi [Clark, the executive director] led us to the decision to pivot," Lauren Bayer, communications and social media manager of the artist organization, told the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet. By Tuesday, a new "Emergency Relief" page on the GAS website resources page went live, offering more than 60 links to online videos, educational resources, and relief opportunities.

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Thursday March 19, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

INTERVIEW: A conversation with Sibylle Peretti, whose upcoming Heller Gallery exhibition has been moved online

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Events, Exhibition, New Work, News, Opening, Public Art

"Backwaters," an exhibition at the Heller Gallery of nine new major works by German-born glass artist Sibylle Peretti, will shift to an online exhibition in light of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The in-person gallery event has been indefinitely postponed, with the hope that improving conditions will allow the gallery to reopen. (Heller has temporarily closed its 10th Avenue gallery in the Chelsea art district of New York City, but can be reached via email or phone.) The online exhibition will open on April 2nd, 2020.

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Wednesday March 18, 2020 | by Andrew Page

RESOURCES: While The Corning Museum of Glass closes all public programs, it ramps up online offerings

The Corning Museum of Glass officially cancelled all its classes, events, and programs when it temporarily closed its doors on Monday, May 16th, but the world's largest museum of glass art is doing its part to help the glass community stay connected and productive during an unprecedented time when the nation is promoting social distancing as the best hope to control the spread of COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus.

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Saturday March 14, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

Glass-art exhibition venues around the U.S. cancelling public programs or closing altogether to help stem spread of coronavirus

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, perhaps the most revered art museum in the U.S., has closed its doors as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 in New York City, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency. This flagship museum has closed before due to major threats -- after 9/11 in 2001 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 -- but unlike those brief days-long closures, this break will run at least from March 13th, 2020, through March 31st, 2020, and could even go longer depending on the evolving conditions. The Met is among a lengthy list of art museums and institutions in New York City taking safety precautions against large gatherings, and includes all large Broadway theaters, Carnegie Hall, all stages of Lincoln Center, as well as other major art museums.

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Friday March 13, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

Rachel Owens employs glass for museum installation in Connecticut that sifts specific historical site for exploration of identity, environment, and economics

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, Exhibition, News, On Other Blogs

"The Hypogean Tip," an exhibition featuring works in glass by artist Rachel Owens, will be on display at the Housatonic Museum of Art through March 21, 2020. The exhibition explores the history of Bridgeport, Connecticut, including sculptures rendered in various materials, including large-scale casts in broken glass from the porch of the home of Mary Freeman (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and works cast in coal and marble dust that "invoke P.T. Barnum’s specter as well as his adverse impact." An extension of the larger "Life on the Other Side of a Cracked Glass Ceiling" project. The Hypogean Tip (The word Hypogean comes from the Greek words hypo (under) and Gaia (earth) together meaning underground), explores the history of Bridgeport through the lives of radical unmarried sisters of color Mary and Eliza Freeman, PT Barnum, and the ecology of the area affected by racism, industrialization, and capitalism from the turn of the century to present day.

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Thursday March 12, 2020 | by Andrew Page

The Glass Art Society cancels 2020 conference in Sweden due to coronavirus pandemic; will refund registration fees

On the evening of March 12, 2020, the Glass Art Society issued the somber announcement the board and staff of the artist organization had been hoping against hope they wouldn't have to make. The 2020 conference set to take place May 20 through 23rd in Småland, Sweden, will not be taking place due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus.

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