Simone Crestani, Hommage À Acteon 2, 2017. Hollow sculpted blown borosilicate glass. H 47 ¼, W 31 ½ in.

Thursday March 8, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

DESIGN: Exhibited at prestigious Munich lighting showroom, Simone Crestani's sculpted flameworked creations honor nature

Italian artist Simone Crestani spent 10 years as an apprentice to Massimo Lunardon before striking out on his own, employing the techniques he learned to sculpt at the torch. Crestani enjoys working inside the blown glass forms he flameworks to create complex and large-scale forms inspired by his wonder at the natural world, and humanity’s impact on it. Crestani's design pieces encapsulate both powerful and ephemeral qualities of nature. During the Munich Creative Business Week, an important design event in Germany, Simone Crestani is having a solo exhibition through April 24th taking place at the Ingo Maurer showroom in Munich at Kaiserstrasse 47.

Thursday March 8, 2018 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Spring 2018 edition of Glass (#150)

The Spring 2018 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#150) has hit newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. The cover article is devoted to the work of Hiromi Takizawa, who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years but remains in close contact with her family and friends in her native Japan. Teaching full-time at Cal State Fullerton, she is overseeing a complete rebuild of the glass studio as she continues to explore the metaphorical concept of distance. Contributing editor Victoria Josslin cites Takizawa's 2010 dissertation title from her MFA studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, which was "Duality and Parallel Lives," as the artist's primary preoccupation which "she has continued to explore, expand, and deepen" in the eight years since completing her degree.

Saturday March 3, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Deadline extended for Bellevue Museum of Art juried competition for Northwest artists with two $5,000 cash awards

The Bellevue Arts Museum has extended its deadline for its 2018 BAM Biennial, an exhibition that offers a carefully selected range of contemporary artwork in a chosen medium. There are two awards, each for $5,000 cash for the top selections. This year, the material is glass and the exhibition will be entitled "BAM! Glasstastic." The new deadline for artists, designers, and makers to apply is March 19, 2018. (Disclosure: Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly editor Andrew Page is one of the five jurors.) The exhibition is open to applicants based in the Pacific Northwest (defined as the following U.S. states and Canadian provinces: Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). Those who wish to apply do not need to define themselves as glass artists, though their submitted work must use glass as a central component. Those looking to apply can submit applications through CaFÉ.

Left: Martin Janecky, La Reina. Glass. H 21, W 10 in. Photography by Russell Johnson. courtesy: heller gallery

Right: Martin Janecky, Arbol De La Vida. Glass. H 18, W 15 in. Photography by Russell Johnson. courtesy: heller gallery.

Thursday March 1, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

OPENING: Martin Janecký unveils new Mexican-inspired works at Heller Gallery tonight

Czech artist Martin Janecký is known for his groundbreaking techniques of sculpting inside the bubble, creating highly realistic heads at life-sized scale by hot-working the glass on the pipe in innovative ways. Introduced to glass at the age of 13 by his father, Janecký’s unique approach to the material has made him a sought-after instructor. He's taught and exhibited at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State, at UrbanGlass (which publishes the Hot Sheet) in New York City, the Rietveld Academy in Holland, and many others. In the cover article of the Summer 2016 print edition (Glass #143), contributing editor John Drury discussed how Janecký was inspired by the head studies of Bavarian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783). In it, Drury notes Janecký’s “increasingly naturalistic direction.” Today, that naturalism continues in the Heller Gallery’s upcoming exhibition by Janecký entitled "Dia de Muertos." However, whereas his past works focused on human heads, his newest exhibition focuses on the human skull and its role in the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. The exhibition will run for the entirety of March and Janecký will be present for tonight's March 1, 2018 opening from 6 PM -8 PM. (Originally, the exhibit was meant to open in Mexico City in the fall of 2017 but it was cancelled due to last year’s earthquake.)

Gene Koss in action.

Wednesday February 28, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

In New Orleans, sculptor and Tulane professor Gene Koss will give a rare demo this coming Friday

On Friday, March 2, 2018, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the YAYA Arts Center will host a glass demo by renowned glass artist and head of the Tulane glass program Gene Koss from 6 PM to 8 PM. In a telephone interview with the Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet, Koss said he was eager to work with YAYA, a nonprofit organization he admires. His demo is part of his effort "to give back” to the glass community. During the Friday evening event, Koss says he will work on two sculptures with a team of seven, all of whom he appreciates greatly for their dedication. He always visits a space beforehand to see what equipment he should bring with him. Additionally, he will hang up drawings in the space so the audience will have a clearer image of what the finished project will look like. Koss is very excited for Friday’s demo and mentioned that it would be the 89th workshop of his career, which has spanned the last four decades.

Michael Crowder, Une Petite Pipe Morte (A Little Pipe Death), 2009. Cigarette ashes, resin. H 3, W 5 1/2, D 1 1/2 in. photo: david a. brown. courtesy: houston center for contemporary craft.

Wednesday February 28, 2018 | by Allison Adler

EXHIBITION: Houston museum takes a craft perspective on Surrealism, focuses on work by Michael Crowder

The above image is not a pipe. It is a representation of a pipe created from cigarette ashes and resin by artist Michael Crowder, inspired by René Magritte’s iconic painting The Treachery of Images (1928-1929). This pipe is one of several of Crowder’s works currently on display in the exhibition Treachery of Material: The Surrealist Impulse in Craft at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC). The exhibition presents a series of “puzzling and beautiful” objects made by Houston-based Michael Crowder and Estonia-based artist Julia Maria Künnap.

Kiki Smith, Sainte Geneviève And The Deer, 1999. Fired paint on glass panels. 2 parts, H 54 ¼, W 48in / H 89, W 46 ¾ in. Courtesy: Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung.

Tuesday February 27, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

EXHIBITION: German foundation presents glass works by major contemporary artists organized around a common theme

In Munich, Germany, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung’s exhibition "Viewing the Other" features a significant collection of glass works from big-name contemporary artists such as Tony Cragg, Mona Hatoum, Ki-Ra Kim, Raimund Kummer, Alejandra Seeber, Kiki Smith, and Pae White. The exhibition will remain on view until June 29, 2018. With its focus on modern sculpture and photography, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung is a former sculptor studio in an Art Nouveau villa in Munich-Schwabing that was established as a nonprofit foundation in December 2000.

Sarah Schultz will take over as Amercian Craft Council executive director in April 2018.

Monday February 26, 2018 | by Valerie Hughes

The American Craft Council announces new executive director Sarah Schultz, inducts artist Beth Lipman as fellow

On April 2, the American Craft Council will officially welcome Sarah Schultz as its new executive director. A further addition to the ACC community is Beth Lipman, who was just inducted to the ACC’s College of Fellows. The American Craft Council (ACC) was founded by Aileen Osborn Webb in 1939 as a nonprofit. For the past 79 years, the organization has emphasized the impact crafts have on individuals and their communities. Every year, there are American Craft shows in Baltimore, Atlanta, St. Paul, and San Francisco that attract up to 45,000 people. ACC also has a research library that contains more than 6,500 documents on the history of studio craft. Additionally, ACC publishes a magazine six times a year that reiterates the benefits of creative living.

Performance: Julianne Swartz's Sine Body with Estelí Gomez. 2018. photo: heidi bohnenkamp. courtesy: the artist.

Thursday February 22, 2018 | by Allison Adler

SEEN: The shape of sound explored in Julianne Swartz's NYC performance using blown glass, trained voice, and ambient air pressure

Stepping into a curtained section of the fifth-floor gallery of New York City's Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) on Sunday February 11th, I picked up a perceptible hum in the room. It wasn't the hum of the crowd (which, initially, was absent) or the muffled hum of the city outside. Instead, it seemed to emit from the glass and ceramic vessels arranged on three large flat tables in the gallery. The vessels appeared to be frozen in various stages of flow, or, perhaps more accurately, transformation, like bulbous glass snakes shedding their skin or larvae playfully moving in and out of their delicate cocoons. The works were from Julianne Swartz’s Sine Body series of glass and ceramic vessels that each produce a particular sound generated through an electronic feedback mechanism. The live performance was just one part of the Sine Body installation, itself a part of a larger exhibition at MAD titled "Sonic Arcade: Shaping Space with Sound" (on view through February 25 2018), which consists of multiple installations and interactive environments that explore how sound shapes spatial and interpersonal relations.

Christopher Taylor led the Philadelphia-based Clay Studio for over seven years before accepting the position as Pilchuck's new executive director.

Wednesday February 21, 2018 | by Andrew Page

Pilchuck's new executive director, Christopher Taylor, is former head of prominent ceramics nonprofit

In the months since James Baker announced he'd step down as Pilchuck's executive director last August after eight years at its helm, the board of Pilchuck Glass School have been searching for a replacement to lead this international glass center. Tonight, Baker's replacement has been announced: Christopher Taylor, who has been leading The Clay Studio based in Philadelphia since 2011, will be relocating to Washington State. The official announcement by Pilchuck cites Taylor's success growing the ceramics organization, expanding its audience, and boosting fundraising power, as well as his potential in helping to grow the glass center's outreach to youth and underserved youth in the Northwest Coast area.

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.