Friday August 11, 2017 | by Malcolm Morano

The late Ron Desmett’s legacy to be commemorated in new glass art award

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

When Kathleen Mulcahy and husband Ron Desmett founded the Pittsburgh Glass Center in 2001, Desmett, then a painter and ceramist, had never made glass work of his own before. That changed in 2002 when Mulcahy tasked artists from other materials to “think in glass,” as she told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet, for a show at the Glass Center called "Artists Crossing Lines." Ron came back with the decision to blow opaque black glass vessels shaped inside hollowed out tree trunks, a body of work that would come to define his practice until his death in December 2016. “[Glass] changed his life,” she said, “and from that moment where he thought about that work in 2002 – that work is the work that is in the Tacoma Museum [of Glass], the Smithsonian, and the Corning Museum, and the Carnegie Museum. It’s unbelievable – that moment of saying guess what, nothing is impossible.”

Dr. Karlyn Sutherland. courtesy: corning museum of glass.

Thursday August 10, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

Scotland’s Karlyn Sutherland awarded Corning’s 2017 Rakow Commission

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, New Work

The Corning Museum of Glass has announced that Karlyn Sutherland of Scotland will be this year’s recipient of the Rakow Commission, which gives emerging glass artists who are not yet included in the museum’s holdings the opportunity to create new work that is then added to institution’s permanent collection. Holding multiple graduate degrees (a 2008 Masters in Architecture from Edinburgh College of Art, and a 2014 PhD from the University of Edinburgh), Sutherland’s work is unique, especially in the context of the Rakow Commission for a number of reasons. Not only is she the first recipient since 1999 to be mainly focused on fused glass, but her use of perspective, which comes directly from her background in architecture, can be mystifying if not viewed up close. Susie Silbert, Corning’s curator of modern and contemporary glass, had her first encounter with Sutherland’s work while jurying a recent edition of New Glass Review. In a telephone exchange, she told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet that at first, “we didn’t think it was actually glass. We thought it was actually a rendering of glass.” However, upon closer inspection in person, she was astounded at the work’s ability to bring forth ideas of place, perspective, and illusion.

Jen Blazina, Separation, 2016. Cast glass and bronze. H 15 W 15 D 1 in. courtesy: artist website

Wednesday August 9, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

Philadelphia glass-art museum to spotlight philanthropists, artist Jen Blazina at annual gala

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Auction, Events, Museums, News

The National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia will feature Separation, a sculpture by Jen Blazina as part of its 18th annual glass auction and gala coming up on October 7, 2017. The museum fundraiser not only supports this unique institution that sees a linkage between the material of glass and the concept of freedom, but also calls attention to the work of community role models, as well as spotlights the philanthropic efforts of an individual artist. This year’s honorees are Sandy and Steve Sheller, who funded the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice at Temple University Beasley School of Law, The Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services Center of Drexel University, and The Stephen and Sandra Sheller Commons of the South Philadelphia Free Library. This year’s "artist hero" is Pearl Dick, who co-founded Project Fire, an initiative to use glassblowing as a healing and mentoring, and job-creating tool for trauma victims and young victims of gun violence.

Phöebe Tan, Wunderkammer, 2017. Core cast gaffer glass. W 23 1/2 H 15 3/4 in. courtesy: the artist

Tuesday August 8, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

British glass art society announces 2017 recent-graduate prizewinners

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Award, News

The Contemporary Glass Society announced the winners of its "2017 Glass Prize," a contest conducted by the Society for recent glass-art graduates in the U.K. The first place winner, Phöebe Tan of University College Falmouth, will receive a £250 cash prize; £250 in warm glass vouchers; a feature article in the 16-page publication Graduate Review distributed to the entire CGS membership; a two-year membership to the CGS; and other benefits.

Matthew Day Perez, Crush: Big Blue, 2017. Broken, fused, silvered, and coldworked glass. H 19 1/2 W 32 D 3/4 in. courtesy: bullseye projects website

Tuesday August 8, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

OPENING: Matthew Day Perez’s material inquiry clearly on display in his first U.S. solo exhibition

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Opening

“I think of my work as being dichotomous,” said Matthew Day Perez in an interview with GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet. And many opposing forces are indeed at work in Perez’s first U.S. solo exhibition, "Fractured": order and chaos, connectedness and brokenness, simplicity and detail. Fracture and repair are the backbone of Perez’s artistic concept. His wall pieces, historically gigantic but now of various dimensions as he explores scale feature broken sheets of glass either reassembled in a kiln to form scar lines where the fractures once were, or simply piled on to create a busier, more three-dimensional effect. “I’m interested in broken glass for the absurdity of breaking it and putting it back together,” he said.

Daphne Farago. courtesy: kate elliott

Friday August 4, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

IN MEMORIAM: Daphne Farago (1924 - 2017)

FILED UNDER: Announcements, In Memoriam, Museums, News

When Daphne Farago, a lifelong benefactor and supporter of Studio Craft, died on July 23rd, 2017, she left her collection of over 100 pieces to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. During her lifetime, Farago donated almost 1,000 objects to the museum, mostly made up of jewelry and textile pieces, though she also donated a substantial amount of ceramics, glass, wood, metal, and folk art. In 2012, she gave the museum their largest donation ever, totaling 161 craft objects. “Mrs. Farago really collected across the spectrum of craft,” Emily Zilber, curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet. “Her gifts have transformed what we do, and have really made craft much more visible at the museum because we have them.”

Justin Ginsberg, Spirit of Unrest, 2017. Found chair, glass. Dimensions vary. courtesy: the artist

Thursday August 3, 2017 | by Stella Porter

OPENING: Justin Ginsberg challenges complacency in S12 residency culminating in exhibit

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Exhibition, New Work, Opening

A new show at S12 Gallery this month will see experimental glass artist Justin Ginsberg using household objects to explore a personal issue: the constraints of domesticity. Opening on August 4th, "Considerations and Ants" features a series of drawings, installations, videos, and objects created over the course of a summer-long residency at the Norwegian studio and gallery. Though this marks something of an aesthetic break from the artist's past work, the new exhibition continues his efforts to challenge viewers' assumptions about common structures by confronting the limitations the home can impose on freedom -- both as a physical cage and a source of financial confinement.

Kit Paulson in the CCS glass studio. courtesy: @ccsglass on instagram

Thursday August 3, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

HELP WANTED: Detroit’s College for Creative Studies seeks a studio crafts technician

FILED UNDER: Education, Help Wanted

The College for Creative Studies in Detroit is seeking a full-time crafts technician for nine months to maintain their craft studios, namely in glass and ceramics studios but also in fibers and textile, art furniture, metalsmithing and jewelry design studios. The ideal candidate would have an undergraduate degree in a craft field, preferably glass, ceramics, industrials arts, or crafts, and must be able to build, operate and maintain kiln and kiln controllers. Additionally, the candidate would be required to have strong interpersonal, organizational, and problem solving skills, as well as flexibility to work evenings and weekends as needed. Experience with CNC technology and welding skills are a plus, but are not required.

Matthew Szösz, Ouroboros, 2017. Fused glass. H 24, W 24, D 15 in. courtesy: traver gallery

Wednesday August 2, 2017 | by Stella Porter

OPENING: Traver Gallery turns focus to boldly experimental work in two new exhibitions

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

Traver Gallery in Seattle is honoring its historical lineage with its 40th anniversary group exhibition this month, but the focus of its two upcoming exhibits in August is decidedly forward-looking. Straying from its long history as a premier gallery for top-tier glass artists such as Lino Tagliapietra, Traver Gallery will open two exhibits by experimental artists this evening, timed to the opening of the Seattle Art Fair. John Kiley, known for his intense style of breaking glass, will open alongside artist couple Matthew Szosz and Anna Mlasowsky, who push the limitations of the material through the unconventionality of their work. This is the couple's first exhibit at Traver Gallery.

Micah Evans' curtain of black threads burning at the beginning of his Third Thursday performance at the Chrysler Museum of Art Glass Studio. courtesy: chrysler museum of art.

Monday July 31, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

CONVERSATION: Flameworker Micah Evans puts on show at Chrysler Museum

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Glass Quarterly, Museums

Washington State-native flameworker Micah Evans does not consider himself a performance artist, but he undoubtedly put on a show for the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, recently while working as a visiting artist from July 20th to 23rd. Evans grew up in Seattle, Washington in the 1990s, surrounded by a culture heavily saturated with marijuana and glass pipe-making. This environment presented Evans with a less-than-traditional gateway into glass art, as he got his start by making smoke pipes at a local flameworking studio. Evans’ work has since expanded to include traditional craft forms and personal sculptural work, which lead him to be recognized as the first flameworker to receive a residency at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, which he completed from 2012 until 2015.

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.