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.

Inna Babaeva, Men O’war, 2017, glass, H 36. W 36, D 36 in. courtesy: sarah thaw

Friday July 28, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

SEEN: A real estate company turns unlikely spaces into showcases for contemporary art

FILED UNDER: Architecture, Exhibition, On the street, Public Art, Seen

Contemporary art is on display in unexpected spaces within New York City and beyond thanks to the Art-in-Buildings program, an initiative by real-estate company Time Equities, Inc. that is transforming windows into non-traditional exhibition spaces. The program was founded in 2001 by Time Equities, Inc. CEO Francis Greenburger, who, after walking into an empty lobby in one of his downtown Manhattan properties, decided that the space would be a perfect place to display art. Since that initial idea, the concept has grown to include building fronts in many different sites -- from the Financial District and other areas in New York City, to buildings across the United States and in three different countries -- and over 110 artists have been featured in its rotating exhibitions.Currently on view at the program's West 10th Window, a street-level storefront window located in Manhattan’s West Village that has featured unique artists in short-term exhibitions since 2012 is an installation by Ukraine-born, New York-based artist Inna Babaeva, who frequently employs glass in her work (Disclosure: The work was fabricated at the studios of UrbanGlass, the nonprofit arts center that published the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet as well as the print publication GLASS.). Eliana Blechman, the curatorial assistant and exhibitions coordinator of Time Equities’ Art-in-Buildings program, said that said she and her fellow curators “scour the internet, galleries and magazines” for unique artists to invite to display their work in the space.

Montague Gallery Outside 2 2 17 057Sm Min

Montague Gallery from the street. courtesy: dani montague

Wednesday July 26, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

New gallery devoted to glass art opens in San Francisco’s upscale Union Square district

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Art Market, Exhibition, Opening

Dani Montague first thought of opening a gallery devoted to glass art two decades ago, but it wasn't until her retirement from a career with March of Dimes, where she served as vice president of philanthropy, that she was able to realize her dream. This past February, Montague proudly unlocked the doors of Montague Gallery in San Francisco's Union Square area, home to many established galleries, for an opening reception that also served as a benefit for the Pilchuck Glass School. “I came from the nonprofit world, so I thought it would be great to launch my new business, my new art gallery, with a benefit,” she said in a telephone interview with GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet.

Carried on Both Sides, research image, 2016. courtesy: the artist

Tuesday July 25, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

Artist Talk: Past, present, and imagined future of @ symbol explored in collaborative inquiry

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Curiosities, Events, Exhibition, Museums, New Work

New York-based artist Caroline Woolard set out to satisfy her curiosity about the links between an ancient container to transport liquids and a ubiquitous symbol of our contemporary digital moment. For good measure, she extends this inquiry into speculation on how this typographical element might further evolve. This journey into the past, present, and imagined future of the symbol for digital communication "@" is the subject of her project Carried on Both Sides, which she will be discussing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this Friday evening, July 28, 2017 with her collaborators present. To realize the project, Woolard partnered with glass artists Helen Lee and Alexander Rosenberg as well as textile artist Lika Volkova during residencies at the Pilchuck Glass School and UrbanGlass. She explained her intent for Carried on Both Sides in her proposal for the residency at Pilchuck as a project “that traces the transmutation of an ancient vessel into a common computer symbol -- the @ [at sign]. Our work links 6th-century terra cotta and glass amphorae to the handwritten @ of 16th century mercantile scripts to the ubiquitous contemporary vector graphic we use in email and in social media.”

Alex Bernstein, Emerald Fan, 2017. Cast and cut glass, fused steel. H 22 W 14 D 3 in. courtesy: karla winterowd

Tuesday July 25, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

OPENING: Alex Bernstein unveils fresh approaches to coldworking in Santa Fe exhibition

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Opening

Alex Bernstein sees his work as an exploration — of himself, of nature, and of his own unique process of sculpting and carving his large-scale castings. In a solo exhibition at Winterowd Gallery in Santa Fe opening this Friday, July 28, the Asheville, North Carolina-based artist revisits forms and techniques from his past seeking to reinvent them. “I’m always looking to pursue things and push things and find something new in the realm of my own work,” he said in a telephone interview with GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet. Though this show is made up of entirely new work, Bernstein is seeking to do what many of us probably wish we could: go back into his past and reinterpret old forms with the benefit of new experience. “It’s me looking back at some of my older series and then kind of reinventing them,” he said.

Mia Hall. courtesy: penland school of crafts

Tuesday July 25, 2017 | by Stella Porter

Penland’s new director, artist and educator Mia Hall, sees craft as critical to contemporary culture

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Education, News

Artist and professor Maria “Mia” Hall will bring her respect for the importance of craftmaking in contemporary culture when she takes over for the retiring Jean McLaughlin as director of the Penland School of Crafts in January 2018. “This is a lifelong dream. I couldn’t ask for anything better,” she told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet by telephone. “I’ve always been struck by everything there. It’s such a concentration of talent and innovation, and that has always been really fascinating for me,” she added. The craft school, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, has selected Hall to become the director at the start of 2018. She will succeed longtime director McLaughlin who made many important changes to the institution, including a large studio renovation project and an endowment increase from $2 million when she started in 1998 to $17 million today.

Jeff Zimmerman, Unique crystal vessel in hand-blown glass with mirrorized interior, 2017. L 14.5" W 9" H 8" courtesy: R & Company

Monday July 24, 2017 | by Stella Porter

OPENING: Jeff Zimmerman’s signature fluidity evolves into new chiseled forms

FILED UNDER: Design, Exhibition, New Work, News

Glass artist Jeff Zimmerman continues to skirt the line between art and design with his work included in a summer group exhibition at design gallery R & Company. The exhibit will remain on view through August 17 and is notable for some strikingly fresh geometric work for an artist known for fluid, kinetic forms.

Todd Beaty, casting supervisor, demonstrates how to handle a ladle while casting. photo: mary kay nitchie, bullseye glass

Saturday July 22, 2017 | by Lindsay Hargrave

Bullseye Glass offers first-ever sheet-casting class, a chance to participate in the process

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Education, News

Bullseye Glass Company,the innovative company that developed a wide palette of sheet glass suitable for fusing in a kiln, is now giving the public a chance to participate (to an extent) in its creation. On Thursday, July 27 at noon, Bullseye’s Portland, Oregon location will be holding a class for 20 students to assist in the casting of two separate sheets of colored glass, some of which will be doled out to students. This is the first time that Bullseye had opened the floor for students to take a class in creating the product that Bullseye innovated almost 40 years ago in the form of a public class.

Verena Schatz, Bundle, 2015. borosilicate tubes, slumped. H 53 1/2, W 14, D 14 in. courtesy: Hans-Martin Lorch

Thursday July 20, 2017 | by Sarah Thaw

OPENING: Berlin gallery devotes summer to exhibition of high-level student work in glass

FILED UNDER: Education, Events, Exhibition, Museums, New Work, News, Opening

Jens Gussek, an accomplished artist in his own right and a winner of the 2015 International Glass Prize in Lommel, Belgium, has also worked steadily as a university professor throughout his career. He currently holds the title of Head of the Institute of Ceramic and Glass Art (IKKG) at the University of Applied Science in Koblenz, Germany. A unique exhibition of work by 11 of his former students is opening at a commercial gallery in Berlin this summer, a testament to the caliber of work Gussek has helped his students achieve. Entitled “subtext glas(s),” the exhibition opens July 22 and will run through September 2, 2017, at the lorch+seidel contemporary gallery in Berlin, Germany.

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.