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Wednesday August 30, 2023 | by Andrew Page

CONVERSATION: Jane Bruce on the battle to save North Lands from liquidation

Jane Bruce, who from 2002 to 2007 served as the artistic director of North Lands Creative Glass (before the word "Glass" was removed from its title) is investigating ways to save the studio, buildings, and equipment of this European center for glass along the windswept coast of Northeast Scotland. As debts mounted over the past year, the staff was let go, and recently, the facilities have been secured and a liquidator has been assigned to sell off the assets of this beloved institution that dates back to 1996. For decades, it drew artists from around the world to the Scottish coastal fishing village of Lybster in the county of Caithness. Bruce is actively looking to partner with other artists who might want to invest in saving the infrastructure from being sold off, and to restart the furnaces and kilns in a newly structured organization that may or may not become again an officially registered charity. The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet had an opportunity to discuss the fast-moving situation with Bruce in an in-person interview in the offices of UrbanGlass, the nonprofit art center in Brooklyn, New York, that publishes Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly as well as this online publication.

Thursday August 17, 2023 | by John Drury

IN MEMORIAM: Outsider artist Robert Blackstone (1971 - 2023), whose Crystal City installation is a visionary portrait of Dayton, Ohio, falls victim to the city's gun violence

Even before the COVID pandemic, Dayton, Ohio, was known as one of the top 5 deadliest U.S. cities, as CBS designated it in 2019. On August 1st, 2023, one of the most important artists to try and capture the spirit and energy of this complex Ohio city was gunned down on a downtown street. Robert Blackstone, the self-taught installation artist who worked extensively with glass, was grievously injured by a gunshot wound to his chest, and he died from his injuries. The alleged shooter, who has a long criminal record, is in custody.

Thursday August 17, 2023 | by Kinshasa Peterson

CALL FOR ENTRIES: The 2024 Toyama International Glass Exhibition will offer more than ¥5,000,000 ($34,800 USD) in prize money

Entries for the Toyama International Glass Exhibition 2024, which boasts over ¥5,000,000 ($34,800 USD) in awards, are being accepted by Japan’s Toyama Glass Art Museum, organizers of the juried competition. Situated in the heart of the nation’s “Glass City,” the program is described by the institution as a showcase for works “that contribute to the advancement of glass art” and that are “breakthroughs in creative expression.” Submissions will be accepted from artists of any age or nationality, and are open to individuals as well as groups. Each applicant can submit up to two works and there is no entry fee. The deadline for entries is Friday, November 10, 2023.

Wednesday August 2, 2023 | by William Ganis

Recycled glass plays a leading role in miraculous repair of major highway, introducing many to the potential of "foamed glass"

In June, a tanker truck full of gasoline caught fire and exploded under a six-lane bridge that carries traffic along a busy section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, killing driver Nathaniel Moody in the ensuing inferno. The heat was so intense that a northbound section of the I-95 overpass collapsed and the southbound lanes were so damaged they could no longer safely support the weight of the 160,000 vehicles using this crowded artery each day.

Saturday July 22, 2023 | by Andrew Page

Artist and educator Alli Hoag named as Toledo Museum of Art GAPP artist for Fall

The head of the glass art program at Bowling Green Sate University, Alli Hoag, has been named the latest Guest Artist Pavilion Project artist-in-residence by the Toledo Museum of Art. From August 23 through September 1, 2023, Hoag will be on site at the museum's glass studio creating new work, and also will present to the public about her process and her ideas on August 25th at 7 PM.

Trenton Quiocho on the set of Blown Away, Season Three. photo: david leyes. courtesy: marblemedia

Thursday July 13, 2023 | by Sponsored Content

Up your technical game by grabbing one of the remaining slots in an UrbanGlass summer intensive

Whether you're working to develop more complex hot-sculpting or expanding your glass designs into lighting, there are unique educational opportunities at UrbanGlass to turn the Summer of 2023 into a game-changer for your studio practice. Learn from Blown Away contestants Jason MacDonald or Trenton Quiocho, whose skills earned them a spot on the international reality-show sensation. Or dive into glass-bead techniques in the Native American tradition with Lenise Omeasoo, or learn from glass-bead expert Sheila Checkoway without having to travel to her usual Massachusetts turf. The UrbanGlass hot shop, flat shop, and flame studio will be buzzing with activity this summer, so reserve your place to be a part of it before these classes are full!

Tensions build as the 2023 Goblet Grab is about to start at the Detroit Conference. photo: sunny wang

Wednesday July 12, 2023 | by Kinshasa Peterson

Deadline for 2024 Berlin GAS conference proposals is July 30th

The 2024 Glass Art Society Conference, scheduled to take place next year from May 15th through the 18th in Berlin, Germany, will be the first time since the 2018 Murano GAS conference that the annual gathering of glass artists will take place in Europe. The deadline to submit a proposal for the Berlin event is Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 11:59pm PST, with those responding to the Call for Proposals directed to the Submittable platform. (Clicking the link takes you to the official GAS application form.)

Tuesday July 11, 2023 | by Andrew Page

Brooklyn artist Layo Bright receives the 2023 Pittsburgh Glass Center's Ron Desmett Award

Brooklyn-based artist Layo Bright has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Ron Desmett Memorial Award celebrating artists "who think outside of the box, practice curiosity, and take risks to create unique, imaginative works in glass," according to the official announcement. Named in honor of PGC's late co-founder, the award cited Bright's explorations of African design techniques and symbolism through her glass sculptures as the reason for the award.

Monochromatic Cuboid, 2023. Glass. H 8 3/4, W 8 1/4, D 8 1/4 in.

Thursday July 6, 2023 | by Andrew Page

OPENING: Jiyong Lee debuts at Traver Gallery with "Invisible Microcosm" through July 29, 2023

South Korean-born artist Jiyong Lee, who has headed the Southern Illinois University glass program since 2005, will open his first solo exhibition at Seattle's Traver Gallery tonight with an exhibition entitled "Invisible Microcosm." An opening reception this evening at Traver Gallery will offer the first look at some of Lee's new explorations of the beauty of cellular biology, a focus of the artist's exacting work for decades. Rigorous cutting, lamination, carving and surface treatments are just some of the techniques he has perfected to achieve his understated but refined aesthetic of the "Segmentation" series. Lee will be the subject of an in-depth feature article in the upcoming Fall 2023 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#172) by contributing editor William Ganis.

Wednesday July 5, 2023 | by Andrew Page

CONVERSATION: Leo Tecosky on his recent $100,000 craft award, aging glass collectors, and a new era for equity in glass

Brooklyn-based artist Leo Tecosky, who was featured in the Spring 2022 edition of Glass (#166) after the unveiling of his Rakow Commission work, was recently named as one of five recipients of the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation 2023 Awards in Craft, which is an unrestricted $100,000 award and one of the largest awards for craftspeople and artists in the country. Tecosky was recognized for his mixed-media works that explore the hip-hop canon through blown, cut, enameled, and painted glass forms. Administered by United States Artists, the Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Craft seek to support craftspeople’s work in ways that recognize the importance of their varied, hands-on explorations of cultural heritage, emerging technologies, materials and trades, with a special focus on the intersections between them. The 2023 Awardees also include multimedia artist Adebunmi Gbadebo; furniture maker, artist and educator Aspen Golann; multidisciplinary artist Shane R. Hendren; and timber framer Blain Snipstal.

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.