>Some quick snaps from the Maurine Littleton Gallery as it features the glass work of Michael Janis. Many of the pieces will be shown in the upcoming SOFA Chicago art fair.
1667 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
202.333.9307
Open Tues – Sat 11-6pm
Click HERE for link to their website.
The gallery will have a strong presence in Chicago this November, also featuring Allegra Marquart and new works by Tim Tate.
Click HERE for link to SOFA Chicago.
Washington Glass Studio on the telly
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The glass studio in its first HGTV appearance – (from ‘back in the day – May 2005) with guest appearances by Sean Hennessey and Rania Hassan. The first season of the show “I Want That” sought products that they could showcase and market, and the producers had approached The Washington Glass Studio to appear with glass products for the home.
Great New Addition to the Glass School
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Our newest instructor at the glass school is Debra Ruzinsky. Debra recieved her BA in design from the University of Californina at Los Angeles, and her MFA in Glass Sculpture from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She has been working in glass since 1982. She serves on the publications committee of the Glass Art Society, and was Visiting Asst. Professor of Glass at RIT for the 2008 – 2009 academic calendar year. She has previously taught at the University of Oregon Craft Center, and will teach at the Studio at Corning in 2010.
Her work is part of the collection of the Seto City Museum in Seto, Japan, and the Glasuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark, as well as the RIT Wallace Library Purchase Prize Collection, and some private collections. In the summer of 2008 she was an invited artist-in-residence at the Seto City International Ceramic and Glass Art Exchange program in Seto, Japan. She was included in the 2009 MFA Exhibition at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY and Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass at Hawk Galleries in Columbus, OH through Fall 2009.
Debra will be teaching Introduction to Lost Wax Casting this Fall session & we welcome her to the Washington arts community! Click HERE to jump to her website.
New Class! Introduction to Lost Wax Casting
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A great new class has just been added to the Fall Schedule – Lost Wax Casting! This is a great way to make 3-D elements in kilncast glass. Think of the sculptural possibilities! Our instructor for this class was on Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) faculty as Asst Professor of Glass, and will be teaching at Corning Studio next year. More about Debra Ruzinsky in another posting.
Class Class 930 – Introduction to Lost Wax Casting
In this class you will make a vessel form in glass using the lost wax process. Students will begin with a pre-made wax form that they will carve into and alter. Students will be asked to research surface decoration ideas for their project before coming to class, then bring the ideas to class in the form of sketches, xeroxes, magazine clippings, etc. Students will make plaster silica molds and steam out wax. Basic finishing techniques will also be explained. No experience necessary – wear work clothing and closed toed shoes.
| Instructor | Debra Ruzinsky |
| Dates | November 14, 15, 22 |
| Time | 9:30am – 1:30pm |
| Tuition | $350 |
Spotlight on: Sean Hennessey
>The multi talented artist Sean Hennessey is working in the glass studio this weekend. Sean works in a variety of media, cast glass, cast metal, concrete, plaster, paint… anything and everything. His striking cast glass works at the artDC Gallery show are particularly strong.
Sean is working from the studio on a new series – very strong designs that he casts in glass and embellishes with a variety of medium. See his work on his ETSY website – click HERE.
Sean works in the coldworking studio.
One of Sean’s finished works.
Concert & The Common Element Show
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Jonathan Matis of The Low End String Quartet is planning a musical event at the artdc Gallery. If you have not yet seen the great glasswork on exhibit, come on by this weekend and get the bonus of live bands performing!
The bands will include A Light Sleeper, The Low End String Quartet, and Pure Horsehair. The first is a really great band from Chicago called A Light Sleeper and their music is wonderfully fragile and elegant. It’s their first time out to the east coast so we can get a listen before they take off and we’ll never be able to hear them in such an intimate setting again.
Also on the bill is The Low End String Quartet, celebrating the release of a new cd, Blunt Objects. Hyattsville-based composer and guitarist Jonathan Matis put this group together with the idea that string quartet music that rocks is awesome. It will change the way you think of classical instrumental music.
But wait, that’s not all! Coming down from Brooklyn will be Pure Horsehair. Finger picking guitarist / songwriter Garrett DeVoe is the real thing.
Who: artdc Gallery, A Light Sleeper, The Low End String Quartet, Pure Horsehair
What: Concert @ the artdc gallery
When: 7:00pm August 22nd 2009.
Where: artdc Gallery
The Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, MD 20781
Arts District Hyattsville by EYA
Spotlight on : Megan Van Wagoner
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One of the artists featured in the Common Element show is Megan Van Wagoner. An Assistant Professor at Montgomery College, Megan works in a variety of media: primarily ceramics, metal and glass.
Megan Van Wagoner’s cast glass on display at artDC Gallery
At this year’s Art-O-Matic, Megan was one of the critical and audience favorite artists showing at the huge artwork exposition, with her mixed media sculpture work titled “Comforts of Home”.
Comforts of Home – Artomatic 2009 installation. Glass, ceramic, cast aluminium
Megan has written about her work:
In my sculpture I capture moments in a narrative and express them as artifacts (or sometimes artifice). In many cases the narrative is autobiographical, but through the reduction of the story to a few simple objects I hope to make the narrative more universal and at the same time create an air of personal mystery.
Click HERE to jump to Megan’s website.
Opening Reception ‘The Common Element’
The Common Element exhibition preview
>artDC Gallery hosts the artists from the Washington Glass School and DC GlassWorks in a fantastic review of the styles and techniques of each educational institution. The artwork and sculptures in the show are amazing – here is a sneak peak:
one of Anne Plant’s fused window glass landscapes – ‘Blue Sky’
Joe Corcoran’s colorful ‘Give or Take’
One of Erwin Timmers cast recycled glass knots
Michael Janis’ sgraffitto ‘Dreaming of Salvation‘
Mixed media artist Sean Hennessey’s ‘The Path of the Boatman’
The opening reception is Saturday, August 15, 2009 4-6 pm
artDC Gallery / The Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20781
Washington Post article
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The August 8, 2009 weekend edition of the Washington Post newspaper Real Estate section had an article on the Washington, DC suburb of Mount Rainier, MD.
Post writer Jim Brocker enthused about the area being “something special”, with the “bungalows, large lots and tree-lined streets” with mentions of the Washington Glass School as one of the arts centers located in the “artist’ haven”. Combined with a large color photo taken inside the glass school, showing Michael Janis coldworking a class project by UK artist Stephen Beardsell as proof of the specialness. 
For the article in its entirety – click Here