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The artist reception for photographer Thomas Wolff’s show of new works is this weekend at the 39th Street Gallery at the Gateway Arts Center. His show, titled: CENSUS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY includes portraits of the Gateway Arts District artists, business owners and citizens.
Tom has said of his portraits: “I always like the idea of an almost life sized image of the subject for close scrutiny and finally for the love of their humanity. I almost always come away from my portrait sessions with gratitude and affection for the subjects. They are my collaborators, my co-conspirators. I leave exhausted and dry-mouthed from talking so much; like a one night stand.”
Tom Wolff studied painting at the Art Institute of Boston and Arts Students League in New York, and studied photography at Geo. Washington University and Photoworks at Glen Echo Park. Thomas is a freelance photographer; and adjunct professor at Shepherd College (now university), Shepherdstown, W.Va. 1988-89 and at Photoworks Glen Echo Park 1977-2005. His work has been published in Washington Post Magazine, House & Garden, Garden Design, Smithsonian, Audubon, and New York Times Magazine/Sophisticated Traveler.
Gateway Arts Center, Level 2
3901 Rhode Island Avenue
Brentwood, MD 20722
Sept 9 – Oct 29, 2010
Artist Reception: September 18, 5-8 pm
Click HERE to jump to Tom’s website.
Arts On Belmont
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Adams Morgan Day Festival — Sep 12, 2010 12:00pm to 7:00pm
The Longest Continuous Neighborhood Festival in DC! First held in 1978, this nationally known regional event showcases the international and cultural diversity and creativity that is the hallmark of Adams Morgan. This Festival celebrates the dynamism and innovation that arises from the melting pot of cultures and their interaction together.
The Adams Morgan Day Festival is characterized by two large signature music stages and other innovative & dynamic cultural, music, arts and dance activities. The famous Columbia and Florida Stages feature live music acts from all genres from Central and South America, Latin rock, salsa, jazz, to soul, funk and American rock.
Arts on Belmont (between 18th St. and Columbia Rd.)
The beautiful tree-lined Belmont block is filled with artists who work in a wide variety of styles and mediums. Glass, oils, watercolor, textiles, sculpture, and more.
The Washington Glass School will have a booth at the street fair – come on by!
Glass Meets Art @ the Ratner Museum
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INTERSECT: Glass Meets Art
In-ter-sect: (in-ter-sekt) To cut across or overlap each other, to have one or more points in common.
Some of the artists exhibiting are Washington Glass School favorites, including works by:
Robert Weiner’s Colorbar Murrine Series, affords him the opportunity to experiment with color, fusing temperatures, and to express a personal style that reflects simplicity with a close attention to detail.
In her dynamic glass and mixed media creations, in which depth and contrast are dominant, Anne Elise Pemberton explores the relationship between plant, human, and atomic structures.
Nancy Weisser is an award winning multimedia artist with a focus on glass since 1980. As owner of Weisser Glass Studio, Nancy has made a substantial contribution to the dynamic growth of the Washington glass community.
Other artists in the diverse show include, Jill Tanenbaum, Judith Busby, Kari Minnick and
Benjamin Bornstein.Artist Reception, Sunday, September 12, 2010
1:30 – 3:30 pm
Glass Fun Facts
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Berwald’s music was not recognized favorably in Sweden during his lifetime, even drawing hostile newspaper reviews, but fared a little better in Germany and Austria. The Mozarteum Salzburg made him an honorary member in 1847.
When Berwald returned to Sweden in 1849, he managed a glass works at Sandö in Angermanland, owned by Ludvig Petré, an amateur violinist. During that time Berwald focused his attention on producing chamber music.
Art Glass Today
>As mentioned in an earlier post, Schiffer Books is Pennsylvania based publisher specializing in books about architecture and design, arts and crafts, and collectibles.
Their newest book “Art Glass Today” features a number of works by Washington Glass School artists – Erwin Timmers, Tim Tate & Michael Janis. The handsome book – edited by Jeffery Snyder – features over 60 contemporary, international glass artists and has over 350 color photos of artwork. Besides a strong showing from the Washington Glass School, a number of NCAGG artists are also included in the book.
Other notable glass artists in the book include Christopher Ries, Jamie Harris, David Reekie, and many more.
Congrats To Teddie Hathaway
>Washington Glass School resident artist Teddie Hathaway’s work was juried into an exhibiton of contemporary glass art from an array of local, regional, national and international artists, selected by a jurying committee that is part of “The Glass Art Festival” held every year in Sequim, Washington.
The juried exhibition was for artwork in any area of including, but not limited to, blown, cast, fused, kiln-formed, torchworked, pate de verre, stained, mosaic, and sand-carved glass.
Teddie Hathaway “WaterSong Triptych“, mixed media; recycled glass and slate, 2010.
In her artist statement, Teddie talks about her love of “…the interplay of color and textures, contrasting matte finishes against glossy surfaces and opaque with clear and translucent. All of this is possible with glass, which is why I was attracted to the medium in the first place. I often use recycled glass as a major component in my work; although it can be a challenge to work with I find the transformation in this material exciting and the artwork becomes a reference to our shared environment…”.
The Glass Art Festival features an array of events during the month of September. These include glass demonstrations, artist talks, workshops and glass-centric events throughout the picturesque town of Sequim, WA.
Transcendence – The Magic of Glass. MAC Exhibit Center, 175 West Cedar Street, Sequim, WA. September 1 through 25.
Congratulations Teddie on the show selection!
Click HERE to jump to pdf file of the Festival events.
Art and Architecture: Public Art Project
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Safeway Bethesda
Rounds VanDuzer Architects
Safeway has started construction of a new supermarket in
As part of the project, Safeway commissioned the Washington Glass Studio to integrate artwork into the architectural façade of the building. The wall of artwork will activate the street along the
The cast recycled glass and steel artwork is integrated into the architectural façade.
Over 30 feet long and 9 feet high, the glass and steel artwork will be a strong element located in
Responding to the architectural design by Rounds VanDuzer Architects the large scale artwork will feature colorful cast recycled glass made from glass salvaged from the original Safeway supermarket on the same site. Ecoartist Erwin Timmers had slogged thru the site demolition, removing glass for the artwork. Erwin’s integration of reconfigured and recycled components has made him a leader in sustainable design and he continues his work in multidisciplinary LEED projects.
Cast recycled window glass sample of custom “fresh herb” design for Safeway.
Above is the “bay leaf” pattern.
UPDATE: Click HERE to jump to images of finished project.
Artists Covenants
Surrealist artists at Peggy Guggenheim’s New York apartment, 1942.
Front Row: Stanley William Hayter, Leonara Carrington, Frederick Kiesler, Kurt Seligmann. Second Row: Max Ernst, Amedee Ozenfant, Andre Breton, Fernand Leger, Berenice Abbott. Third Row: Jimmy Ernst, Peggy Guggenheim, John Ferren, Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian.
Prof Tim Tate was asked by an arts magazine to write an article about how artists work and how they can support each other – we will have a link when the article comes out.
Below an excerpt from Tim’s article on how the Washington Glass School artists work.
While reading the original article dealing with virtual guilds, it reminded me of the “Artist’s Covenant” that we follow here in our extremely busy working studio. We have almost 20 artists working out of this space – most as resident artists. We also just admitted our 4000th student in 9 years. This is an extremely active artist collective.
The over-riding manifesto in this space is the “Artist’s Covenant”. This is an intrinsic agreement by all artists utilizing our space. No one is admitted without committing it. In our case the pledge is as follows: “A Rising Tide Raises All Boats”.
To become a member here at the Washington Glass School, you must first agree to be happy for everyone’s success, not just your own. This fosters a positive air in the work environment. Jointly, each artist agrees to not only look out for their own opportunities, but also to promote the other artists in the covenant.
If there is an article being written about you, can you mention another of the studio artists? If you have a museum show, can a piece or two be a collaborative work with another studio artist?If a show opportunity comes along, can you let others know in the collective if their work is appropriate? If a collector comes and buys one of your pieces, can you then show them around the studio and introduce them to work by other artists?
None of these things costs the original artist anything. They still would have the press, still have the museum show, still have the sale, etc.They simply have increased someone else’s opportunities.
The reason for doing this is simple, beyond the pay-it-forward kismet. As each of the artist become progressively more successful, the opportunities ascribed to the entire collective also increases in number and stature. Eventually, all begin to move up the art world ladder.
Historically, there have been many such covenants; such as the groups that surrounded artists Georgia O’Keefe and Joseph Cornell (though he seemed to incidentally benefit from the New York Surrealists movement).
To stay completely positive towards all others successes when we ourselves are not moving forward is tougher than it may seem. Without these unwritten contracts, artists can fall too easily into a solitary guarding of personal turf.
The benefits to this approach are immediately evident in the feel of the working studio…where all things are possible and the sky’s the limit. Being connected to a group like this provides a sense of community within a profession that is inherently individualistic. The long term benefit is the synergy created accelerates the success its members.
Arts On Foot
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artsonfoot.org
WGS at Pilchuck
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Our Elizabeth Ryland Mears and Robert Kincheloe are off setting up a residency at the famed west coast glass school Pilchuck.
Washington Glass School’s Elizabeth Mears has organized this years program for the residency and has given us a look at the schedule:
Pilchuck’s beautiful wooded campus – about 50 miles north of Seattle overlooking Puget Sound.