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Susan Lomuto, a Connecticut based artist / writer, established a blog called “The Daily Art Muse” (DAM), showcasing contemporary fine craft.
DAM covers the global landscape of handcrafted artwork with thousands of readers of her weekday posts and content in over 3,000 archived posts. Susan created the site to inspire “artists, designers and collectors worldwide” and the website is frequently used as an educational resource in traditional classroom settings (high school and college) as well as online learning environments.
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As part of exploring what it takes to be dedicated to art and fine craft, Susan has set out to work as an apprentice for a number of artists across the country. She wants to learn – about art and about the life of an artist; ultimately writing in-depth about the working artist’s life. Many of her experiences will be featured in the Daily Art Muse blog. Susan is working at creating a multimedia experience complete with pictures, video and text.
The apprenticeship project continues this coming week, as she begins a 6-week internship with several DC area artists – including the Washington Glass School.
Said Susan of the process: “I suppose I could have just planned a road trip to visit artists around the country, asking questions, taking lots of pictures, shooting video – but that felt incomplete. Instead, I wanted to develop a solid understanding of the how/why/when/what that makes this a well-lived life, so I am getting my hands dirty as an intern – in many cases jumping out of my comfort zone and into their studios, working in mediums unknown to these hands (like glass), sweeping floors, conditioning clay, gathering supplies – and whatever else they need me to do.”
“My first internship, with jewelry artist Dina Varano in Connecticut, was a quiet one, working in a studio nestled in the woods, away from the distractions of the outside world.
The DC internship promises to be a lively experience in an arts complex that is home to several busy studios and more than two dozen artists. I will make sure I’m ready for the “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” moment once I get there!”
Read more of Susan’s travels and internship – click HERE.
For an update on Susan’s kick-off mtg with the studios – Click HERE
To help fund the arts endeavor, Susan has created a great fundraising project, complete with perks for donations. Click HERE to learn more about perks.
Matt Duffy joins WGS
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Matt looks for the tin side of float glass.
The production of the wall of cast glass panels and installation into the steel framework will take place thru the spring. Next time you are at the studio, be sure to say hey!
"Color and Shape" at City Gallery DC
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“Color and Shape“ showcases Nancy Donnelly’s glass art and Jill Finsen’s oil paintings.
Fascination with texture as a component of color and shape is apparent in the work of both these artists. Surface abstraction contributes to the success of these art pieces—the texture of the glass plays off the layered textures within the paintings. These works truly complement each other.
Both artists find negative space crucial to this effect, moments of rest that energize each work and in this sense make each stronger. Donnelly and Finsen’s artwork provides an elegant balance between familiarity and abstraction.
February 5-26, 2011
202.744.6439
Opening Reception Saturday: February 5, 2011 from 6-9pm
"Dead or Alive" Exhibition at MAD Update
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The Apothecarium Moderne Marc Petrovic/Tim Tate
Category: Architecture or Design Show
Title: Dead or Alive: Nature Becomes Art
Institution: The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Dates: April 27 – October 24, 2010
Curators: Chief Curator David Revere McFadden and Senior Curator Lowery Stokes Sims
Congrats to all the artists and the museum!
Glass Sparks: Jeff Zimmer
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Washington Glass School alumn Jeff Zimmer had returned to the school for a visit in January. Now a resident of the UK, Jeff lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received a MDES in Glass & Architectural Glass, at the Edinburgh College of Art, (ECA), where he is now an instructor.
In the UK, Jeff has been making quite a name for his artwork – recently featured in the British Glass Biennale and shown in a collaboration between Contemporary Applied Arts & Contemporary Glass Society This year he will be exhibitng at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, in the UK .
Jeff’s work was selected to be part of the Corning Museum of Glass’ New Glass Review 31. Tina Oldknow, Curator of Modern Glass, The Corning Museum of Glass said of his work:
“… glass is not immediately apparent in Jeff Zimmer’s ‘1/1000th the Distance between Me and You (in a Deadrise)’, but it is an essential part of the work. A dark and dramatic object, it is constructed of 22 layers of enameled and sandblasted glass in a light box. In the obscured photograph, an object in the distance that emerges from black clouds under a clearing sky can be faintly discerned: is it a ship or something else? Using a box of cut glass sheets, Zimmer creates the depth and luminosity of a painting, but it is an image that undoubtedly changes every time it is viewed, depending on the angle and the ambient light.”
While at the Glass School, Jeff worked on a piece that will be shown at the WGS 10th Anniversary Exhibition to be held this May at Washington, DC’s Longview Gallery.
A strong narrative is created by meticulously layering imagery made from enameled and sandblasted glass.
Jeff constructs a box of glass for presentation, and installs LED lighting to illuminate the panels.
The box-like construction of each work creates an almost cinematic experience of space, volume and depth. One is drawn in by the emergent light from beneath the horizon or trailing into the distance like a wake.
Check out the final piece – titled “Fog Of Communication” at the 10th Anniversary Show!
Click HERE to jump to Jeff’s website.
For other glass artist profiles:
Call for International Artist-In-Residency: Finland
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Call For Entries
NUUTAJÄRVI International Artist in Residence Program
1-14 OCTOBER 2011
This residency offers studio glassblowers and artists an opportunity to work with hot glass in Nuutajärvi Glass Village, Finland (about 2 hour drive from Helsinki) from the 1st to the 14th October 2011. In Nuutajärvi you will find one of Iittala Group’s glassworks, Tavastia Glass School, NuGO Glass Gallery Coop and Lasikomppania aka “The Glass Company”, a local glass cooperative.
Lasikomppania, the organizer of the residency, was founded in 2003 to provide facilities for independent glassmakers and artists and to make Nuutajärvi better known as a glass centre in Finland and abroad.
The residency covers fourteen days. It includes five days in the hot shop for glassblowing or hot casting with clear glass. The artist is responsible for travel expenses and additional materials. The hotshop contains two gloryholes, three annealers and a tank furnace. You will be using Glasma C48 pellets.
Accommodation and breakfast are provided for one person in the guesthouse. One twin room can be provided if accompanied by an assistant. Separate accommodation for possible assistant is available at 30 Euros per night (self-catered, basic single room).
The chosen artist is to have a presentation, of their work in Nuutajärvi, if possible. (For example a slideshow etc). The Glass Company will also hold one piece of work for its collections for future exhibitions.
WHO CAN APPLY:
Studio glass artists and glassblowers are invited to apply for the residency. A work proposal and a curriculum vitae (CV) are required for the application. Please include 4 images in JPG-format (max. 1MB each) of recent works. Applications can only be submitted by e-mail. 
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15.3.2011
Please send your inquiries and applications to Anu Penttinen, anu@nounoudesign.fi
Glass Secessionism
Tony Oursler
The Internet and social network groups continue to create changes and offer options in art criticism and discussions. A new Facebook group “Glass Secessionism” has sprung up, creating a venue for artwork with a narrative or content-driven aesthetic.
According to the group description: The intent of this group is to underscore and define the 21st Century Sculptural Glass Movement and to illustrate the differences and strengths compared to late 20th century technique-driven glass. While the 20th century glass artists contributions have been spectacular and ground breaking, this group focuses on the aesthetic of the 21st century.
The object of the Glass-Secession is to advance glass as applied to sculptural expression; to draw together those glass artists practicing or otherwise interested in the arts, and to discuss from time to time examples of the Glass-Secession or other narrative work. This movement is modeled after Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secessionists and how they redefined photography.
It was said of Stieglitz” What, then, was this secession from? It was not only from artwork that had gone stale through the copying of Victorian, conventional styles, but more importantly from the dictatorship of the entrenched institutions, galleries, art schools and professional art organizations that enforced or at very least sanctioned copying or imitation.”
Stephen Paul Day & Sibelle PerettiKeep in mind, by Glass Secessionism it is not to say that we as artists are seceding from glass, just from the aesthetic of purely technique, material and process driven sculpture. There is no disrespect meant towards technique driven work. Glass Secessionism is a different branch of the glass tree. Think of them as separate but equal.
Glass Secessionism, with notable exceptions, is focused on 21st century sculptors in glass – and can include mixed and new media. There is a strong movement which begins at the graduate school level, to focus more on the narrative content and less on materiality. The newest emerging artists in glass tend to be much more focused on this direction.
Christina Bothwell
Glass is finally being allowed to be just another sculptural medium. The fine art world is certainly beginning to take notice, as so many notable fine art galleries and museums (not focused on glass in the past) are allowing and, in fact, promoting work and artists that are glass based.Members are encouraged to post and share their own or others examples of 21st century glass sculpture and open discussion topics regarding this issue. Click HERE to jump to the Facebook group.
Kiln Tips From Paragon Kilns
>From Paragon Kiln’s Arnold Howard-
Repair bulging elements. Please see Paragon’s video before attempting the repair.
HOW TO GET THE LONGEST LIFE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENTS
The lower the kiln temperature, the longer the heating elements will last.
Long holds at high temperatures add wear to the elements. Use only as much hold time as you actually need.
Contact with foreign materials such as ceramic glaze, glass, kiln wash, and glass separator can ruin an element. Do not coat the kiln walls, lid, or roof with kiln wash; it can flake off into an element groove and burn out an element.
Occasionally vacuum the element grooves. A build-up of dust can overheat an element and reduce its efficiency.
Repair bulging sidewall elements. Elements that bulge out of a sidewall groove are susceptible to breakage since elements are brittle after they have been fired.
Avoid reduction firings (burning carbonaceous materials) in an electric kiln.
When replacing elements, always use new element connectors, and tighten them to your kiln manufacturer’s specifications. Loose element connectors burn out.
Support Craft – Win A Class!
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The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design (CCCD) is an inter-institutional Center of the University of North Carolina.
The mission of the regional UNC Center is to support and advance craft, creativity and design in education and research, and, through community collaborations, to demonstrate ways that craft and design provide creative solutions to community issues. The mission of the nonprofit CCCD is to support the mission of the UNC center through funding, programs, and outreach to artists, craft organizations, schools in the community, region and nation.
They are having a raffle Jan 21st to win a free one-week class at Penland, Arrowmont or John c. Campbell. Pick the craft school & the class and they pay for it – including board (double room w/ shared bath) & meals.
The tickets are $25 each. Proceeds go to support the programs of the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design non-profit foundation.
Click HERE to jump to the CCCD announcement – and to pay online!
For more info on the CCCD – click here.
Viva Tysons!
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Artist/author/coach Brit Hammer-Dijcks writes about artists and overcoming stagnation in an article in this month’s Viva Tysons! Magazine. Brit had interviewed and quotes WGS’ Robert Kincheloe and Tim Tate.
The article encourages readers to begin creating and is based upon the premise that we are ALL born artists. Picasso said it best: “Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.”
Click HERE to jump to the full article.