Monthly Archives: February 2011

"Material World" Exhibit Transcends Technique Vs Content

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Material World, an exhibition at artdc Gallery (March 12 to Sunday, April 3, 2011) focuses on artists who use non-traditional materials or tradition materials in non-standard ways to produce their work. “The commitment these artists have for their materials and craft lets their processes inform the content of the work, not overwhelm it,” notes curator Stephen Boocks. “While viewers will inevitably wonder how the works were made and will marvel at the technical prowess, the pieces selected ultimately transcend the materials used, allowing each finished object to stand on its own.”
Featuring works by Sherill Anne Gross, Michael Janis, J. T. Kirkland, Matthew Langley, Katherine Mann, and Marie Ringwald, Material World features exceptional work diverse in style and “serves as a testament to the rich pool of talented artists from or with close ties to the DC area,” adds Boocks. “These six artists at varying stages of their careers all have a clear vision of what they’re trying to achieve with their preferred media. ”

The core of this exhibition deals with artistic media – how it relates to the artist’s work and why the artist chose that medium to make their artwork. Does the material support the work or does it get in the way? Do all elements work in concert with each other to create a seamless whole? In art, as in most things, it all comes down to a delicate balance.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Two artists talks will be held: Michael Janis and Marie Ringwald on Saturday, March 19, and Matt Langley on Saturday, April 2.
Gallery hours are Saturdays from 12 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

Material World
artdc Gallery at The Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, Maryland 20781


About artdc Gallery: Located in the burgeoning Arts District in Hyattsville, Maryland, just outside of DC, the artdc Gallery features painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, and more by metro DC artists. For more info visit artdc.com.

Posted in artdc, boocks, craft, J T Kirkland, Katherine Mann, Marie Ringwald, material world, Matthew Langley, michael janis, process, sherill anne gross, technique

2011 ISGB Conference in Louisville

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The 2011 International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) Gathering will take place in Louisville, Kentucky from July 27th – July 31st. This year’s theme is “Diversity and Creativity: Cultural Influences in Glass Beadmaking”.


The ISGB Gathering will feature presentations, gallery tours, workshops and opportunities to network. Our torchworking superstar, Rob Kincheloe will be one of the presenters.

Click here to jump to the ISGB Registration Booklet PDF for a listing of the classes and presenters.

Posted in gathering, international society of glass beadmakers, isgb, Louisville, robert kincheloe, torch work

Hyperopia Projects’ Salon des Glass Refusés Launch Fundraiser

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>Mentioned in an earlier blog posting, Hyperopia Projects is organizing a show of glass sculpture “Superpostion” in Seattle during the Glass Art Society Annual Conference to exhibit some of the most innovative and out-side mainstream glass and glass-related artwork. It will be held at the Center on Contemporary Art in June, 2011. The show’s jurors are Jack Wax, Jocelyne Prince, Jin Hongo and Michael Scheiner. Using the arts fundraising site of Kickstarter, the organization is seeking pledges to help get the show up and running. They have made a short video to help outline the purpose of the exhibition and how donations will be utilized.

Posted in Alexander Rosenberg, C Matthew Szosz, GAS, Glass Art Society, Helen Lee, hyperopia, mainstream, seattle, superposition

Glass Sparks: Elizabeth Ryland Mears

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Elizabeth Ryland Mears is an amazing, award winning, studio glass artist that is a master with flameworked glass. Flameworking is a technique of working with hot glass. Rods or tubes of glass are held in the flame of a bench torch where the glass is softened and then shaped by sculpting and/or blowing. The forms created are limited only by the artist’s creativity and skill, in addition to gravity and the sizes of the bench torch and annealing kiln.

Elizabeth has studied and taught lampworking techniques at Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, The Studio of Corning Museum of Glass, and has been involved with the Washington Glass School for many years. Her instructional book of borosilicate glass techniques “Flameworking“, was published in 2003 by LARK Books.

The creative work of Elizabeth Mears incorporates several different series; each one relates to and informs the others. In her Artist Statement, Elizabeth informs the viewers of her work that she ”uses the lexicon of Nature images to portray her relationship to her inner and outer worlds”. Her “Bundle of Twigs” series clearly expresses this theme, as does her “Basket” series.

Elizabeth Mears Basket of Past Dreams and Future Fears
Each bundle represents some aspect of her inner world or the outer world, as she relates to it. Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers also speaks of this relationship, “The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet”.

In her “Shelter” series the glass structure of the shelters serve as the protective shell for the work of her inner journey. Each shelter has a different theme.


Elizabeth Mears Shelter For Endings That Beget Beginnings

One such shelter created at a time of transition in Elizabeth’s creative life is entitled, “Shelter for Endings That Beget Beginnings”. The inner objects of this shelter are composed of hollow blown egg shapes which contain the charred remains of cedar wood shavings collected at Pilchuck Glass School from the 30th Anniversary Totem carved while she was at the summer session. The egg shapes can represent new life, and the charred remains, the death of the old life. Liz has commented that her time away at Pilchuck was instrumental in her personal transformation.

In 2002 Liz began a series, which started as a collaboration with her daughter L. Lindsey Mears, a maker of artist books and prints. Elizabeth created the glass sculpture, which later became “books” with her daugher providing the content through her photographs and poetry. Elizabeth is now the sole creator of the glass books, which contain the poetry that she writes. The photographic images chosen are symbols, which represent the experience of her poetry.


Elizabeth Mears Breath

A later series began after the death of Elizabeth’s mother in 2006. One day after that death Mears learned that her mother had been adopted as a newborn. She had never shared with any of her four children this secret she carried and no information exists about her birth family. Soon after this revelation, Liz learned many other family secrets, which prompted a continuing series of glass and mixed media pieces dealing with various aspects of the secrets we each consign to the dark recesses of our lives. In the process of making these pieces and contemplating secrets as a universal theme, Elizabeth looks at how the secrets of life often bind us together more than the parts of our lives which are shared openly. According to Campbell, “…the experience of eternity right here and now, in all things, whether thought of as good or as evil, is the function of life”.


Elizabeth Mears Secrets They Sprout Up and Burst

Liz felt a strong connection to the comment by Joseph Campbell, “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you”. She was struck by the similarity to a statement she has included in her own writings for many years.

In 2008, Mears was asked by LARK Books to be one of ten master artists to write a chapter for the book, The Penland Book of Glass. In her chapter, Elizabeth writes the following about her personal philosophy of living a creative life, “I am a proponent of the philosophy that when we are born, we come to Earth with a personality and a set of gifts, propensities, and abilities. If we pay attention to them, they lead us along a path to fulfillment. When those things we feel passionate about energize us, energy flows out and then returns to us, altered in some form by its journey. This energy creates a positive dynamic in all directions, reaching and influencing an ever enlarging circle”.

Through making her glass objects and meeting other makers and lovers of glass and sculpture, poetry and photography, the circle of energy continues to grow, and, as Campbell says, “doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be”.


Elizabeth Mears and Robert Kinchloe review glass projects at Washington Glass School.

Elizabeth will be one of the featured artists at Longview Gallery ‘s exhibition in honor of Washington Glass School’s 10 year anniversary. Click HERE to jump to Elizabeth Mears website.

Posted in 10th anniversary, elizabeth ryland mears, glass spark, liz mears, sculptural flamework, washington glass school

Claudia Rousseau reviews Kirk Waldroff

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Kirk Waldroff The Wrens and the Badger, Cast glass, poplar, and LED lighting

Art critic Claudia Rousseau reviews Kirk Waldroff’s impressive print-based mixed media sculpture solo show at the Glenview Mansion in this weekend’s DC Artnews blog.

Dr Rousseau writes:
“…Waldroff’s contribution to the Glenview exhibit include prints and wooden constructions that hold cast glass panels, that is, glass sculptures that have a print image on them—a technique that Waldroff will be teaching at the Washington Glass School on Saturday afternoons in April. They are created using a revolutionary kiln-casting process so that each is a unique reproduction of a carved woodblock (the kind originally created for wood-cut prints). These are set into wooden cabinets, or deep wooden boxes. There’s even a marvelous headboard with two inset glass panels topping a queen-sized bed right in the gallery.


Kirk Waldroff Unlocking Dreams – bed, maple, birch, cast glass, LED lighting

On the opposite wall are prints on paper from the same block that made the glass panels. Many of these glass/wood boxes are illuminated, but I imagine they would be effective set against a natural light source as well, or placed where they receive sun or lamplight. The warm light coming into the mansion gives them a nice glow. There are also a number of carved and painted wood panels presented as paintings rather than wood blocks. “

“… and the images are simple, but enough to stimulate the imagination. There are no right answers here. The viewer is encouraged to write them from his/her own trove of memories and ideas.”

Click HERE to jump to the entire review on DC Artnews.

Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D., teaches art history at Montgomery College, and writes regular critical reviews in local publications.

Kirk Waldroff “Untold Fables” through March 1, 2011
Glenview Mansion Art Gallery at Rockville Center Civic Center Park
602 Edmonston Drive
Rockville, MD 20851
Mon., Wed., Fri. 9 AM-4:30PM, Tues/Thurs, 9AM-9PM
240-314-8682 or 240-314-8660 for information or to confirm hours.
www.rockvillemd.gov/arts

This April, Kirk will be teaching a class at the Washington Glass School that transfers wood block print imagery into cast glass. This amazing process is a great way for print-based artists to take their images over into other media. Click HERE to jump to Kirk’s class description.

Posted in cast glass, kirk waldroff, print-based media, printmaking

Recycled Glass Art Workshop

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What We Leave Behind (detail) Erwin Timmers
cast recycled glass

Renowned Eco Artist Erwin Timmers will lead the recycled glass Going Green workshop this coming President’s Day Weekend.

Green up your life by doing something creative to help the environment!

This class is an exploration into using recycled glass to make sculptural pieces, architectural elements, and tableware. The class will delve into multiple techniques, including casting, fusing and slumping. Glass chemistry, coloration, and firing temperatures will be explained for each particular application. It is a fantastic way to learn aspects of any warm glass work while focusing on recycling!

Once you start down the path of recycled glass, you will see more and more opportunities for experimentation around you. No prior experience is necessary – you are encouraged to bring in materials you’d like to try…and you will leave with several very cool items!
Erwin Timmers
Going Green Class 1043
 Dates Sat/Sun/Mon on Feb 19, 20 & 21
Time 10am – 4pm
Tuition $400

Erwin is one of the area’s leading “green artists”. Recycling, waste and how they relate to society are recurring themes in his work. Erwin’s main medium is one of the least recycled materials; float glass or window glass, and he has had to develop new techniques to exploit the properties of this material. His approach to art is multifaceted, incorporating metalwork, innovative lighting and glass design.

Posted in erwin timmers, going green, recycle glass

I &#9829 Valentines

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Tim Tate
Sacred Heart of Healing
blown glass 16 x 8 x 4 in. (40.6 x 20.3 x 10.2 cm) Permanent Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Sacred Heart of Healing was one of a series of nine hearts that Tim Tate created as a tribute to his late mother. Each of these hearts was inspired by an aspect of his mother’s personality. In this piece, the tiny drawings within the flame symbolize her love of natural healing. As a further tribute, Tate was persuaded by one of his students to have a tattoo of this piece inked on his arm.

For more information about this work visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Luce Foundation Center for American Art .

Posted in valentines day

Call 4 Artists!

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>Spring is soon, and as we all know, in the spring, an artist’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of “Calls for Entries”.

Visual Overture Magazine, a quarterly publication that promotes emerging artists, has begun the entry process for its Summer 2011 Featured Emerging Artists competition. Seven artists (any medium) are selected (by artPark author Rob Jones) and featured in the magazine. Selected artists are presented on a two-page spread with images of their work, interview questions, artist statement, and contact details.

Entries are only $17 per artist – artists to submit digital files electronically. Complete the entry form and get three images to VO by April 18, 2011.

Also-
Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Annual Call
Deadline: February 28, 2011.

Open call for Washington, D.C. metro area artists for Torpedo Factory Art Center’s 2011 annual jury for artist members. Drop off date: February 28, 2011. The Torpedo Factory’s annual jury will be held February 28 – March 3, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory houses more than 165 artists in combination studio/gallery space. The application form and submission requirements are available on their website. Accepting submissions by emerging and established artists in all media. Direct inquiries to Michele Hoben at mphoben@aol.com.

Who are the jurors?
There are separate 3-person panels judging the 2-D work and the 3-D work. The jurors are highly qualified professional artists, curators, teachers, museum directors and the like, who are independent of the Torpedo Factory. Their decision is final. They will look for work that meets the highest standards of professionalism and promise.
NOTE: This jury process is NOT a critique. Artists will not receive a critique.

2D Jurors for 2011
Zoe Charlton
Vesela Sretenovic
 Janos Enyedi

3D Jurors for 2011
Binnie Fry
Chris Shea
Novie Trump

Posted in binnie fry, call for artists, call for entries, chris shea, novie trump, rob jones, torpedo factory, visual overature