Monthly Archives: August 2012

Looking for Artist Space in DC Metro? – Capitol Arts Network

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The Capitol Arts Network (CAN) is a nonprofit Arts Group founded in 2003 to bring arts opportunities and information to the Metro DC area. As it has grown, the organization is now at the point of needing a permanent headquarters.

CAN also acutely aware of the need for artist studio space in the metro DC region and they want to let everyone know that exciting things are happening in their search for a new location for in Montgomery County. The team at Capitol Arts Network has been touring spaces and have narrowed the search to a location that can easily house at least 30 or more working artists, and many more affiliate artists – with gallery, classroom, meeting space and the opportunity for vibrant growth alongside the thriving arts organization.

CAN’s goal is to encourage community building among a wide range of artists and disciplines, and to offer tremendous educational and inspirational opportunities for area artists is well on its way to being realized. A big announcement is coming by the the end of August, and they want everyone aware, as the plans move rapidly forward.


If you are interested in knowing more and want to be in on CAN’s big announcement coming soon, please send and email to Judith HearSong at CAN

and add your contact information. CAN wants everyone to know about the upcoming space – so forward this posting to artists, photographers, and other creative professionals who might be interested in studio space or the opportunity to become an affiliate artist!

Information will be posted on CAN’s website as soon as plans are finalized, and fingers crossed there is great interest from the arts community as this project becomes a reality in a few short months.

email Judith HeartSong at judith@capitolartsnetwork.com

Posted in CAN, capitol arts network, judith HeartSong

Penland Auction & Tour

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The Penland 2012 auction tent as lighting lights up the sky. The central focus of the trip was built around attending Penland’s Annual Benefit Auction featuring the sale of over 200 craft items, and it was a wonderful opportunity to interact with fellow craft enthusiasts. 

Tim Tate and Sean Hennessey have just returned from taking a James Renwick Alliance (JRA) tour out to North Carolina’s Penland School of Crafts for the Annual Benefit Auction. Additionally,  the “Tour with Tate” visited the studios of some of the most talented artists surrounding Asheville. For this post – we will tag along with the JRA as they visit some of the artist studios.

Michael Sherrill’s incredible studio 
Michael Sherrill’s ceramic artwork

Ceramist Michael Sherrill has been making pots for more than twenty years. Originally, his work was completely functional, but it has evolved into work that is now wholly sculptural. He is one of the most thoughtful and articulate sculptors of our time.

Michael Sherrill talking about his work

Hoss Haley has worked in metal for over twenty years, creating sculpture, paintings, and public art. Hoss’s work is in several collections including Lowes Corporation, McColl Centerfor Visual Art, and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design.

Hoss recycles objects like washing machines and cars – often crumpling them into ball shapes mounted to walls or stacked.
Christina Cordova & Pablo De Soto’s studio was visited as part of the tour. This husband and wife team operate their amazing studios on the grounds of Penland itself. Pablo’s beautiful glass blown vessels were loved by all and Cristina Cordova’s incredible ceramics were a highlight to the tour. 

Christina Cordova talks about her recent works.
Christina Cordova’s work is awesome.
Pablo De Soto charms Fred and Susan Sanders
A trip to the Asheville Art Museum  included a personal tour by curator Nancy Sokolove. Also, glass artist Alex Bernstein came to talk about his process.

Alex Bernstein talks to the JRA at the Asheville Art Museum.

Dan Essig’s wordless works of art are sewn, woven and carved into magnificent artists’ books and sculptures. Dan’s works incorporates so many things -fossils, shells, coins and old nails—into his artwork. 

Dan Essig talks of his work
No trip to Asheville would be complete without a visit to the famous Blue Spiral Gallery. This amazing gallery currently has up work from the “Glass Secession” exhibit – that includes works by Christina Bothwell, Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Susan Taylor Glasgow and Sean Hennessey.

A view of the Blue Spiral 1 Gallery.
Stoney Lamar works in sculptural woodturning. His work is in such collections as High Museum of Art (Atlanta), American Craft Museum (NY), Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Yale University Gallery of Art, Mint Museumof Craft & Design (NC), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts and the Detroit Institute of Art.

Stoney shows some of the special woods that Fleur  Bresler  had sourced.
Stoney talked of his process to the tour.
The big show was the drama, anticipation and socializing at the Penland Auction.
Glass sculptor Beth Lipman chats with Susan and Fred Sanders

Dan Clayman with the proud owners of his Penland auction piece….Giselle and Ben Huberman

The annual Penland auction was huge success. Over 600k raised for an incredible place – a new record! Congrats to all who were involved!

Posted in auction, blue spiral gallery, christina cordova, dan essig, fred sanders, hoss haley, huberman, james renwick alliance, JRA, penland school of craft, sean hennessey, susan sanders, Tim Tate

Bringing Light To The Dark Side

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Novie Trump is a world renown ceramic artist, working from Flux Studios, located right next door to the Washington Glass School. Her poetic sculptural work often involves depictions of nature – presented in unexpected and captivating ways. 

Novie Trump Escape Installation of porcelain butterflies and ceramic book
Ceramic, Acrylic Rods, Steel 60” x 60” x 24”(variable)

Novie is working on a commissioned artwork piece that came to her via Project 4 Gallery: to create large scale installation that will be located in the new Farmers & Fishers restaurant now being built at the Georgetown waterfront.

Her artwork design calls for many porcelain bees to be clustered around illuminated hives are various locations. The design of the beehive has brought her to the glass studio – and it is a chance for the glass artists to bring Novie over to the dark – or rather – the glassy side.

Erwin Timmers offers some adventurous suggestions to Novie, but from the expressions on both her and Tim Tate’s face, they seem unlikely to be incorporated. 
A sample of Novie Trump’s porcelain bees

Novie chose to work with illuminated glass – creating a pattern of cellular hive divisions with frit powder fused to glass, and slumped over a tapered form. The WGS fritmaster – Michael Janis – offered Novie some pointers on how to manipulate the powder.

Novie Trump and Michael Janis share a laugh as they work
Novie sifts glass powder onto a sheet of glass
Manipulating frit powder is a delicate operation
Novie Trump and Michael Janis evaluate the glass’ progress prior to loading the layer in a kiln for firing

After fusing, the samples are compared by Novie Trump for her preferred selection of color and texture combination 

Novie made many studies of the color and textures and tested the samples with light source alternates.
The glass will later be slumped and a housing for the lighting made in the glass school’s welding shop. Novie will be making the rest of her porcelain swarms and fusing the glass in the next few months, and she promises to send us photos of the finished work.

Posted in crossover medium, flux studios, glass and ceramic, light sculpture, michael janis, novie trump, porcelain, project 4 gallery, scraffito, sgraffitto

Public Art Webinar Next Week!

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Public Art Evaluation: Principles & Methodology for Measuring Social Impact 
Arlington Public Art Administrator Angela Adams will be a presenter on the upcoming Americans for the Arts Webinar: “Public Art Evaluation: Principles & Methodology for Measuring Social Impact” August 16, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. EDT (60 minutes).

When public art administrators are asked to make the case for their program, it is beneficial for them to look at both the economic and social impact of the artworks within the larger urban, social and cultural context. Is there a reliable framework that can be the basis of good public art evaluation? And what are some simple yet effective evaluation methods that public art programs can implement? These questions and more will be addressed in Americans for the Arts’ ongoing work in measuring the impact of public art.

This webinar will be presented by recent PAN and Animating Democracy Blog Salon contributors Dr. Elizabeth Morton, Professor in Practice, Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Tech, Alexandria campus; Angela Adams, Public Art Administrator, Arlington Cultural Affairs, Arlington, VA and Katherine Gressel, artist and Programs Manager at Smack Mellon Gallery (NY); Pam Korza, Co-Director Animating Democracy, Americans for the Arts.

To sign up for the webinar, register on the Americans for the Arts Website or read Angela’s recent blog post on evaluation on the ARTSBlog. 

Date:      Thursday, August 16, 2012

Time:      2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Place:     Webinar

Registration:   Register Online

Fee:        Free for Americans for theArts Members

$35.00 for Non-members

Posted in americans for the arts, angela adams, arlington public art

Penland School of Craft’s Annual Benefit Auction

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27th Penland Schoolof Crafts Annual Benefit Auction

August 10 – 11, 2012

Penland School of Craft is a national center for craft education dedicated to helping people live creative lives. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Penland offers one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, and wood. The school also offers artists’ residencies, community collaboration programs, and a gallery and information center.

The Penland School of Crafts Annual Benefit Auction has their gala weekend in the Carolina Mountainsfeaturing the sale of 237 works in books, clay, drawing, glass, iron, letterpress, metals, painting, photography, printmaking, textiles, and wood. 

The Penland auction is one of the most important craft collecting events in the American Southeast and is the perfect opportunity to support Penland’s educational programs, which have helped thousands of people live creative lives.

If you cannot make it out to the mountains of North Carolina – you can participate in the auction online:

Catalog

Click the link below to download an illustrated catalog of artists and work in this year’s auction:

2012 Auction Catalog and Contibuting Artists List

Online Reservations

To reserve your auction tickets, click the link below:

Online Benefit Auction Reservations

or call 828-765-2359, ext. 40, or email

ArtDC Showcases DC GlassWorks

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David D’Orio. Photo Courtesy artDC gallery.

Artdc Gallery features artists from our sister glass studio – DC GlassWorks –  in great show, now thru Aug 18. 

Joseph Corcoran. Photo Courtesy artDC gallery.
The exhibit, entitled Glass 2012, showcases 10 artists curated by Joseph Corcoran, whose work at this year’s Artomatic art fair was one of the show’s many highlights.  Dave D’Orio’s work is also featured in the Artdc exhibit, and his work at Artomatic received the James Renwick Alliance “Award of Excellence“, and further enhanced the profile of the DC area glass art scene.  The full list of artists can be found on Artdc’s website.  The exhibit will remain on display until Aug. 18. 

The Artdc Gallery is located in the Lustine Center at 5710 Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville, MD.

Posted in " glass studio", artdc, dave d'orio, dc glassworks, joseph corcoran

Drawing On Glass

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Nancy Donnelly uses underglaze pencils to create fused glass drawings.

Working in the glass school, Nancy Donnelly creates fused glass drawings and sketches. Originally a painter, Nancy likes to explore ways to bring her “painterly aspects” into glass. Using underglaze crayons and pencils, Nancy works at getting a loose ‘sketch’ feel into her glass artwork.

The use of underglaze pencil allows Nancy to retain her detail and her quality of sketch in the art.




Nancy likes the expressive qualities of the sketch.
Nancy is able to capture the personality of the subject.

Examples of Nancy’s artwork can be seen in Foundry Gallery in DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. Nancy will have a solo show there this coming October 3 – 28th, 2012.

Foundry Gallery, 1314 18th St NW, WDC

Posted in foundry gallery, fused glass imagery, Nancy Donnelly, underglaze

Kids and Glass = FUN!

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Erwin Timmers teaches the fun part of fusing glass to the excited class.

Brentwood Arts Exchange (part of Maryland’s Prince George’s Parks and Recreation) has its summer Creative Expressions Camp where kids get to explore a variety of artistic media as well as contemporary reading and writing activities around such themes as animals, nature, and adventure. Camp instructors Randall Holloway and Michelle Dukes were able to corral a big group with a lot of assistance from one of Brentwood Art Exchange’s summer staff, Nefertiti Warren.

“May I Please Have Some More?” New WGS studio coordinator Audrey Wilson doles out frits and stringers.
The students unleash their artistic visions in glass.
Pappa Erwin demonstrates the proper glass cutting procedure.
“I’m making a fish – how ’bout you?” “I am showing how ennui is the echo within” “Really? – cool!”
The Next Generation of artists get their start.
Some of the works of art after firing – beautiful!
One was possibly inspired by pop (cap) culture!

The WashingtonGlassSchool works closely with our neighborhoods and schools – as an organization we are driven by a commitment to social and environmental purposes. WGS has based its vision using the “Social Entrepreneurial Business Model” where we seek to achieve sustainability through a broad engagement of our communities without seeking grants and where “doing good” is integral to “doing well”.

Jeremy proudly shows off his first glass artwork piece .
The camp ended with a gallery show of the students’ work.

Posted in brentwood arts exchange, community entrepreneurial model, creative camp, kids, parks and recreation, phil davis, Prince George's County, school children learn, social business enterprise model, washington