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Them!
The glass will ultimately be filled with neon and charged. >The internet is an interesting place – one the enables commissions to happen between artists, designers and clients from across the country – or even the entire world. As an example – a cast glass-and-steel work by Washington Glass Studio artist/director Michael Janis was seen by an Atlanta-based art consultant looking for artwork for a new hotel being designed by a Hollywood based interiors firm. In 2006, an Atlanta based art consultancy sourced Michael’s work from the internet and approached him to make a 6′-0″ version of the work to be the central work in the new Kimpton Hotel that was under construction in the Dupont Circle section of Washington, DC. The new hotel was to be designed and embellished to reflect the hotel’s theme of “Art In Motion” The finished three section cast glass-and-steel work titled “The Gravity Between Us” was built and installed in the lobby. The artwork was named Boutique Hotels Magazine’s “Best Artwork” in 2007.
The internet was integral to the commission of the original work. After being made, the digital images of the large scale sculpture continue onwards – online. A new GOOGLE image search function allows one to search online for specific or similar images. By dropping an image into the search box and it not only finds all “similar” images around the Internets, but also all the websites where that image is being used. >
The “Next Step” fused glass class is well underway, with the students going large. This week, the artists were engrossed in making pattern sheet elements for a large panel fused work. Balance of color, reactions within colors, working with frit powders, stringers and sharpened cutting skills are the mainstay of the class.
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Fireproof space suits. Our Prof Tate dons his aluminized protective gear to allow him to work on a piece in the kiln.
> The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) will name Molly Ruppert as this year’s “Alice Denney Award” for Support of Contemporary Art.
Molly Ruppert As the director of the Warehouse, a longtime art space and theater in Mount Vernon Square, Molly has curated or juried many DC art shows over the years. Through the Warehouse Gallery, Molly has contributed much to the city. She has made strong connections in this community, and provided an arts center that has fostered an inspiring dialogue with and for contemporary emerging artists in the Nation’s Capital. The Warehouse Next Door has served as a venue for D.C. arts festivals ranging from FotoWeek to Sonic Circuits. Nowadays, the Warehouse acts primarily as a black-box theater and is home to The Passenger where Molly is co-owner with her son, Paul Ruppert. The award will be announced on Sat, Feb 11, at the opening for Select, this year’s annual art auction. The Feb 11 opening is free and starts off at 6.00 PM. The eighth-annual award is named after Alice Denney, a curator and founder of the Washington Project for the Arts. The Washington Glass Studio is proud to have made the glass Alice Denney award for the WPA. Mick Coughlan turns green under a uv light as he assembles and cold fuses the glass. > ROUTE 1 RIDE ANNOUNCES JURIED PUBLIC ART COMPETITION Call for Emerging and Established Artists and Designers to Create Route 1 Mobile Public Artwork Route 1 Ride Collaborative has announced a call for artists and designers to develop an original work of art. The winning design will be showcased as a bus wrap highlighting the many arts, cultural and entertainment amenities along the Route 1 Corridor, and increase ridership as a way to visit and explore Route 1. The wrap design, which will be highlighted on TheBus: Route 17, should inspire Route 1 communities from Mt.Rainier to College Park and highlight the unique charms of living, working, and playing in Prince George’s County’s Route One Corridor communities. In connection with Prince George’s County DPW&T, The Route 1 Ride Collaborative is seeking proposals for original, two-dimensional designs that will be wrapped on the Route 1 Ride buses. One design will be selected to be featured on three buses for a period of at least three years, beginning in the Spring of 2012. The three selected finalist artist/s / designer/s will receive a $500.00 honorarium for their designs. The final selected artist/s / designer/s receive a $3,000.00 honorarium for their design. The project is generously sponsored by The Route 1 Ride Collaborative and its Municipal members in celebration of the role that the arts play in the Gateway Arts District and the revitalization of Prince George’s County. Contact: Stuart Eisenberg Call for Artist Coordinator (301) 683-8267
Alex Hirtle Route 1 Ride Collaborative Coordinator 301-952-3170 For additional information on the Route 1 Wrap Call for Artists or to download an application, please visit >
February 24 – March 14 Jane Sauer Gallery will have a show of Tim Tate’s glass treats scheduled to coincide with Santa Fe’s 15th annual ARTfeast – a Santa Fe event that raises funds for children, education and the arts. The works continue Tm’s obsession with miniaturization of objects and the relationship of scale – each work looking good enough to eat! My favorite is “Mostly Chocolate” (- finally a sweet that I can enjoy without guilt!) From Jane Sauer Gallery: “In conjunction with ARTfeast, we are showing Tim Tate’s delightful cast glass delicacies of pie slices, tarts, ice cream cones, cupcakes, cotton candy, and donuts, artfully arranged in a pyramid of trays underneath a glass dome.” Jane Sauer Gallery is located on phone: 505-995-8513 >
From the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day“ >Melissa Stern – the mixed media artist that had a residency at the Washington Glass School this past summer has a new project/exhibition that she is seeking support.
The proposed exhibition integrates mixed material sculpture, contemporary literature, and audio technology – titled the “Talking Cure,” . The exhibition is scheduled to open in Seattle in March and in New York City in 2013. The project title, “The Talking Cure,” takes its name from Sigmund Freud’s original description of psychoanalysis. The exhibition will consist of ten of Melissa’s sculptures each accompanied by an interactive audio track created by a literary collaborator. Says Melissa: “My sculptures will be fabricated figures combining mixed materials, found objects, deeply drawn surfaces, and an abundance of personality. Seeing and saying, thinking and talking, will cure all your problems! I have asked ten writers- poets, novelists, screenwriters, and playwrights- to each chose a sculpture to which they relate most intimately. Each is writing his or her imagined monologue of the goings on in the sculpture’s mind. These will then be transformed into audio recordings. A QR tag will accompany each sculpture. When the viewer points a Smartphone, Blackberry or I-Phone reading device at the QR tag it will trigger audio to hear the inner voice of the sculpture. I have long been fascinated by what goes on in people’s minds when they look at art. What stories do they tell themselves? What emotions and memories are triggered? My work has always been psychological in nature. In the past I have made shows that deal explicitly with memory, childhood and family. By definition these subjects have a strong psychological bent. I am as interested in what others think the pieces are “saying” as in what has motivated me to make them. In this project we will have a chance to hear what others think goes on in the minds of my sculptural ‘people.‘” Click HERE to jump to Melissa’s Kickstarter project description.
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. >Washington Sculptors Group Limited to 35 participants, R.S.V.P. to programs@washingtonsculptors.org Click HERE to jump to East City Art blog for more info Click here for directions: The Washington Glass School is located at 3700 Otis Street, Mount Rainier, MD 20712. Visit online at http://washingtonglassschool.com/school/ Visit The Washington Sculptors Group online at www.washingtonsculptors.org or call (202) 686-8696
The glass bug anneals at the glass school – shown here sleeping on a nice soft bed of fiberfrax blanket.
Things are all great – until the bug gets all aggressive and charges Rob. Oh, the humanity!Internet, Images and You
The original work “Liar Paradox” – Fred & Susan Sanders collection.
Photo credit: anythingphoto.net
Original schematic architectural lobby design by Cheryl Rowley Design.
“The Gravity Between Us” glass and steel sculpture by Michael Janis.
Detail of “The Gravity Between Us” by Michael Janis.
Washington, DC Palomar Hotel.
Viewing through the slabs of cast glass to the hotel lobby.
Class Photo: Intermediate Glass Course
Sifting frit glass powder onto glass allows creation of very detailed glass elements.
More of everything is the class motto!.
The day’s work is loaded into the kiln.
Next week’s installment includes creating even larger panels, as well as cutting perfect circles in glass. Can’t hardly wait!.What Becomes a Legend Most?
Molly Ruppert Takes The Prize
Get On the Bus! Call for Bus Public Art
Jane Sauer Gallery Serves Up Tim Tate
Groundhog Day!
the shadows that have been seen, cannot be unseen
Using her mind’s eye memory of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog in blue is a timely and striking piece.
Phil – considered to be the world’s most famous prognosticating rodent – is supposed to emerge from his home on Gobbler’s Knob, near Punxsutawney, and if he sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an early spring.
Here’s to the dream of spring!
Melissa Stern KickStarter "Talking Cure"
Washington Sculptors Group Lecture "The Changing Contemporary Art World"
Talk with Tim Tate: Artist’s Covenants and Social Media
on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
The Washington Sculptors Group presents an informal interactive seminar/discussion with participants interested in new ways to market their art in the 21st century. Tim Tate, a sculptor extraordinaire and Fulbright Scholar, will share a wealth of his experience in building one’s name, market and career within the contemporary art world. Filled with real life examples and possibilities, this workshop may change the way participants see themselves as artists.
http://g.co/maps/zakbg