Mary Van Cline; The Floating Sea of Time;
Photosensitive glass, pate de verre, 24 x 20 x 5 in.
Mary Van Cline artwork blends pâte de verre elements with photographic images creating a new quality in dimension. Recently she has focused on the photography aspect to create “The Documenta Project,” which she hopes to build an archive of life-size photographic portraits that capture the unique personalities of the major glass world figures.
Mary Van Cline has been known for her artwork combining photography and glass since 1978.
Since early 2017, she’s been traveling the U.S. to take photographs of glass artists, prominent dealers, collectors and critics in an effort to document and immortalize the unique artistic ecosystem that defines the Studio Glass world. Mary’s goal is support to capture the spirit of the people who enabled and contributed to the glass community using life size photographic images where their gestures and presence will be preserved on large format B&W film, and high-resolution color digital files.
Glass Artist Laura Donefer captured by Mary Van Cline
Mary said that she has taken some 10,000 photos. From each session alone, she took at least 400 photos with the digital camera.
NYC Uber collectors Susan and Fred Sanders
Though almost entirely self-funded so far, Mary hopes that others who appreciate her project and the progress she’s made on her own might approach her with offers of support. This year the project has been invited back to SOFA and, in April, Van Cline hopes to bring it to Detroit during the Flint Museum opening and the Habatat International.
The fact is that such an ambitious project is costly and donations are needed in order for it to continue. The Tacoma Art Museum has agreed to accept nonprofit donations on behalf of Van Cline, and transfer any funding directly to the project with no fee.
WGS Glass Artists Michael Janis & Tim Tate documented for the Documenta Project
Donations can be mailed to the Tacoma Art Museum at the following address:
Tacoma Art Museum
Rock Hushka, Curator
Attention: Documenta Project
1701 Pacific Avenue
Tacoma, Washington 98402
For any questions, contact Mary Van Cline at: mary@maryvancline.com