Michael Janis, Tim Tate: Inside Outside Upside Down

Phillips Collection Inside Outside, Upside Down JULY 17-SEPTEMBER 12, 2021.

Virtual Opening and Awards Presentation July 16, 2021, 7-8 PM

Join The Phillips Collection as they celebrate the opening of “Inside Outside, Upside Down” and announce the prize winners of our juried invitational. Click HERE to jump to Phillips Collection Opening Event RSVP page.

Tim Tate ward 3
Tim Tate, “Justinian’s Oculus”

This juried invitational celebrates The Phillips Collection’s 100th anniversary in 2021, building on the legacy of founder Duncan Phillips and his commitment to presenting, acquiring, and promoting the work of artists of the greater DC region.

Michael Janis DC ward 5
Michael Janis, “How We Take Care of Each Other” 2021, kilnformed glass, glass powder imagery

Inside Outside, Upside Down makes vivid the turmoil, strength, and resiliency of the human spirit in the face of the past year’s global covid-19 pandemic and social upheaval. All artworks in the show are recent works produced between March 2020 and February 2021. Works by WGS artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis have been selected for the exhibition.

Michael Janis, Washington, Dc ward 5
mMichael Janis, DETAIL “How We Take Care of Each Other”, 2021

Jurors
Phil Hutinet, Founding Publisher of East City Art
Abigail McEwen, Associate Professor of Latin American Art, University of Maryland
Elsa Smithgall, Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection
Renée Stout, DC-based Artist

Guest Curator
Renée Stout is an internationally renowned artist who has been based in Washington, DC, since 1985. Originally trained as a painter with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Stout currently works across a variety of media, including painting, drawing, mixed media, sculpture, photography, and installation. She is the recipient of many awards, including an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award and the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.

Featured Artists
Cathy Abramson
Simone Agoussoye
Maremi Andreozzi
Carol Antezana
Desmond Beach
Julia Bloom
Michael Booker
Kimberly Brammer
Nikki Brugnoli
Florencio Campello
Carlos Carmonamedina
Sandra Chen Weinstein
Peter Cizmadia
Wesley Clark
Dominick Cocozza
Robin Croft
Sora DeVore
Sarah Dolan
Mike Dowley
Nekisha Durrett
Tae Edell
Bria Edwards
Kate Fleming
Chawky Frenn
Amelia Hankin
Michael Hantman
Leslie Holt
Michael Janis
Jane Kell
Jean Jinho Kim
Katherine Knight
Ara Koh
Kokayi
Gary Kret
Kate Kretz
Catherine Levinson
Kirsty Little
Kim Llerena
Aaron Maier-Carretero
Timothy Makepeace
David Mordini
Barbara Muth
Werllayne Nunes
Zsudayka Nzinga
Jennifer O’Connell
John Pan
Judith Peck
Shedrick Pelt
Kristina Penhoet
Marta Pérez García
Lydia Peters
Junko Pinkowski
Dominick Rabrun
Mojdeh Rezaeipour
Marie Ringwald
Janathel Shaw
Joseph Shetler
Nicolas F. Shi
Tim Tate
Julio Valdez
Jessica Valoris
Ian White
Richard L. Williams Jr.
Colin Winterbottom

The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Inside Outside, Upside Down is organized by The Phillips Collection.

This juried invitational is part of the museum’s centennial exhibition, Seeing Differently: The Phillips Collects for a New Century.

Tacoma Museum Of Glass Features A Talk on Queer Glass with Artist Tim Tate – July 8, 2021

Tim Tate “We Rose Up”, 2017, Cast objects, mirrors, and LED’s, 32 × 32 × 4 in.

In coordination with Pride month, Tacoma, Washington, Museum of Glass will host conversations with artists included in Transparency: An LGBTQ+ Glass Art Exhibition on Thursdays from June 10 through mid July. Hosted by a MOG educator, each artist will be invited to show and discuss their featured work, followed by an opportunity for questions from the virtual audience. Thursday, July 8 at Noon PT (3pm ET) will feature WGS Co-Director Tim Tate.

Tim Tate, “The Moment” Aluminum, Mirrors, Quills , LEDs, 32 × 32 × 4 in

Tim Tate will be speaking as an artist about Queer Glass and its use in Craftivism with the Tacoma Museum of Glass on July 8th. As a survivor of the AIDS Pandemic and our current pandemic, he has made work on this topic for 35 years. In this talk he will connect the the two with his work over that time. Its a live Facebook talk, and free to anyone.

Tim Tate, “Justinian’s Oculus”, 2021 33 x 33 x 4 inches. Cast lead crystal

Tacoma Museum of Glass Livestream info: MOG Transparent Conversations

Link to Facebook live event: Transparent Conversations: Tim Tate

Located in Tacoma, Washington, Museum of Glass is a premier contemporary art museum dedicated to glass and glassmaking in the West Coast’s largest and most active museum glass studio. Now in its 18th year, MOG has established a reputation for hosting impactful and engaging artist residencies, organizing and exhibiting nationally traveling exhibitions, and creating unique programs for visitors, all while building a growing permanent collection chronicling the development of modern and contemporary glass.

Juneteenth

On Wednesday, Congress overwhelmingly voted to establish Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday. Juneteenth is the first federal holiday to be established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

On June 19, 1865, Black Texans in Galveston, still living in slave conditions, finally learned that Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery two years previously. 

Let’s make Juneteenth a commemorative, not of the horrific institution our country embraced, but rather as a showcase of the strength in the American spirit to recognize wrong and set about making it right. In this same spirit America moves ahead today in leveling playing fields and achieivng ever greater equality. Let us celebrate all that Juneteenth teaches us about our country’s greatness in our use of the heart to hear and to learn and to work together for all that is good and just.

All Welcome Christina Helowicz!

Christina Helowicz

Please welcome Washington Glass School’s new Studio Coordinator – Christina Helowicz!

A graduate of Salisbury University, Christina brings a new vitality and freshness to the Washington Glass School. She has an impressive background in coldworking and casting, as well as teaching. She will be working at tweaking the School’s glass program soon!

tim tate and christina helowicz
Tim Tate reviews the latest castings out of the kiln with Christina Helowicz.

Farewell Teri Swinhart

Our Studio Coordinator Wore Many Hats

We bid a fond farewell to our Studio Coordinator extraordinaire – Teri Swinhart – moves out West, to sunny Los Angeles. We will miss her skills, knowledge of glass and casting, and her unique charm!

Best of Luck to Teri and Derek Swinhart! Come back and visit often!

Viral Glass!

viral glass exhibit at Habatat Galleries
Michigan’s Habatat Galleries Hosts ZOOM award presentation Saturday, May 1st, 2021.

Saturday, May 1st, @ 1pm ET, Habatat Galleries will present a zoom presentation of works selected for “Viral Glass”. This on-line exhibition looks specifically at how glass artists around the world are responding to the Pandemic. While some have focused on the virus itself and the fear it instills, others have explored the depth and intensity of world-wide isolation. Other creative individuals have focused on how this disaster can bring communities together, or how it has torn us apart. In any case, artists in every field have contributed to keeping the world moving.

This show will mark the long anticipated return of David McFadden, who was Chief Curator of the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC for 16 years, to our field as guest curator for this show.

RSVP for a Habatat-Zoom presentation this Saturday, May 1st at 1:00 p.m. ET. for a Zoom with the attending artists. Click HERE for more info and to RSVP. Habatat and David preview the works in the Viral Glass 2021 exhibition and speak with each artist about their work and inspiration.

JRA Virtual CRAFT TOUR of WGS!

VIRTUAL CRAFT TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC
APRIL 27 – 28, 2021 | 6:30 – 8PM
MEMBERS: $60 | NON-MEMBERS: $75

Tim Tate and Michael Janis at the Washington Glass School.
Visit the Washington Glass School with Co-Directors Tim Tate and Michael Janis

The James Renwick Alliance for Craft will host a unique virtual craft tour featuring some of the most important craft destinations in the DC region. One of the tour stops is – The Washington Glass School!! Join us as we visit our studio, Margaret Boozer’s Red Dirt Studio, The Renwick Museum, Howard University’s ceramics collection as well as some collector homes!

For more info and to jump to JRA site to register – click LINK: VIRTUAL CRAFT TRIP TO DC – JAMES RENWICK ALLIANCE (jra.org)

Janis/Porto Exhibit Dominates Detroit!

Michael Janis and Tony Porto glass/mixed media exhibit has dominated Michigan’s press as the news agencies and tv shows all feature works by the artists and their story.

Click here to read story in Detroit News.

Detroit News loves the new glass/mixed media works by Michael Janis and Tony Porto!

Local Fox News – Fox 2 – sent reporters into the gallery to interview Director Aaron Schey and get the story on the Not Grandmas Glass (NGG) exhibit and competition as well as an eyeful of the artworks. Click here to jump to one of the three interviews by Fox.

Fox 2 Detroit interviews Habatat Galleries’ Aaron Schey to dish about NGG and works by Michael Janis and Tony Porto.
“Friendship is Magic” and “Say Your Prayers and Take Your Vitamins” glass/mixed media artworks by Michael Janis and Tony Porto are on exhibit at Royal Oak gallery.

Click Here to jump to article about the Janis/Porto exhibit in the Oakland Press.

Click HERE to jump to article on Not Grandmas Glass exhibit in the C & G newspaper.

Pop Art & Glass – New solo exhibit by Michael Janis & Tony Porto

WGS Co-Director Michael Janis has collaborated with Chicago-based artist Tony Porto on a new series of glass/mixed media sculptures – making their debut solo show debut in Habatat Galleries’ “Not Grandmas’ Glass” (NGG) exhibit/competition. NGG is new and groundbreaking competition, held over 12 months featuring 12 artists that the gallery feels are pushing the medium beyond the norm. The premise of the exhibit is to showcase works that are outside “traditional” studio art glass, where the artists were challenged to make works that would be in a contemporary museum.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto “Lunchtime With Darth Vader”; 2021, cast glass, mixed media, 24″ x 24″ x 9″

Habatat director Aaron Schey said of the NGG show concept: “These artists are extremely innovative and I propose that they will all be important in the future of the glass medium. Creating work that is probably not in Grandma’s art collection…..yet.”

Michael Janis and Tony Porto, “Friendship is Magic”; 2021, kilncast glass, mixed media, 22″ x 22″ x 9″

Paying homage to the underdogs of pop culture – the cartoons, action figures, and toys of childhood, Janis and Porto incorporate figures as diverse as Batman, Darth Vader, My Little Pony, Wonder Woman, Hulk Hogan in their evocative narratives that are at once whimsical and distressing, capturing their complexities and outlandishness.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto “Call For Bruce Wayne”; 2021, cast glass, mixed media, LED, electronics, wood, 20″ X 24″ X 10″

In the works, they walk a really fun line between taking this stuff seriously and also being able to laugh at it all.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto delivered a fantastic online artist talk – hosted by Michigan’s Habatat Galleries (click HERE to jump to YouTube link.)

Mike and Tony outlined their collaborative works, their meanings, and how they managed to work together during the pandemic.

Click HERE to jump to their awesome website!