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Michael Janis’ glass artwork is on exhibit at Belgium’s Glazen Huis as part of an international show titled “The Glass Canvas”, curated by J. Maes. The gallery exhibition is seen as a meeting between old and new in a glass context of religion, architecture, art and entertainment. The show contrasts historical glass artwork with contemporary glass work, from 14th and 16th century stained glass, 19th century glass photo negatives to work from current art glass leaders.
“This exhibition is an investigation into the use of glass as a canvas. It is a series of confrontations of the glass canvas in its physical appearance (smooth-rough light-dark transparent screen-reflection miniature-monumental), but also in the psychological experience (accessible-unreachable reveal-blur protect-invite). Going from the canvas as a mediator between inside and outside, to the glass surface as an image former or transformer, as a classical canvas or carrier of a concept that appears as a rigid skin or as a flexible weaving. The glass canvas presents itself as a breakable membrane that gives access to the unreachable reality, which it reflects or deforms, fragments or defragments.The glass canvas is a virgin surface that is covered with paints and emulsions or damaged by chemical or mechanical attacks, but in its clear state can be used as a high gloss protector.”
Artists exhibited : J.Schaechter [US], A.Salvador [IT], W.Berckmans [BE], M.Dukers [IT], F.Jespers [BE], F.Federer [GB], L.Semecka [CZ], S.Peretti [DE/US],M.Janis [US], R.Hawes [CA], N.Sandberg [US], T.Lahaie [US], J.Röder [DE], D.Sandersley [GB], K.Vanderstukken [BE/CA], I.Rosschaert [BE], M.Martens [BE], G.Pierson [BE], J.Caen [BE], E.Leibovitz [BE], W.Delvoye [BE].
‘The Glass Canvas – Glass as a canvas, as carrier through history’
April 10 – September 25, 2011
Het Glazen Huis
Flemish Center for Contemporary Glass Art
Dorp 14b, B-3920 Lommel, Belgium
http://www.hetglazenhuis.be/
Click here to jump to Glass Quarterly’s comments on “The Glass Canvas”
A Bit of A Tease
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Next month, the LongView Gallery will present : “Artists of the Washington Glass School – The First Ten Years“. In bringing The First Ten Years to Washington, DC, LongView Gallery asks artists and audience alike to cast aside traditional notions of glass art and participate in a new form of dialogue; one that looks to the future and not the past. This exhibition is still in the process of being curated by the gallery, but one of the works submitted is so amazing, below is a sneak peak of the show.
Elizabeth Ryland Mears and William “Tex” Forrest have created a collaborative sculpture piece. The illuminated work is over 6′ tall, made of flameworked glass, steel wire & fabric.
Liz Mears & Tex Forrest’ design sketch
Full-size sample
Liz & Tex at the glass school for a photo shoot of the finished sculpture
Elizabeth Mears shows the tactile detail of the glass….”embellishments”
The finished work – photography by Anything Photographic.
Detail of the lampworked glass
The First Ten Years is intended to celebrate – and instigate– the new directions contemporary glass is exploring through various artistic metaphors. Featured artists include: Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Erwin Timmers, Elizabeth Mears, Syl Mathis, Lea Topping, Robert Kincheloe and others.
Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 – June 19,2011
Artist Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Glass Sparks: Robert Wyckliffe Kincheloe
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Glass artist Robert Wyckliffe Kincheloe is focused on blending a variety of techniques to create sculptural works in glass. Rob has studied all forms of glass including scientific flameworking, sculptural flameworking, fusing, kiln-casting, glass blowing, hot casting, cold-working, and the blending of techniques for sculptural assembly. His focus is flameworked and cold-worked borosilicate glass and he has been pioneering the use of kiln-casting borosilicate glass for use in flameworking.
Robert Kincheloe demo at Penland School of Crafts 2011
Robert has studied and taught glass techniques at many centers, including Virginia Tech Scientific Glass Lab, Penland School of Crafts, the Carslisle School of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School, and The Bullseye Research Lab. For several years, Rob has been part of the technical staff involved with the International Society of Glass Beadmakers annual Gathering. He was selected as a Glass Craft Emerging Artist for spring 2010 in The Flow Magazine. Robert was also been published in the spring 2011 edition of The Flow magazine for his techniques on incorporation of kiln-casting of Borosilicate components in Flameworked Sculptures. He has another tutorial on cold-working techniques coming out in the summer 2011 edition of The Flow Magazine.He has been the Studio Coordinator and a Resident Artist at the Washington Glass School for the last year.
Robert heads up the flameworking program at the Washington Glass School, where he is adding new levels of glass instruction and working at crossing over techniques to those already offered at WGS.
Robert Kincheloe Tree of Life, 2010
Robert Kincheloe Holding onto Possibilities, 2010
“Holding onto Possibilities” was made for the The Flow Magazine’s Spring 2011 Tutorial: Flameworking with Kiln-cast Borosilicate Glass.
Robert Kincheloe Shine On Your Love Light, 2011
Kiln-cast glass, Steel, and LED lighting.
Robert actively teaches and promotes the progress of glass arts as a creative medium. This summer Rob will be teaching and presenting at the 2011 ISGB Gathering in Louisville, KY. He will be assisting Elizabeth Ryland Mears at the Pittsburgh Glass Center for her summer flameworking intensive. Robert will also be presenting cold-working techniques for flameworking at the Art Glass Invitational in Hilliards, PA.
Click HERE to jump to Robert Kincheloe’s website.
Robert will be one of the featured artists at Longview Gallery ‘s exhibition in honor of Washington Glass School’s 10 year anniversary: Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 – June 19, Opening Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
For other glass artist profiles:
Printmaking with Glass
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Making prints from Glass?! Instructor Kirk Waldroff has been teaching a class in making wood or lino block prints, translating that into glass, and pulling prints from the glass panels. This original process is created by expand on and combining traditional printmaking with modern glass sculpting techniques.
The glass positives inside the kiln – to be cleaned and inked.
Fresh from the kiln, the glass is carefully prepared as a relief matrix.
Kirk oversees the student Nancy Donnelly inking the block.
Some of the first prints pulled.
Instructor Kirk Waldroff expresses his happiness with the day’s results.
The class wraps up next week, with the students working on a more complex prints.
Hallo Deutsch Besucher!
Daily Art Muse Has Left The Building
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For the past two months, artist/writer Susan Lomuto of Daily Art Muse has been an apprentice for the Washington Glass School as well as three of the adjacent ceramic studios – Red Dirt Studio, Flux Studios and Ani Kasten Studio.
Susan Lomuto preps the kiln with Matthew Duffy.
Susan did the research apprenticeship as a way to gain insight into the lives of professional artists; hoping to see the how the artwork is made – the process – the success and strife – all from the perspective of the artist involved. Susan has (and will continue to) post some of the information on her blog Daily Art Muse. She also is planning on furthering the project into a book, and she wishes to create a full multi-media presentation (video, sound, photos, exhibitions) on the subject.
Susan photos Robert Kincheloe as he works on the torch.
Leaning how to make a good weld with Erwin Timmers. 
Salvaging glass for use in a recycled glass public art project.
This week marks the end of Susan’s DC apprenticeship – and she has posted about her farewell. Hugs all around – an we look forward to DaMuse’s writing and postings! 
(While sad to see her go – Susan hopes to return for a residency at Flux Studio this coming fall.)
Glass Sparks: Diane Cabe
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Moving into the Capitol Hill/Half Street campus – circa 2003.
Diane Cabe was one of the Washington Glass School’s first Resident Artists – helping set up the main classroom in 2003 at the Half Street, DC location. Her glass studies included courses at The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, where she studied with Lucartha Kohler, author of Glass: An Artist’s Medium. She was a Bullseye E-merge Finalist in 2004 and has exhibited at many area fine art galleries including the Fraser Gallery ,Target Gallery, VisArts Gallery, and the Glenview Mansion. Diane’s work was part of the seminal “Compelled by Content” exhibition of narrative glass held in 2005.
Diane’s glass portfolio comprises both sculptural and functional pieces. She is a resident artist with the Art Glass Center at Glen Echo, where she now teaches casting and other forms of kilnformed glass.
Diane’s cast glass purses are meant to evoke the bags, purses, satchels, backpacks that would sit with her wherever she would travel, holding her life. Diane sees the bags as how one holds treasured objects, secrets and the important items that define one’s life, paradoxically rendering them in beautiful translucent glass.
Some of Diane’s recent works expands on exploring items from the domestic life; La Bella Figura is about personal memories, reflections, sensations. Diane said of the work that it …”is a tribute to my genetic inheritance that has compelled me to find beauty in mundane objects”…
La Bella Figura
Glass, Wood, Copper, Mica
DC’s Longview Gallery juried invitational exhibition showcasing the people and work of the artists of the Washington Glass School. The show opens in May.
Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 – June 19, Opening Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Click HERE to jump to Diane’s artwork website.
For other glass artist profiles:
Visit to the Glass School
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L-R Gallery Owner Jane Sauer, UrbanGlass Director Fred & Susan Sanders, Judith Schaechter, Tim Tate
This weekend’s busy social calendar included the events of the James Renwick Alliance Spring Craft Weekend.
Some of the visitors to the events dropped by the glass school for a visit – including Renwick Craft Invitational 2011 artist Judith Schaecter. Judith will be back to teach a creativity workshop for the JRA, to be held at the glass school on May 21, 2011.
Also visiting were collectors Fred & Susan Sanders – who recently had their art collection featured in American Style Magazine. Fred is the President of the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group and is on the Board of UrbanGlass in Brooklyn. Jane Sauer, the eponymous owner of beautiful Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe, NM joined the tour thru the glass school.
The events include the Benefit dinner and auctions at the Renwick Gallery’s Grand Salon. It was a great chance to rub elbows with some glass superstars.
Michael Janis and Erin Timmers enjoy drinks at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, looking overlooking the art scene.
Erwin Timmers chatting with Lino Tagliapietra about new trends in glass.
Tim Tate & Judith Schaechter enjoy the view.
American Craft on Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic Collaborations
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Sins Under Glass
The April/May issue of American Craft magazine has an 8 page review of Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic‘s collaborative work.
photo by Pete Duvall/Anything Photographic
The article, written by American Craft‘s Senior Editor, Julie Hanus; with photos by Pete Duvall of Anything Photographic, talks of “Connectivity and collaboration” and the ways they are molding our lives. The author profiles in-depth their two recent joint works Apothecarium Moderne and Seven Deadly Sins, and how, within the two works, Marc and Tim are modeling one vision of the interconnected future of art: genuine collaboration.
Above: Two works from the Seven Deadly Sins series.
Shattered found pottery lends sculptural interest to Wrath. For the finial, Marc made a tiny maple rolling pin on a lathe. Visually, I like the look of Envy a lot,” says Marc. They designed the piece around the video concept: a creepy eye, peering through a keyhole. Each piece is loaded with detail. The green finial that sits atop Envy, for example, is a cast-glass likeness of Michael Janis, a tongue-in-cheek poke at an artist with whom Tim shares workspace at the Washington Glass School (…or is it?). The tiny gate is Marc’s handiwork – a rare opportunity to exercise a long-ago minor in metals, he says. His wife, artist Kari Russell-Pool (with whom Marc also has collaborated), lent a hand with the grass.
Above: “Vanity” from the Seven Deadly Sins series
blown and cast glass, camera and audio soundwave electronics, found objects
Drawing in viewers to interact with the work is, arguably, the pièce de résistance of their collaborative process – the sharing of a work that transforms everyone who sees it into an active participant.
For the entire article – click HERE (or check out your newsstands!)
Email for Pete Duvall: pete@anythingphoto.net
Glass Sparks: Sean Hennessey
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The Measure of Value
He began his relationship with the Washington Glass School by teaching mold making and concrete casting and assisting various classes. Slowly and steadily Sean began including more and more glass into his mixed media sculptures. By 2010 Sean focused primarily in glass and became a resident artist at the Washington Glass School. His current work uses a combination of glass, concrete, found objects, and steel to create works based on mythologies, philosophy, personal experiences, and whimsy. |
We Share What We Have
Glass, Concrete, Steel
24″x13″
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| A Dream of Flying Glass, Concrete, and Steel 24×13 Sean creates pieces that have the feel of archaeological finds, as if messages from today have been uncovered in some not too distant future. The earthiness of the concrete in his pieces suggests age and patina, slightly covering and obscuring his glass reliefs. He equates the glass with ethereality and the concrete as a corporeal coating. His work touches on issues of overcoming in everyday life–judging yourself and being judged by others, finding and maintaining inspiration, and dealing with dreams and hopes than conflict with our reality.
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| Ghost Light Glass, Concrete, Steel 43″x13″ Sean uses the Dry Plaster Relief Casting technique in his work. He sets up boxes inside the kiln, fills the box with sifted plaster power, makes impressions in the plaster, places sheets of float glass on top of the box and fires the glass to slump into the mold.
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| It’s a dusty process |
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Example of a Mold used for Dry Plaster Relief Casting Once the glass is removed from the kiln, Sean uses special primers and polymers to add a coating of cement to the surface. |
Glass castings fresh out of the kiln.
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| Adding layers of concrete to the glass
But it’s not done yet! Apparently Sean loves adding many complicated processes into each piece! He then goes on to stain, sand, and distress the concrete, adding to the sense of age and antiquity. Sometimes he will paint the back of the glass using translucent coatings to allow light to come through. He then welds up steel frames to finish off his work.
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Finding Your Power
Glass, Concrete, Steel 42″x13″
Sean will be one of the artists exhibiting at DC’s Longview Gallery juried invitational exhibition showcasing the people and work of the artists of the Washington Glass School. The show opens in May.
Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 – June 19, Opening Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Click HERE to jump to Sean’s artwork website.
For other glass artist profiles:
Material World @ artdc Gallery – the video
>Stephen Boocks, curator of artdc Gallery’s “Material World” exhibition had shot some videos of some of the artists in their studios as he reviewed the works for the show. Below are a couple of the videos:
Michael Janis- Material World from Stephen Boocks on Vimeo.
The finished piece that was discussed is here: 
Michael Janis The Memory of Orchids 2011, fused glass, steel, 12.5″ x 12.5″
Marie Ringwald- Material World from Stephen Boocks on Vimeo.
This Saturday, 19 March, 2011, from 2-3 pm you can see the real LIVE artists as they talk about their process and work.
Material World
artdc Gallery at The Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, Maryland 20781