GLASS COAST WEEKEND 2024

This week, glass universe goes south – to Florida! The Glass Art Fair takes place in Sarasota, FL from Feb 1st – 4th Ringling College of Art + Design Studio A. Habatat Galleries‘ 4-day glass art experience “Glass Coast Weekend” features six special exhibits of contemporary glass.

The event includes a pop-up exhibit of over 150 pieces at the Ringling College of Art + Design’s Studio Labs Sound Stage A. Explore four themed curated exhibitions, two solo exhibits, and visit the newly opened Sarasota Art Museum and the Basch Gallery on the Ringling College campus. Additional highlights include a Masterworks Auction, a demonstration by artist John Kiley, artist talks, a Ringling Museum mystery, Habatat-Zoom Live, the Imagine Museum’s Annual Fire and Light Gala

Hope to see you at the first HUGE glass event of the year!

2023 Glass Coast Weekend Big Hit!

The west coast of sunny Florida is where the glass art scene is hot! This past week, Habatat Detroit Fine Art held a glass extravaganza at the Ringling College of Art in beautiful Sarasota, FL. This was be their 8th Annual Glass Coast Weekend (GCW). This year the event paid homage to the past, present, and future of studio glass. The show featured noted artists, lectures, demos and a reception at the Ringling Museum of Art and the 5th Anniversary event at the Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, FL.

Above is a quick video fly-thru of the main show at Ringling College of Art

The Glass Coast excitement continued up the coast – at Duncan McClellan Gallery, where Washington Glass School artists are featured in the groundbreaking “Dreams & Visions” exhibit (thru March 5).

Michael Janis with glass fans at Duncan McClellan Gallery during reception held for Washington Glass School artists.

WGS Artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis were featured at a series of receptions, lectures and demonstrations held at DMG over the weekend.

Artist Tim Tate narrates to the audience on the hotshop what techniques the gaffer is employing to create Tim’s sacred heart glass sculpture.
Tim Tate’s blown sculpture gets some heat!
Tim Tate’s Sacred Heart sculpture after annealing and cooling. Tim plans on working imagery into the work and presenting a new series of hearts.

Artist Michael Janis had a large audience in attendance for his presentation on “Art in Architecture”, where he talked about his design background and how it influenced his artwork and the public art sculpture made by the Washington Glass Studio.

Michael Janis talks about his pop art work made in collaboration with Chicago artist Tony Porto.
Michael Janis (center) with new collectors Steve and Debbie Lang at DMG reception.

Michael Janis Finalist in 2022 Contemporary Craft Prize

Michael Janis, “Allowing Our Past to Become Part of Ourselves” detail, 2022, fused glass, glass powder imagery. Photo by Pete Duvall.

17 national and international finalists have been selected for this biennial exhibition in glass art, featuring newly created, innovative works.

Michael Janis glass art - title "Allowing Our Past to Become Part of Ourselves" 60"H x 40' W fused glass, glass powder imagery aluminum

Glass is itself a transformation: created when ordinary sand encounters extreme heat. In this breathtaking exhibition, glass is transformed again, this time by 17 contemporary artists from across the globe. The resulting work pushes the boundary of traditional craft techniques and takes glass from the realm of the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Transformation 11: Contemporary Works in Glass is Contemporary Craft’s 2022 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize juried exhibition. The winning artist and their work will be announced and presented at the public opening of the exhibition on Friday, September 9, 2022, where they will receive a cash prize. The 2022 prize will be awarded in the category of glass, and must meet the requirement that it has been made within the last 12 months and addresses the theme of “transformation.” Seventeen contemporary artists from across the globe explore creative concepts and innovative approaches in their use of the glass medium, with the winning artist sending additional works to demonstrate the breadth of their work.

The 2022 Raphael Prize finalists are: Dean Allison, Pittsburgh, PA; Eunsuh Choi, Rochester, WI; Donald Friedlich, Madison, WI; Michael Janis, Washington, DC; Lauren Kalman, Detroit, MI; David King, Danville, KY; Eriko Kobayashi, Carbondale, IL; Weston Lambert, Tacoma, WA; Patrick Martin, Emporia, KS; Hisayoshi Muto, Yatomi, Aichi, Japan; Aya Oki, San Bernardino, CA; Miroslava Ptackova, Zlín, Zlínský kraj, Czech Republic; David Schnuckel, Rochester, NY; Michaela Spruzinova, Ústí Nad Labem, brná, Czech Republic; Ben Wright, Stanwood, WA; Ayano Yoshizumi, Everard Park, SA, Australia; and Hoseok Youn, Toledo, OH.

The jury for the 2022 prize includes Anna Rothfuss, Project Development Manager, Derix Art Glass Consultants, LLC U.S., Portland, OR; Heather McElwee, Randi & L. Van V. Dauler, Jr. Executive Director, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Alexandra Raphael, enameller, London, England; Catherine Raphael, metalsmith and writer, Pittsburgh, PA; Rachel Saul Rearick, Executive Director, and Kate Lydon, Director of Exhibitions (retired), Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA

Contemporary Craft, 5645 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Contemporary Craft hours: Mon-Sat: 10 AM – 4 PM

September 9, 2022 – March 18, 2023

This opening is free and open to the public.

ABOUT CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Contemporary Craft presents contemporary art in craft media by regional, national, and international artists. Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity and contemporary art, as well as a range of artist-led studio workshops, community engagement programs, and a store. Located at 5645 Butler Street in the Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, visit www.contemporarycraft.org

Janis & Tate @ Toronto’s Sandra Ainsley Gallery

Michael Janis & Tim Tate at Toronto’s Sandra Ainsley Gallery June 4 – July 30, 2022

Toronto, Canada’s famed Sandra Ainsley Gallery present the narrative glass artworks by WGS Co-Directors Tim Tate and Michael Janis. The show, titled “One Story is Not Enough” featured works by each artist as a solo, and a number of their collaborative wall murals.

Michael Janis’ imagery in frit powder is reflected in the gallery’s piano surface.

When Michael Janis and Tim Tate met, almost 20 years ago, they discovered a shared fascination of narrative sculpture- one that seeks to arrive at an image that is both unflinchingly candid in physical representation and psychologically evasive. Working together, they are interested in the simultaneous read of an immediately recognizable image that asks the viewer to linger over history and meanings that unfurl more slowly. Mark, line and material become an extension of touch in the act of representation. The relationship of hand to subject, negotiated through the material, can elicit a response of both visual and tactile.

“The Poetry of Everyday Objects” by Michael Janis & Tim Tate, 2021; Size:6H x 6W’; Cast Glass

With these confines they create work in many techniques, but if you stand slightly back and see their history a huge thread of interconnected stories weave through their work from day one. The beauty comes into focus and the viewer sees the edges of a world not dissimilar to this one, but so much more thoughtful.

Detail – “The Poetry of Everyday Objects”, Michael Janis & Tim Tate

They present this glimpse into that alternative world, seemingly unstuck in time somewhere between past and future.

Tim Tate, Lenticular series, 2022, each panel 41″H x 41″W, lenticular prints

Sandra Ainsley Gallery
The Warehouse
100 Sunrise Avenue, Unit 150
Toronto, Ontario Canada M4A 1B3

Michael Janis on Art Clinic Online Saturday, June 25th.

On Saturday, June 25th, WGS Co-Director Michael Janis is the guest artist presenting on online talk for the Art Clinic Online @ Glen Echo’s Stone Tower Studio.

sgraffito glass imagery of figure
Michael Janis; “Current State”, 2020. Kilnformed glass, glass powder imagery, 4 panels – each 20” x 30”

The Art Clinic Online (ACO) community aims to create a supportive arts environment in an online setting. The ACO features online presentations where members can ask them questions about their vision and create a forum for the equal exchange of art ideas and art information as well as opportunities.

If you are interested in joining the online presentation, email Mariana for the zoomlink- mkastrin@gmail.com

2022 Venice Biennale Showcases DC Area Artists

Michael Janis Tim Tate Chris Shea venice biennale 2022 glasstress
“There’s A Big Hole In The Sky” – Collaborative sculpture by Tim Tate, Michael Janis, and Chris Shea. 

The Venice Biennale is an international art exhibition featuring architecture, visual arts, cinema, dance, music, and theatre that is held in the Castello district of VeniceItaly every two years during the summer. This year’s Venice Biennale includes a collateral event – ‘Glasstress’ – held at the historic Berengo Studios in Murano, Italy.

The 59th International Art Exhibition features a sculptural collaboration between DC glass artists Tim Tate, Michael Janis and Brandywine metal sculptor Chris Shea, representing the USA.

21st century glass sculpture art
Detail of Tate,Janis,Shea artwork showing cast glass and metalwork .

Chris Shea’s incredible metal work frames out Tim Tate’s lush fields of cast glass elements (detailed figures, flowers, insects) and in center, a glass sgraffito panel by Michael Janis.

A central concern in “There’s a Big Hole in The Sky” is that viewers need to abandon their apathy towards climate change. This monumental sculpture brings to light the effects of global warming on the earth as most areas will be facing frequent flooding. Despite the growing evidence of climate change, and humanity as the driver of that change, there remains a hardcore 20 percent or so that reject the whole notion of it and a healthy percentage that remain unconvinced that humans are causing it. And on top of those dismal statistics, many believe that climate change does not represent a threat to them. The artwork is an invitation to understand, to act, and to prepare. But if political solutions to climate change don’t materialize soon, it may also be an invitation to come to terms with loss.

washington glass school murano italy art sculpture
Image of installation at Berengo Studios in Murano, Italy.

From Biennale Press Release 

GLASSTRESS 2022

2 JUNE – 27 NOVEMBER 2022

BERENGO ART SPACE FOUNDATION

Venice, 2022 

At the same time as the 59th Venice Biennale, the seventh edition of GLASSTRESS, scheduled from June 2 to November 27, 2022, brings together a group of important contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, Latin America, Africa and China in an ambitious exhibition that explores the infinite creative possibilities of glass.

The works will be housed in the Berengo Art Space Foundation in Murano, an old abandoned furnace transformed a few years ago into an evocative exhibition space. On display will be works by artists who have already collaborated and exhibited at GLASSTRESS with Berengo Studio, such as Ai Weiwei, Jimmie Durham, Tony Cragg, Monira Al Qadiri, Thomas Schütte, as well as first-time attendees Vanessa Beecroft, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Tim Tate, Paloma Varga Weisz and eL Seed, among others.

GLASSTRESS is a project by Adriano Berengo dedicated to promoting new connections between contemporary art and glass. Starting from its debut in 2009 as a side event of the Venice Biennale, over the years GLASSTRESS has made dozens of internationally renowned artists and designers passionate about the traditional craft of Murano glass blowing, who have tried their hand at creating suggestive and innovative works in glass with the support of the masters of Berengo Studio.

GLASSTRESS 2022 – ARTISTS

NEW ARTISTS

Vanessa Beecroft (Italy), María Magdalena Campos-Pons (Cuba), Judy Chicago (United States), Chiara Dynys (Italy), eL Seed (France), Leandro Erlich (Argentina), Ryan Gander (Great Britain), Michael Janis (United States), Alexander Evgenievich Ponomarev (Russia), Laurent Reypens (Belgium), Liam Scully (Great Britain), Chris Shea (United States), Paloma Varga Weisz (Germany), Osman Yousefzada (Great Britain).

RETURNING ARTISTS

Ai Weiwei (China), Monira Al Qadiri (Kuwait), Ayman Baalbaki (Lebanon), Tony Cragg (Great Britain), Jimmie Durham (United States), Jan Fabre (Belgium), Josepha Gasch-Muche (Germany), Kendell Geers ( South Africa), Marya Kazoun (Lebanon / Canada), Brigitte Kowanz (Austria), Karen LaMonte (United States), Tomáš Libertiny (Slovak Republic), Massimo Lunardon (Italy), Federica Marangoni (Italy), Prune Nourry (France), Anne Peabody (United States), Jaume Plensa (Spain), Laure Prouvost (France), Thomas Schütte (Germany), Sean Scully (United States), Wael Shawky (Egypt), Lino Tagliapietra (Italy), Tim Tate (United States) , Koen Vanmechelen (Belgium), Robert Wilson (United States), Rose Wylie (Great Britain), Erwin Wurm (Austria).

New CAH Exhibition: Fragile Beauty (May 9, 2022 – July 1, 2022)

With social injustice a common theme around the world, we are also currently witnessing the injustices committed against our natural environment. Like our ancestors, we sense nature’s vastness, yet we lack the same respect those indigenous peoples had for nature as a sentient being. We take the Earth’s vastness for granted. What we experience as nature pushing back is nature seeking balance.

Michael Janis: Transformation; cast glass, ceramic

With this exhibit, Fragile Beauty, 33 DC artists seek to bring a sense of balance to an array of environmental injustices. Their art and their vision advocate awareness, mindfulness, consciousness, and stewardship, offering pathways towards personal partnership with our planet. They tell their stories with painting, sculpture, prints, photography, and installations. They inform us of both the joyful and the sorrowful, the woeful and the hopeful. Their work will challenge, enlighten, and inform your sense of wonder for exploring the beauty, power, and magnificent mystery of our home planet. We thank these artists for their commitment to illuminating the importance of nurturing and protecting the fragile beauty of the place we all call home.

Fragile Beauty is the first juried art exhibition initiated by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The new Juried Exhibition Grant provides support for DC artists to exhibit their creative vision to the residents of Washington, DC.

-Jarvis Grant


Featured artists: Tammy Barnes, Jeffrey Berg, Monica Jahan Bose, Elizabeth Casqueiro, Gloria Chapa, Michèle Colburn, Chris Combs, Shaughn Cooper with Kelsye Adams, Frank Hallam Day, Anna U Davis, R.A. Dean, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Cheryl D. Edwards, David Allen Harris, Michael Iacovone, Michael Janis, Noel Kassewitz, Sally Kauffman, Barry D. Lindley, Patrick McDonough, Regina Miele, Steven Muñoz, Werllayne Nunes, Chelsea Ritter-Soronen, Lisa K. Rosenstein, Carly Rounds, Amanda Sauer, Alexandra Silverthorne, Ira Tattelman, Roderick Turner, Jessica van Brakle, Dawn Whitmore, Bahar Yürükoğlu.

Fragile Beauty
May 9 – July 1, 2022
Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm ET

Opening Reception
Thu, May 12, 2022
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Masks are required

Location:
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Gallery
200 I Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Gallery Hours:
Monday – Friday
9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Washington (State) Museum of Glass Showcases Washington (DC) Glass School Directors

Sculptures by each of the Washington Glass School Directors – Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers and Michael Janis- were acquired for the permanent collection of the Tacoma Museum of Glass (MOG).

Michael Janis, “Healing Words” 2009, kilnformed glass, glass powder imagery, 37″ x 19″ x 2″, Collection Museum of Glass.

A long-time Museum of Glass Trustee, Potomac, MD-based glass-art collector Robert Minkoff selected MOG to house his art collection before passing away in September 2020. Developed through decades of patronage and philanthropy, the collection celebrates the incredible diversity of glass art and its possibilities in the field of contemporary art.  With the addition of Robert Minkoff’s personal collection, the Museum’s glass holdings are now the largest in the Western United States.

The artworks by the Washington Glass School artists will be part of a yearlong exhibit Boundless Curiosity: A Journey with Robert Minkoff, opening April 2, 2022.

Organized by Museum of Glass and curated by Katie Buckingham, ‘Boundless Curiosity’ follows Minkoff’s love of glass and tells vibrant stories of glass’s evolution from a studio craft material. “The Minkoff Collection is a transformational gift to the Museum” said curator Katie Buckingham. “We are excited about the opportunity to widen the story of glass art and show compelling narrative sculptural work”.

MOG’s contemporary glass collection concentrates on how medium of glass interacts with modern day art. Citing “glass secessionism” (as defined by Tim Tate and William Warmus in their “21st Century Glass Conversations and Images” online group) there is a movement in glass art away from “technique” towards “artistic vision” and concept. Said Curator Buckingham “we all look forward to including the artworks by the Washington Glass School directors – the 3 Musketeers of Glass.”

Washington Glass School artists Erwin Timmers, Tim Tate and Michael Janis (aka aka- Athos, Porthos and Aramis)

Works by noted glass artists Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, Debora Moore, Therman Statom, Amber Cowan, Susan Taylor Glasgow, Shane Ferro, Paul Stankard, and Laura Donefer round out the exhibit in the main gallery of the Museum. The Minkoff collection exhibition will kick off the Glass Art Society (GAS) 2022 international conference held in Tacoma, WA this May.

About Museum of Glass

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. Opened in 2002, the Museum has established a reputation for hosting impactful and engaging artist residencies, organizing nationally traveling exhibitions, and creating unique programs for visitors while building a growing permanent collection chronicling the development of modern and contemporary glass. 

Museum of Glass provides an environment for artists and the public to ignite creativity, fuel discovery, and enrich their lives through glass and glassmaking. MOG’s glass holdings are now the largest in the Western United States.

BOUNDLESS CURIOSITY: A JOURNEY WITH ROBERT MINKOFF

Opening April 2, 2022 thru 2023

Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma, WA 98402

www.museumofglass.org

“Reflections in Glass”, Solo show by Erwin Timmers at Allegany Arts Gallery

The Allegany Arts Council Saville Gallery presents Washington Glass School Co- Director Erwin Timmers in a solo exhibition “Reflections in Glass” from February 5 thru February 26, 2022. Recycling, waste, the environment, and the ways in which all three relate to society are recurring themes in his work.

Erwin Timmers cast recycled glass sculpture in the Saville Gallery, Cumberland, MD.

Said Timmers about his body of work on exhibit: “My work revolves around ideas of sustainable design and consumption in the urgent context of pressing societal changes and deepening global ecological concerns.
My artwork centers on the craft of design, combining modern and traditional fabrication techniques to develop new material-based knowledge and aesthetics of sustainability. My portfolio aims to spark specific kinds of awareness. “

“The objects I sculpt from recycled materials are moments of intersection and influence. As boundary objects, they play with conventions of form and function, material and method, production and consumption. I work less for the purposes of critique, but rather for the potential to generate open and inviting exchanges. An artist, successfully engaged in creative inquiry, notices, seeks out, or otherwise creates the conditions for novel convergence and the overlapping and dissolution of conventional boundaries.
I work at reinforcing metaphors of transformation and change. “

recycled glass

Timmers will also present a talk on how public art transforms communities. The event “Making Our Case For Public Art” is free and open to the public and all are invited to attend. The event will begin with a networking reception at 5:30PM with the program slated to kick off at 6:00PM.

The artists from the Washington Glass School are also on exhibit in a special show, featuring artworks by Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Patricia De Poel Wilberg, April Shelford, Vibha Bhatia and Clayton Lutu.

Timmers is Co-founder and Director of the Washington Glass School and one of the DC area’s leading ‘eco-artists’. Erwin is currently working with architects and designers on several “green” design projects. His work in sustainable design can be seen in some of the large public art projects he has completed, including an award-winning project for the US EPA Ariel Rios South Courtyard Green Infrastructure Project, in Washington, DC, and the public artwork for the LEED certified Safeway supermarket in Bethesda, MD. Montgomery County honored Erwin Timmers as the county’s “Outstanding Artist” in 2018. The Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma, Washington has recently acquired works by Timmers for its permanent collection.

Allegany Arts Council Saville Gallery
9 N. Centre Street
Cumberland, MD 21502
Reflections in Glass
February 5- 26, 2022

Making Our Case for Public Art
Friday, February 25, 2022 • 5:30PM – Cocktail Reception; 6:00PM – Program • Free to attend

Corning Museum of Glass Awards Cheryl Derricotte BIPOC Residency

The Corning Museum of Glass in New York is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to exploring a single material: glass. With almost a half a million visitors from around the world each year, the Museum’s campus is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass, the world’s foremost library on glass, and one of the top glassworking schools (The Studio) in the world.

One of the features of the Studio is Corning’s Artist Residencies. The Artist-in-Residence programs at The Studio provide artists the opportunity to research and experiment with new techniques and subjects in their work. Artists-in-Residence are invited to utilize the resources of the Museum’s campus including The Studio, the extensive collections and archives of the Museum, and the Rakow Research Library.

One of Washington Glass School’s illustrious alumni – Cheryl Derricotte – was awarded by Corning this coming year’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Residency (BIPOC).

Originally from Washington, DC, Cheryl now lives and makes art in San Francisco, CA. Her art has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, The San Francisco Chronicle, MerciSF and the San Francisco Business Times.

The BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) Residency is Corning Museum’s way of actively fostering a culture and community of inclusion that promotes, respects, and celebrates this community.

Artists spend a month at The Studio exploring new directions in glass art or expanding on their current bodies of work while using the immense resources of the world’s leading glass museum. During their residency, each artist gives a presentation about their work during a free public event in The Studio Lecture Room.

Congratulations Cheryl! Looking forward to your presentation and the works from the Residency!!