Save The Date! May 14th is the proposed date for Washington Glass School Open Studio Tour! Many of the surrounding art studios and galleries will be participating! We will follow health protocols – and it will be great to see all in real life! Come and see what’s new and what has been shaking at the studio!
Category Archives: american glass
Habatat Galleries Celebrates 50 Years
This Friday, September 3rd, Michigan’s Habatat Galleries presents the opening of Glass Art Fair exhibition at 11:00 a.m. ET. This will be the VIP preview day for the online art fair as it opens to the public virtually the next day. This presentation includes many of available works that will be featured in the Habatat Galleries 50th in-person celebration.
Artists from around the world have been invited to this event and the gallery expects a large turnout since all have been apart for so long. During the pandemic Habatat has been pioneering the world of virtual glass art events including Glass49, GlassArtFair, the new annual Not Grandma’s Glass exhibition, and the highly apropos Viral Glass exhibition. Director Aaron Schey has created a treasure trove of digital presentations over the last year via Habatat Now programs which are viewable on YouTube.
Gallery founder Ferdinand Hampson shares his thoughts about Habatat’s Legacy: Founded in 1971, Habatat has promoted, legitimized, and elevated a new art material to a point of recognition by the art community. Fifty years later we evolved with glass. We continue our efforts towards the mainstream though we are no longer outsiders. Fine art collectors, museums, and noted art publications have in many cases recognized the medium and shared in the excitement of what this material can do and be, in the hands of creative artists worldwide.
Online Virtual Tour of Phillips Collection
In Washington, DC- the perfect thing to do is visit a museum! The Phillips Collection’ new exhibit “Inside Outside Upside Down” features works by WGS artists Tim Tate & Michael Janis! Below is installation view, “Inside Outside, Upside Down” at the The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, July 12 – September 17, 2021.
Or… if one can’t get to the museum- take a virtual online 3D tour! Click HERE to jump to Phillips Collection online tour.
National Guard At Post For President-Elect Biden Inauguration
National Guard Soldiers stand guard at the John Adams Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have traveled to the National Capital Region to provide support leading up to the 59th Presidential Inauguration. (photo: Tech. Sgt. Lucretia Cunningham)
15,000 National Guard troops are now in DC for the scheduled Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. But with so many troops in a city that has become a maze of black fencing, cement barriers and dozens of checkpoints, there is an eerie calm in Washington DC, ahead of a feared storm of supporters of President Donald Trump, who don’t believe their candidate lost and are willing to continue the violence.
Photos of the Guard protecting the Library of Congress Adams Building shows the soldiers in front of the cast glass panels made by Washington Glass Studio with Portland’s Fireart Studio. Click Here to jump to the 2012 American Craft interview and photos of the cast glass made and the process to make the architectural artwork.
We are happy that the military is taking no chances with who was coming to protect the inauguration.
On a normal day, it takes about an hour to walk the 2.5 miles down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill.
But these are no normal days.
These precautions come a week after a mob of supporters of Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn the results of the presidential election.
The Future of Art: Glass Art Fair 2020
Many art fairs have been moved online due to the global pandemic. Now, as a way to provide access to the best of art glass – Glass Art Fair has been formed. This new online art fair provides a unique opportunity with virtual experience – where all are invited to learn and explore each artist featured and share on their personal social media. The future has “arrived so much sooner,” said the creator of Glass Art Fair, “If galleries and fairs are closed, how can we sell art? Creating an online art fair platform is something we envisioned as an important part of what we do.”
artist: Tim Tate. Image courtesy Habatat Galleries.
New for 2020, the Glass Art Fair online art fair features over 60 artists creating using glass as their art medium, opening online to the public on Sunday, November 1st, 2020. This art fair will be online the same time as the Sofa Chicago art fair (rebranded Intersect Art Fair).
artist: Michael Janis. Image courtesy Habatat Galleries.
Glass Art Fair hopes collectors on their laptops and iPads will take more time with the work than those darting through a Navy Pier or a Miami beachfront tent. “We have the ability to have multiple images and detail shots – When people are visiting the online platform, they aren’t walking through for 45 seconds. You’re going to have their attention for so much longer.”
artist: Wilfried Grootens. Image courtesy Habatat Galleries.
This online presentation will continue for the month of November with more presentations as works become available. Each artist has the availability to edit and add artwork throughout the month so please check back in for updates often. The works on the site are available for purchase.
artist: Christina Bothwell. Image courtesy Habatat Galleries.
Expect more of what you love at the Glass Art Fair.
artists:
Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty. Image courtesy Habatat Galleries.
Final Week of CLICK-IT! Online Exhibition
Works by Jennifer Caldwell & Jason Chakravarty, Jeff Zimmer, F Lennox (Lenny) Campello, Teri Bailey and Steve Wanna.
We’re down to the final week the “CLICK-IT!” online exhibit!. Showing works by these talented artists (Teri Bailey, F. Lennox Campello, Jennifer Caldwell, Jason Chakravarty, Cheryl P. Derricotte, Sean Donlon, Sean Hennessey, Joseph Ivacic, Michael Janis, Carmen Lozar, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Steve Wanna, & Jeff Zimmer) to the public and hearing the wonderful feedback has been so rewarding. It means a lot to us that we can share their world with the world and an appreciation for the works/sentiments/technical brilliance can be appreciated.
Works by Sean Donlon, Michael Janis, Jennifer Caldwell & Jason Chakravarty, Joseph Ivacic and Tim Tate.
Those who have yet to visit the exhibition should grab the chance to see these truly wonderful works online – click HERE to jump to online exhibit!
Works by Cheryl Derricotte, Sean Hennessey, Erwin Timmers, Jennifer Caldwell & Jason Chakravarty and Carmen Lozar.
“Artists For Racial Justice” exhibit and fundraising for non-profits that can help with equality with art as a tool for healing and peace to help at this time.
Click HERE to jump to the fundraiser arts page.
Want more than just visual …stimulation? click on link below and get the official “Click It” themesong – music by Donovan Lessard.
WGS Featured Artist: Teri Swinhart
CLICK IT! Featured Artist: Teri Swinhart
Teri Swinhart
Teri Swinhart is a multimedia artist holding a BFA in Glass from The University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and an MFA from The Ohio State University. She thrives in learning, pursuing opportunities to expand her understanding of material at institutions such as Penland School of Crafts, the Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Teri currently lives and works in Washington D.C. as the Studio Coordinator for the Washington Glass School and the Director of WGS Contemporary.
Teri Swinhart teaching pâte de verre technique at the Washington Glass School.
Washington Glass School blog catches up with Teri as her work is part of the WGS Contemporary online exhibit “CLICK-IT!”.
Washington Glass School (WGS): Describe your artwork method/process.
Teri Swinhart: The forms for the Sanctuary Series are constructed by precisely layering thin glass strands to imitate weaved textile patterns. The glass strands are lightly melted together and then heated until they slump over a hand-made mold. Each mold is uniquely carved out of a soft plaster mixture that is removed after firing, creating a negative space within the glass sculpture. I also create a charcoal drawing of my inspiration (a child hiding under a blanket) to help guide the viewer and add visual variety.
Teri Swinhart, “Sanctuary Among Fragility”; Kilnworked Glass, Flat Glass; 6”x7”x4”; concept sketch above finished work.
I combined an assortment of processes to create Seeking Home. This piece includes a hand sculpted figure as well as a glass quilt square. I made the square by sifting ground up glass powder (called frit) through a stencil onto a larger sheet of flat glass. I then fired the sheet and fused the pattern onto the surface.
Teri Swinhart, detail, “Seeking Home”; Glass, Poly-Vitro, Wood; 18”x20”x6”
Delicate Revolution is an installation of over 400 eyehooks that have been corseted together with layers of silk ribbon. This installation changes every time it is presented and is dependent on the space around it.
Teri Swinhart, Detail “Delicate Revolution”; Stainless Steel Eyehooks, Ribbon, Wood; 2’x8’x1′
Defiance (in Artists for Racial Justice Fundraiser) is a deep red glass casting of a human neck with its chin raised. The chin proudly jutting out, even though it is fractured and worn. The mold for the piece was made by painting body safe rubber mold material onto my model’s neck, waiting for it to try, then removing the mold and pouring wax into it to create a reproduction. The wax neck is then covered in plaster-silica to create a kilnproof mold. The wax is melted of out the mold and the negative space that it leaves is filled with cold chunks of glass and heated up in a kiln until they melt.
WGS: Describe your work in the show and highlight aspects that the viewers should understand about the work.
Teri Swinhart: The work in this show highlights many of the different processes and materials that I enjoy working with. All of these works highlight my fascination with textiles and their role in the home. Similar to artists like Mary Cassatt, I am drawn to exploring the beautiful intimacy within the home and the personal.
WGS: What artwork/event has moved you and got you thinking about your own work?
Teri Swinhart: The two biggest things influencing my work (and much of the world) right now are COVID and the BLM Movement. So much of the inspiration for my work comes from the emotion and vulnerability of the extremely personal. I am painfully empathetic, so to watch this many people die so brutally leaves me fluctuating between heartbroken, terrified, and enraged. I don’t think I could keep emotions this intense out of my artwork even if I really tried. It has shown me that I need to take a stance on things I have been privileged enough to avoid in the past and use my voice to spread love and promote change. No pressure…
Here’s your coffee… & thank-you for wearing a mask!
WGS: if you were not an artist – what would you be?
Teri Swinhart: A psychologist… or a barista.
WGS: Do you do a lot of planning in your work – or is there an element of chance while working?
Teri Swinhart: Definitely a little bit of both. I feel like I spend 75% of the time in my sketchbook working through each element of an idea before I begin making, then when I feel comfortable with the plan I begin bringing it to life. I am flexible throughout the process and lots of things change as I lay the materials next to each other and work through the installation… it keeps me on my toes!
Click here to jump to Teri Swinhart’s work in CLICK-IT!
Teri’s work is part of the companion exhibit/fundraiser – “Artists for Racial Justice” Click HERE to jump to the show.
WGS Featured Artist: Jason Chakravarty
CLICK IT! Featured Artist: Jason Chakravarty
Jason Chakravarty is a mixed media artist based in Arizona. He worked for four years in a commercial neon sign shop before earning his MFA from California State University-Fullerton. He teaches neon and kiln casting workshops at universities and glass centers nationwide, and exhibits his work nationally.
Jason Chakravarty, together with Jennifer Caldwell have made many collaborative pieces, maintaining a critical, conceptual, and technical dialogue thru their work. Jennifer best known for her flame worked glass compositions and Jason’s technical focus is cast glass objects which often include parts or techniques from the hot shop. He uses familiar photorealistic imagery that ranges from sea to space. The narrative is the starting point and is a response to daily life and cultural observations.
Their work has been exhibited in museums including Corning Museum of Glass and Tacoma Museum of Glass, at SOFA Chicago.
Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty
Washington Glass School blog catches up with Jason as his work is part of the WGS Contemporary online exhibit “CLICK-IT!” and the associated show “Artists for Racial Justice“
Washington Glass School (WGS): Describe your artwork method/process.
Jason Chakravarty: Our process begins with a need to illuminate an idea. Ideas come from our surroundings, travels (or lack of in 2020), experiences, written stories, or even just captured moments. Glass presents the only medium with endless possibilities. We cast, blow, sculpt, paint, slump, fuse, carve, light it up and cut it. Glass can be made thick, thin, transparent, and opaque. To explain a single process would ignore the way we work.
Jason Chakravarty and Jennifer Caldwell, “Bee-nounced”; cast murrini with flameworked components.
WGS: Describe your work in the show and highlight aspects that the viewers should understand about the work.
Jason Chakravarty: For Click It, we were lucky to include works that span over the past decade. The most recent being ‘Beenounced‘. This piece highlights the delicacy of Jennifer’s flame worked bee and honey living amongst a random and repeating hexagon honeycomb pattern. Each leg and wing is sculpted by hand, while a more machine-like process for the hexagon can be compared to a sushi roll. Long pulls of clear glass coated with yellow or black cut up, organized on end and cast to make a larger hexagon home.
Jason Chakravarty and Jennifer Caldwell, “Woken Inna Space Without Sound”; sculpted/blown glass/mixed media
On the other end of the timeline spectrum, ‘Woken Inna Space Without Sound‘ was entirely made using the hot shop. A small paperweight was created and cooled, butterfly and bee decals were applied to the surface. The paperweight was then heated, more clear glass was added and the glass cooled again. Add additional decals and repeat. Each layer requires a couple days. Once all the layers were built the glass was reheated again, shaped and sculpted into a half moon with craters. Layers of transparent and opaque gray, white and opal color were added to the surface and then cooled. The butterfly net was hand blown separately.
Discussing one last piece. “Catch and Release“. The lock is cast glass and was purchased in Tel Aviv on a trip to teach in Jerusalem. At the time it felt like an ancient relic that we had found in an old mud hut and bought from a man that was nearing the end of a long and nonmonetary rich life. The fence referenced a fence that ran along the walkway to a bridge in Seattle that we would use when boarding/unboarding the ferry. The fence itself is created by hand using a torch and then assembled cold and held tight in a frame like a puzzle.
WGS: How have you handled the Covid lockdown?
Jason Chakravarty: It feels like we are working on the same path as a year ago. The demand for our work has shifted but not slowed down. While we are busy, the silver lining has been that all the anxiety has subsided. Deadlines are on ‘island time’ more like a suggestion vs an absolute. While too much to list has changed we are still consistently working. Every day is still a great day to add something better to the world.
Jason Chakravarty and Jennifer Caldwell; “Weeding Out”; cast/fused glass, steel.
WGS: What artwork/event has moved you and got you thinking about your own work?
Jason Chakravarty: Typically travel and life experience write the story for our work and fill our sketch books. It feels like we are now able to resolve some of the ideas that have been sitting or on hold. So I would say the ‘lack of event’ has us thinking more about how we work and the actual work and less focused on the excitement that comes with new ideas.
WGS: if you were not an artist – what would you be?
Jason Chakravarty: Fred Flintstone.
The artist formerly known as Jason Chakravarty. Yabba.Dabba.Do.
WGS: Do you do a lot of planning in your work – or is there an element of chance while working?
Jason Chakravarty: We start with a plan and embrace all the changes along the way. Our work is very process orientated. Many steps using many techniques. Each would have to be perfect to reach our original plan. Nothing is ever perfect. Even our view of the narrative shifts with time, day, and week.
WGS: What is your rule of thumb in determining when a work is finished?
Jason Chakravarty: Each piece we make starts with a narrative. Our goal within a narrative is to raise questions vs provide answers. A piece is resolved when the question is asked.
Click HERE to jump to Jason Charavarty and Jennifer Caldwell’s work in CLICK-IT!
And see their work as part of “Artists For Racial Justice” – click HERE.
Read about Jennifer Caldwell – the other half of JC2 -click HERE.
CLICK-IT Exhibition Opens June 16th @ WGS Contemporary
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WGS Contemporary hosts CLICK-IT! and Artists for Racial Justice
With much of the physical art world closing because of Covid-19, artists, galleries and museums have turned to technology and social media to stay open (albeit virtually), allowing visitors from anywhere in the world to interact with and view art.
WGS Contemporary Gallery (located in the DMV’s Gateway Arts District) had to get creative with how to bring art to the world. With so much changing so quickly, artists and arts organizations are still in the process of finding their footing. “With everyone in isolation, art is needed now more than ever to help remind people that we are not alone. Art helps us to dream, escape our current realities, and engage our imaginations in building a better world for tomorrow,” said Gallery Director Teri Swinhart (Bailey). “With this show, we all stand united (six feet apart, of course) and ready to take on these challenges and the new opportunities they present.”
“Spilt Perfume Set”, Artist: Carmen Lozar
“Sea Through The Looking Glass”, Artists: Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty
Opening June 16th, WGS Contemporary presents “Click-It!” featuring works by some of the most exciting and inspiring artists, with a broad spectrum of works that showcase the current trends in art and the media specific works.
“Patterns of Containment”, Artist: Erwin Timmers
Artists in the show include:
Teri Swinhart (Bailey)
F. Lennox Campello
Jennifer Caldwell
Jason Chakravarty
Cheryl P. Derricotte
Sean Donlon
Sean Hennessey
Joseph Ivacic
Michael Janis
Carmen Lozar
Tim Tate
Erwin Timmers
Steve Wanna
Jeff Zimmer
“By placing artworks of different materials, mediums, and styles in direct conversation, there is opportunity for new dialogues and perspectives,” adds Swinhart. Click-It! will highlight the many parallel and interesting artistic directions these artists bring creating a dynamic environment of exchange online.
“We will be using our online platforms to introduce exciting new art programming that aims to enrich, entertain and inspire during this challenging time.”
A special fundraising event “Artists for Racial Justice” is also scheduled online as a companion show, with the-proceeds for these special works to be donated to the non-profit organizations “Color of Change ” and the “NAACP”.
“DejaVu”, Artist Sean Donlon
WGS Contemporary is a Washington, DC area art and special projects fine arts gallery. WGS Contemporary’s mission is to contribute to thinking about art, new media, technology, and social issues through an open access forum which we hope will facilitate contemporary and innovative projects worldwide. In that process, WGSC will expose the cutting edge work of artists pushing the new media frontiers of art. Projects using robotics, sensory perception, holographic imaging, self-contained video sculptures and others will offer an intelligent and fresh set of artwork that marries technology and art into a new creative dialogue in the visual arts.
Want more than just visual …stimulation? click on link below and get the official “Click It” themesong – music by Donovan Lessard.
“How We Take Care of Each Other” Artwork in the Time of Corona – Installation by Michael Janis
We are social creatures. Every relationship has been built and held together by complicated nonverbal language, beginning with parent and child. It’s part of our social fabric. Individual, family, and interpersonal relationships have all changed as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. What is the characteristic of a pandemic? Emptiness. The unusual quiet in what was normally noisy, bustling neighborhood. Silence – where the silence isn’t merely the absence of noise. It’s judgement, longing and paranoia.The fear the we may be ourselves a transmitter of the virus as we seek the comfort of others.
How people are psychologically affected by and coping with the COVID-19 emergency is the basis of the installation of kiln cast glass by WGS artist Michael Janis. Over 20 individual glass panels make up the large wall-mounted work.
Janis’ signature “sgraffito” imagery – where he manipulates fine crushed glass powder into highly detailed imagery and portraiture, fires the images into layers of colored glass is used to strong effect in this new work. Images of that convey the sense of how we are connected and yet are contained into separate worlds is the essence of the work. Working in the isolation of the lock downed studio, Janis says he will continue to add to the installation as the virus continues to work thru the world. “Working on artwork keeps me sane” says the artist.
Partial view of Michael Janis’ “How We Take Care Of Each Other” glass art installation. Kilnformed glass; glass powder imagery; varying dimensions; 2020.
Partial view of Michael Janis’ “How We Take Care Of Each Other” glass art installation. Larger panels approx. 18″ (45cm) dia.
Detail of one of the fused glass panels in Michael Janis’ installation. Imagery made from glass powder in Janis’ signature sgraffito technique.
Detail of Michael Janis’ glass art installation “How We Take Care Of Each Other”
Detail of works by Michael Janis. The translucent glass panels are mounted off the wall in varying dimensions, with light and shadow highlighting each panel edge.
Detail of one of Michael Janis’ kilnformed works. COVID-19 cases are heavily concentrated in the African American population.
The fabric of society is held together by even the smallest physical contact. Touch is as important a social condition as anything. It reduces stress. It makes people trust one another. It allows for cooperation. When you look at people in solitary confinement suffering from touch deprivation, you see that people lose a sense that someone’s got their back, that they’re part of a community and connected to others.