cast float glass | Washington Glass Studio

MICA Presents “Just A Drop”

Posted on January 31, 2023 by admin |

Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and the Curatorial Practice MFA (CP) Practicum class present “Just a Drop,” an exhibition on view in MICA’s Meyerhoff Gallery from February 10th to March 3rd, 2023. Through a wide range of objects and materials — including sculptures, illustrations, protest banners, textiles, glass art, videos, and a large-scale newly-commissioned mural — the 13 artists highlighted in this show reveal how water sustains life and shapes human destinies. Inspired by the September 2022 boil water advisory in West Baltimore, the five MICA students that organized “Just a Drop” dove deep into the history of the planet’s most precious resource. For this exhibition, a diverse group of artists, activists, and storytellers were brought together to describe people’s relationships to water via culture, ritual, and conservation. With personal, collective, and mythical imagery and stories, the featured artists invite viewers to reconsider the element that makes up 60% of their bodies and covers more than 70% of the planet’s surface.

Erwin Timmers; “Watered Down”, 2023, cast recycled float glass, steel, LED, 13″W x 39″H x 4″D.

Erwin Timmers is one of the artists in the exhibition, and his work – “Watered Down” is a wall mounted sculpture made of cast float glass. The artwork references the ubiquitous trash that fills the oceans – the disposed water bottle.

Erwin Timmers - environmental artist — Artist Erwin Timmers working in his studio at the Washington Glass School in Mt Rainier, MD.

“Just a Drop” opens at 5:00PM on Friday, February 10th with a public reception featuring a live storytelling performance by Griot Grandmother Edna.

Location
Meyerhoff Gallery
1303 W Mount Royal Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217

Posted in "dry plaster casting" washington, art from recycled material, cast float glass, cast recycled glass, erwin timmers, fused float glass, LED, Meyerhoff Gallery, MICA, recycle glass, recycle glass sculpture, recycled float glass, recycled glass, recycled glass art

Erwin Timmers Creates Sculpture for DC’s Sculpture Biennial

Posted on April 5, 2018 by admin |

Erwin Timmers’ sketch of his sculpture for Foggy Bottom exibit.

Arts in Foggy Bottom‘s sixth Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, co-curated by renowned DC artists Helen Frederick and Peter Winant, gives you the opportunity to see this unique neighborhood through the eyes of 15 emerging and established artists. WGS’ Erwin Timmers is one of the artists invited to the Biennial – and we catch up with him as he creates a new work to be installed near the Watergate complex.

Erwin Timmers casts with recycled glass to create the sculpture inset portals.

The Foggy Bottom site is in the shadow of Watergate!

All sculptures will be displayed in front of private homes during this free, six-month show.

Featured artists include:

•           Adam Bradley
•           David Brooks
•           Brian Dailey
•           Linda DePalma
•           Nehemiah Dixon
•           Emily Fussner
•           Sean Hennessey
•           Melissa Hill
•           Jeremy Thomas Kunkel
•           Richard Lew
•           John Ruppert
•           Nancy Sausser
•           Lisa Scheer
•           Valerie Theberge
•           Erwin Timmers
Absence & Presence runs from April 28th through October 27, 2018. Visitors are invited to tour the exhibition at their convenience throughout the day. There is no admission fee.

The exhibition is presented on private properties between 24th-26th Streets NW and H-K Streets NW, and is accessible from the Foggy Bottom-George Washington University Metro stop.

Posted in cast float glass, cast recycled glass, erwin timmers | Tagged foggy bottom

Washington Glass School invaded by Macedonians!

Posted on July 15, 2014 by admin |

Audrey Wilson with Mimi and Janko Gogusevski.

Visiting Macadonian designers & glass artists Janko and Mimi Gogusevski were visiting in the US, when they got the fever. For glass. And the only prescription is more glass. Mimi and Janko are the owners of Skopje’s Studio Vitrum in Macedonia, and after a short visit to the Washington Glass School, decided to re-arrange their schedule to allow for a workshop in bas-relief kiln casting, headed by superstar instructor Audrey Wilson.

Mimi Gogusevski sets up the glass in the kiln.

Architect Janko Gogusevski looking quite the ženkar in his colorful apron.

Soon the phrase “Moeto letačko vozilo e polno so jaguli” was heard throughout the school.

Working with Audrey, the couple explored options in creating architectural glass panels that they will be producing from their European glass studio.

We hope the artists are happy with their works and that we team up again sometime in the future – “Washington Glass School Goes to Europe” is our dream!

rrr.glass.studio_vitrum.glass.macedonia.usa.kilncast

Molds of sample patterns fill the kiln.

Posted in bas relief, cast float glass | Tagged gogusevski, macedonia, vitrum glass studio

The Process – Erwin Timmers Cast Glass Bottles

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Michael Janis |

From This:

To This:

artist: Erwin Timmers; materials: cast recycled glass

As part of the ongoing series titled ” The Process” that documents the methodology of an artist or technique – the work of Erwin Timmers is the feature of today’s pictorial.

Eco-artist Erwin Timmers creates artwork with environmental themes, and he works with materials that are diverted from the waste stream. As he prepares for the upcoming Smithsonian Craft Show, he invited us to have a look at how he starts the casting process as he creates his beautiful glass sculptures.

Working within his concepts of sustainable design and art, Erwin sourced glass from the US Probate Courthouse, in Greenbelt, MD for his artwork that was slated to end up in the trash dump.

Using plastic bottles cleared from the Anacostia River watershed (of which there was plenty to choose from), Erwin coats the bottles with a plaster/silica coating.

Erwin then fires the molds upside down in the kiln, melting out the plastic bottles.

Erwin extracts the remains of the plastic bottles from the molds.

Erwin then takes the cleaned molds and sets them in a bed of sand inside the glass kiln.

Erwin prepares flower pots act as reservoirs to hold the recycled tempered glass during the firing process.

Erwin loads the cleaned glass into the reservoirs and sets the kiln.

After the firing, the glass is divested from the plaster and polished.

Look for Erwin’s artwork at the Smithsonian Craft Fair – April 19-22, 2012.

Posted in art from recycled material, cast float glass, cast recycled glass, contemporary art glass, the process

Internet, Images and You

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Chip Montague |

>The internet is an interesting place – one the enables commissions to happen between artists, designers and clients from across the country – or even the entire world. As an example – a cast glass-and-steel work by Washington Glass Studio artist/director Michael Janis was seen by an Atlanta-based art consultant looking for artwork for a new hotel being designed by a Hollywood based interiors firm.

The original work “Liar Paradox” – Fred & Susan Sanders collection.
Photo credit: anythingphoto.net

Original schematic architectural lobby design by Cheryl Rowley Design.

In 2006, an Atlanta based art consultancy sourced Michael’s work from the internet and approached him to make a 6′-0″ version of the work to be the central work in the new Kimpton Hotel that was under construction in the Dupont Circle section of Washington, DC. The new hotel was to be designed and embellished to reflect the hotel’s theme of “Art In Motion” The finished three section cast glass-and-steel work titled “The Gravity Between Us” was built and installed in the lobby. The artwork was named Boutique Hotels Magazine’s “Best Artwork” in 2007.

“The Gravity Between Us” glass and steel sculpture by Michael Janis.

Detail of “The Gravity Between Us” by Michael Janis.
Washington, DC Palomar Hotel.

Viewing through the slabs of cast glass to the hotel lobby.

The internet was integral to the commission of the original work. After being made, the digital images of the large scale sculpture continue onwards – online.

A new GOOGLE image search function allows one to search online for specific or similar images. By dropping an image into the search box and it not only finds all “similar” images around the Internets, but also all the websites where that image is being used.

Using that function, it was discovered that many of the images of the Palomar Hotel glass artwork are referenced or are reproduced all over…the world! Below is an image of where the artwork was used as the cover of a Hong Kong book on international boutique hotels. This highlights the importance of having good digital images of any art made – they become the strongest selling card for other work.

Posted in cast float glass, cast glass, commissioned glass sculpture, glass and steel sculpture, hotel art, kimpton, palomar

Anatomy of a Site-Specific Artwork Project

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Michael Janis |

Vanderbilt University medical complex in Nashville, Tennessee, a leader in patient care, medical education, nursing education, and research, just opened its new Critical Care Tower, a 329,000-square-foot multi level addition. The University commissioned the Washington Glass Studio to create cast glass panels for the nurse’s stations on a number of floors within the new hospital.

Working with the architects on the project, the artwork commission was refined. The art panels would have to perform many duties – besides providing a screen to each floor’s nurse work area, allowing light to beyond, it would also need to block the viewing of sensitive papers and office equipment, as well as being a striking sculpture that would define the entry of each floor.

Design Concept

The initial concept design for the artwork at each floor’s nurse stations.

Preliminary artwork rendering layout. The inspiration was to bring a contemplative sense of nature into the hospital.

We wanted to bring the natural word into the medical center. Our goal was to give the patients and caregivers a place that felt restful – a place of healing and renewal. Our inspiration for the artwork was to have the feel of swirling masses of delicate oak, poplar, tulip, ginko and maple leaves in an autumn breeze. Each leaf is detailed, including curved stems and crisp leaf veins. The different level of the hospital would have unique swirling leaf patterns, allowing for differentiation and orientation.

One of the cast float glass panels inside the kiln.

Studio artist Nicole Puzan cleans and preps the cooled and annealed glass panel.

The kilncasting process started with making one-of-a-kind molds inside the kilns. The glass is placed atop the mold, and then fired to temperatures up to 1600 degrees F, and then annealed – over two days. The glass is then removed, cleaned and rough areas are ground and polished. As the panels were sequential, each section was mapped out and compared to each companion panel.

Typical nurse station cast artglass panel.