DC GlassWorks Announces Closing

DC GlassWorks – one of the glass studios integral to Washington DC’s contemporary art scene – has announced its closing.

DC GlassWorks studio held many important events. UK artists Phil Vickery and Roger Tye demonstrated at DC GlassWorks as part of an international exhibition of glass and clay artists in 2013.

DC GlassWorks studio held many important events. UK artists Phil Vickery and Roger Tye demonstrated at DC GlassWorks as part of an international exhibition of glass and clay artists in 2013.

David D’Orio, the artist-entrepreneur who founded the hotshop with four other artists (Graham Caldwell, Jesse Caldwell, Alger Dole, Wyndell Williams, David DOrio) in 2001 said that the changes in the studio’s surrounding area made it impossible to continue.

Washington Glass School considered DC GlassWorks a “sister school” and held many crossover classes and events with them. We knew what an important part DC GlassWorks was to our art community. Its closing will leave a space in our hearts and our cultural melting pot.

From DC GlassWorks:

The past few years have been challenging for the studio. Our neighboring businesses have changed and, unfortunately, the business models of these new neighbors have forced us to reduce our events and offerings. In the end, location matters. Good neighbors’ matter. It is in this context that we find we can no longer continue offering glassblowing and will be closing the studio over the next month.

It has been a great run and we would like to thank all the studio artists, visiting artists, students, bands, patrons, and everyone else who have supported DC GlassWorks over the last fifteen plus years. We have had the pleasure to teach many hundreds of students of all ages and backgrounds, have hosted movie nights and countless open houses, had the pleasure to host many national and international artists, and tried to pass on our knowledge of glassblowing and sculpture to all who came to the studio. We have had great times, made great art, and hopefully enriched the lives of all persons who we interacted with.

DC GlassWorks was founded on the idea that glassblowing should be accessible to all persons and became a place where a person could start off with no glass experience and, through training, hard work, and perseverance, could make the work they wanted to make and could give back to the greater glass community. Our goal was to foster self-sufficiency so that students were prepared to work in whatever studio they ended up at. We’ve always taught that it was important for all glass artists to make sure they are involved with assisting and teaching. It is heartwarming to see so many former students still working in glass and giving back to the community.

Our parting wish is that students find a place to learn glass that fosters their creativity and self-sufficiency; where people are taught how to blow glass without having to take perpetual ‘private lessons’ before gaining access to equipment; and a place that guides student to a level where they are free to blow glass without having to pay someone to assist/supervise them. We also hope our renters find places they can work that allows them the ability to work without having to befriend the owner, work like indentured servants, or have a specific pedigree or education just to get access to glassblowing facilities. DC GlassWorks was founded to fight against these worn-out models of glass studios. Expect more and aim high.

It has been an amazing ride and we thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for being a part of this experience.

-DC GlassWorksdc.glassworks.washington.maryland.dave.david.dorio.studio.hotshop

International Glass + Clay: Collective Imagination Pt 5

Opening March 1, 2013, Washington, DC will host an international exhibit of glass and clay artwork – the third collaborative exhibition organized by Artomatic and the DCCAH between Washington, DC artists and artists from our Sister City of Sunderland, England. With all the amazing glass and ceramic artwork being showcased, Washington Glass School will publish online a five part series of profiles on the artists behind the works. US & UK Artists in the International Glass + Clay 2013 Exhibition in Washington, DC.

Part 5 of 5

                                                                                                 

Laurel Lukaszewski / Ceramics / US

Laurel Lukaszewski is a Washington, DC area based artist. She has exhibited widely in the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally with solo exhibitions in Washington, DC, Arlington, VA, Norfolk, VA, St. Louis, MO, Tulsa, OK, and Bainbridge Island, WA.

Laurel is a founding member of Flux Studios, in Mt. Rainier, MD and has been a visiting artist at Seattle’s Pottery Northwest and Holland Hall in Tulsa, OK. She has served on a number of nonprofit boards including the Washington Sculptors Group, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Washington Project for the Arts Artist Council.

                                                                                                

Roger Tye / Glass / UK

Roger Tye has been making glass since 1976, initially as Master production maker for the studios of Pauline Solven and Charlie Meaker, before setting up his own full time practice in 1989.Roger now concentrates on sculptural works. His most recent body of work also combines glass with slate and metal and offers wry observations of social events and situations. He has exhibited and throughout the UK and internationally to 28 countries and his work is in the collections that include Shell, British American Tobacco, American Airlines and the Royal Family.
                                                                                                

Audrey Wilson / Glass / US


Audrey Wilson has a BA in Crafts with a Glass Concentration from Kent State University. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Audrey has worked at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio as the studio and teaching assistant, working with the museum’s visiting glass artists. Audrey’s artwork references nature and organic forms, and she specializes in kiln casting, pate de verre and sand casting with mixed media.

                                                                                                 

Jeffrey Sarmiento / Glass / UK

Jeffrey Sarmiento’s working methods for image transfer in glass have taken him all over Europe and the US as an artist and academic. He holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a PhD from the University of Sunderland, where he is Reader in Glass. He has also lived in Denmark as a Fulbright fellow, and received emerging artist residencies at UrbanGlass in New York and at Pilchuck Glass School. Based at the National Glass Centre in Northeast England, Jeffrey leads the print and waterjet research areas by teaching, executing artist projects and making his own artwork. As a Filipino-American, his work is inspired by foreign ethnic contexts, expressed through collisions of layered images within glass. His work has been shortlisted for the Bombay Sapphire Prize, and he has held solo exhibitions in Copenhagen, Portland, and Istanbul. In 2012 he was the UK national commissioner for the European Glass Context in Denmark, and he also won the International Glass Prize, at GlazenHuis, Belgium. His artwork is the collections of the Museum of Liverpool, UK, the Speed Museum, USA, and the City of Lommel, Belgium.

                                                                                               

Elizabeth Vorlicek / Ceramics / US

Elizabeth Vorlicek is a ceramic sculptor and visual arts teacher living in Alexandria, Virginia.  She graduated from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University with a BFA and a MFA degree.  Liz has taught in the Arts Department at Episcopal High School in Virginia for the past seven years.  She is also a curator and the Director of the Angie Newman Johnson Gallery.  Liz joined Flux Studios in Mt. Rainier, Maryland as an Emerging Artist in the fall of 2012.  She enjoys traveling, bird watching and baking in her spare time.      

                                                                                           

Megan Randall / Ceramics / UK

Megan Randall is a contemporary ceramic artist, and is a current PhD student a Sunderland University where her research focuses on the placement of domestic ceramic objects responding to the context of site. Her work makes use of thrown porcelain alongside other less traditional materials and found objects. Working on the wheel is repetitive this gives pieces a rhythm and flow. Recent work has focused on willow pattern designs, which create their own narrative around domestic spaces, industrial sites and the notions of home.

In the past her work has included site specific installation and interventions alongside designed and hand crafted ceramic objects. The link between the separate worlds of fine art concept and that of designer/maker is the consistent use of porcelain which evokes a sense of luxury, fragility and, in some pieces, vulnerability. Her work combines new technology through the use of the waterjet cutter with the altering of the readymade object.

                                                                                           

Click Here to jump to US / UK Artist Profile Part 1
Click Here to jump to US / UK Artist Profile – Part 2
Click Here to jump to US / UK Artist Profile – Part 3
Click Here to jump to US / UK Artist Profile – Part 4
                                                                                                 There will be a “Day of Demos” by a number of the visiting UK artists – Saturday, March 2, 2013.

Criss Chaney “Vessel”

11:00 AM at the Washington Glass School, UK-based glass artists Criss Chaney and Robyn Townsend will demonstrate using metal wire and sheet inclusions into cast glass, and painting a layer of metal powders onto the inside mould surface. They will also demonstrate cold techniques for applying metals to a finished piece of glass, and options for patination using common household chemicals. Click HERE to reserve a space at this free demo.

2:00 PM at DC GlassWorks, superstar UK hot glass artists Phil Vickery, Colin Rennie and Roger Tye will show how they work. Click HERE to reserve a space at the free demo.

Brits To Teach Yanks A Thing or Two (in the glass shop!)

As part of the International Glass + Clay exhibit that runs from March 1, 2013 through March 22, 2013, a day of free demonstrations of amazing techniques utilized by the visiting artists will be held at the Washington Glass School and at DC GlassWorks Studio.

Saturday, March 2, 2013 starting at 11:00 AM – at Washington Glass School

UK based artists Criss Chaney and Robyn Townsend will demonstrate using metal wire and sheet inclusions into cast glass, and painting a layer of metal powders onto the inside mould surface. They will also demonstrate cold techniques for applying metals to a finished piece of glass, and options for patination using common household chemicals.

RSVP for the free WGS event to: washglassschool@aol.com – put “metal inclusion” in the subject line. Click HERE to register online.

Later the same day – 

starting at 2:00 PM at DC GlassWorks (just down the road in nearby Hyattsville) UK glass artists Roger Tye, Phil Vickery and Colin Rennie will be demo-ing their glassblowing techniques.  These Sunderland artists are extremely accomplished glass makers and their demos are always a highpoint.

Phil Vickery & Roger Tye demo at DC Glassworks in 2009

RSVP for the free DC hotshop demo to washglassschool@aol.com – put “hotshop” in the subject line. Click HERE to register online.

What could go wrong?

The loverly accents alone will make the demos like a trip overseas! Its as if Downton Abbey came to Mount Rainier!

Sculptural Glass Tours at Artomatic

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Sean Hennessey leads a tour of Sculptural Glass at Washington, DC’s Artomatic Art Fair

The Washington DC Metro area has a robust sculptural glass community spearheaded by the Washington Glass School and DC Glassworks. Sean Hennessey, resident artist at the Washington Glass School will be giving tours showcasing select examples of the works coming from these studios, as well as works of other glass artists in the DC region.  


Date: Sundays thru June 17, 2012

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm

Location: Meet in Lobby of Artomatic @ 1851 S. Bell Street, Crystal City, VA, 22202 (one block from Yellow Line Metro – Crystal City stop)

Free to the Public

Hot Stuff – "Lost Foam Process" at DC Glass Works

>Robert Kincheloe was at the DC Glass Works aluminum pour last night – working on a series of sculpture pieces. Watch as the molten aluminum is poured into the steel containers containing sand and the original stryofoam forms that are sacrificed as the hot aluminum replaces the original.


click on image to jump to video