Category Archives: distinguished artist

JRA Distinguished Artists Einar & Jamex de la Torre

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EINAR AND JAMEX DE LA TORRE

Glass and mixed media artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre will speak at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the James Renwick Alliance’s Distinguished Artist Series at 2 PM on Sunday, May 3.

Mexican-born artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre are brothers and artistic collaborators, who moved to the United States from Guadalajara, Jalisco in the early 1970’s. Leaving behind the academic, religious and social rigors of an all-boys Catholic school in 1960’s Guadalajara, the de la Torre brothers ended up in the small Southern California surf town of Dana Point, where they discovered the unbridled joys of co-ed public schools.

bros.delaTorre.washington.glass.schoolWhile attending California State University at Long Beach in the 80’s, they studied sculpture and glass blowing, during which time the artist-brothers began a flame-worked glass figure business. This business was quickly eclipsed when their artistic collaboration began in earnest in the late 1980’s with small mix media works. In the late 1990’s, they began to do large-scale sculptural installations, eventually branching out into commissioned site-specific and public art projects.

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Currently, the brothers live and work on both sides of the San Diego-Baja California border, enjoying a bi-national life style that very much informs their art. Einar and Jamex de la Torre have worked, taught and exhibited both nationally, as well as internationally. Their distinctive three-dimensional work can be found in galleries, museum collections, Museum catalogs, as well as in various public art installations. They are recent recipients of the Joan Mitchel foundation award and the Louis Comfort Tiffany foundation award.

On Saturday, May 2 at 10am, the artists will give a workshop featuring a demonstration of their hot glass techniques at DC Glassworks. To sign up for the demonstration go to: James Renwick Alliance registration page.

Artists Talk – Free and Open to the Public

Date: Sunday, May 3, 2015

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Location: The MacMillan Education Center (1st floor) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

For more information, visit their website: www.delatorrebros.com

Posted in distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, JRA | Tagged

Smithsonian American Art Museum Features Michael Janis

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Smithsonian Distinguished Artist Michael Janis

Michael Janis at the Smithsonian Museum. Photo by Miriam Rosenthal.

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Washington Glass School sgraffito workshop. Photo by Miriam Rosenthal.

The James Renwick Alliance (JRA) is an independent national non-profit organization that celebrates the achievements of America’s craft artists and fosters scholarship, education and public appreciation of craft art. The JRA is the exclusive support group of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the U.S. national showcase of contemporary American craft. Washington Glass School Co-Director Michael Janis was named “Distinguished Artist” by the JRA. The weekend’s events included a sgraffito glass workshop with Michael held at the Washington Glass School and Michael Janis presented at the Smithsonian Museum’s Turner Auditorium outlining his career, process, and artwork. The talk at the museum was broadcast live and the Smithsonian staff promised that it would be available online soon. 3.michael.janis.smithsonian.american.art.museum.artist_glassThe final event was the JRA hosted dinner on Sunday evening – it was a very busy exciting weekend for the Washington Glass School!4.a.distinguished_artist.james.renwick.alliance.shea.trump.janis_glass_cuddle

Congratulations to Michael – well done and well deserved!

 

Posted in DC, distinguished artist, fused glass, glass, glass architecture., glass art, glass frit powder imagery, kiln fused glass, michael janis, mies, mike janis, smithsonian, smithsonian american art museum, Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

James Renwick Alliance names WGS’ Michael Janis as Distinguished Artist in Glass 2014

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The James Renwick Alliance(JRA) is an independent national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing scholarship and education on contemporary American craft. 

The JRA assists the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in adding to its permanent collection of American craft of artistic significance and superior workmanship, supports scholarly research in contemporary American craft, sponsors public educational activities, and pursues other activities in support of the studio craft movement. Each year the JRA sponsors a “Distinguished Artist Series” when craft artists prominent in their fields conduct workshops and give lectures. The lectures are co-sponsored by the JRA and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery.

Michael Janis will talk about his work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in early 2014.

For the 2013/2014 season, the JRA have chosen Washington Glass School Co-Director Michael Janis as the Distinguished Artist for his glass artwork.
Michael will be giving a lecture and presentation at the Smithsonian in early 2014, with details to be finalized soon. Congratulations Michael! We look forward to posting the details.

2012/2013 JRA Distinguished Artist in Glass – Andy Paiko talks at Smithsonian. photo by Miriam Rosenthal

Posted in distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, JRA, michael janis

Judith Schaechter Workshop

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Judith Schaechter, Widow, (2008), Collection of Colleen and John Kotelly, Photo by Dominic Episcopo/Renwick Gallery, SI

The Grand Poobah Savior of Stained Glass – Judith Schaechter – who single-handedly revolutionized the craft of stained glass through her unique aesthetic and inventive approach to materials is one of the featured artists at the Smithsonian Institute‘s exhibition, “History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011.”

Judith held a Creativity Workshop as part of the James Renwick Alliance‘s “Distinguished Artist” series this past weekend at the Washington Glass School. photos by Miriam Rosenthal / Third Eye Photography

The workshop participants re-enact Da Vinci’s “Last Supper with Judith Schaechter“

Judith workshop was geared towards getting the participants to expand their creative practice, and had some fun creative exercises for everyone.

Judith has plans for the unsuspecting class.

L-R Jimmy Powers, Clemmer Montague, Sherry Selevan, Diane Cooper Cabe begin unleashing their creative wills.

Judith shares her thoughts with Elmerina and Paul Parkman.

Soon creativity is flying around the school – unstoppable. Ideas for artwork, fashion, events – everything at once. The innermost thoughts of the participants are explored.

Judith indicates her approval of the designs.

What one of the students was contemplating.

See more of Judith Schaechter’s work in the exhibition “History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011,” on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery through July 31. The show was curated by Renwick curator Nicholas R. Bell. The artists were selected by Bell, Ulysses Dietz, senior curator at The Neward Museum and Andrew Wagner. The exhibition also features the work of silversmith Ubaldo Vitali, ceramic artist Cliff Lee and furnituremaker Matthias Pliessnig.

Posted in distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, judith schaechter, renwick gallery, smithsonian, thirdeyephotography, workshop

Judith Schaechter Creativity Workshop

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The Sin Eater Glass 25 x 46 x 6 inches

As part of the James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist Series, Judith Schaechter will teach a Creativity Workshop on May 21, 2011. Designed to help artists explore ways to break through “artists block” and expand their creative practice, participants will engage in group discussions as well as individual exercises. On Sunday, May 22, Judith Schaechter will present a lecture on her work in the Grand Salon at the Renwick Gallery. The lecture will be free and open to the public.

Lockdown Glass 21 x 31 x 6 inches

Judith Schaechter, renowned stained glass artist, is the recipient of many grants, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Crafts, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, The Joan Mitchell Award, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Leeway Foundation grant. Her work is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick and numerous other collections. Judith’s work was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, and she is a 2008 USA Artists Rockefeller Fellow.

The Minotaur (detail) Glass 38 x 25 x 6 inches

Workshop Description:
Creativity is mysterious, miraculous and utterly crucial to an artists’ practice. Because Judith Schaechter herself experienced some difficult bouts of artist’ block, she did a great deal of research into this fascinating and elusive subject. How does one become inspired? How does one choose the one idea to pursue amongst many ideas? Are there techniques to improve oneself creatively?

Ultimately, Judith divided creativity into the following: Inspiration, Perspiration (developing ideas into pieces), Practice (work habits, motivation), Audience and Beliefs.
This workshop will begin with a questionnaire, which should identify areas of interest to the participants. Judith will then share a presentation on what she has discovered. Lively group discussions and individual exercises will follow.

Distinguished Artist Series workshops are $30 for members, $40 for non members. The subscription cost for all four programs is $100 for JRA members and $140 for non-members.
For more information or to register for any of these programs please e-mail: admin@jra.org

Posted in 2011, 21st century sculpture, distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, JRA, judith schaechter, twenty first century sculpture

James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Craft Artist Program

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>The husband-wife artist team of Marc Petrovic and Kari Russell-Pool will be featured as the first JRA Distinguished Artist Program for 2010, with a day long demo on Saturday January 23 and a talk at the Smithsonian’s Grand Salon at the Rewnwick Gallery on Sunday, January 24.

Marc Petrovic top, Kari Russel-Poolbottom
Kari Russell-Pool and Marc Petrovic have been working as studio artists since their graduation from the Cleveland Institute of Art in, respectively, 1990, and 1991. Marc makes pieces that are predominantly glass but also contain wood and metal components. Kari is primarily a flame worker. She creates form from pattern with a technique she developed on her own. Although Marc and Kari strive to retain their individual work and approach, they have collaborated, to a greater or lesser extent, since college.

Kari Russell-Pool top , Marc Petrovic bottom

Each offers insight and suggestions on the other’s work. The collaboration between the two artists most often incorporates Marc’s blown birds into Kari’s structures. In an unusual approach to flame working, Kari melts and pulls all her glass rods from the same glass furnace that Marc uses to sculpt his components. This allows for compatibility between the blown glass birds and the flame-worked structures. Flame workers seldom use soft glass in large-scale work. This glass does not take the stress of torch work well but does allow a greater range of color variation as well as the unique ability to be fused with furnace-blown components.

Both have taught at the Penland School of Crafts and The Studio at Corning, and have conducted numerous workshops both at home and abroad.

The James Renwick Alliance will host the two artists in a demo on Saturday, Jan. 23rd from 10 am to 3 pm, held at our sister school location, DC Glassworks. The cost is $55 payable to the James Renwick Alliance. Click HERE for more info about the demo and tickets from the JRA.

Click HERE for more info about the James Renwick Alliance.

Click HERE for info about the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery calendar of events (scroll down for talk details).

Posted in distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, kari russell-pool, marc petrovic