Bladensburg Library – Architect: Gant Brunnett Architects
The official ribbon citation ceremony of the new Prince George’s County Memorial Library Bladensburg Branch (4820 Annapolis Rd, Bladensburg, MD, at 11 am). The ceremony featured remarks from PGCMLS Interim CEO Richard AmRhein, County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks, Prince George’s County Councilwoman Jolene Ivey (District 5), Bladensburg Mayor Takisha James, PGCMLS Board of Library Trustees President Angela D. Smith, and PGCMLS Chief Operating Officer for Support Services Michael Gannon.
The glass mural, titled “Reading the Water” by Washington Glass School is the centerpiece of the new library.
At the heart of this artwork is a message about the importance of environmental stewardship and the need to protect our natural resources. Much of the glass mural is made using recycled glass and components. By drawing attention to the beauty and fragility of water, “Reading The Water” encourages viewers to reflect on their own relationship with the natural world and to consider how they can contribute to a more sustainable future.
Kisha Mason, PG Arts & Humanities Council at the lectern enthuses about the artwork. WGS artists Erwin Timmers and Michael Janis.View to artwork from balcony at Bladensburg Library, Bladensburg, MD.WGS artists/Co-Directors Michael Janis and Erwin Timmers at Bladensburg Library
Erwin Timmers, “In Case of Emergency”; 2022, cast recycled glass, steel. Photo by Pete Duvall.
Erwin Timmers is the Co-founder and Director of the Washington Glass School. His work references sociological and environmental issues of concern to him, primarily how we, as a society, consume and discard precious resources. For this topic, the choice of materials becomes a more important discussion, so Erwin endeavors to use recycled materials to express concepts and ideas of recycling and use of the environment. Recycled glass is difficult to use, so he has had to develop new and experimental techniques to exploit the characteristics of this material. A Show of Hands explores personal and cultural traits as they relate to present day social trends. Technological “advances” have changed the landscape in human interaction, and social media focuses on aspects of cultural loss, fake news, mass manipulation, and diversion and division. This series is about the expression of nonverbal and abstract themes like trust, communication, and connection. Erwin’s portfolio showcases the possibility and beauty of recycled material, while encouraging the viewer to consider his or her environmental impact.
Erwin Timmers “A Show of Hands” Featuring Artists of the Washington Glass School
Artist Discussion with Erwin Timmers – November 12th, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Exhibits for Erwin Timmers, the Resident Artists, and Gallery 209 will run from November 1st through November 22nd. Viewing hours are 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Monday-Saturday, and Sundays by chance or appointment.
Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville, established in October 2014 by artist and arts community builder Judith HeartSong, is a 13,000 sq. ft. facility is home to 87 artists, and 80 student artists. A&M Studios is dedicated to providing a supportive and vibrant environment for artists to realize their creative goals – through studio practice, collaboration, education, opportunities, networking and connecting with the community beyond.
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
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. “
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
As a way to make every day Earth Day – Erwin Timmers “Going Green” class works at reducing the amount of glass in the waste stream by upcycling – using recycled glass to make sculptural pieces and architectural elements.
The class eagerly explored ways to give new life to old glass – from bottles to recycled tempered float glass. Glass chemistry, coloration, and firing temperatures were reviewed for each particular application. The class’ final workshop is next week, when dryplaster – bas relief – casting with float glass will be explored.
Recycled glass never looked so lovely!
The eco students learn how to make hand built refractory molds for glass casting.
Eco-artist Erwin Timmers newest sculpture made from cast recycled glass will be showcased at the Gateway Arts District’s Open Studio Tour (OST) – Saturday May 14, 2016 from Noon-5pm.
Erwin has been casting with recycled float (window) glass to create forms from and about discarded water bottles – and assembling the cast glass atop a salvaged mirror that has been backed with LED lighting. Its amazing how he can find harmony, balance and poetry in things discarded and never thought of again.
In honor of Earth Day, today’sartist profile is about eco-artist Erwin Timmers.
Erwin has become one of the area’s leading “green artists”. Recycling, waste, the environment and how they relate to society are recurring themes in his work – all of which he blames on his Dutch heritage. Erwin’s main medium is one of the least recycled building materials; float glass or window glass, and he has had to develop new techniques to work with this material.
Originally from Amsterdam, Erwin Timmers moved to California, graduating from Santa Monica College for Design Art and Architecture in 1995. Erwin’s artwork and sculpture has always incorporated recycled materials, and often integrated lighting elements. In 1999 he came to the Washington DC area and along with a new home came a new passion: Glass – creating the perfect marriage of metal and light. Combining this with found and recycled metal, his work carries strong environmental themes.
“Love Me, Love Me Not”, recycled steel, cast recycled glass, neon
Seeking to further his knowledge on using recycled glass, Erwin soon found there were few local options that taught glass techniques and recycled glass processes. And with little information available, Erwin became a pioneer in the field, developing his own kiln schedules. Fate would have it that he met up with Tim Tate, who was then starting the foundations for a glass school in Washington, DC. With his experimental approach and his easygoing, accessible teaching attitude, Erwin and Tim started the Washington Glass School in 2001. Erwin developed a number of courses that integrate his love of the materials and his environmental philosophies. His sustainable design knowledge has been sought by other glass schools, and besides courses here at the Washington Glass School, he has been teaching across the country, spreading the word about eco-friendly art.
Erwin Timmers chats with Italian glass Maestro Lino Tagliapietra.
Erwin has also become a leading consultant in LEED Certified artwork. He has received multiple public art commissions and is also featured in numerous private collections. The EPA had commissioned Erwin and the Washington Glass Studio to create an educational sculpturefor the courtyard at the EPA’s Washington, DC headquarters.
Erwin Timmers and Evan Morgan installing recycled glass panels.
Recently completed architectural projects include recycled glass works for Prince George’s County Courthouse and for Fox Architects and he is currently working on an eco-friendly project for the new Safeway in Bethesda, MD. Erwin’s expertise in the field of environmental art is sought out by the media, with interviews on local news stations, including this video where Erwin’s demonstration of tempered glass did not go quite as planned. The Washington Post Magazine has just interviewed Erwin for an upcoming article on recycling, scheduled to come out this June. His artwork is featured in several books, notably “Art Glass Today” by Jeffrey Snyder and “Ideas for Creative Reuse” by Garth Johnson.Two more books that include work by Erwin are due out this Spring/Summer.
Erwin’s environmental focused artworkhas found an audience, from Miami International Art Fair to local and regional art gallery shows, including and upcoming engagement at Project 4 Gallery this summer.His work showcases the possibility and beauty of recycled material, while encouraging the viewer to consider his or her environmental impact.
“What We Leave Behind” cast recycled glass, steel.
Using glass salvaged from a Virginia office building refurbishment, disposable technology and ephemera from recent decades are expressed as though discovered from a future archaeological dig.
“What We Leave Behind” detail, 2000’s
photo by Anything Photographic
His work is not always appreciated in the manner he expected – a feature on his work on theArtist-a-Daywebsite prompted viewers to ask if the work was made of Jello.
Erwin will be one of the artists featured in the upcoming LongView Gallery show Artists of the Washington Glass School: The First Ten Years.
Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years LongView Gallery 1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC May 19 – June 19,2011 Artist Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
The Washington Post Magazine columnist Kris Coronado spent the day in the Washington Glass School this week, interviewing Erwin Timmers for an upcoming article on recycling and environmentally conscious artwork.
Above & Below: Washington Post photographer Benjamin Tankersley photos artwork made from recycled glass components.
Erwin talked wth Kris about his background in sustainable design, and how the growing awareness of the limits to our natural resources has led to a greater appreciation and interest in work made with environmentally responsible materials. Post photographer Benjamin Tankersley set up a full photo backdrop to properly document Erwin’s eco-artwork. The Washington Post article is due out in the paper in early June.
Our “guru of green“, Erwin Timmers will be teaching at Cincinnati’s Brazee Street School of Glass, spreading the word of recycled glass artwork. This April 16 & 17, Erwin will have the students explore using recycled glass to make sculptural pieces, architectural elements and tableware. The workshop will cover a variety of techniques including fusing, casting, and slumping. Click HERE to jump to Brazee StreetStudios website.
Alison Sigethy draws inspiration from the natural world surrounding her – from her works made from natural fibers to sculptures made from recycled glass. Her multimedia solo exhibit, Understory, will be featured in The Art League Gallery, January 6 – February 7, 2011.
With this collection of works, Sigethy is creating an installation that invites the viewer to explore the often unnoticed, yet essential parts of the forest. She emphasizes the “quiet beauty” of the unseen through layers of glass fungi, collages that evoke the striations of cliff sides, and delicate snowflakes.
Alison works almost exclusively with recycled materials; the majority of her glass comes from the lenses of solar collectors. Dead tree trunks and driftwood collected on her kayaking sojourns are used as anchors for delicate crystalline elements. The use of these salvaged materials reinforces a pervasive theme in Alison’s work: we, as a culture, generate too much waste. How can we reuse “trash” to create something beautiful? After leaving the world of marketing and print production to pursue both art and kayaking, Sigethy was drawn to glass for its various hues and effect on light.
A trip to Greenland in 2006 inspired her to work with recycled materials to create her environmentally conscious work.
One of the Washington Glass School’s instructors, Alison was named Torpedo Factory “Artist of the Year” in 2010.
