Tis the Season!
All of us at the Washington Glass School & Studio Wish You and Family a Joyous Holiday Season! And a Happy Healthy New Year!
(L-R) Patricia De Poel Wilberg, Erwin Timmers, Christina Helowicz, Nancy Kronstadt, Kate Barfield, Tim Tate, April Shelford, Michael Janis, Trish Kent and John Henderson. Not pictured: Graciela Granek, Sean Robinson, Diane Cabe, Gabrielle Morris, Kyle Crosby, and Daphne Matyas.
McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) fall 2022 exhibition, Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists, runs thru November 10, 2022. The invitational exhibition highlights work by artists who give significant time to teaching, mentoring, and community building, while continuing to sustain and develop strong and innovative personal bodies of work. Continuum includes the work of artists and educators from most of the area colleges and universities, including George Mason University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Maryland, the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Washington Glass School. All of the participants are as dedicated to their on-going artistic practice as they are to their students, and vice versa.
One of the center’s programs is Art Reach- MPA’s highly successful educational outreach program for local preschool, elementary, middle, and high school students, as well as senior citizens.
MPA’s ArtReach recently visited West Springfield Elementary, to share the current exhibition, Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists. After seeing Michael Janis’ art installation titled “How We Take Care of Each Other” the kindergarten classes were inspired by the work and created their own art installation together as a classroom community. They used markers to trace their hands using favorite colors and then drew images of things or people that inspire us to care for one another. The kids became communicators when they shared their art pieces with classroom peers and collaborators when they combined the works together to make an art installation on paper.
Continuum featured artists include: David Carlson, Patrick Craig, Robert Devers, Kate Fitzpatrick, Helen Frederick, Janis Goodman, Rene Gower, Michael Janis, Maria Karametou, Steven Prince, John Ruppert, Foon Sham, Judy Southerland, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Stephanie Williams, Sue Wrbican, and Peter Winant.
1234 Ingleside Avenue
McLean, VA 22101
703-790-1953
Glass Sculptor and Artist Tim Tate looks back on 20 years of creating a community. He recently put together some of his observations on well, how did we get here?
“I had been raised in a household filled with craft materials. I rarely saw my mother’s hands empty, always creating something. I inherited this love. I spent my early adult years being trained in the methods revolving around studio glass while attending the 2 weeks to 2-month workshops of Penland, Pilchuck, Corning, Pittsburg, etc. (I had no money to attend grad school …though I yearned for Cranbrook). These years of varied workshops and practitioners was the perfect way to obtain a broad outlook on the entire field. We founded the Washington Glass School in 2001 with very specific goals. Let me see if I can make this clear.
1). We wanted to be something other than a traditional studio glass shop. From the beginning we realized we wanted a much broader approach; something that reflected the mission of education centers like the Crucible in Oakland and Penland in NC. We embraced mixed media work from the beginning with varied classes in kiln formed glass, steel, electronics, encaustics, etc. Our idea was not to in any way denigrate the rich history of studio glass, but to live just outside of those confines to see what would happen. To step slightly away from the 20th century.
2). As a gay man in glass, it was apparent that diversity was sorely lacking in every way in the glass world. So we did outreach and advertised our classes in many publications that went to diverse populations, rather than wait for these populations to approach us. This worked very well. Even now we go to the Facebook pages of different neighborhoods to show our class schedules.
3). We have embraced social media in every way possible, from individual and school Facebook and Instagram pages (where we post regularly) to administering a Facebook discussion group. This group is called “21st Century Glass/Conversations and Images/Glass Secessionism” and maintain over 8000 members from 97 countries.
With William Warmus we came up with the original concept of “Glass Secessionism”…to step slightly away from the recognized canon of 20th century glass and to create as much dialog and critical analysis as possible. There have been over 1.5 million words written and over thousands of images shared on this page focusing almost entirely on that theme.
4). We participated in many local shows here in the DC area, such as the spectacular Art-O-Matic show that truly put us on the map. We also curated many shows over the years to include local emerging artists. I have served on a dozen boards and juried dozens of shows and grant applications to stay in the loop and form a community bond. There are 3 Co-Directors here, all sharing a similar mission….to create a large regional, national and international community to foster new growth within our field.
5). Our first class was on Sept. 13, 2001…. a difficult day in history to start anything being right after 9/11. We thought no one would even attend the first classes. But we discovered something else….no one cancelled. It appeared that while the purchase of art slowed to a trickle around the country, the creation of art thrived. Our first class was filled with artists who wanted to make narrative work about the devastation of that event. From that moment on we embraced narrative work with all our hearts. Works about political events, social injustices and inequalities were common within our sculptural classes, and certainly in my own works. We have now been in operation over 20 years, with over 6000 students. 60% of those were and are women, we have a large population of BIPoC students and we have worked with hundreds of LGTBQ students. We are so very proud of this fact.
My purpose for serving on boards right now is to focus on the building of communities as an artistic practice. I want to take a slight step away from academia as these institutions can become elitist, and I want to be non-elitist as we have been from the beginning. I also like regional boards that focus in the mid-Atlantic.
My personal practice had been deeply imbedded in the world of glass galleries and museums, though frequently as an outsider. I have stepped away from this in the last few months. I have moved towards the fine art world once again, as I had started there. It feels great to go back to my roots, surrounded by a community that reaches far beyond anything we ever anticipated.” – Tim Tate, October, 2022
The American Glass Guild 2020 Conference in Baltimore. MD.
The American Glass Guild (AGG) will be holding their 20th Anniversary Conference at the Maritime Conference Center in Baltimore, Maryland May 7-9.
The Baltimore conference is a great place to meet people in the glass arts, to share ideas, techniques and experiences, with the planned glass art auction, artwork exhibition and more. Demos and workshops by international artists including Narcissus Quagliata and Judith Schaechter!– Talks featuring Shawn Waggoner, Tim Carey, Judith Schaecter, Ken Leap and Nancy Gong! WGS Co-Director, Michael Janis, will be a keynote speaker!
The Annual Live AGG Auction raises funds for the James Whitney Memorial Scholarship. Since 2007 the Whitney Memorial Scholarship has handed out over 125 scholarships for glass education. Recipients receive full or partial scholarships for various glass educational opportunities, such as conferences and workshops, or ongoing educational efforts.
The American Glass Guild (AGG) is a non-profit organization whose core mission is to work toward building an environment within the craft that both cultivates novices and facilitates experienced craftspeople and artisans to attain a higher level of expertise. The AGG’s intention is to support and provide speakers for public lectures and seminars, encourage spirited debates, and initiate fact-based research.
Click HERE for more online information.
The September issue of Washingtonian Magazine is all about learning. The “Learn Something New” cover article highlights the editors and writers favorite of the “most interesting courses for smart people who love to learn new things”. The Washington Glass School makes the grade, and the Beginners Glass Lovers class was selected as the top of the class for Glass Art!
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| Penland School of Craft is a
center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. |
Tim Tate along with Sean Hennessey and Rob Kincheloe have just returned from teaching a class at North Carolina’s Penland School Of Craft for a fall session titled: 21st Century Reliquaries. Here are some comments and photos from the class.
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| The glass studio at Penland. |
The guys said they hit the ground running on Monday working doing demonstrations on Rubber Mold Making, Wax Casting, Plaster/Silica Mold Making, Lost wax, Dry Plaster Casting, Painting Glass, Cutting Glass, Glass etching, Flameworking.
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| Sean Hennessey outlines the process for Dry Plaster Casting to create bas-relief imagery. |
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| Robert Kincheloe shows how wax components are used to create forms in the Lost Wax process. |
The WGS team talked through ideas with students, help shape the directions of work, encouraged, excited, and admired all their interest and energy.
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| Tim Tate outlines the process for creating personal reliquaries. |
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| The class learned new techniques and worked at making artwork from the objects made. |
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| Penland Boardmember Glen Hardymon shows off his new glass slippers made in the lost wax process. |
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| Some surprises for the class – a special flamework demo by
Simone Crestani. |
The class techniques taught included pretty much everything except glass blowing. But since the absolutely incredible glass artist Pablo Soto was teaching a glass blowing class in the next room, he had his class make domes for the reliquary class.
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| Pablo Soto’s hot glass class blew the glass for the domes. |
After the techniques were taught, learned, and employed, the part of the class where artists pulled it all together was explored – making the reliquaries. Stories of regret were created, stories of anger, stories of triumph, religion, lamenting the death of bees, cheering the death of squirrels, issues of money, sexuality, and hope were all created.
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| After the students created their works, a “Show & Tell” exhibit. |
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| Yes, thats a real (taxidermied) squirrel with a glass hand grenade. |
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| The class made and presented Tim with a special reliquary. The “F” inside refers to Tim’s prolific use of ‘f-bombs’ in his banter. |
All in all a fantastic experiencefor all involved – we’d highly recommend taking a class there!
photograph by Tom Wolff
Michael Janis studied architecture at Mies van der Rohe’s IIT in his hometown of Chicago, IL. In 1993 he moved to Australia and there he worked on a number of large scale architecture projects, including work for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It was in Australia that Michael first started working with glass, designing walls of cast glass.
Moving back to the United States in 2003, glass artwork became his focus. Michael began glass blowing at a Baltimore hot shop and was soon taking glass courses at art centers such as Haystack Mountain in Maine, North Carolina’s Penland School of Craft, and Urban Glass in New York.
Michael at Penland School of Craft
Attracted to the experimental and adventurous approach to the medium that defined the Washington Glass School, he soon became involved with the school as the Studio Coordinator.
L-R Washington Glass Studio directors Erwin Timmers, Tim Tate, Michael Janis. From the 2006 American Style article “Filling Glass With Meaning“. Photo by Roger Foley.
In 2005, Michael became one of the Co-Directors of the Washington Glass School, and he is the Director of Public Art projects for the Washington Glass Studio.
“The Gravity Between Us” Hotel Palomar, Washington, DC
Public Art sculpture for Prince George’s County Circuit Court
Michael continues teaching at the Washington Glass School, and also has taught glass art workshops at Istanbul’s Glass Furnace, the Penland School of Craft and the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) in California.
Michael teaching fused glass technique class at Washington Glass School, 2005
Michael Janis teaching at California’s Bay Area Glass Institute, 2010
His kilncast bas-relief glass and steel sculptures were featured in the seminal “Compelled By Content” exhibition at Bethesda, Maryland’s Fraser Gallery. In this show, artists that used glass with narrative content showed how the traditional craft of glass was evolving.
“Liar Paradox” Collection of Susan and Fred Sanders. Photo: Anything Photographic
Michael began incorporating imagery into his glass works, and by manipulating crushed glass powder he has been able to create intricate detail images within the glass, layering the images to emphasize the depth within.
Text and imagery work their way through Michael’s artwork panels, similar to an architect’s diagrams, suggesting elements of stories not fully disclosed. Michael’s work references the Surrealist artists of the early twentieth century and Neo-Dada concepts as seen in the work of artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell and Jasper Johns.
Click HERE to jump to a short documentary on Michael and his sgraffito frit powder technique.
From the catalog of the 2011 exhibit “Material World”:
“When viewers see images of Michael Janis’ work, they may not immediately recognize it as glass art…The virtuosity of Janis’ technique supports his imagery, which is often tinged with a nostalgia for days where innocence reigned and magic seemed possible. Janis is not simply naïve, for there is a darker undercurrent to these works that speaks to the loss of this sense of wonder.” Stephen Boocks curator, April 2011
Maurine Littleton Gallery space, SOFA Chicago 2009
In 2007, Maurine Littleton Gallery began exhibiting his glass artwork at international art shows such as Art Miami, SOFA Chicago and SOFA New York. Currently, his work is on exhibit at the Flemish Center for Contemporary Glass Art in Lommel, Belgium.
In 2009 he was awarded Florida’s “Emerging Artist” award by the Florida Glass Art Alliance, in 2010, he received the Saxe Fellowship from California’s Bay Area Glass Institute. This year, Janis will be named a “Rising Star” by the Creative Glass Center of America and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass at the biannual glass art conference held at the Museum of American Glass at WheatonArts, in New Jersey.
The Memory of Orchids, 2011
His first museum solo show will open this year (August 6 thru November 6, 2011) at the Fuller Museum of Craft, in Brockton, Massachusetts. Michael Janis also was just awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and will be at the UK’s University of Sunderland and National Glass Center in 2012.
Detail from “In the Evening Twilight”
Michael will be one of the featured artists in Long View Gallery’s exhibition of Artists of the Washington Glass School:
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
For other Washington Glass School artist profiles: