Michael Janis Finalist in 2022 Contemporary Craft Prize

Michael Janis, “Allowing Our Past to Become Part of Ourselves” detail, 2022, fused glass, glass powder imagery. Photo by Pete Duvall.

17 national and international finalists have been selected for this biennial exhibition in glass art, featuring newly created, innovative works.

Michael Janis glass art - title "Allowing Our Past to Become Part of Ourselves" 60"H x 40' W fused glass, glass powder imagery aluminum

Glass is itself a transformation: created when ordinary sand encounters extreme heat. In this breathtaking exhibition, glass is transformed again, this time by 17 contemporary artists from across the globe. The resulting work pushes the boundary of traditional craft techniques and takes glass from the realm of the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Transformation 11: Contemporary Works in Glass is Contemporary Craft’s 2022 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize juried exhibition. The winning artist and their work will be announced and presented at the public opening of the exhibition on Friday, September 9, 2022, where they will receive a cash prize. The 2022 prize will be awarded in the category of glass, and must meet the requirement that it has been made within the last 12 months and addresses the theme of “transformation.” Seventeen contemporary artists from across the globe explore creative concepts and innovative approaches in their use of the glass medium, with the winning artist sending additional works to demonstrate the breadth of their work.

The 2022 Raphael Prize finalists are: Dean Allison, Pittsburgh, PA; Eunsuh Choi, Rochester, WI; Donald Friedlich, Madison, WI; Michael Janis, Washington, DC; Lauren Kalman, Detroit, MI; David King, Danville, KY; Eriko Kobayashi, Carbondale, IL; Weston Lambert, Tacoma, WA; Patrick Martin, Emporia, KS; Hisayoshi Muto, Yatomi, Aichi, Japan; Aya Oki, San Bernardino, CA; Miroslava Ptackova, Zlín, Zlínský kraj, Czech Republic; David Schnuckel, Rochester, NY; Michaela Spruzinova, Ústí Nad Labem, brná, Czech Republic; Ben Wright, Stanwood, WA; Ayano Yoshizumi, Everard Park, SA, Australia; and Hoseok Youn, Toledo, OH.

The jury for the 2022 prize includes Anna Rothfuss, Project Development Manager, Derix Art Glass Consultants, LLC U.S., Portland, OR; Heather McElwee, Randi & L. Van V. Dauler, Jr. Executive Director, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Alexandra Raphael, enameller, London, England; Catherine Raphael, metalsmith and writer, Pittsburgh, PA; Rachel Saul Rearick, Executive Director, and Kate Lydon, Director of Exhibitions (retired), Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA

Contemporary Craft, 5645 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Contemporary Craft hours: Mon-Sat: 10 AM – 4 PM

September 9, 2022 – March 18, 2023

This opening is free and open to the public.

ABOUT CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Contemporary Craft presents contemporary art in craft media by regional, national, and international artists. Contemporary Craft offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity and contemporary art, as well as a range of artist-led studio workshops, community engagement programs, and a store. Located at 5645 Butler Street in the Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, visit www.contemporarycraft.org

WGS Featured Artist: Cheryl Derricotte

CLICK IT! Featured Artist: Cheryl Derricotte

Cheryl  Derricotte is a visual artist and her favorite mediums are glass and paper. Originally from Washington, DC, she lives and makes art in San Francisco, CA.

Cheryl Derricotte

Cheryl Derricotte

She has an extensive background in the arts and community development. Cheryl holds the Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), the Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University and a B.A. in Urban Affairs from Barnard College, Columbia University. 

Recent awards include the Windgate Artist Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center (2020/2021); Antenna Paper Machine Residency; San Francisco Individual Artist Commission, and the Puffin Foundation Grant, (all 2019/2020). She is also the recipient of the Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellowship for Artists; the Rick and Val Beck Scholarship for Glass; Emerging Artist at the Museum of the African Diaspora; Gardarev Center Fellow; Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass’ Visionary Scholarship and a D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities/ National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship Grant.

Washington Glass School blog catches up with Cheryl as her work is part of the WGS Contemporary online exhibit “CLICK-IT!

Washington Glass School (WGS): Describe your artwork method/process.

Cheryl Derricotte: I make art from research. This type of inquiry also leads me not just to economic but also environmental concerns. Observations of current events, politics, and urban landscapes are my entry into these issues. Cheryl_Derricotte_Working.In.The.glass.Studio.art.sculpture.american.clickit.wgs_contemporary

To make my work I use a variety of glass and printmaking techniques. My cold glasswork (unfired) often takes form as sculptural mixed media, involving books and found objects. Warm glass means work fired in a kiln up to approximately 1,500°F. I enjoy layering images and text onto warm glass pieces, featuring public domain historical photographs, drawings, or my own photographs. My preferred techniques include screen-printing with glass enamels or powder printing. My work on paper employs the techniques of image transfers, ink stamping and collage. Over the past few years, I have been enjoying learning the craft of bookbinding. I recently exhibited my first artist book, entitled “Emily” about a runaway slave’s journey along the Ohio River.

WGS: Describe your work in the show and highlight aspects that the viewers should understand about the work.

Cheryl Derricotte:  Most often I create work in series. “Oil and Water,” looks at communities that live in the shadow of oil: California places like Richmond, Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. The two pieces in the show use historical images from Los Angeles.

Cheryl Derricotte, "Red Alert"; glass

Cheryl Derricotte, “Red Alert”; glass

 

WGS: Do you do a lot of planning in your work – or is there an element of chance while working?

Cheryl Derricotte: I do a lot of planning! Text is an important component of my artwork. I often say that I live under the tyranny of title. A phrase will get stuck in my head, such as “21st Century Capital” and I wrestle with it until an artwork is created. Thus, many of my pieces have titles before I ever make a schematic drawing, much less cut a piece of glass.

WGS: How have you handled the Covid lockdown?

Cheryl Derricotte: The lockdown has been tough. My studio building – where I do my glasswork & house my kiln – closed in the first week of March. In order to stay in touch with my creativity during the lockdown, I took short online classes in printmaking & bookarts; I developed a sketching practice.

My studio building recently became accessible again under San Francisco’s phased re-opening of businesses, and I am excited to get back to glass in July. I have been invited to participate in an upcoming show at the French Embassy in San Francisco, and I am going to make some new works appropriate to the show’s theme.

WGS: What artwork/event has moved you and got you thinking about your own work?

Cheryl Derricotte: The returned societal focus on police brutality, has made one of my series on paper more relevant than ever before. “The Blue Wall Project” maps people killed by the police using data from the Guardian UK’s “The Counted” and the Washington Post’s “Fatal Force.” Thanks to funding from the Puffin Foundation, I am moving this work online so activists can use my visuals for posters and postcards in support of efforts to #DefundThePolice and re-invest that money in more meaningful community programs, including the arts.

WGS: if you were not an artist – what would you be?

Cheryl Derricotte: That’s easy! I already have a dual identity. I am also a licensed city planner. I have worked “day jobs” in real estate development and facilities management for many years in both non-profits and corporate/tech spaces. I make art and creative places. I have never met a warehouse space I didn’t like.

Click HERE to jump to Cheryl Derricotte’s work in CLICK-IT!

Pulse Art Fair Showcases WGS Artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis

This years Art Basel / Miami Art Week is December 2 – 8, 2019. It’s the best time of the year for viewing contemporary art in Florida, if not the entire world. Miami and Miami Beach will be the center of the art world for a week. More than a thousand art galleries from around the world participate in some eighteen art fairs. You’ll see amazing artwork from around the world. pulse.art.fair.glass

Potomac, MD’s Alida Anderson Art Projects will be presenting new works by WGS Co-Directors Tim Tate and Michael Janis at their gallery in the 15th edition of the PULSE Art Fair.

Tim Tate and Michael Janis' collaborative glass/mixed media artwork titled: "The Longing for Transcendence" will be on display at Alida Anderson space #501 during Pulse Art Fair.

Tim Tate and Michael Janis’ collaborative glass/mixed media artwork titled: “The Longing for Transcendence” will be on display at Alida Anderson space #501 during Pulse Art Fair.

 

 

A new feature for the fair, PULSE Perspectivos, a dual-language series of talks and tours held in English and Spanish. A presentation, “On Identity in the Arts: What Does It Mean to be Latino/a? Latino, Latina, Latin(x), Hispanic…”, held in Spanish at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The conversation will be led by art critic, writer and blogger Florencio Lennox (aka Lenny) Campello who has been spearheading interactive events discussing these issues for the past few years. 

El Sentinel / the Sun-Sentinel have already been posting about the upcoming arrival of our glass artist's works!

El Sentinel / the Sun-Sentinel have already been posting about the upcoming arrival of our glass artist’s works!

PULSE Art Fair is located as Indian Beach Park, 4601 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, and 46th Street with direct access from the beach and the boardwalk.

PULSE Art Fair is open to the public from Thursday, December 5 through Sunday, December 8, 2019. A Private Preview Brunch will be held Thursday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

CMOG New Glass Review 31

>Published by The Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG), New Glass Review is an annual survey of glass in contemporary art, architecture, craft, and design created in the previous year. The works are chosen by a changing jury of curators, artists, designers, art dealers, and critics, which, over the past 25 years, has included Dale Chihuly, Clement Greenberg, Stanislav Libenský, Richard Marquis, David McFadden, Yoriko Mizuta, Lois Moran , Jean-Luc Olivié , Tom Patti, Ginny Ruffner, Bertil Vallien, and Toots Zynsky. Museum jurors have included Thomas S. Buechner, the Museum’s founding director, and modern glass curators Susanne K. Frantz, Tina Oldknow, and William Warmus.

This year is the 31st annual review, and the jurors were Jon Clark, Professor, Tyler School of Art, Rosa Barovier Mentasti, independent art historian, curator, and critic, Zesty Meyers, artist and owner R 20th Century, and Tina Oldknow, the Corning Museum’s Curator of Modern Glass. The jurors selected 100 works from 888 international artists that sent over 2,500 images of work for the competition.

The Washington DC area is represented by some familiar names – the Washington Glass School’s Michael Janis; Washington Glass School alumni Jeff Zimmer, and Weisser Glass Studio’s Nancy Weisser.

The book of work is published in Germany and the copies have just arrived stateside. Congrats to the artists!

Michael Janis
Touching With A Lighter Hand
kilnformed glass, glass powder imagery
95 cm x 50 cm

Jeff Zimmer
1/1000th the Space Between Me and You (In a Deadrise)
layers of enamelled & sandlasted glass in glass lightbox
545 x 225 x 210 mm/21″ x 8.75 ” x 8.25″

Nancy Weisser
Broken Memories
assembled kilnformed glass
305cm x 762cm

Click Here for the New Glass Review 32 “Call for Entries”