>The Friday Washington Post newspaper had a couple of articles that featured Washington Glass School instructors – Mark Jenkins gives a review of Rockville’s VisArts 25th anniversary exhibit “Review, Review” that featured two of Professor Tim Tate’s glass artwork sculptures.
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| The Dec 21st Washington Post uses Tim Tate’s “Lexicon Primer” (inset and detail of glass) as the teaser for the VisArts exhibit review. |
The Weekend Section also featured Washington Glass Artists – Sean Hennessey and his lovely wife, Rania Hassan.
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| Rania & Sean – together they are one of DC’s power arts couples |
Sean and Rania were judges of the Washington Posts’ Holiday Wrapping paper contest for kids, and the winning design, by Carolin Vorona was featured in the section, along with a pull-out printing of the paper.
From the Post article about the selection of the Carolin’s work:“Each of the entries had something I liked,” Hennessey says. “Some had a great use of patterns, others had a sophisticated use of color and many had a fun sense of imagination. The glittery snowmen had a balanced sense of all of the above.”
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| 10 yr old Carolin Vorona’s snowman entry. The judges particularly liked the Western snowman, complete with mustache, hat and horseshoe, but the sensitive and insightful use of the glitter medium cinched the win. |
Click Here to jump to the article and photo gallery of the honorable mentions.
Has Tim Tate Gone MAD?!
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Well, yes, but Tim’s feeling much better…Playing With Fire @ NY MAD Museum
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Tim Tate, “I Want To Run Away and Join the Circus“, 2009, blown and cast glass, electronic components. Photo: Anything Photographic. |
This year, New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass movement with an exhibit titled “Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass” – which featured more than 100 works of glass from the MAD collection, and additional contemporary works on loan. Ever since 1962, when a legendary workshop led by renowned glass artist Harvey Littleton demonstrated the potential of glassblowing as a medium available to individual artists, artists and designers have continually pushed the material in new directions and used the complex, fragile, and highly versatile nature of the material to create an astonishing diversity of works.
“Playing with Fire” looks at the breadth of innovative processes and artistry in contemporary glass, from pieces by early adaptors such as Dale Chihuly to installations by Israeli designer Ayala Serfaty. The exhibit is organized by the Museum of Arts and Design and is curated by Jennifer Scanlan, Associate Curator. “As a sculptural material, glass has unique properties: its ability to hold, emit and reflect light renders color more brilliant and animates figures and forms,”says Jennifer Scanlan. “In ‘Playing With Fire,’ we wanted to show how artists and designers play with the properties of this fluid medium — often in extraordinary, and sometimes unexpected ways.”
The exhibition is made possible, in part, by the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass.
Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass.
November 6, 2012 thru April 7, 2013
Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
Area Artists Exhibit at SOFA Chicago 2012
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Gateway artists and their work will be amongst crowds at the international art show SOFA CHICAGO, the annual arts expo devoted to Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Celebrating its 19th year, SOFA CHICAGO is one of the world's foremost contemporary art fairs, featuring nearly 70 art galleries and dealers from 10 countries along with special exhibits by renowned museums, universities and arts organizations, and an extensive lecture series.
Gateway Arts Featured at the SOFA include:
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| "Unhemmed" Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net |
Ceramic artist Ani Kasten will have her work at Massachusetts’ Lacoste Gallery space (#508). Ani’s ceramic and mixed media work takes their influence from nature as well as the nature of change.
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| "Skyline", Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net |
Infused with a modern, minimal aesthetic, her - amazingly structured and unstructured at the same time - work references the built world as well as reminding one of a natural or ancient object exposed to the rigors of time.
Glass Artists Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis are both featured at Georgetown’s Maurine Littleton Gallery space (#408).
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| "Gecko Gets Told" Allegra Marquart, sandcarved fused glass and enamel, photo by anythingphoto.net |
Allegra Marquarts’ colorful artwork delights in storytelling and mines fables and fairy tale for both content and imagery. Allegra sandcarves the panels of glass she fuses at the Washington Glass School, working on both sides of the glass slabs, playing with the translucent quality of the medium.
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| 3 separate works - "Flying in Place", "Lessons Learned and Unlearned", "The Optimism of Language", Michael Janis, fused glass imagery, silver and steel, photo by anythingphoto.net |
Michael Janis’ glass sculpture works are also at Maurine Littleton Gallery space His new works show how perceptions are based on perspective, where the mirrored glass cylinders refigure the distorted glass frit images into new shapes.
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| "Flying in Place" Michael Janis, photo by anythingphoto.net |
Both Allegra and Michael work from the Washington Glass School, located in Mount Rainier, MD.
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| "21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate, cast glass, video, electronics, photo by anythingphoto.net |
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| detail "21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate |
Another Washington Glass School artist – Tim Tate – is featured at Michigan’s Habatat Galleries space (#1100). Tim’s incredible mixed media works exploit the beauty of glass and invests it with a narrative that takes the work to a new level. One work – “21st Century Dadaism” incorporates video projection onto cast glass components, with the effect of producing a disembodied human face, created from the disjointed. If Dadaism had occurred today, it might have resembled this.
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| "Vegetable Peddler And Her Son", Tim Tate, cast and blown glass, photo by anythingphoto.net |
His other sculpture works, from a series he calls his “Cabinet of Curiosities”, incorporate cast glass elements made from the “lost wax” process are a delight in creating surreal worlds. This is a breakout year for Tim, whose work is currently on exhibit at Mesa, Arizona’s Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.
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| Tim Tate in front of Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ. |
SOFA Chicago 2012 - Friday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 4; Preview Thursday, Nov 1.
For more info - visit the SOFA Chicago website
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| SOFA Chicago at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL |
Review < > Renew Exhibit Celebrates VisArts’ 25th Anniversary
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VisArts – Rockville’s non-profit arts center is hosting a 25th anniversary celebration to recognize the many artists, teachers, partners and collaborators who have been integral to their success. As part of this celebration, VisArts presents Review < > Renew, co-curated by Judy Greenberg and Jack Rasmussen. This group exhibition brings together renowned artists who brought critical regional success to the fledgling organization, Rockville Arts Place (RAP). The artists selected for the exhibition all exhibited at RAP while Greenberg was President of the Board and Rasmussen was Executive Director. The works will be shown in two galleries, the Kaplan and the Common Ground Galleries.
In the Kaplan Gallery, works by Lisa Brotman, Manon Cleary, Sam Gilliam, Tom Green, Margarida Kendall, and Joe Shannon will be on display. Early paintings and more recent works by the artists will be exhibited alongside Paul Feinberg’s photographs of the artists 25 years ago and now. The paintings and photographs are accompanied by interviews with the artists conducted by Feinberg. An earlier version of this exhibition, inspired by the early RAP/VisArts shows, was recently exhibited at the American University Museum, Washington, DC.
The Common Ground Gallery will feature outstanding artists important to the history of VisArts working in glass and clay, including Margaret Boozer, Robert Devers, Tim Tate, and Mindy Weisel.
October 28 – December 29, 2012
25th Anniversary Celebration (tickets required)
Saturday, October 27 from 7:30 – 10:30 pm
(VIP Reception at 5:30 with Curators’ Tour)
(Free) Opening Reception Friday, November 9th from 7-9 pm
VisArts At Rockville / Kaplan & Common Ground Galleries
155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850
Report From Penland School of Craft
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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!
Ben & Giselle Huberman = American Style
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| The Fall 2012 issue of American Style Magazine features DC contemporary art collectors Ben and Giselle Huberman. |
The new Fall issue of American Style Magazine is now out, and one of the feature stories is about Giselle and Ben Huberman and their amazing contemporary art collection that showcases their support of area artists.
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| Ben & Giselle Huberman have been strong supporters of artists of the Washington Glass School, including Erwin Timmers, Chris Shea, Michael Janis, Sean Hennessey and Tim Tate. |
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| The American Style photo of the Huberman’s Potomac, MD residence shows Michael Janis’ glass sgraffito panel “Cubans Dreaming of Liberty“ |
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| Giselle and Ben Huberman. Giselle is the president-elect of the James Renwick Alliance. |
Within the article (written by Marilyn Millstone with photos by Timothy Jacobsen) are references and glimpses of work by Chris Shea, Michael Janis, Sean Hennessey.
Tim Tate’s “Ode to Joy” has a detailed description. In the mixed media sculpture, cast glass hands spell out in sign language the words to “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. A video of a tenor singing Beethoven’s work is inside the domed glass, but without sound – which is how Beethoven would have experienced the song – as he became deaf.
The article has a detailed sidebar about Tim Tate’s “Ode to Joy” sculpture (photo below by anythingphoto.net).
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| Tim Tate “Ode to Joy” blown & cast glass, original video, electronics |
A video of a tenor singing Beethoven’s work is inside the domed glass, but without sound – which is how Beethoven would have experienced the song – as he became deaf. An interesting note – the tenor featured within Tim Tate’s work is artist Sean Hennessey. Besides being a glass/concrete mixed media sculptor, with work in the Huberman’s collection, Sean is an accomplished tenor. Below is the video of Sean singing that is incorporated into the sculpture. Have a look for the magazine at the newstands now!
Tate, Kincheloe & Hennessey Teaching at Penland
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Penland School of Craft – the national center for craft education located in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains |
Some of the Washington Glass School instructors are preparing to teach a Fall Course at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, starting October 7, 2012.
Tim Tate will be leading a class on “The 21st Century Reliquary”, where the class will explore concepts for contemporary reliquaries – both the ideation and creation.
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| Robert Kincheloe will be handling the torchwork aspects for the class. |
Teaching assistants Sean Hennessey and Robert Kincheloe will help the students complete the necessary technical glass components as they work.
Sean Hennessey will be helping the students make molds. The process that Sean uses to take life-casting is the same as he will be teaching in the upcoming Washington Glass School course – “Life Casting” that starts in December.
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| Sean Hennessey takes a casting of his hands in an alginate mold. |
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| The mold material sets up quick and is ready for the fill material within 10 minutes. |
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| For this casting – a demo piece for the Penland class – Sean uses concrete as the fill material. |
The last time Washington Glass taught at Penland was in the 2008 Affecting Plate Glass with Tim Tate and Michael Janis. That was a fun class, and we have stayed in touch with many of the students.
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| 2008’s Affecting Plate Glass Class @ Penland |
Jennifer Lindstrom was the teaching assistant for that class and she made sure the students were kept in line.
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| Jennie “helps” student Joyce Knott. (Students – this image shows the importance of reading the liability waiver.) |
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| What we do in the name of art. |
Said Tim of the upcoming class – “Going to Penland is to me, like going home – I hope that we can all experiance that kind of love and growth in this course”.
Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum Opens Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic Exhibit
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| “Envy” Tim Tate and Marc Petrovic; Cast and Blown Glass, Metal, Video |
The artist team of Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic are an artistic powerhouse duo! Tonight their exhibit “Glass Secessionism” opens at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.
GLASS SECESSIONISM
- When:
- Friday, September 14, 2012 – Sunday, January 6, 2013
- Where:
- Project Room
The Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum located at the Mesa Arts Center in downtown Mesa, Arizona opens a number of glass based exhibits – click HERE to jump to the Museum’s website. Mesa Arts Center, One East Main Street, Mesa, Arizona 85201
Penland Auction & Tour
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| The Penland 2012 auction tent as lighting lights up the sky. The central focus of the trip was built around attending Penland’s Annual Benefit Auction featuring the sale of over 200 craft items, and it was a wonderful opportunity to interact with fellow craft enthusiasts. |
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Michael Sherrill’s incredible studio |
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| Michael Sherrill’s ceramic artwork |
Ceramist Michael Sherrill has been making pots for more than twenty years. Originally, his work was completely functional, but it has evolved into work that is now wholly sculptural. He is one of the most thoughtful and articulate sculptors of our time.
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| Michael Sherrill talking about his work |
Hoss Haley has worked in metal for over twenty years, creating sculpture, paintings, and public art. Hoss’s work is in several collections including Lowes Corporation,
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| Hoss recycles objects like washing machines and cars – often crumpling them into ball shapes mounted to walls or stacked. |
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| Christina Cordova talks about her recent works. |
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| Christina Cordova’s work is awesome. |
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| Pablo De Soto charms Fred and Susan Sanders |
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| Alex Bernstein talks to the JRA at the Asheville Art Museum. |
Dan Essig’s wordless works of art are sewn, woven and carved into magnificent artists’ books and sculptures. Dan’s works incorporates so many things -fossils, shells, coins and old nails—into his artwork.
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| Dan Essig talks of his work |
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| A view of the Blue Spiral 1 Gallery. |
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| Stoney shows some of the special woods that Fleur Bresler had sourced. |
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| Stoney talked of his process to the tour. |
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| The big show was the drama, anticipation and socializing at the Penland Auction. |
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| Glass sculptor Beth Lipman chats with Susan and Fred Sanders |
Dan Clayman with the proud owners of his Penland auction piece….Giselle and Ben Huberman
"Elements of 21st Century Reliquaries" Sculpture Class
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The two DC area superstar sculptors have teamed up to teach a special sculpture class – Elements of 21st Century Reliquaries.
Novie draws on her archeology training as she creates ceramic houses, books, birds, boats and reliquaries, many that look as though they might have been unearthed on an archeological dig. She explores ideas of nest/hive/home over and over in the work.
“…I often use archetypal symbols taken from ancient myths and tales. These iconic images take many forms: the bird as harbinger and messenger, bones as touchstones of quiet power, the forest as a threshold to the unknown. These symbols are used to express such universal human experiences as love, loss, fear, death, courage and transformation.” Novie Trump
Mixed media/video artist Tim Tate uses blown glass jars to capture universal emotions and experiences with haunting video reliquaries that push the boundaries between fine art and fine craft. Tim’s sculptures ask you to surrender your guarded self and feel the range of emotions that they provoke.
“Revelation — and in some cases self-revelation, is the underlying theme of my electronic reliquaries. But the important revelations here are in the viewer’s response to my hybrid art form and its conceptual nature. I try to bare everything — the guts of my materials and my inner thoughts — in deceptively simple narrative videos set into specimen jars. These works are phylacteries of sorts, the transparent reliquaries in which bits of saints’ bones or hair — relics — are displayed. In many cultures and religions, relics are believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially for healing. My relics are temporal, sounds and moving images formally enshrined, encapsulating experiences like cultural specimens. And perhaps, to the contemporary soul, they are no less reliquaries than those containing the bones of a saint.” Tim Tate
| Instructor | Tim Tate, Novie Trump |
| Dates | Sat/Suns in July/Aug (July 14,15,21,22,28,Aug 4,11) |
| Time | 1pm to 5pm |
| $600 |
Interested? Click HERE to jump to the Washington Glass School online schedule.
Novie Trump is a sculptor whose work is in public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Her ceramic sculpture has been selected for juried and invitational exhibitions and has been featured in books and publications. She is the founder and director of Flux Studios, a studio in Mount Rainier, MD 
Tim Tate is a Washington, DC native, and has been working with glass as a sculptural medium for the past 25 years. Co-Founder of the Washington Glass School, Tim’s work is in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery and the Mint Museum. He was the recipient of the 2009 Virginia Groot Foundation award for sculpture. He is a 2012 Fulbright Scholar recipient and was Artist-In-Residence at the Institute for International Glass Research (IIRG) in the UK.