Category Archives: Uncategorized

JRA Block Party! Woot! Woot!

Posted on by |

On Saturday, September 17th, all are invited to join the James Renwick Alliance (JRA) and celebrate their 40 years supporting CRAFT with an Open Studio Block Party at the Washington Glass School & surrounding artist studios. The festivity will include open studios, artist demonstrations, LuvPlates food truck, a live mural painting and, of course, anniversary cake! Noon to 3 pm. Registration is strongly encouraged. https://www.jra.org/jracraftevents/jracraft-block-party

Participating artists and organizations include:

  • Zenith Foundation Mobile Wood Truck featuring a woodturning demonstration by the Montgomery County Woodturners
  • Blue Fire Ceramic Studio featuring a tile painting demo by Robert Devers and a Balik demo by Kelly Posey
  • Washington Glass School including Michael Janis, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Christina Helowicz, with a demonstration of enameling on glass by Patricia De Poel Wilberg
    ​- Multimedia artist Martha Jackson Jarvis
  • Mosaic artist Valerie Theberge featuring a mosaic demonstration
    ​- Orange Door Studios including Ellyn Weiss, Veronica Szalus, Brian Williams and Ellen Sinel
  • Painter Janis Goodman
  • Blue Door Studios including Alec Simpson
  • Otis Street Art Projects including the studios of Chris Bohner, Gloria Chapa, Chris Combs, Elizabeth Curren, Art Drauglis, Liz Lescault, Kirsty Little, Shelley Lowenstein, CeCi Cole McInturff, Lisa Rosenstein, David Mordini
Party People!! Hands in the air!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged

Class 4808 – The Green Light

Posted on by |

This class will bring some serious color to your life and brighten up your living space. This is the perfect way to use glass in a most practical application: a lamp. You will design your own colored glass, determine your own shape, and have your choice of several different hanging or mounting options. For considerably less than the price of a designer fixture, you can put your own name on it.  Tuition includes glass, mold materials, and mounting hardware. No glass experience is needed, and electrical experience will be provided. Beginner/intermediate level.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ,

2022 Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award

Posted on by |

The Virginia A. Groot Foundation established the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant in 1988 so that a ceramic sculpture or sculpture artist may have the opportunity to devote a substantial period of time to the development of his or her work.

Eligibility: Each year the Virginia A. Groot Foundation offers grants to artists who have exceptional talent and demonstrated ability in ceramic sculpture or sculpture. Artists may be at any stage of career development, from emerging through mature. Applicants must be 21 years or older at the time of the application deadline. We welcome and encourage international applicants.

DEADLINE: February 1, 2022

AWARD INFO: Three grants (up to $50,000, $20,000, $10,000)

FEE: $5

WHO: Artists working in ceramic sculpture or sculpture. Artists may be at any stage of career development, from emerging through mature. Applicants must be 21 years or older at the time of the application deadline and not currently enrolled as a student.

Click HERE to jump to online application.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged

AACG Honors Tim Tate

Posted on by |

On October 29, at 1 PM Eastern time, all are invited to honor – Washington Glass School Co-Founder and Co-Director Tim Tate as the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass Honors Award recipient for his outstanding accomplishments in the field of contemporary glass art. Join AACG live on their YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtAllianceforContemporaryGlass

(FYI- the live event starts at 1 pm- and won’t show until that time- just wait if you arrive early!) 😉

From the AACG website:

The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass 2021 honoree is Tim Tate who is being recognized by AACG as an individual of outstanding accomplishment in the field of contemporary glass art whose contributions have been significant and important in the field. Tim will be honored, both for his groundbreaking artwork and for his activism, speaking through his art about various social issues. This program is open to the public through live streaming on the Art Alliance YouTube channel.

Posted in Uncategorized

Juneteenth

Posted on by |

On Wednesday, Congress overwhelmingly voted to establish Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday. Juneteenth is the first federal holiday to be established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

On June 19, 1865, Black Texans in Galveston, still living in slave conditions, finally learned that Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery two years previously. 

Let’s make Juneteenth a commemorative, not of the horrific institution our country embraced, but rather as a showcase of the strength in the American spirit to recognize wrong and set about making it right. In this same spirit America moves ahead today in leveling playing fields and achieivng ever greater equality. Let us celebrate all that Juneteenth teaches us about our country’s greatness in our use of the heart to hear and to learn and to work together for all that is good and just.

Posted in Uncategorized

Farewell Teri Swinhart

Posted on by |

Our Studio Coordinator Wore Many Hats

We bid a fond farewell to our Studio Coordinator extraordinaire – Teri Swinhart – moves out West, to sunny Los Angeles. We will miss her skills, knowledge of glass and casting, and her unique charm!

Best of Luck to Teri and Derek Swinhart! Come back and visit often!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ,

JRA Virtual CRAFT TOUR of WGS!

Posted on by |

VIRTUAL CRAFT TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC
APRIL 27 – 28, 2021 | 6:30 – 8PM
MEMBERS: $60 | NON-MEMBERS: $75

Tim Tate and Michael Janis at the Washington Glass School.
Visit the Washington Glass School with Co-Directors Tim Tate and Michael Janis

The James Renwick Alliance for Craft will host a unique virtual craft tour featuring some of the most important craft destinations in the DC region. One of the tour stops is – The Washington Glass School!! Join us as we visit our studio, Margaret Boozer’s Red Dirt Studio, The Renwick Museum, Howard University’s ceramics collection as well as some collector homes!

For more info and to jump to JRA site to register – click LINK: VIRTUAL CRAFT TRIP TO DC – JAMES RENWICK ALLIANCE (jra.org)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

Pop Art & Glass – New solo exhibit by Michael Janis & Tony Porto

Posted on by |

WGS Co-Director Michael Janis has collaborated with Chicago-based artist Tony Porto on a new series of glass/mixed media sculptures – making their debut solo show debut in Habatat Galleries’ “Not Grandmas’ Glass” (NGG) exhibit/competition. NGG is new and groundbreaking competition, held over 12 months featuring 12 artists that the gallery feels are pushing the medium beyond the norm. The premise of the exhibit is to showcase works that are outside “traditional” studio art glass, where the artists were challenged to make works that would be in a contemporary museum.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto “Lunchtime With Darth Vader”; 2021, cast glass, mixed media, 24″ x 24″ x 9″

Habatat director Aaron Schey said of the NGG show concept: “These artists are extremely innovative and I propose that they will all be important in the future of the glass medium. Creating work that is probably not in Grandma’s art collection…..yet.”

Michael Janis and Tony Porto, “Friendship is Magic”; 2021, kilncast glass, mixed media, 22″ x 22″ x 9″

Paying homage to the underdogs of pop culture – the cartoons, action figures, and toys of childhood, Janis and Porto incorporate figures as diverse as Batman, Darth Vader, My Little Pony, Wonder Woman, Hulk Hogan in their evocative narratives that are at once whimsical and distressing, capturing their complexities and outlandishness.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto “Call For Bruce Wayne”; 2021, cast glass, mixed media, LED, electronics, wood, 20″ X 24″ X 10″

In the works, they walk a really fun line between taking this stuff seriously and also being able to laugh at it all.

Michael Janis and Tony Porto delivered a fantastic online artist talk – hosted by Michigan’s Habatat Galleries (click HERE to jump to YouTube link.)

Mike and Tony outlined their collaborative works, their meanings, and how they managed to work together during the pandemic.

Click HERE to jump to their awesome website!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Maryland State Arts Council Exhibit Features Artists from Washington Glass School

Posted on by |

Still image from Identity website

The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) has a special exhibit titled “Identity” featuring of the 60 artists exhibited in special show by Maryland State Arts Council. From the MSAC exhibit catalog:

“A person’s identity is constantly evolving and can include their cultural identity, social identity, gender identity, racial identity, and the intersection of multiple identities to form one’s whole self. The Maryland State Arts Council is reflecting self-reflective art that expresses and explores how the artist perceives themself through this online exhibition.”

The artwork is in online gallery in the by Kunstmatrix which allows one to “walk” thru a show). The show runs February 5th thru April 6th, 2021.

Max DeMulder ; “Nonexistence”, 2020; 14 x 10.3 inch; Watercolor & Ink on Paper

Click on link below to jump to virtual exhibit:
IDENTITY – 3D virtual exhibition by Maryland State Arts Council | art.spaces | KUNSTMATRIX

Posted in Uncategorized

Call for Glass Art about COVID

Posted on by |

CALL FOR ENTRY
“VIRAL GLASS: Artists Responses to COVID-19”

The past year has been devastating for everyone around the world. While the medical and social impact of Covid-19 are undeniable, this pandemic has also deeply influenced the making of art in every area of creative initiative.

This on-line exhibition looks specifically at how glass artists around the world are responding to the Pandemic. While some have focused on the virus itself and the fear it instills, others have explored the depth and intensity of world-wide isolation. Other creative individuals have focused on how this disaster can bring communities together, or how it has torn us apart. In any case, artists in every field have contributed to keeping the world moving. What has your pandemic artwork centered on?
Viral Glass, a new web-based virtual exhibition will focus on the incredible work of international glass artists showcasing their creativity and resourcefulness during the Coronavirus pandemic. This show will mark the long anticipated return of David McFadden, who was Chief Curator of the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC for 16 years, to our field as guest curator for this show. In addition to being an international forum for artists to share their concerns and visions, cash prizes will also be offered.

Habatat Galleries in Royal Oak, MI will be managing the logistics for this project, scheduled to open on-line on May 1st, 2021. If you would like to be considered for inclusion in this show, please send up to 3 images, a CV, and a brief description of technique and what this piece means to you to ViralGlass2021@gmail.com. Deadline for images will be March 19th. All artists will be notified before April 15th.


Each artist will be invited to create their own virtual experience online that will be shared through the www.viralglass.org website.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , ,