Norfolk, VA’s Okay Spark Gallery will be hosting an exhibit of work by 5 artists from the Washington Glass School titled “DC Five – A Glass Narrative” – from February 5th through March 6th, 2016.
Glass artists are moving out of their disciplinary confines and now draw from multiple media and disciplines. The exhibitions will examine the art of storytelling, personal experiences and social commentary through sculptural works in glass. Artists from DC’s Washington Glass School (Audrey Wilson, Erwin Timmers, Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey and Michael Janis) have a conceptually derived focus to their works. The artists’ interests and practices occupy areas between disciplines and media – dissolving and redrawing the boundaries along the way.
Audrey Wilson‘s kilncast pâte de verre sculptures and multi-media works are metaphors evoking our endless manipulation of environment, our need for control, and our longing for a meaningful union with nature and the other, in a supreme balance of power and delicacy.
Audrey Wilson, “Preparation of a Primary Beam in a Pure State”, kilncast glass, found objects. Photo by Pete Duvall.
Erwin Timmers is one of the DC area’s leading ‘eco-artists’. Recycling, waste, the environment and how they relate to society are recurring themes in his work. His works are made from recycled glass.
Erwin Timmers, kilnformed recycled glass sculptures. Photo by Pete Duvall
Tim Tate merges traditional craft with contemporary digital media, often working with electronics and video components.
Tim Tate, “Beware the Marquis”, cast poly-vitro, video. Photo by Pete Duvall.
Sean Hennessey regards glass as ideal for layering dimensional images and text in works that translate ideas concerning human experience, history and space.
Sean Hennessey, “Drink Me”, kiln cast bas-relief glass, LED.
Michael Janis tells his stories using delicate crushed glass powder manipulated and fired into glass panels.
Michael Janis, “Waiting for my Shadow to Fall Back to Earth” Kiln formed glass panel with glass powder imagery. Photo by Pete Duvall.
This diverse and eclectic exhibition at OK SPARK Gallery opens February 5, 2015. Click HERE for gallery website.
DC Five – A Glass Narrative
February 5th through March 6th, 2016, Opening reception Friday Feb 5th, from 6-8PM .
801 Boush St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 779-5784
Okay Spark is the only contemporary craft gallery in Norfolk, VA, and is located two blocks from The Chrysler Museum of Art. 
Norfolk, Virginia is a pretty creative place. The city has a growing number of eclectic neighborhoods like the Norfolk Arts District and Ghent that are populated with art spaces and galleries like Okay Spark Gallery and the renowned Chrysler Museum of Art, a newly renovated, 220,000-square-foot attraction filled with European paintings, contemporary American art and a world-class glass art collection.
The DC5 doing their kiln mojo dance.