The Washington Glass School

Tim Tate, 8 Bats, 4 Seasons, wood, mirrors, cast objects, LEDs, 36″ x 36″ x 6″. Photo: Pete Duvall.

Glass artist and mixed-media sculptor Tim Tate has been part of the Penland School of Crafts community for decades, and for 2018, the education center will showcase his work at this year’s auction gala. The Penland School of Crafts Annual Benefit Auction is the premiere craft auction in the southeast, providing funds to support the operations of Penland School of Crafts while introducing new artists to collectors and expanding public understanding and awareness of craft.

Tim’s featured piece 8 Bats, 4 Seasons is a remarkable assemblage of materials, history, and imagination.

Detail of bats

8 Bats, 4 Seasons may remind viewers of a classic wood-framed mirror, but Tim has added a rich composition of imagery to the mirror’s face and then transformed it further into a dimensional portal that stretches toward infinity. “The beauty of endless mirrors is in creating a space that exists nowhere else on Earth,” Tim explains in a recent interview for American Craft. The work feels familiar and inviting and utterly mysterious all at once.

But the story goes deeper than beauty. Tim has imagined his mirror as an artifact, “an undiscovered object from the 1860s commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt during the Golden Era. He had just returned from his grand tour of Asia…” While the four seasons are a nod to Currier and Ives, Keats and Thoreau, and Western decorative traditions, the piece’s eight bats are a nod to China, where bats have long served as a symbol of good luck.

The wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt, after returning from their grand tour in Asia. It is clear that by this time she had become obsessed with bats.

American Craft’s interview with Tim describes him as “as much explorer as artist, seeking out the uncharted.” With 8 Bats, 4 Seasons, Tim beckons us into a parallel world of his creation full of questions and possibility. All are invited to look into Tim’s mirror—and the space beyond it—at this summer’s Penland Benefit Auction.

Penland’s 33rd Annual Benefit Auction is August 10-11, 2018, which means the spectacular weekend is only four months away! Register now to join this gala event and the great craft, great friends, and great memories it celebrates.

2018 Annual Benefit Auction

Friday, August 10 & Saturday, August 11

About Penland’s Annual Auction
Entering its 33rd year in 2018, the auction attracts over 800 collectors and volunteers to the Penland campus in the mountains of North Carolina each August. The weekend brings artists and patrons together and provides collectors with opportunities to meet established and emerging artists, learn about trends in contemporary craft, and see and purchase exceptional new work. If you are passionate about art and interested in investing in the health and the future of the arts, join us for this gala event.