American Craft Council Baltimore show

More than 700 of the country's leading craft artists are gathered under one roof to present the latest designer & handmade work at the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore, the largest juried, indoor craft show in the nation. This fantastic show of the highest quality handmade jewelry, furniture, clothing, home décor, and more, will be available for purchase at the Baltimore Convention Center, February 27 - March 1, 2009.

A group from the Washington Glass School made a grand tour of the enormous show - some of the highlights included:

Tommie Rush’s booth – great to catch up with Tommie & Richard Jolley. Tommie is the Vice President of the Glass Arts Society. Click here for info about her glass.

Kenny Pieper had great work on display at his booth - always great to catch up with one of the worlds best blowers! Click here for his website.

Rania Hassan – is showing in a new section of the ACC show – ALTCRAFT. This section features rising indie crafters whose work illustrates the innovative techniques and materials of the burgeoning new handmade movement, in a shared market-style space. And her work looked fantastic! Click here for her website

Robert Wiener’s DC Art Glass booth was packed – a very popular place!
Click here for Robert's website.

DC Mayor Proclaims 'Craft Week DC'

The Mayor of Washington DC has issued a formal proclamation listing April 22- 26 2009 as “Craft Week DC” in honor of the ‘growing reputation and artistic achievement of local artists working in clay, glass, fiber, metal and wood’.

American Style Magazine article

American Style Magazine has an article in the current edition about the upcoming Washington, DC Craft Week

The Capital of Craft
What was once a weekend event has blossomed into a five-day celebration, thanks to the combined forces of two Washington, D.C., craft powerhouses.

The James Renwick Alliance (JRA) has partnered with the Smithsonian Women’s Committee, producers of the Smithsonian Craft Show, to host Craft Week DC 2009.

The alliance, a support group of the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, has traditionally sponsored a weekend event for craft collectors each spring. This year, the weekend will run concurrently with the Smithsonian Craft Show, held April 23-26 at the National Building Museum. Highlights include:

• A curator-led tour of “The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene,” an exhibition at the Renwick that examines the work of the Arts & Crafts designers Charles and Henry Greene;
• A tour of select Georgetown galleries;
• Open studios and artist demonstrations at the Gateway Arts Community in Mt. Rainer, Md.;
• A discussion of artists’ lives by “Masters of the Medium” awardees at the JRA Spring Craft Weekend Symposium;
• Silent and live auctions at the JRA Spring Craft Weekend Gala;
• A preview of work by artists who have taught at the Penland School of Crafts at Habatat Galleries in Tysons Corner, Va.
• Craft Week DC runs April 22-26; for details, visit www.jra.org or www.smithsoniancraftshow.org.

What A Nice Pear!

Detail of artwork by Kathy Lynch

The Dry Plaster Casting class always produces intriguing works. This past class was no exception - representational, abstract, textural, allegorical - all different voices in dimensional glass.

Works shown by Wilhelmina Burress, Richard Sorien, Jayne Lowery

Gateway CDC artist space opening

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
for the
New ezStorage at Brentwood
4301-4305 Rhode Island Avenue
Brentwood, MD 20722

This project is the first to utilize federal New Market Tax Credits in the
Gateway Arts District and includes the Gateway Artists' Studios and Retail
Space.

Speakers at the opening included:
Brentwood Mayor Bettyjean Schmiedigen,
Senator David Harrington
Cheryl P Derricotte - Executive Director of the Gateway CDC & glass artist


The Brentwood Arts Center annex at ez Storage in the Gateway Arts District has storefront studios for rent. Located at 4103-4105 Rhode Island Ave. This is a rare opportunity for artists to have store front studio space where you can make art and exhibit your work all at once. This space is also available to arts related organizations.
They have a total of 1835 square feet of store front space on Rhode Island Ave. that rents for $1835 a month plus utilities. The storefront space can be kept intact or subdivided into 4 individual storefront studios.
For more info call John Paradiso, Arts and Community Development Officer, Gateway CDC at 301-864-3860 Ext.3.

We're Hiring!

Positions available:

(1) Studio Assistant. Paid position which starts at $10 per hour. This position is very hands on. You will be mold-making, lost wax casting, deep relief dry plaster casting, cleaning the studio, welding, etc. Experience in any of these skills is great, but otherwise you will be learning them quickly. Dependability is primary in this position, and the ability to work with a wide variety of personalities. The ideal candidate is self-motivated and can work in a multi-task arts environment, where craftsmanship and pride of work is important.

(2) Studio Intern. This is an unpaid position This is a great way to learn a large variety of skills and receive mentorship in your own art career. This is a very exciting opportunity for someone who doesn't have the resources to pay for the classes offered here.

(3) Teaching Assistant. This position is also unpaid, and requires some experience in glass. This is perfect for the glass artist who wants to help out at a few classes, and learn while they assist. Its also a great way to be exposed to the energy and experience surrounding this studio, but in short time spans.

email washglassschool@aol.com or call Tim Tate at 202-744-8222 for more information.

Maurine Littleton Gallery show

We mentioned in a previous posting about the Maurine Littleton Gallery show currently on in Georgetown - the gallery's director, John LaPrade uploaded some images from the show. The show runs thru April.


Maurine Littleton Gallery
1667 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, Dc 20007
www.littletongallery.com

Heads a rolling...

The kiln was loaded today for Erwin's commissioned piece. The previously mentioned Happy Meal toy heads were used to form a sea of faces.

Get Ready for Art-O-Matic!

Ok - attention all artists, art-wannabes, artistically inclined, and art collectors! The huge (non-juried) DC area art festival is getting ready to get into gear:

Artomatic 10th anniversary: Capitol Riverfront, May 29-July 5

Prepare to celebrate Artomatic's 10th anniversary: The trademark, one-of-a-kind multimedia arts event will be at Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E., in Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.

Artomatic 2009 will be held May 29 to July 5. Admission to Artomatic is always free for visitors.

Registration will begin in March and will be open to all artists — including painters, photographers, sculptors, graphic designers, musicians, poets, actors and dancers. Artomatic is an unjuried event, so all artists are welcome, from professionals to beginners.

To be notified of the date when registration will open or to stay up on other Artomatic news, sign up to receive ArtoNews, the Artomatic newsletter, on this web site.

Maurine Littleton Gallery presents

Artwork on exhibit at Maurine Littleton Gallery in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC include pieces by Allegra Marquart, Dale Chihuly, Tim Tate, Thermon Statom and Michael Janis.

Maurine Littleton Gallery
1667 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC

Tues - Sat 11 am-6pm
(202) 333.9307
http://www.littletongallery.com/

Oh, The Humanity!

Eco-Artist Erwin Timmers is working on a commissioned artwork glass panel. The cast glass panel is made from recycled glass and will incorporate many, many faces cast into the sheet of glass. As such, Erwin has been hitting the junk shops, looking for discarded toys to utilized their heads to create the form molds.
Erwin has been spending the better part of the day chopping little heads off little plastic bodies.












Ok, does anyone else find these little decapitated plastic bodies disturbing?
















No? How about when the little heads had a liquid core, and the green blood started spurting out?









Who is not moved at the sight of these sad eyes staring at you?

Welding Class in Action!

artist Michael Janis works on a new series

Based on imagery of healing, Michael is working on one of his glass slabs.
The title of this piece is: 'Touching With A Lighter Hand'
The artwork is 19"W x 37" H, made from layers of glass and glass powder imagery.

Washington Glass School artist Mayor's Art Award Finalist!

Michael Janis was selected as a finalist for the 2009 Washington, DC Mayor's Arts Awards.

The Mayor’s Arts Award is the most prestigious honor given by the District of Columbia to individual artists, arts organizations and patrons of the arts. Come join us as Mayor Fenty awards recipients that were selected from among the finalists and announced live from the stage at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Ceremony on Monday, March 23, 2009 at 6:00 PM at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Concert Hall.

Admission is free and having been to many of them, it is a boatload of fun, with great live music and entertainment and loads of good food and drinks.

For more information, please contact Lisa Richards Toney at (202) 724-5613.
The Mayor's Arts Awards are free and open to the public. Email questions to artsawards@dc.gov or call (202) 724-5613.

Casting at DC Glass Works

Everyone was participating at DC Glass Works bronze/aluminum/glass casting session this weekend!

Sean Hennessey's resin sand casting mold

photos by Tracy Lee Photo

Dry Plaster Casting

The kilns are always cooking at the Glass School. On the menu for today - Dry Plaster Casting.

This high- relief technique creates a tremendous effect and detail in glass.

The cast glass has many artistic and architectural applications.

The next class is February 21/22, 2009

Click here for class description!

Tim Tate and Nancy Donnelly discuss Nancy's latest casting