Jeffery Zimmer's New Work @ Philly Museum Of Art Craft Show

Jeff Zimmer, We Were All Wrong (The Home of My Father), 2011.
Multiple layers of enameled and sandblasted glass in lightbox.
22 x 25 x 7"

The 35th annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

WGS alumn Jeff Zimmer will be one of the artists featured by Scotland in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show Nov 10 – 13, 2011. Jeff will be exhibiting his exquisite series "Whitewash". This past summer, Jeff's work was a favorite of Washington Post arts critic Michael O'Sullivan in his review of the LongView Gallery show of Washington Glass School artists.

Said Jeff of his new works: "Whitewash depicts a series of landscapes, both urban and rural, American and Scottish, under a blanket of snow -- a metaphor for the way we, as individuals and nations, ‘whitewash’ our pasts. The luminous, internally illuminated landscapes, placed in thick frames, contrast the untrammelled snow with the barely-concealed debris which remains, only partially hidden from view."

Jeff Zimmer, We Were All Wrong (The Writing on the Wall) 2011
Multiple layers of enamelled and sandblasted glass in lightbox
18 x 15 x 6"

The Glass Quarterly blog gives a nice cover to Jeff's work online - click HERE to jump to Ruth Reader's article.

Click HERE to jump to more of Jeff's series "Whitewash" (every piece is stunning, by the way).

SOFA Chicago Opens Nov 3

SOFA Chicago @ Navy Pier

The 18th Annual Sculpture Objects and Functional Art Fair, SOFA CHICAGO 2011, enjoys the prestigious position of being the largest and longest continually running international gallery-based art fair in Chicago. SOFA CHICAGO 2011 runs at Navy Pier Nov. 4 – Nov. 6. The SOFA CHICAGO and Intuit Show’s joint Opening Night Preview on Thursday, Nov. 3.

SOFA features more than 60 international art galleries and dealers presenting museum-quality art and design. SOFA galleries bridge a wide range of cultures, art movements and historical periods.

Our Tim Tate, Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis are representing in the Windy City.

Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis will be shown at Maurine Littleton Gallery - space #720

Maurine Littleton Gallery at SOFA Chicago 2010

Tim Tate will be featured at Jane Sauer Gallery - space # 307.
Tim's new work features a new video & glass and a non-video series.

Tim Tate
The Silent Ode
blown & cast glass, original video, electronics

Below is the video that is incorporated into the artwork - where the singer is silently performing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - which is how Beethoven would have experienced the song - as he became deaf. The cast glass hands are the words to the song in sign language.

Untitled from Tim Tate on Vimeo.

Chrysler Museum of Art Opens New Glass Studio Nov 2

The Chrysler Museum of Art, is getting ready to open its new 7,000 square foot glass studio.
Artist Charlotte Potter has been hired to helm the new studio as it gets off the ground, scheduled to open to the public Novermber 2nd.

The addition of the Glass Studio enhances the Museum’s stature as one of the top three museums in the United States with an art glass focus. The reality of the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio was sparked from the interest and support base demonstrated during Art of Glass 2 - the region’s blockbuster glass exhibition in 2009 featured the Chrysler Museum, Virginia Arts Festival and the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia as major partners.

“The Glass Studio will allow our visitors to experience glassmaking and be involved in every step of the process,” says Bill Hennessey, the Museum’s director. “We anticipate this will draw people to the region to learn about glass, meet visiting glass artists and tour our collection. We expect this to be a significant educational component for the region—one that will allow us to further strengthen our partnerships with groups such as Tidewater Community College and the Governor’s School for the Arts. With more than a third of our 35,000-object collection devoted to glass, this is clearly a strong suit for the Chrysler. This Glass Studio will bring these works of art to life.”

Chrysler Museum of Art
245 West Olney Road
Norfolk, Virginia 23510

DC's SEED Charter School: Come to Washington Glass School & Learn About Sins

The SEED School of Washington, DC

The SEED school of Washington DC is a public charter boarding school whose mission is "to provide an outstanding intensive educational program that prepares children ... for success in college." This past week, students from the school came to the Washington Glass School for a one-day hands-on class that mixed art, history, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

The students worked at creating bas-relief cast glass artwork that related to "The Seven Deadly Sins" - which, here at the Washington Glass School, is one subject we know all about. The dry plaster casting - that is. Tim Tate and Marc Petrovic did do a collaborative mixed media glass sculpture on the Seven Deadly Sins, and, as we all know, Tim is the devil - so who better to seek advice?

Not quite sure where a mermaid fits into the 7 Deadly Sins...perhaps its not a mermaid but a Siren (Lust)? or is it "check out my awesome tail" (Pride)?

Erwin Timmers points out the obvious.

The class had a great time creating imagery in plaster that glass would be formed into as bas-relief.
The SEED school arts instructor, Kamala Subramanian said later: "It is not easy to maintain the attention, much less excite teenager students today, where the most exciting things, to me, appear boring to them. You all have earned an A+ in my book of field trips and art experiences!"

So there! The Washington Glass School got its first A+!

Safeway Bethesda Opens In Grand Style

Safeway Bethesda located at Bradley Boulevard and Arlington Road on Wednesday night.

The Safeway Bethesda supermarket - that features Safeway's first public art project - celebrated its grand opening with a lavish gala that featured bands, celebrity chefs, public officials, television celebrities, and most importantly, artwork.

Safeway Bethesda Bradley Avenue façade. Comments on the building artwork include one that "Safeway's kundalini has risen"

The process the Washington Glass Studio employed for the creation of the bas-relief artwork walls made from glass salvaged from the original supermarket building (1956- 2010) has been documented in a number of previous postings, including the installation of the artwork (and time-lapse imagery of the building construction).

Special lighting emphasizes the dry stack stonework.

The opening was a great vernissage - in a supermarket. (By the way, walking thru the freezer section of a supermarket, while listening to a live jazz combo performing one aisle over & gourmet appetizers made by guest celebrity chefs, and being offered fine champagne by waiters is a surreal experience - all cool, but very unusual.)

Champagne?... why yes, thanks...

Why is that an ICE sculpture?... It should be glass.

Jazz performed amongst the seasonal goods.

One of the cool event accouterments was the carved pumpkin displays. The artist based the pumpkin carvings on the building's cast glass panels - a nice switch on the traditional glass pumpkins.
The night also featured artwork displays; the work by sculptor Judy Sutton Moore was exhibited on the staircase, and work by the Washington Glass School was featured in the rotunda.

Featured artists: Washington Glass School

WUSA - channel 9 news anchor Andrea Roane was the master of ceremonies.

Andrea received a gift of one of the WGS cast glass tile squares, and showed the artwork the next morning during her broadcast.

Project data:
Client: Safeway Inc.
Architect: Rounds Vanduzer
Builder: Roche Constructors
Completion: Oct 2011
Artwork team: Erwin Timmers, Michael Janis, Tim Tate, M L Duffy, Chris Duffy, Robert Kincheloe, Evan Morgan, Susan Lomuto, George Anderton.

New DC Commision on the Arts & Humanities Exec Director

The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities has named a new executive director - Lionell Thomas.

Lionell Thomas at Prince Georges County event "Poetry Between the Lines".

Thomas, who most recently served as Executive Director for the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, replaces outgoing Interim Director, Ayris Scales.

“As Chair of the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, I am thrilled to welcome Lionell Thomas as our new Executive Director,” said Judith Terra, Chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. “He brings great knowledge of the city and the Commission. He brings great vision for the future of the city, as well as dignity and presence to the office. With his leadership, Washington will be a world-class cultural city.”

Prior to his position with Prince George’s County, Mr. Thomas served with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for 22 years in several capacities, eventually serving as the Deputy Director and Interim Director.

"I am delighted to be returning home to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, " said Lionell Thomas. "I am looking forward to working together with Mayor Gray’s administration and the community to expand and cultivate the creative energy of our great city on behalf of the residents and visitors to Washington, DC."

Mr. Thomas received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Thomas has received various accolades locally and nationally for his creative approaches to arts management and programming. He has also served on a number of state grants panels as a reviewer and site evaluator.

Of all his accomplishments, Mr. Thomas is most proud of the initiatives developed to bring arts programs to underserved communities; many of which remain staples of the District of Columbia’s arts community today.

Hamiltonian SOFAlab @ Washington Glass School

Hamiltonian SOFAlab meeting at L- R
Helen Frederick, Erwin Timmers, Paul So, Caroline Wellberry, Shanti Norris

Hamiltonian Artists seeks to broaden the cultural dialogue within our modern community. One of the arts program to further the dialogue is SOFAlab - where scientists and artists are paired for collaborative interaction. SOFAlab asks: How and where do art and science – two seemingly disparate disciplines of intellectual inquiry – overlap? And, at that confluence, what can practitioners of both disciplines learn to expand their unique fields of knowledge and to affect consciousness?

Hamiltonian Artists, Smith Farm Center for the Healing Arts and George Mason University have been furthering the dialog thru a series of "laboratory/studio" exchanges in which artists are be invited to observe and participate in laboratory sessions and scientists will be invited into artist's studios for collaborative projects. Exploring similarities and differences in how scientists and artists use experimentation and visualization in their search for larger truths and making sense of the universe. The leader in recycled glass artwork, Erwin Timmers is collaborating with scientist Caroline Wellberry in the latest project.

Funding for this program was provided by:

Center for Consciousness and Transformation, George Mason University

with support from Hamiltonian Artists, Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts,

and George Mason University School of Art & Design.

All Welcome Mick Coughlan!

Please join all of us at Washington Glass School in welcoming Mick Coughlan as the new Studio Manager/ Production Assistant.

Mick Coughlan

Mick had been working in the props department of the Shakespeare Theater Company, on such shows as Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, and many other productions; so clearly, he is familiar with drama - which makes him well suited for the glass school.

Over the next couple of months, Mick will work closely with Rob Kincheloe, for the transfer of power, as Rob sets up his own studio across the Potomac in Prince William County, VA.

Welcome aboard Mick!

Hot Glass Stars Featured in Glass Line Magazine

Glass Line magazine - the online and hard copy publication about flameworking, features Rob Kincheloe in the October/November 2011 issue.

Rob is featured in this months' Glass Line magazine.

Robert Kincheloe "Arrow of Potential" Cast and Lampworked Boro Glass

Carmen Lozar "Lamplighter" Blown and Flameworked Glass

Other artists featured in the Oct/Nov issue include glass favorites like Carmen Lozar, Kathleen Elliot, & Robert Mickelsen along with a number of glass artists.

Kathleen Elliot's botanical vocabulary is featured in the magazine.

The issue also includes a review of the new book about Paul Stankard's work "Beauty Beyond Nature", by the R M Minkoff Foundation.

For more information about the issue and the magazine - check out Glass Line's website: www.hotglass.com

Bullseye Glass is hosting their seventh international kiln-glass exhibition for emerging artists. Titled "Emerge 2012", they are now accepting online applications. Students and intermediate-level artists and makers who are not represented by major galleries can apply.

The biennial juried competition offers prizes and representation in a full-color exhibition catalog. Artworks will be installed at Bullseye Gallery in Portland, where finalists will be recognized at a opening reception and awards ceremony. This year, for the first time ever, selected award-winning works will travel to the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and to Bullseye’s new facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, after the Portland show closes.

To get full details and application links, visit: bullseyeglass.com/emerge

Dates to remember Submissions open: October 1, 2011
Submissions close: December 7, 2011
Opening reception & awards ceremony: April 7, 2012
Exhibition at Bullseye Gallery: April 4–June 23, 2012