Best Wishes for 2012

Tim Tate's New Orleans AIDS Memorial is the fitting image to illustrate the Best Wishes for 2012
In the artwork cast glass family and friends that are no longer with us keep protective watch.
Installation artist and architect Ira Tattelman recently was in New Orleans and sent the photo below where the flowers were placed to honor the loved ones.

"Guardian Wall" - New Orleans AIDS Memorial
Designed by Tim Tate

Photo: Ira Tattelman

May All Stay Safe & Be Surrounded With Loved Ones in 2012!

2011 WGS Year-In-Review

Looking thru the Washington Glass School postings (both official school blog and the more casual Facebook page) and events from a few months ago seem like ages ago. The strange phenomena of time flying by is observed again. Many of the years past events were months - or years- in planning and preparation, and seemed like they would never happen, now seem faraway, and the impact, both good and bad will be here for a while. Some high points, some sad loss. Month by month - here is a quick review of Washington Glass School's 2011:

January 2011

The year started out with some new artistic directions.

Jeff Zimmer works on his layered glass imagery.
WGS Alum Jeff Zimmer worked on some new pieces for the school's 10th Anniversary show. Its been a great year for Jeff - his work was part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in Oct.

artist: Christina Bothwell media:clay & glass.
The foundation for "Glass Secessionism" was outlined as a challenge for the aesthetics of the 21st century.

Matt (m l duffy) checks for tin side. The school's new-fangled digital tin-o-meter also arrived in 2011.
Matthew Duffy began working on fabrication of the Washington Glass Studio's public art project for Safeway Bethesda.

Susan documents Rob Kincheloe's lampwork process. Susan's strong photographic skills will be part of her book series.
Susan Lomuto (aka Daily Art Muse) arrived into the area to do a residency in the glass school and the surrounding ceramics studios.

February

artist: Kirk Waldroff media cast glass, led lighting, wood
Kirk Waldroff opens his mixed media/glass print exhibit at Glenview Mansion. Dr Claudia Rousseau reviewed his artwork.

March

photo by : Pete Duvall
American Craft Magazine has a large feature of the collaborative works by Tim Tate and Marc Petrovic.

April

This glass work is good enough to shout about.
Kirk Waldroff's printmaking with glass class is one of the stronger design class of the year, with a number of students taking off in creative directions.

Ready for framing and the Smithsonian.
Glass artist Judith Schaechter held a creativity workshop for the JRA at the Washington Glass School.

artist: Elizabeth Ryland Mears, Tex Forrest Crowds packed the gallery
The Washington Glass School 10th Anniversary exhibition opens at Long View Gallery in Washington, DC.

Post critic Michael O'Sullivan's in-depth review of the show.
The Washington Post reviews the Long View show, asking "Is Glass Only Pretty?".

June

Gallery 555 exhibit of WGS student work.
Gallery 555 also hosted an exhibition in honor of the 10th Anniversary of WGS, with a successful show of student works.

Rob Kincheloe coldworks the glass, evaluating the quality of the recycled float glass casting.
National Geographic commissioned the Washington Glass Studio to create a special "environment" award for singer Jack Johnson. The development of the award design and creation was documented in the blog's new feature column "The Process".

Tim Tate's work at Wheaton Arts. View of Maurine Littleton Gallery space during GlassWeekend.
Rising Star - Michael Janis
The Bi-annual "GlassWeekend" was this year with a huge show at WheatonArts The Creative Glass Center of America (CCGA and theArt Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) named our Michael Janis a "Rising Star" at the event.

July

Tim Tate is filmed by PBS documentary crew as he speaks to the tour group.
Wendy Rosen brought a contingent of international guests - leaders of national craft federations and craft advocacy groups, as well as diplomats and government officials - as part of the World Craft Council held in Washington, DC.

yeah, hand-forged steel is nice and all... but what about the glass?
Chris Shea's forged metal and glass sculpture/furniture was added to the Smithsonian's permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery.

Conner Contemporary hosted a book release party in honor of F Lennox Campello's book "100 Artists of Washington, DC" - one of the more successful in the Schiffer Books line of artist reference series.

August

An unusual month in terms of "natural events". An earthquake hit DC, causing some minor damage to the glass display area in the student gallery of the school. Later in the month - a massive heatwave sent temps over 100 degrees F, and also Hurricane Irene hit DC.

Michael talks with art patrons about the imagery in glass. Michael Janis' solo show at Fuller Craft Museum opened. Perry Price - the Associate Curator of the Museum later commented that they had some of the highest media coverage of the show, and that the Docents worked the educational aspects of the show with the visiting school students.

Installation began on the Safeway public art project. Evan Morgan returned to help install.

WaPo columnist Kris Coronado interviews Erwin and share a laugh. Erwin Timmers was featured in the Washington Post Magazine on the "Art of Recycling".

Jason Burnett showcases Tim's video reliquary at the auction.
Tim Tate's artwork was part of the Penland School Auction - and sets a new record!

September

Architectural artwork by artists, instructors and students commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Washington Glass School was installed on the facade of the school.

Zenith Gallery hosted a book release exhibition for the "100 Artists of the Mid Atlantic" that featured each of the WGS directors.

The national organization Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) held its annual meeting in Washington, DC this year. Part of the events included tours of glass spots - museum tours, collector's homes, gallery talks and a fun night at the Washington Glass School. A huge bar-be-que was on the menu that night, with an ice cream truck dispensing Good Humor to all.

October

Safeway's new public art lights up the Bethesda streetscene.
The public art and architectural installation created for Safeway supermarket in Bethesda opened in spectacular fashion.

DC's Seed Charter School had a class at WGS that mixed art, history, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

November

Maurine Littleton Gallery space at SOFA Chicago 2011. Marc Petrovic's work at Heller Gallery. Tim Tate's work at Jane Sauer Gallery.
The BIG show - SOFA Chicago. Allegra Marquart, Michael Janis, Tim Tate each did well at the huge international art fair this year, and the hope that the trend continues to the next year is held by all!

The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) celebrated its centennial with glass. The organization commissioned special artwork for families of Edward Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower in memory of the work each had done. The red carpet gala event feature celebrities and performances by Wyclef Jean.

December

As Rob Kincheloe sets up a dedicated Torch work studio in Virginia, Mick Coughlan joined the school as the new studio coordinator.

The Fulbright Program named Tim Tate & Michael Janis each as recipients of Fulbrights. In 2012, both will be off to University of Sunderland starting in March.

Nicole Puzan, 1983-2011, Studio Coordinator, Artist, Friend

After a battle with cancer, our Nicole Puzan passed away in December.

There are so many stories from the last year, this posting started as a short list and there were so many events and shows that these are the ones that made it to this (almost) final posting for the year.

Here's to the hope that 2012 will be a good year for all!

Artist’s and Collector’s New Year’s Party!

No plans for New Year’s Eve yet? Here’s a very unusual event you may want to attend!

The James Renwick Alliance is throwing a fund raiser for the museum at the spectacular home of ubercollectors Ben and Giselle Huberman in Potomac, MD. Did I say home? I meant castle! This 30,000 sq ft four story unbelievable house will play host to an Art Casino Night. Poker and Roulette will be there….but instead of money, you win art! Plus its catered!

Ben & Giselle Huberman

Artists include many local folks…..Tim Tate, Andrew Wodzianski, Sean Hennessey…..dozens of others. And here is the bizarre part - Tim Tate will be the Master of Ceremonies! (quelle Fellini). It’s a fund raiser….so its $250 per person (tax deductible). For that you get $50 worth of chips to play at the casino. There is also an artist treasure hunt in the house with a great prize!

What could be more fun! Gambling in a magnificent house, fully catered food and wine, dancing, cabaret…..and art for prizes!! If you are interested, call Tim at 202-744-8222. You must have your name in and be paid by Friday at 5pm.

Hope to see you there!

Washington Glass Presents to James Renwick Alliance

Clemmer Montague - President of the James Renwick Alliance introduces the panel of speakers to the audience.

The James Renwick Alliance (JRA) is dedicated to advancing scholarship and education on contemporary American craft and to encouraging connoisseurship and collecting. The Alliance assists the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery in adding to its permanent collection of American craft, supports scholarly research in contemporary American craft and pursues other activities in support of the studio craft movement. As part if this goal, the JRA held a talk on the process and inspirations that made up Washington Glass Studio's recently completed Safeway Bethesda public art project. The talk was much more popular than the organizers had anticipated, as there was standing room only. Readers of the Glass School blog are familiar with the development of the project. Here are some shots of the event - photos by Miriam Rosenthal of ThirdEyePhotography.

Safeway's Renee Montgomery, Safeway's Eastern Division, Area Real Estate Manager outlines the Safeway's approach towards supporting and integrating American craft artwork in its buildings.

Michael Janis outlines the concepts employed by the glass studio.

The audience is transfixed by the sheer poetry of the project .

Here Michael describes how eco-artist Erwin Timmers is planning to save the planet with his sustainable design artwork - one piece at a time.

"This is the part where Erwin sings ♪ Here I Come To Save The Day! ♫"

The talk continued with a tour of the Safeway public art project onsite, hosted by Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers. For more information about the James Renwick Alliance events - click HERE.

Happy Holidays To All! From Washington Glass School.

From Michael Janis' extensive Santa Collection

Washington Glass School Winter Exhibition 2011

The Washington Glass School 10th Anniversary Winter Sculpture Exhibition and Open House was held on December 10, 2011. Here are some shots from the day:

Mount Rainier City Councilman Jimmy Tarlau checks out the Open House - loving the artwork by Dave Cook.

The Washington Post had featured Erwin Timmers cast recycled glass in the Weekend Section - and his work had drawn many visitors.

Erwin Timmers chats about art with Stephan Thurman and Laurie Brown.

The Glass School's newest elf - Mick Coughlan - updates and advises Santa on the current "Naughty or Nice" status.

From the looks of the conversation between Robert Kincheloe and M.L.Duffy - I'm guessing "Naughty" list material.

Sean Hennessey chats with one of the art patrons about his mixed media works.

Takoma Park's Exhibits Director, Alison Carr with her family - checking out Sean Hennessey's concrete-and-glass sculpture.

Syl Mathis' cast glass sculpture always draws a crowd.

Everyone wants to know more about the artwork on exhibit.

Debra Ruzinsky exhibits her beautiful cast glass - Sweet!

Nancy Donnelly's copper, glass and steel sculpture were some of the most popular works in the show. Nancy nearly sold out of all her work. I understand that she had another art opening after the school's show, and sold many of her painting works! This is Nancy's year!

Speaking of years - this is also a big one for metalworker Chris Shea. Chris' artwork was recently acquired by the Smithsonian Museum as part of the permanent collection at the Renwick Gallery. Congratulations, Chris!

Michael Janis explains his "sgraffito" technique of drawing with crushed glass powder.

Relaxing in the lounge - Robert Kincheloe, ceramic artist Novie Trump, and Sean Hennessey.

It was a great time to check out the new class schedule, meet the artists, visit with friends. Looking forward to what 2012 will bring!