Off To SOFA Chicago!

The works are all finished and packed - and on their way to Chicago's Navy Pier for the huge arts fair: S.O.F.A. (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art)!

Michael Janis "When She Was There" detail, kilnformed glass, frit powder imagery

WGS' Tim Tate will have his new glass/video works on exhibit at Habatat Galleries (space # 1100); Michael Janis and Allegra Marquart will both be featured at Maurine Littleton Gallery (space #403).

Allegra Marquart "Cow Over The Moon", kilncast glass

Tim will also be part of a series of lectures and booth events. He will be part of the Saturday Nov 2 talk about developing new audiences, titled: "Through A Glass, Brightly" 
He also will be giving a booth lecture at Habatat's space titled "Video as the Next Craft Medium" on Saturday at 1:30 pm.

Tim Tate "Guardians of Nature", Cast Glass, Video

Glass Secessionism will have a talk hosted by William Warmus and Tim Tate in Room 323, from 3-4pm on Saturday. Titled 'The Gathering: Glass Landscape in the 21st Century', it will be a round table discussion centered on Post-Studio Glass and Glass Secessionism. For more info - check out the Facebook event posting online HERE.

SOFA CHICAGO opens Thursday, October 31 and runs through Sunday, November 3, 2013 at Chicago's historic Navy Pier.

The DC5 in St Pete

The "DC5" glass art exhibit - now thru June.

The "DC Five" - (WGS artists Sean Hennessey, Michael Janis, Allegra Marquart, Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers) exhibit of glass artwork at Florida's Duncan McClellan Gallery in St Petersburg opened with a great reception!
Weren't able to fly down to sunny Florida? Here are some shots of the show, and of the St Petersburg Museum of Fine Art lecture by Sean Hennessey and Tim Tate on their glass artwork.

Erwin Timmers work is in the center of the gallery.

Sean Hennessey and Tim Tate's mixed media artwork on the walls.

Erwin Timmers' kilnformed glass artwork is made from recycled building materials.

Duncan McClellan Gallery knows how to best display the artwork.

Allegra Marquart's fused and sandcarved glass panels look great!

Michael Janis' glass tarot cards on exhibit.

Sean Hennessey talks about his artwork at the Museum of Fine Arts in St Petersburg.

Tim Tate makes a point during his talk at the MFA.

Sean looking so much more relaxed than he does here in DC - he loves Florida.

Jacob Stout gave a hotshop demonstration on the Saturday.

L-R Duncan McClellan, Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey.

'DC-5' - Works by Artists of the Washington Glass School

Duncan McClellan Gallery

550 24th Street South,

St. Petersburg, FL 33712

(855) 436.4527

Washington Glass Goes South (to Sunny St. Petersburg!)

Duncan McClellan Gallery, located in the heart of St. Petersburg’s arty Warehouse Art District in Florida, will be showcasing five artists from the Washington Glass School.

Sean Hennessey, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Michael Janis, and Allegra Marquart will be the DC five showing in sunny FLA.

Renown glass artist Duncan McClellan was one of the featured artists in the first international US/UK exhibits "Glass3" held Georgetown in 2008. Duncan has opened a hotshop and gallery that features rotating exhibitions showcasing nationally and internationally recognized artists. 

The Gallery in itself is a work of art. Duncan has transformed a 7,800 square foot former fish and tomato packing plant into a beautiful, multi- functional space. Lush fruit bearing trees create a veritable Eden within the industrial area that surrounds it. The grounds have become a meeting place for artists, visiting dignitaries and the community. Duncan also created the DMG School Project - an outreach that provide educational opportunities to both artists and community.

Beer, wine and refreshments are available for a donation benefiting the DMG School Project.

Tim Tate

In addition to the exhibit, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg will host an artist talk from The Washington Glass Group on May 12, 2013 at 2:00pm. Immediately following the lecture, the public is invited to a reception at Duncan McClellan Gallery. 

Washington Glass: A Group Exhibition
May  - June 2013
Opening Reception: May, 11 from 5:30 to 9:30pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, May 12 at 2:00 pm at St Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts.

Duncan McClellan Gallery

550 24th St., South‎

St Petersburg, FL 33712
FB event listing - click HERE

Area Artists Exhibit at SOFA Chicago 2012

Gateway artists and their work will be amongst crowds at the international  art show SOFA CHICAGO, the annual arts expo devoted to Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Celebrating its 19th year, SOFA CHICAGO is one of the world's foremost contemporary art fairs, featuring nearly 70 art galleries and dealers from 10 countries along with special exhibits by renowned museums, universities and arts organizations, and an extensive lecture series.

Gateway Arts Featured at the SOFA include:

"Unhemmed" Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood,  plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net

Ceramic artist Ani Kasten will have her work at Massachusetts’ Lacoste Gallery space (#508). Ani’s ceramic and mixed media work takes their influence from nature as well as the nature of change. 

"Skyline", Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net

Infused with a modern, minimal aesthetic, her - amazingly structured and unstructured at the same time - work references the built world as well as reminding one of a natural or ancient object exposed to the rigors of time.

Glass Artists Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis are both featured at Georgetown’s Maurine Littleton Gallery space (#408).

"Gecko Gets Told" Allegra Marquart, sandcarved fused glass and enamel, photo by anythingphoto.net

Allegra Marquarts’ colorful artwork delights in storytelling and mines fables and fairy tale for both content and imagery. Allegra sandcarves the panels of glass she fuses at the Washington Glass School, working on both sides of the glass slabs, playing with the translucent quality of the medium.

3 separate works - "Flying in Place", "Lessons Learned and Unlearned", "The Optimism of Language", Michael Janis, fused glass imagery, silver and steel, photo by anythingphoto.net

Michael Janis’ glass sculpture works are also at Maurine Littleton Gallery space His new works show how perceptions are based on perspective, where the mirrored glass cylinders refigure the distorted glass frit images into new shapes. 

"Flying in Place" Michael Janis, photo by anythingphoto.net

Both Allegra and Michael work from the Washington Glass School, located in Mount Rainier, MD. 

"21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate, cast glass, video, electronics, photo by anythingphoto.net

detail "21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate

Another Washington Glass School artist – Tim Tate – is featured at Michigan’s Habatat Galleries space (#1100). Tim’s incredible mixed media works exploit the beauty of glass and invests it with a narrative that takes the work to a new level. One work – “21st Century Dadaism” incorporates video projection onto cast glass components, with the effect of producing a disembodied human face, created from the disjointed. If Dadaism had occurred today, it might have resembled this. 

"Vegetable Peddler And Her Son", Tim Tate, cast and blown glass, photo by anythingphoto.net

His other sculpture works, from a series he calls his “Cabinet of Curiosities”, incorporate cast glass elements made from the “lost wax” process are a delight in creating surreal worlds. This is a breakout year for Tim, whose work is currently on exhibit at Mesa, Arizona’s Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.

Tim Tate in front of Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ.

SOFA Chicago 2012 - Friday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 4; Preview Thursday, Nov 1.

For more info - visit the SOFA Chicago website

SOFA Chicago at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL

S.O.F.A. Chicago Art Fair 2012 Features Studio Glass

SOFA CHICAGO From Technique to Artistic Expression

The critically acclaimed international art fair SOFACHICAGO returns to historic Navy Pier Friday, Nov 2 through Sunday, Nov 4, 2012, with an Opening Night Preview on Thursday, Nov 1.  The exhibition features masterworks of contemporary and modern arts and design, sculpture, functional art, and visionary art, plus related special exhibitions and lecture series. SOFA CHICAGO promises to be the world hot spot for international studio glass art. The American Studio Glass Movement is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and the acclaimed art and design fair at Navy Pier will be center-stage. New this year, iPhone and iPad users can use the free SOFA FAIR App to browse the works on display at the show and identify works or contact galleries, simply by pointing their phone at artworks and adding them or instantly receiving information about that work. To download the SOFA FAIR App visit sofaexpo.com.

Harvey Littleton,

Yellow Crown II, 1984, glass

From the SOFA CHICAGO 2012 website: Art “dealer Maurine Littleton of Maurine LittletonGallery (Washington, D.C.), daughter of Harvey Littleton reports that half her booth space (#408) will feature “a selection of rarely seen (and first-time offered) pieces” by her father, including a “spectacular example” from his signature Arc series entitled Yellow Crown II (1984), direct from its exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. Littleton says it is the only one of its type still available; similar works can be found at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery of the American Art Museum and in major national public and private art collections.”

Michael Janis, Eclipse, 2012, glass powder imagery

Works by Michael Janis and Allegra Marquart will be amongst the artists featured in the other half. 

Allegra Marquart, Monkey Girl, 2012, glass

Tim Tate will be featured in Habatat Galleries space (#1200) – which has expanded their SOFA booth to accommodate 18 solo exhibitions!

Tim Tate,

The Deconstruction Of George Melies,2012, Cast and Blown Glass, Video

Additionally, the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation will screen their new documentary, The Toledo Workshop Revisited, 1962-2012. In a March 2012 residency, three young artists at the Toledo Museum of Art rebuilt a small glass furnace modeled after the one Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino designed 50 years earlier. 

The 1962 workshop launched the Studio Glass Movement, and made it possible for individual artists to work directly with glass. This new film documents the week-long residency that honors the past and celebrates the future of creative experimentation in glass. Screenings will be followed by Q&A with Robert Minkoff, Managing Trustee of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation; Andrew Page, Director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation.

SOFA Chicago 2012
Nov 1 - 4, 2012
Festival Hall, Navy Pier

600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60611

Georgetown Book Hill Gallery Walk features WGS artists

On September 14 from 6-8pm, DC's Georgetown will have an evening Gallery Walk that will showcase art galleries located on the upper Wisconsin Ave - near Book Hill Park.

Allegra Marquart "Peacock's Compliant"

Maurine Littleton Gallery will feature artwork by local DC-area artists including Allegra Marquart, Michael Janis and Drew Storm Graham at the gallery for the September 14 Book Hill gallery walk event.

Drew Storm Graham "Dusk"

The artists on exhibit at the Maurine Littleton Gallery bring to life an otherwise cold and transparent medium in their glass art, which flaunts dimensions and depth of color unmatched by other art media. Contemporary glass art by local artists has been displayed at the gallery since its opening in 1984; each work reflecting new interpretations and uses of a range of traditional craft media.

Michael Janis "Eclipse"

September 14 from 6-8pm

Maurine Littleton Gallery

1667 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20007

phone: 202-333-9307

GlassWeekend 2011 Biennial Features WGS Artists

GlassWeekend is a major contemporary glass event that runs from June 10 to 12 at WheatonArts in Millville, New Jersey. The three-day biennial weekend, first organized in 1985, brings together an international community of leading collectors, museum curators, gallery dealers, and artists for lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions. The event is organized by The Creative Glass Center of America at WheatonArts (CGCA) and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG). Over the course of three days, Millville, New Jersey, will be ground-zero for glass art auctions, workshops, and lectures.

Glass art legend Dan Dailey will speak Saturday. Other highlights of Saturday’s lectures include a round-table of museum curators discussing their approach to exhibition planning moderated by Newark Museum decorative arts curator Ulysses Dietz and including Elizabeth Agro, Philadelphia Museum of Art associate curator of American modern and contemporary crafts and decorative arts; Renwick curator Nicholas Bell; and the fast-rising Ron Labaco, recently appointed curator of decorative arts and design at the Museum of Arts and Design.

Washington Glass School will be represented at the Biennial by Tim Tate, Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis - Michael will also be named "Rising Star" by The Creative Glass Center of America at WheatonArts and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass.

Millville, New Jersey has long been associated with glass. In 1739 when Casper Wistar founded America's first successful glass factory near Alloway Creek, glassmaking and South Jersey became inextricably fused. From humble entrepreneurial beginnings, glass manufacturing ultimately became the region's major innovative industry by the late 19th century.

In 1904, the celebrated poet, Carl Sandburg, proclaimed:

"Down in southern New Jersey, they make glass. By day and by night, the fires burn on in Millville . . . Big, black flames shooting out smoke and sparks; bottles, bottles, bottles, of every tint and hue . . . that marks the death of sand and the birth of glass."

Although the production of window and bottle glass may have left Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester counties, the studio glass movement has been flourishing. WheatonArts and the Creative Glass Center of America (CGCA) in Millville have nurtured a growing number of talented individuals to use glass as their primary medium by offering its facilities to artists from around the world.

Click HERE to jump to GlassWeekend's program.

GlassWeekend 2011

June 10th – 12th, 2011

WheatonArts

1501 Glasstown Road
Millville, New Jersey 08332
Tel: 800 998 4552
Website: http://www.glassweekend.com/

for some photos of GlassWeekend 2009 - click HERE.

Allegra Marquart's Narrative Glass

Allegra Marquart
The Deer, Mouse, Crow & Turtle
kilncast and sand carved glass 18.5" x18.5"

Since 1976 Allegra Marquart has been a professor at Maryland Institute College of Art teaching printmaking. Allegra's imagery continues to gain in visual complexity. Her narrative glass panels started using fables that were familiar to those who know Aesop, La Fontaine and old English rhymes, but now her stories include ones written by Kipling, Edward Lear and ones handed down through generations of American Indians. If you ask Allegra what she does she might say that she makes people stand still, think and smile. Each of these stories are enhanced with a personal drawing style and processes Allegra loves for both making etchings on paper and in the fabrication of glass panels. Allegra’s work is full of invention, humor and pain.

Allegra Marquart
The Blue Jackal
kilncast and sand carved glass 18.5" x18.5"

From Allegra's artist statement:

“For the over a decade my etchings have grown from my observations of city life, human foibles and old fables. About 6 years ago I experienced a kind of epiphany. My images needed to be made of glass! The glass would act as a metaphor for the transparency, fragility, strength, permanence and reflective power in all the moments I was describing. I imagined these pictures in low relief made of glass that would refer to stone carvings on columns and friezes that people in ancient times used to describe their daily life.

Allegra Marquart
The Elephant's Trunk
kilncast and sand carved glass 18.5" x18.5"

So sure was I of this revelation that I went to work immediately. I began with sand blasting deeply into the glass to create my first body of work in this medium that was so new to me. A class at Pilchuck with Paul Marioni taught me how sand casting could give my images even greater physicality and drama. Work at The Corning Studio and The Washington Glass School (in DC) expanded my casting experience.”

Allegra is part of the faculty at the Washington Glass School, and she creates the multi-colored glass panels in the studio's large kilns. Firing color atop color, Allegra creates a basis on which to deep sand carve her visual narratives.

Below is a glimpse into the steps she uses in the creation of the fantastic panels:

Allegra spreads out crushed colored glass (coarse frit) on top of a glass panel that has already been fired with a different color.

Prepping the kiln for another long panel to be loaded for fusing.

After the panel is fired, annealed and cooled, Allegra covers the glass with a thick vinyl resist.

Allegra transfers and draws her imagery onto the resist, later cutting away the elements to be exposed to a deep sand blast session.

The panel is then carved with a force fed media (deep sand blasted) that cuts through the various color layers of glass. Allegra will repeat the process on both the front and back of a panel, allowing the mix of light and color to work with her imagery.

The SOFA Chicago Art Expo will feature Allegra's work at Maurine Littleton Gallery' space (#720).

Click HERE to jump to Allegra Marquart's website.