OPENING: A tribute to David Bowie in glass and other materials in Philadelphia

Every year since the cultural icon's death in 2016, Philadelphia has set aside a week to honor David Bowie, the persona-shifting rock star with a series of key connections to the City of Brotherly Love. Bowie's first concert album, titled David Live," was recorded at the area's live-music mecca known as the Tower Theater in 1974, and much of his seminal Young Americans album was recorded at Philadelphia's Sigma Studios. Timed to Bowie's January 8th birthday, the "Philly Loves Bowie" annual event ranges from musical concerts to art events, and this year, the National Liberty Museum has organized an entire exhibition in honor of the icon.

An aerial view of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the buildings nestled in the trees and overlooking the Atlantic ocean.

Thursday December 19, 2019 | by Andrew Page

Haystack wins $4 million Windgate gift to endow its campus preservation

An architectural landmark perched on a granite cliff on Deer Island, Maine, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts has played an outsize role in the history of glass art, hosting classes and workshops by Harvey Littleton in the early stages of Studio Glass. Dale Chihuly both studied and taught here, and clearly was inspired by the dramatic and rugged surroundings to start Pilchuck in the forests of Washington state. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, the Haystack campus was designed in 1960 by noted architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. Using local materials such as cedar shingles, and with an extensive wooden walkway fostering a sense of connection, the design won the Twenty Five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1994, a rare honor shared by less than 50 buildings. Recognizing both the importance and the challenge of preserving the landmark campus in a wind-swept coastal environment, Haystack was recently gifted a $4-million grant by the Windgate Foundation. The largest gift in the school's history, the money will be "permanently restricted, generating operating support of the ongoing preservation" of the unique Haystack campus, according to the official announcement of the gift.

Dan Dailey, Dubious (from the "Individuals" series), 2011. Blown, sandblasted, and acid-polished glass; metal. collection: the artist. photo: bill truslow. © Dan Dailey

Wednesday December 18, 2019 | by Andrew Page

EXHIBITION: Figurative works by Dan Dailey the focus of upcoming exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art

For an exhibition aptly titled "Character Sketch," the Chrysler Museum of Art has assembled 33 of Dan Dailey's figurative sculptures that span the prolific pioneering artist's four-decade career. Blown and hot-worked figures will share the exhibition with cane murals as well as wall reliefs made from Vitrolite, a structural glass used in the first half of the 20th-century, most notably for Art Deco facades. A dedicated draftsman, Dailey's attraction to liquid glass stems, in part, from its parallels to the flow of ink from a pen. Several of Dailey's original drawings will be on view to demonstrate the close connection between finished objects and the sketches that guided their creation.

Tuesday December 10, 2019 | by Andrew Page

Deborah Czeresko and "Blown Away" make critics' Top Ten lists for 2019

'Tis the season for annual Top Ten lists, when magazines and newspapers release their critics' picks for the most important works of the year. While the previous 12 months' output of everything from books to movies to albums is distilled down to a year-end roundup of the best of the best, the much-discussed glassblowing reality show Blown Away has recently found its way onto two prominent lists.

Robert Wilson, A Boy From Texas, 2019. Glass. Dimensions variable. courtesy: cristina crajales gallery and the corning museum of glass.

Friday December 6, 2019 | by Andrew Page

The Corning Museum's design initiatives help bring glass new prominence at Design Miami

On December 5th, The Art Newspaper published an online article reflecting on the prominence of glass at the 2019 Miami art fairs with the headline "Design Miami is a Real Glass Act." In it writer Caroline Roux states that Design Miami "visitors will find the material being used as a medium of expression by an increasing number of artists." While Berengo and his Murano atelier are also cited in the article, it is Robert Wilson's recent project fabricated at The Corning Museum of Glass' amphitheater hotshop that gets top billing as well as the article's opening photo. The image features his installation of transparent glass deer that turned heads at the design fair when it opened on December 3rd. (It runs through the 8th.)

Friday November 22, 2019 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Winter 2019 edition of Glass (#157)

The Winter 2019 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#157) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes this week. On the cover is a new work by Danny Lane from his brand-new "Carved and Cast" series.

Friday October 18, 2019 | by Andrew Page

Sheridan College will host event that celebrates its central role in the Netflix "Blown Away" phenomenon

On Saturday, October 19, Sheridan College will host a discussion for media and the public about the successful Netflix reality program "Blown Away," a Canadian-based television production that worked closely with the art college. In an afternoon of discussions and demonstrations at its Oakville, Ontario, campus, Sheridan sees the event as a way "to celebrate our deep connections -- and the fiftieth anniversary of our glassblowing program," as it was explained in the announcement of the event. At 12 noon on October 19, a press-only event will offer interviews with the show's artists Deborah Czereskoand Alexander Rosenberg, as well as assistants Emma McDonald and Alyssa Getz. There will also be high-level representatives from the production staff of the program, as well as the head of the glass program at Sheridan, Koen Vanderstukken, who served as Blown Away's series consultant.

Friday September 27, 2019 | by Andrew Page

Schedule released for the upcoming 2019 Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass (October 24 - 26, 2019)

The full program of the 2019 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass , which will run from October 24 through October 26, has been published. Among the highlights is an award to be presented to Lino Tagliapietra in recognition of his profound impact on the history of glass education in the United States. The ceremony will take place as the culmination of the Thursday evening gallery tour that kicks off the symposium and will take attendees through the Manhattan art neighborhood of Chelsea with stops at contemporary art galleries showing glass such as Marianne Boesky, Pace, and Luhring Augustine. The award will be presented at the final stop, Heller Gallery, where, during a catered reception in honor of Tagliapietra, the maestro will share his thoughts on the history and future of American glass-art education in a public conversation with Glass magazine editor and symposium organizer Andrew Page.

New York Times art critic Martha Schwendener also writes for Artforum, Art in America, and The New Yorker.

Thursday August 29, 2019 | by Andrew Page

New York Times art critic Martha Schwendener will deliver keynote lecture at the 2019 UrbanGlass symposium that runs from October 24th through the 26th

The theme for the fourth biennial academic symposium at UrbanGlass is "Issues in Glass Pedagogy: Criticism, Critique, and Critical Thinking," and the keynote speaker will be a prominent New York Times art critic. Martha Schwendener, a visiting associate professor at New York University, writes for several top art publications, but most often for the Times, where she focuses on non-mainstream artists. Just this year she's reviewed Nancy Spero's feminist art exhibition at PS 1, the big MoMA show on art and technology, and the Karrabing Film Collective.

Tuesday August 27, 2019 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Fall 2019 edition of Glass (#156)

The Fall 2019 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#156) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes this week. On the cover is a glass tapestry by Amber Cowan, who creates elaborate three-dimensional wall works by flameworking fragments of discarded, machine-made pressed glass. As new contributing editor Samantha De Tillio writes: "The work demands slow observation and challenges preconceived stereotypes regarding ornamentation, femininity, and the dominance of modernism."

GLASS: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for 35 years.