Invitational Glass Show Curated by Shelley Muzylowski at Blue Rain Gallery

Invitational Glass Show BLUE RAIN GALLERY

Invitational Glass Show Curated by Shelley Muzylowski Allen One of the striking qualities of glass as an art medium is the duality of its nature: strong but fragile, unyielding yet malleable, simultaneously transparent and colorful. And whereas paint, wood, and clay all deteriorate over time, glass can endure indefinitely, making it a timeless material that transcends the fads and fashions that have characterized its centurieslong history as a prized medium.

The unique selection of artwork offered here underscores the medium’s versatility by showcasing the work of some of the finest glass artists in the country, dedicated specialists who breathe new life into this ancient material through their talent and imagination. Curated by Shelley Muzylowski Allen, one of Blue Rain’s premier glass artists, this diverse group of 22 talented glass devotees shows us how the substance can be infinitely adapted to different aesthetics and working styles. These exceptional artists continually redefine the medium through the creativity, depth, and sheer beauty of their output.

In their capable hands, glass in all its forms becomes a vocabulary unto itself as they use a variety of methods to exploit its enigmatic qualities: blowing, casting, flameworking, cameo engraving, and other techniques. These artists experiment with, play with, and ponder the language of glass in much the same way that scientists in a lab approach their work — with an open mind, a willingness to discard old ideas to make room for serendipitous discoveries, and a rigorous dedication to the kind of truth that animates the best works of art.

These talented individuals, brought together here for the first time, continually redefine the possibilities of glass. “This medium is an exciting new frontier in the art world,” says Muzylowski Allen of the surging popularity of studio glass art. “To be able to go into that world and select people who are doing such incredible work is an exciting position to be in.” The exhibition is sure to fascinate both longtime collectors of glass art and those new to its everevolving role in the world of contemporary fine art.

Shelley Muzylowski Allen With her training as a painter and her knowledge of anatomy, Shelley Muzylowski Allen applies these disciplines to her work in glass to produce animal sculptures that seem simultaneously mythical and realistic. Her fascination with nonhuman creatures, particularly horses, has led her to study them in depth, examining the mythology, symbolism, and divinity that surround them. This she conveys through her lighthearted but reverent approach to glass sculpture, underscoring the animals’ physical characteristics through the addition of horsehair, leather, and gemstones, as well as skillfully painted details. The artist believes that it’s important that her work not only reflects her own insights or experiences but that it inspires an emotional connection for the viewer.

Muzylowski Allen’s work can be found in private collections and public institutions around the world, including the Museum of Northwest Art, Toyama City Institute of Glass in Japan, Tianyuan Glass Center in China, and Nuutajarvii Lasikyla in Finland.

She curated this collection for Blue Rain Gallery, bringing her depth of knowledge and keen eye to selecting the work of some of the world’s finest glass artists.

Chalcedony Horse Blown, hand sculpted glass, horsehair, Mookaite (rock) which is also Chalcedony, horse hair, leather 24" h x 20" w x 9" d

Tarn Blown, hand sculpted glass, concrete, horsehair 18" h x 22" w x 10" d

April Surgent

Fleeting Landscape Study No. 1 Cameo engraved glass 17" h x 12" w x .75" d

They say that art and science are two sides of the same coin, and April Surgent’s work in cameo etched glass shows us how and why. The technique involves etching and carving designs through fused layers of differently colored glass, and Surgent gives the process a contemporary edge through her elegantly executed depictions of land and sky formations that, while beautiful in and of themselves, deal with the anthropogenic factors that affect vulnerable ecosystems. “While urbanization and technology disengage us from the natural world, my work aims to foster environmental awareness,” says the artist. “Observation and in-depth research inform my work discussing the urgency of climate change and the call to action.”

Surgent earned her BFA with Honors from the Australian National University in Canberra, and her work is in collections of the Wichita Art Museum, the Tacoma Museum of Glass, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Chrysler Museum.

Fleeting Landscape Study No. 2 Cameo engraved glass 17" h x 12" w x .75" d

Cappy Thompson Over the course of her three-decades-long career, Cappy Thompson has always worked in glass. She currently creates her highly narrative paintings with vitreous enamels that are reverse-painted onto glass mounted on aluminum-clad panels, which adds a gentle luminosity to her subtly spiritual content. She says that her recent work began as “an autobiographical exploration of world culture and spirituality that continues to the present.�

Her early work addressed themes of mythology, fables, and folktales, and while her new work draws more on her personal life, these earlier influences continue to inform her work in a way that gives her characters and settings a timeless aura.

Thompson has been commissioned to create public art for the Museum of Glass’ grand lobby in Tacoma as well as for the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama, Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, among many others.

Nature Spirits Vitreous enamels reverse-painted on glass mounted on aluminumclad panel, framed with Venetian gesso and silver leaf 23.75" h x 35" w x 2.5" d

Journey Vitreous enamels reverse-painted on glass mounted on aluminum-clad panel, framed with Venetian gesso and silver leaf 25.25" h x 37.5" w x 2.5" d

Carmen Lozar A storyteller at heart, Carmen Lozar captures our attention with work that’s at once lighthearted and profound, delivering her observations via humor and thought-provoking situations that invite reflection and discussion. She uses the flameworking technique, which involves forming objects from rods and tubes of glass that are heated with a flame to make them soft and pliable enough to be manipulated into the shapes the artist chooses. Her characters find themselves in tricky situations — surrounded by milk that spills from a carton, or sugar from a bowl that’s toppled over — that speak to life’s everyday complications.

These narratives challenge us to deal with the consequences of our own actions and those of others, while the scene remains delightfully ambiguous. “Some narratives are sad, funny, or thoughtful, but my pieces are always about celebrating life,” Lozar says.

Lozar has a BFA from the University of Illinois and an MFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her work appears in collections of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York City and the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in New York State.

Melt Cast glass from a 3D printed object and flameworked glass 7.5" h x 13" w x 7" d Sugar, Sugar Flameworked glass, fused glass and found object 6" h x 14" w x 10" d (with base)

Art Deco Dress Set Flameworked glass and metal stand 7.5" h x 12.5" w x 2.5" d

I have been so busy ...

Flameworked and fused glass Group dimensions: 6.5" h x 12" w x 3" d

Simple Gifts Cast glass, found objects (antique ceramic doll arm, antique cloth covered buttons), and hand painted details in oil 11" h x 11" w x 7" d

Christina Bothwell There’s a haunting quality to Christina Bothwell’s enigmatic figures in glass, clay, and paint that is both provocative and comforting. They seem fragile, yet somehow resilient; their glassy transparency speaks to a certain vulnerability, while their ceramic portions attest to a kind of stoic permanence.

Bothwell finds inspiration in her dreams, nature, and literature as well as the interesting things her children say and do. “I am always attempting to capture the nonlinear, that which I can’t really articulate,” she says. “Through my work I am creating safe places that are inherently fragile. I think I am trying to do that for myself, for my own psyche, through my work.”

Bothwell’s sculptures are in the public collections of the Cincinnati Museum of Art, the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft Museum of Contemporary Glass in Denmark, the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Glass Art, the Smithsonian Museum of Art’s Archives of American Art, and the Corning Glass Museum.

Pink Monkey Kiln formed cast glass, ceramic, and hand painted details in oil 13" h x 12" w x 4" d Cardinal Cast glass 4.5" h x 8" w x 4" d Little Pink (baby mermaid) Kiln formed cast glass, prosthetic glass eye, and hand painted details in oil 6" h x 11" w x 3.5" d

Shifted Axis Glass 4" h x 14" w x 12" d

Handled Object 15 Glass and copper 17.75" h x 8" w x 1.25" d

Daniel Clayman Formerly a lighting designer for the theater, Daniel Clayman remains fascinated with light and its behaviors. His luminous cast glass sculptures, which range from large- to small-scale pieces, expand our understanding of light’s function in both art and life.

He calls his work “manifestations of a moment of thought,” and he refers thematically to the capturing of light. Anchored by decorative copper bands and bases, his glowing pieces are like fireflies in a bottle, with flashes of light that appear almost in motion. “One of the many mysteries of light is that it refuses to reveal any of its essence until it happens to reflect on something other than itself,” Clayman explains. “For instance, the headlights of a car project light onto objects as the viewer approaches, but not until there is a foggy mist in the air does one see the shape and arc of the beam.”

Clayman holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. His work appears in the public collections of the Corning Museum of Glass; the de Young Museum in San Francisco; Le Musée-Atelier du Verre de Sars-Poterie, France; the Museum of Art in Fukui, Japan; and the Museum of Art at Rhode Island School of Design, among many others.

Lumen Glass and copper 19.5" h x 5.5" w x 5.5" d

Kari Russell-Pool Using the flameworking technique of melting glass with a torch, then blowing and shaping it with her tools and hands, Kari Russell-Pool creates painterly sculptures that combine images of flora and fauna within a lacy framework of birdcages, teapots, and cylinders. The sculptures’ airiness lends them a light, optimistic feel, while the content itself offers commentary on a variety of issues and situations — relationships, motherhood, and society in general. A recurring theme is the concept of home as a state of mind as well as a physical place.

Russell-Pool is fascinated by the metaphorical potential of simple objects, allowing her to examine issues both personal and universal.

Russell-Pool’s work is in numerous private and public collections, including the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Tacoma Museum of Glass.

Cage of Your Own Making Flameworked and enameled glass 20.75" h x 9.5" d Headwinds Blown and flameworked glass 14.5" h x 16.25" w x 13" d

Unencumbered Blown and flameworked glass 14.5" h x 16.25" w x 13" d

Kathleen Elliot Whether made wholly of flameworked glass or just incorporating elements of it, Kathleen Elliot’s sculptures and dimensional paintings use this versatile medium to expand her artistic vocabulary. Elliot brings years of study of philosophy, linguistics, and spiritual practices to her work, addressing such questions as “What is real?” and “What is a good life?” She suggests possible answers through her nature-inspired themes, sometimes inventing “new” species of botanicals and human-plant hybrids.

Depicting leaves, flowers, fruits, vines, and seeds, these pieces appear to be animated by a strong life force despite their inanimate origins.

“These works celebrate the beauty of nature and its ability to lift us out of the commotion of everyday life that seems so urgent and important, reminding us we belong to mysteries far greater,” she says.

Elliot’s work has been shown in museums and galleries throughout the country, and it is in a number of prominent collections, including the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of California, the Museum of Glass, and the Fuller Craft Museum.

Kukui Glass 12" h x 9" w x 6" d

Pears Still Life Glass, found frame, acrylic on mat 16" h x 12.5" w x 4" d

Deep Sea Tumbleweed Glass 17" w x 12" h x 9" d

Mark Zirpel Using the processes of problem solving, observation, and open inquiry that characterize the scientific method, Mark Zirpel creates sculptural, kinetic artworks that investigate the physical world. Whether it’s freezing time by encasing clockworks in glass or examining the intricacies of the wings of a dragonfly, his intriguing studies of natural phenomena encompass a variety of media, including blown and sandblasted glass. Zirpel blurs the boundaries between art and science with his intricately detailed subject matter, a reflection of his rigorous work ethic and his unbounded intellectual curiosity. “Sculpture is a merging of form and meaning, an organization of matter into a meaningful construct,” he says. His work engages the viewer in much the same way that he himself is engaged by his subject matter, aesthetically and scientifically, conveying the idea of something profound and true behind all things natural and artistic.

Zirpel’s work can be found in many national and international collections, including the Australian National University, The Toyama City Institute of Glass Arts, the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, and the Lutze Corporate Collection, among many others.

Magnolia (young) Kilnformed, sandblasted, enameled glass Edition 1/10 24" h x 53.25" w x .25" d Magnolia (old) Kilnformed, sandblasted, enameled glass Edition 1/10 24" h x 53.25" w x .25" d

Chronos Blown glass, steel, clockworks 16" x16" x11"

Coyote Mask Glass powder drawing, enamel, fused glass 10" h x 12" w

Suzanne Head The conflicts within relationships provide a deep well of creative possibility for Suzanne Head, who works in pencil, paint, clay, and glass. Exploring issues of femininity, intimacy, and power through her art, Head raises important questions about human behavior and the imbalances of power that plague our interactions. Her animal masks, made with glass powder and enamel on fused glass, have a mysterious aura that underscores these questions, conveying both power and vulnerability simultaneously in their fixed stares. The animals, she says, with their natural characteristics and their relationships to society, serve well as symbols of human behavior. The work is at once enigmatic and straightforward, giving the viewer room to ponder and interpret Head’s thoughts on how society defines weakness and strength.

Rabbit Mask Glass powder drawing, enamel, fused glass 13" h x 10" w

Head received her BA in drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she also taught. She continues to offer workshops in glass painting and drawing and figure sculpture.

Deer Mask Glass powder drawing, enamel, fused glass 12" h x 12" h

Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman Working primarily in glass and steel, Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman’s intent is “to create works that celebrate our universal shared humanity.”

The pair has collaborated for 27 years, and this artistic blending produces award-winning sculptures that explore both the fluidity of the feminine form and similar characteristics inherent in glass.

Drawing on their own life experiences, their travels, and their studies of ancient and contemporary cultures, they evoke feminine sensuality with their undulating forms and seductive curves. “The innate three-dimensionality of molten glass assists with our design visions, and we often see new forms emerging from the forms we are working on in the hot shop,” say the artists. “These glimpses into the next possibility fuel our enthusiasm and the direction of our designs.”

Knowles and Pohlman’s work has been featured in exhibitions at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the Pratt Gallery at the Center of Contemporary Art, as well as in group exhibitions at the Museum of American Glass, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Racine Art Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum.

Untitled, Sankofa Series Blown, sculpted and sandblasted glass, mixed media 35" h x 13" w x 13" d

Untitled, Tapestry Fragment Blown, sculpted and sandblasted glass, mixed media 48" h x 29" w x 7" d

Untitled, Homage Series Blown, sculpted and sandblasted glass, steel with patina 29.5" h x 8" w x 8" d

Susan Taylor Glasgow “My life and art are the result of homemaking skills gone awry,” says Susan Taylor Glasgow, who draws on her experience as a seamstress to create extraordinary sewn-glass sculptures that explore the many, often conflicting, roles of women in our society. Her time spent sewing taught her how to take a flat sheet of material and form it into something three-dimensional; now she works in glass, cutting each glass panel from a pattern she designs to fit the form she’s made for it. The jewel-like beauty of these sculptures is tempered by the understated but nonetheless pointed observations implicit in her work, which both celebrates and questions the so-called feminine arts of sewing, cooking, and homemaking.

Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Carnegie Museum as well as the Chrysler Museum, and the Museum of American Glass, among others.

From left: What Fairy Tales Are Made Of Glass, stoneware, wood, and metal 36" h x 8" w x 8" w Happy Memory No. 27 Cake slice on glass doily, glass fork, cake plate 7" h x 7" w x 7" d

I’m So Lucky Glass 14" h x 12" w x 11" d

Tina Aufiero Tina Aufiero’s glass-based, mixed-media sculptures give form to her musings about life via interactive parts that combine digital and analog elements as well as found objects.

These works, she says, “… emerge out of a traditional studio practice that currently merges digital and analog with the physical in an attempt to simulate expressions of my ideas regarding being and otherness.” Aufiero has incorporated glass into her pieces for more than 40 years, interweaving her ideas about emotions and values such as desire, happiness, and love.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her works are included in the collections of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, The Corning Museum of Glass, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Switzerland).

Ebb Blown glass, cut, polished blown flat glass 5" h x 12.5" w x 5.5" d Internal Blown glass cylinders, blown glass egg with feathers, cast glass interior base 17" h x 12.5" d

Flock Six small blown glass birds with copper powders Each bird approximately 2.5" h x 10.5" w

Uni Cast and flameworked glass 12" h x 8" w x 6" d

Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty Successful artists individually, Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty also collaborate to create works that incorporate experimental processes specific to each of them. Caldwell has been working with glass for 20 years, drawing her inspiration from the ocean, whose movement she emulates in her flameworked pieces. She brings humor and a sense of whimsy to her creations, which, she says, allows her to “address more serious emotions from a place of playfulness.” Chakravarty works in cast and blown glass and incorporates neon to illuminate the pieces, emphasizing the narrative aspects of his art, which he says are semi-autobiographical and reflective of human relationships and personal observations.

Caldwell studied under Cesare Toffolo in Murano, Italy, and has taught workshops worldwide as well as at the Corning Museum of Glass and the Pilchuck Glass School. Chakravarty has taught neon and kiln-casting workshops nationwide, including at Arizona State University, Bowling Green State University, UrbanGlass, Cleveland Institute of Art, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Penland School of Crafts, and Salisbury University.

Devising a Way In Blown with mold and flameworked glass 22" h x 11" w x 11" d

Beecline Hot cast and assembled/ flame worked glass Dimensions vary

Flora Cast white glass, and bronze 17" h x 11" w x 9" d

Stephen Paul Day Stephen Paul Day uses his signature technique of French glass painting along with glass casting to convey a variety of ideas and narratives. His affinity for history and storytelling come through in his choice of subject matter and his use of traditional skills, many of them acquired during his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and his work in the atelier of Bernard Allain, a master craftsman in architectural glass. His sculptures reveal a certain irreverence and even satire in his presentation of classical figures in non-classical situations, offering an implicit commentary on the role of history in the present day.

His work is included in a number of museum collections, include the Corning Museum, the Montreal Museum of Art, the Kurokabe Museum in Hapan, and the Lausanne Museum in Switzerland.

Day has worked and studied with a broad range of artists and performers, from Laurie Anderson to Dennis Oppenheim and Jenny Holzer, and has collaborated for twenty years with his partner, Sibylle Peretti, under the name Club S&S.

Double Napoleons Cast glass 9" h x 11" w x 5" d A History of Beauty Cast glass and epoxy 19" h x 9" w x 9" d

Sibylle Peretti The lack of harmony among human beings is a frequent theme in Sibylle Peretti’s thoughtprovoking creations that examine everything from fairytales and dreams to objects of scientific curiosity. Trained as a glass designer at the State School for Glassmaking in her native Germany, Peretti embraced the classic techniques of enameling, engraving, and cutting. She studied sculpture and painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Cologne, where her own artistic vision took shape.

“Glass allowed me an expression deeply connected to my vision,” she says. “… I could produce a mysterious world, a dreamlike atmosphere where connections are tenuous and brittle.” More recently she has begun addressing the overlap between urban and rural spaces, inviting the viewer to “journey into an unknown, undefined place of possibility, mystery and beauty.” She also collaborates with her partner, glass artist Stephen Paul Day. The duo has been awarded multiple residencies throughout Europe and the US., and their work is part of public and private collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Speed Museum of Art in Louisville, The Montreal Art Museum, and the Alexander Tutsek Foundation in Munich.

Wintering Kiln formed dichroic glass, engraved, silvered, photographic application 18" h x 51" w x 1" d

Still Kiln formed dichroic glass, painted, engraved, silvered, photographic application 18" h x 51" w x 1" d

Martin Blank Natural forms and elements are the building blocks of Martin Blank’s prolific output of blown glass objects and installations.

Whether it’s exploring the human figure or depicting the elusive qualities of flowing water, he juxtaposes masses and voids to capture the fluidity of substance and motion in nature. “I work on the way forms relate to each other to cut a line in space that flows, turns, and carries the eye around the piece,” he says. “The forms reveal a negative space that is as vital and potent as the actual objects.”

Blank received a BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design and later moved to Seattle to work on Dale Chihuly’s team. He has created many installations for private corporate lobbies and public spaces, among them the stunning Fluent Steps, a 200-footlong outdoor sculpture at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. His work also has appeared in exhibits and collections of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Indiana, the Palm Springs Museum of Art, the Henry Ford Museum, The White Box Museum in Beijing, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, among many others, and he has participated in dozens of artist residencies throughout the world.

Blank has also been featured in numerous broadcasts and short films about his work.

Golden Blooms Glass Medium: 14" h x 11" w x 10" d Small: 9" h x 8" w x 8" d

Deconstructed Blue Glass 9" h x 17" w x 9.5" d

Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen Hot-glass sculptors Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen create detailed sculptures that are both representative and idealized, realistic and fanciful. Avid birdwatchers, they translate their love of avian beauty into light-suffused evocations of feathered fauna of all kinds — peacocks, egrets, owls, herons, cranes, and more — whose ethereal glow seems to emanate from within. Their abstracted evocations of the natural world evoke a dreamlike quality while still honoring the precision and clarity of the glass.

Willenbrink-Johnsen earned a BFA in sculpture from Ohio University and later moved to Washington state to work with legendary glass artist William Morris. Jasen Johnsen, who works in metal as well as glass and creates metal tools to aid them in their glasswork, served as the head studio technician at Pilchuck Glass School and conducts classes and workshops with Willenbrink-Johnsen.

Upper left: Bird of Prey Feathers Sculpted Glass 11" h x 22" w x 1" d Hibiscus Owl Blown and sculpted glass 19" h x 8" w x 7" d

Bird Skulls Blown and sculpted glass 3" h x 15" w x 12" d

Avian Deconstruction Tablet and Bird Pair Glass Tablet: 20.5" h x 25.5" w x 4" d Avian: 13" h x 14" w x 6" d

Marc Petrovic As a student of the human condition, Marc Petrovic delights in the events and small moments that mark our lives and give them meaning. He translates this into glass creations that ignite the imagination with their ingenuity and thought-provoking observations of life’s milestones and eternal questions. Vessels within vessels, birds in artistic captivity or perched on abstracted tablets, hidden words encased in glass beads and buttons — all reveal the artist’s predilection for revisiting themes again and again to plumb their depths and chronicle the journey of

life. “I relish the constant yet infinitely varying source of inspiration: the themes of identity, geography life cycles, and self-reflection,” the artist says.

Petrovic’s work is included in numerous private and public collections, among them the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Tacoma Glass Museum. He holds a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art. He shares a studio with his wife and fellow glass artist Kari Russell Pool.

From left: Home Before the Gloaming Glass, wood, paper chart 27.75" h x 39" w x 5.5" d Home Collaged, blown, and hot sculpted glass 26.6" h x 9.5" d

Dean Allison Dean Allison’s finely detailed portrait sculptures in glass show yet another facet of the medium’s versatility. His works are as revealing of their subjects as a candid photo. He creates a “life mask” to capture the physical details of each subject, then uses waxes, molds and glass to lightly abstract their identities. “I want to celebrate intrinsic beauty through physical form and throughout the afflictions and joys of life’s many stages,” he says. “I appreciate that the figure in my work directly causes the need to question who the person is and why they matter.”

Dean has studied and worked at The Northlands Creative Glass center in Scotland, the Canberra Glass Works in Australia, the Pilchuck Glass School, and the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Evening Star Glass, resin, and tile grout 25" h x 13" w x 10" d

Kitchen Floor Glass, edition # 3 17" h 15" w x 10" d

Better Half Glass 16" h x 16" w x 7" d

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