Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass by bullseyeprojects

Transitions in Kiln-Glass

Published by Bullseye Glass Co. 3610 SE 21st Avenue Portland, Oregon 97202 sales@bullseyeglass.com bullseyeglass.com © 2022 Bullseye Glass Co. ISBN 978-1-935299-27-1 Inside Front Cover Saman Kalantari A little bit of everything, 2021 Photo courtesy of the artist. Inside Back Cover Wai Yan Choi Praemonitus Series, 2021 Photography by Hanmi Meyer (except where noted) Design by Nicole Leaper

To inquire about the artists or the artworks shown, please contact Bullseye Projects. projects@bullseyeglass.com bullseyeprojects.com TOURING EXHIBITION Bellevue Arts Museum January 21 - May 29, 2022 bellevuearts.org Pittsburgh Glass Center October 7, 2022 - January 24, 2023 pittsburghglasscenter.org Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Spring 2023 crafthouston.org

Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass is Bullseye Glass Co.’s biennial juried competition honoring outstanding contemporary kiln-glass design, architecture, and art. The competition and resulting exhibitions reflect the expansion and evolution of the kiln-glass medium and its community. Tg refers to the glass transition temperature that lies near the center of the region in which the material shifts between behaving like a solid and behaving like a liquid. This metamorphosis embodies the ethos of kiln-glass, the transformation that occurs when glass softens and yields to the fierce heat of the kiln. Tg: Transitions in Kiln-Glass offers viewers an opportunity to explore the aesthetic choices, conceptual frameworks, and technical innovations in contemporary kiln-glass by artists from the US and abroad.

Where are the words? APRIL 2022 I’ve written introductions to these catalogs for many years and always found–often amidst the current socio-political turmoil–a beacon, a hope, a conviction that art will help us steer a sane course through even the most turbulent waters. Today, in the face of the greatest horror our world has seen in over 80 years, I struggle to focus through a fog of 24/7 war crimes reportage, climate catastrophe, FB TMI, and more. Then a message appears amidst my emails. An artist from the other side of our country asks whether Bullseye might consider a donation: some Egyptian Blue and Sunflower Yellow sheet glass. He’s been making pins and selling them through a South Carolina gallery with 100% of the sales price going directly to a small sister city in Ukraine. To date, he and his town have raised over $20,000. Such a small thing. A pin, a glass flag, a personal effort. For almost 50 years, Bullseye has worked to position kiln-glass within museums; through exhibitions, acquisitions, donations. I have long believed that the future of this medium depended, in significant part at least, on its acceptance into the best art fairs, into museum exhibitions and their collections, to be seen and acknowledged by the art and craft cognoscenti. I am immeasurably grateful to the museums who have allowed us to climb their ladders, from the Portland Art Museum to London’s Victoria and Albert. Not least of these is the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington State, who has showcased a version of this international competition/exhibition since 2015. Being allowed the opportunity to assemble kiln-glass from around the world and to share it with their community has been a gift to our field, to its artists, to this material, and to its place in history. Meanwhile, makers working daily–“on the ground”–in that field are using these materials to reach across our planet in support

of–what?–I can only call it sanity. Humanity. Their small pins and brooches may not land on a museum plinth. They will likely not appear on a CV as testimony to the object’s and the maker’s “position” in the art world. They will not be cataloged, reviewed in the press, acquired by prestigious collectors or corporations. They will simply define the best part of us: our humanity and – I pray – our future. In that vein, I’d like also to give a nod to another aspect of this museum affiliation: educational programming. More than the glam of the pedestal and its positioning power, I am grateful to museums like Bellevue who have hosted the programming that Bullseye’s team has provided in addition to the artwork on view. From curator Michael Endo’s docent training and presentations, to the interactive family programs designed by Nicole Leaper, to the “superglue” provided by our operations manager Sarah Douglass, I am reminded over the years how vibrant our field is and how much impact it can have in shaping the perspectives of our community and most especially its youngest members. Yes, we’ve aspired to position kiln-glass within the museum context, but that context is not simply a historic one. It is a living one. It defines the best of us. No words? Perhaps not the final ones. But more importantly: Hope. Lani McGregor Director, Bullseye Projects Partner, Bullseye Glass Co.

LEFT

Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum

Jury Interview

MICHAEL ENDO Artist, curator, and educator; Co-Director of High Desert Observatory; Curatorial Consultant at Bullseye Projects.

HELEN LEE Artist, designer, and educator; Head of Glass at University of Wisconsin-Madison; Founder of Glass Education Exchange (GEEX).

NAMITA GUPTA WIGGERS Artist, curator, educator, and writer; Founding Director of the MA in Critical Craft Studies at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina; Director and Co-Founder of Critical Craft Forum. Photo by lydia see

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD First Place Endo: Let’s start with the Emerging and Academic categories… Lee: I want to ask, in your minds, was there much distinction between the Academic award and the Emerging award? The candidates for these categories are almost the same. Endo: My feeling is that an academic award should go to someone whose work is a little more exploratory and takes technical risks. Emerging, which I believe is a loaded term, is about people who are just delving into glass. Lee: It’s helpful to hear that filter–that experimental approaches are potentially more suited to the academic category. I was thinking of emerging as a particular life stage... Wiggers: ...that point where their own voice is coming through a little more... Lee: Yeah, I believe there’s that moment when you’ve fully detached from academia and there’s no institutional structure to support, showcase, or serve as a platform for your work. I think that’s a critical moment to receive acknowledgment and recognition. I’m thinking about impact. It is a different thing to give this resource to an established artist who is exploring the material for the first time versus someone who is just standing on their own two feet and still managing to make work that is worthy

of attention...that really stands out. To that end, Abegael Uffelman’s [Moon, Hyun Kyung] landed in first place in the Emerging category for me. Reading the statement, there is a discussion of kiln work and an aspect of capturing a specific moment. In her case, I thought the materiality and the content did a good job of capturing this moment that was really fraught for her. Wiggers: There was something about the fragility of the process and material that is connected to the reading of the documents. All of it comes together bringing out fragmentation, fragility, and precarity in so many different ways. There is a lyrical, poetic quality that goes all the way through. EMERGING ARTIST AWARD Second Place Endo: Let’s discuss Lara Saget’s [Joshua Tree Inside]. One of the issues with voting online is that the photo doesn’t do the piece justice. In the photo it appears small, but the work is a lot more impressive. The glass component on its own is awkward, but combined with the rock it formally unifies and has an alien quality that is evocative of the desert landscape. Wiggers: I like the artist statement. In the last seven to ten years there has been a shift in how younger artists are engaging with and breaking down the divide between human and natural environments. There is something about the way this statement is approaching the question of materials in a different way. It isn’t about acting on the materials. It is about the materials responding, and working with the way materials behave that ties into ideas of object-oriented ontology. There is an echo of that in the statement that I also see in the piece. It made me want to sit with it, think about it, and write about it. ACADEMIC AWARD First Place Endo: In the Academic category, it seems we have some overlapping thoughts, and both Wai Yan Choi’s Praemonitus Series

Jury Interview

On January 28th, 2022, jurors Helen Lee, Namita Gupta Wiggers, and Michael Endo were to meet at the Bellevue Arts Museum to make their final award selections in person. An interview was to follow that would be transcribed here. Concerns related to the COVID-19 Omicron variant canceled these plans. Instead, the three jurors reviewed the finalists independently and met, over Zoom, to see where their thoughts converged. What follows is a modified transcript of the conversation, edited to highlight the juror’s questions, decisions, and discussions about glass.

and Anthony Amoako-Attah’s Puberty topped our lists. I am captivated by what Wai Yan Choi did. I find the experimentation fascinating and they are gorgeous objects reminiscent of geological core samples. They embody the spirit of an academic award.

Jury Interview

Lee: I really like this [Wai Yan Choi] work as well. I am also curious about the title. I looked it up and it gets used in a military context to suggest a warning, but she doesn’t write to this in the statement and so I’m speculating...thinking about the political climate in Hong Kong and the turmoil there and how much of this is influencing this concept of compatible and incompatible materials.

ACADEMIC AWARD Second Place Endo: Let’s discuss Anthony Amoako-Attah. I think the work is strong, it is beautiful, it is meaningful... Lee: I’m aware of his practice and I’m interested in it and the storytelling behind it. The translation of the patterning is amazing and it works well in the flat plane. I see some limitation in the gesture he makes in this work towards fabric, as the glass reveals itself as a planar thing imitating fabric. But I’m in support of him and I like him in the Academic category. I’m really excited that he’s in a long PhD program, because, to me, that means his work is going to develop extensively, and perhaps some of these concerns around material mimicry might further develop. Wiggers: I totally agree with you about the reference to fabric, but I wonder if this is a problem with the photography of objects in general. What if this was shot from a different angle? What would the motion feel like? This is shot frontally as if it’s a piece on the wall. I think photography is really limiting and doesn’t necessarily convey any fluidity. Endo: In person, the fold is a couple inches deep. It is subtle, but there is enough space that I could slide my hand into the fold.

DESIGN AWARD Endo: In the Design category, we all selected Te Rongo Kirkwood’s Meremere (venus - evening star) and Celia Dowson’s Rhossili Mist Centerpiece in Indigo and Clear. I selected Dowson’s work due to the level of polish and refinement. Additionally, they are functional pieces, which, in my mind, is an important quality of a designed object. Lee: I agree with everything you said; some of these works are very traditional in their explorations..I also support Te Rongo Kirkwood’s piece for this category, but I had already thought of her work in the architectural category and I wanted to spread the wealth. Wiggers: The design category, for me, is about fitting into ideas of production, accessibility, and availability. Dowson’s work is exquisite. There is something about being able to make something really, really well and to use the materials to bring out light and color and simplicity of form. She’s tying threads from the knowledge bearers that have taught her and bringing that forward. The piece is evocative and powerful in its simplicity and the way it plays into certain kinds of traditions that are repeated generation after generation. Endo: I agree and have stated my support for Dowson, but beyond the quality there is an aspect that isn’t apparent. Highend refined production is common in blown glass, but not so much in kiln-cast glass. So the fact these aren’t one-off pieces and that this quality is repeated throughout her line is worthy of mention. Lee: I’d love to hear more from both of you about Te Rongo Kirkwood in this category. Wiggers: There is something interesting about the tension in the two kinds of installations we can see in the photographs. It’s an object that when placed on the wall becomes an “artifact”... something that comes and goes from display to storage in a

Detail view of Te Rongo Kirkwood ‘s Meremere (venus – evening star), 2021, kilnformed glass, dyed flax fibre, silk cord

Jury Interview

dialogue with textiles.

Jury Interview

ARCHITECTURE AWARD

Endo: We unanimously agreed on the Architectural category, placing Cable Griffith’s Siler’s Mill (Redmond Watershed) in first and Te Rongo Kirkwood’s Eunoia in second. I’ve only seen the samples of the three pieces in this category and all of them are exceedingly well crafted. For me, Griffith’s piece really fits the purpose of the category. There is a difference between a large sculpture in a space and an architectural glass work that is essentially part of the building itself. Griffith’s work is part of the architecture. For second place, Kirkwood’s piece stands out with its bold pattern and interesting use of transparency revealing a heart-like core. ‘Eunoia’ is the goodwill between a speaker and an audience, and as an architectural installation its centrality transforms a room into a place. Installed view of works by Abegael Uffelman and Anthony Amoako-Attah. Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum

museum setting. That is different from the image of it being worn by a model. The thing I appreciated is how it pushes the concept of what design is and can be. She seems to be referencing garments made from flax; she’s using traditional Māori form and materials. As an object, it is coming from a very different place than so-called Western cultures tend to locate design. I really appreciated the merger of materials that ties in with the merger of cultural heritage, and it also pushes what we understand design to actually be.

GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE AWARDS Endo: To begin with, I would like to hear both of your thoughts on Helen Slater Stokes’ In the Pink. Lee: I remember looking at all of her works–there were three in the initial selection process–and thought I hadn’t seen anyone activate kilnformed glass optically in this way. It is compelling and has this other-dimensional experience.

Endo: I appreciate the level of craft that went into the piece. Each of the “feather” elements were fused, slumped, carved, and then assembled in this seamless fashion.

Wiggers: Thinking about all of the works we had to consider, this one felt very different and is dealing with different kinds of questions and concerns. It reminds me of Southern California artists who play with light. This plays with depth and perception in a way that caught my attention.

Lee: I’m happy to support both Dowson and Kirkwood in the Design category. They’re both so different in how they function. With Kirkwood there is an overall greater innovation. I’ve seen a lot of glass wearables, but not like this. The curvature and the use of other materials create a texture and a tonal variety that is in

Lee: It reminds me of the later works of Sydney Cash. I’m a real sucker for work that asks to be looked at as a way of having a conversation with your entire visual apparatus. A work that stimulates the mechanism that is creating your entire perception of reality.

Wiggers: You’re speaking to proximity to the object...being in the same space as opposed to just looking at an image...that is what makes this different for me. Anthony Amoako-Attah’s work has really stayed with me and has made me curious. I want to know more. I want to see more. I want to understand more. AmoakoAttah’s work makes me want to sit and write and think more about it. Endo: I think that is a good metric. Do I feel compelled to write about it as a curator? Is this a piece that I would highlight in an exhibition catalog? That similarly brings me back to AmoakoAttah’s work and I have no problem awarding his work twice. Another artist in my top three is Saman Kalantari’s A little bit of everything. The piece is very playful, combining different techniques in formal relation to one another that calls into question what material we are actually looking at. Additionally, it is a departure from his known body of work and I always appreciate an artist who takes risks. I was surprised by it, and thus drawn to it. Lee: I like Kalantari’s work a lot. Every time I encounter it, there is something fresh and new and interesting. I think what is holding me back from being able to champion this particular piece is not fully being able to read the image well. Wiggers: I think that photographs stymied my understanding of how to engage with it... I’m going to ask a vulnerable question. When I look at this in a photograph, knowing that parts are made of glass in this very specific way, why do these parts have to be glass? Why can’t it just be paint...why can’t it be wood? That’s what I’m left walking away with...puzzling over it a little bit…

Lee: This piece, to me, feels conversant with object-oriented ontology approaches to materiality, to making and thinking of objects and things. We have different questions in that regard and I think one of the things about this work I like is that there is always just a little bit of surprise that this is glass and it’s not paper. He is operating on the limits and boundaries of the material as a material. In that regard, I think it’s really compelling that you are asking that question. It doesn’t have to be glass, but it is. There is something interesting about that, especially in conjunction with my normal reaction to his work, “how is that not paper?” Endo: The mimetic potential of glass is an important component of its history. The re-creation or translation of one material into glass creates a mystery or a surprise that undermines our associations. This aspect isn’t as evident in this work as it is in his other pieces, but he is pushing at the boundary. The combination of materials and their formal similarities rather than the recreation of a specific object generates the confusion. Wiggers: I’m more compelled by Kalantari’s work after our conversation; it is not work I’ve seen yet in person. I’d like to add that in terms of Amoako-Attah, there is something about this work–we are going to see more from him and I think it is going to continue to be compelling. It has stayed with me from when we first looked at the whole group of pieces. You can just feel there is something there. Endo: I completely agree. Lee: I’m looking at our three top picks. It seems that Helen Slater Stokes, Anthony Amoako-Attah, and Saman Kalantari are at the top.

Jury Interview

Lee: It just makes me curious. I think there could be an association with mass-produced optical illusions in novelty publications, but what does it mean to make this visual experience through a hyper-manual process? That is what I’m drawn into. How do I locate what exactly the artist has created for me as the experience of the work? It’s not fully representative.

award winners

GOLD AWARD

Saman Kalantari Iran/Italy

Award Winners

A little bit of everything, 2021 kilnformed glass, wire, MDF, ribbon 55 x 70 x 70 inches (installed)

My focus is on what is at the margins of attention. In my works, wasted and discarded materials and display pedestals are as important as the artwork itself and are well integrated into it. I try to create a dialogue between traditional crafts and fine arts, between handmade and ready-made/found objects, between interior design and architecture. I arrange objects in contemporary installations in which similarities, differences, and diversities of materials and techniques coexist. Saman Kalantari is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist based in Bolzano, Italy. He studied at Vetroricerca Glas & Modern in Bolzano, where he received his introduction to glass. Kalantari’s innovative method of pâte de verre awarded him the Glass Art Society 2015 Technology Advancing Glass grant. He has been a finalist in many competitions including The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa and the Toyama International Glass Exhibition in Japan. Kalantari has taught various international master classes around the world.

Photo courtesy of the artist

SILVER AWARD ACADEMIC AWARD Second Place

Anthony Amoako-Attah Ghana/UK

Award Winners

Puberty, 2020 kilnformed glass 35.5 x 19.75 x 0.25 (installed)

I manipulate glass to look like woven fabric by screen printing and kilnforming with glass powders. My work explores themes related to the effects of migration, dislocation, and personal identity using traditional Kente designs and Adinkra symbols from Ghana. Anthony Amoako-Attah is a PhD student in Art and Design (glass and ceramics) at the University of Sunderland, England, where he received an MA (glass) in 2016. He completed a BA in Industrial Art (ceramics) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. His work has been exhibited at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and at Sunderland Museum, which commissioned him to produce an artwork for their collection in 2020. AmoakoAttah was awarded Winner in the Aspiring Glass Artists 2020 category in Warm Glass UK’s The Glass Prize and Artist of the Fair at Collect 2022: International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design.

Photo courtesy of the artist

BRONZE AWARD

Helen Slater Stokes UK

Award Winners

In the Pink, 2019 kilnformed glass, digital ceramic transfer 16.5 x 16.5 x 2.5 inches (installed)

My work combines notions of visual spatial perception with current issues around encroachment, distancing, and proximity. Titles create a dialogue around health, social inequalities, and overcrowding by suggesting we consider our perception of space and the space between, as we coexist. Geometric forms analyze the mathematical, quantifiable nature of space–devoid of emotion–as these virtual, almost holographic, time-based spaces animate and transition in harmony with the movement of the observer. Helen Slater Stokes received an MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1996. Having exhibited extensively, she went back to the Royal College of Art to complete a PhD by practice in 2020. She lectures and has presented research papers at numerous conferences, most recently the 2019 Glass Art Society Conference. Her work was selected for the International KOGEI Award 2020 in Toyama, Japan, and the British Glass Biennale in 2017 and 2019, and was featured in New Glass Review 41.

ARCHITECTURAL AWARD First Place

Cable Griffith USA

Award Winners

Siler’s Mill (Redmond Watershed), 2021 glass mosaic (fabricated by Tieton Mosaic) sample of a 72 x 144-inch installation

Siler’s Mill is one of five glass mosaics designed by Cable Griffith for the Downtown Redmond Transit Station in Washington. Each 6 x 12-foot mosaic is inspired by specific locations within the Redmond Watershed Preserve. The composition of each piece is based on photographic material depicting this Redmond landmark’s distinctively dense wooded environment, which is then reinterpreted through a process of pixelation and abstraction of natural forms. This process melds the tradition of mosaic with a digital sensibility to depict the unique landscape and light of the Pacific Northwest. Siler’s Mill was commissioned by Sound Transit and fabricated by Tieton Mosaic. My work comes from a deep appreciation of nature and a desire to communicate our shared relationship to it. I translate personal observations, photographs, and memories through reductive systems of mark-making. These systems emulate a relationship between parts and whole, existing as both distinct elements and a collective harmony. Digital imaging, virtual modeling, and other systems of representation combine to create places that exist somewhere between virtual, real, and imagined. Cable Griffith’s work reflects our complex relationship to landscape, filtered through the influence of technology and popular culture. Based in Washington, Griffith’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous collections including Microsoft, Vulcan, Weyerhaeuser, Capital One, the Washington State Art Collection, and the Port of Seattle. He is represented by Linda Hodges Gallery and is an Assistant Professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

ABOVE Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum RIGHT

Rendering courtesy of the artist

ARCHITECTURAL AWARD Second Place

Te Rongo Kirkwood New Zealand

Award Winners

Eunoia, 2020 fused and coldworked glass, cord, steel sample of a 119 x 27.5 x 27.5-inch installation exhibited at Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand

I aim to reveal underlying celestial narratives and achieve a collapsing of space and time as possible through a Māori world view. I embed within each woven strand of flax or patterned piece of glass not only my own stories, but also stories of those who came before me and those that follow. My work is inspired by whakapapa (existential links between all things) and wairua (life force) stories where the relationship of past/present/future is entangled in threads and glimpsed in the transparency of glass. Te Rongo Kirkwood works with fused glass, textiles, and other media to create objects that blur the lines between sculpture, craft, and personal adornment. She draws upon her Māori and Scottish heritage, the natural world, and celestial themes for inspiration. Kirkwood has been working in glass for 15 years and regularly exhibits within New Zealand and abroad. She is a threetime finalist of the prestigious Ranamok Glass Prize, and her work is held in public and private collections internationally.

Photos by Jennifer French

DESIGN AWARD First Place

Te Rongo Kirkwood New Zealand

Award Winners

Meremere (venus – evening star), 2021 kilnformed glass, dyed flax fibre, silk cord 31.5 x 41.5 x 1 inches (installed)

ABOVE Photo courtesy of the artist

DESIGN AWARD Second Place

Celia Dowson UK

Award Winners

Rhossili Mist Centerpiece in Indigo and Clear, 2019-2021 kiln-cast glass 4 x 18 x 18 inches (installed)

The centerpiece represents a continuous horizon, translucency allowing the components to transform with light throughout the day, as nature does under open skies. Varying thicknesses and contrasts of polished and satin surfaces create subtle shifts in the glass hues, challenging our perception of inside and outside, what is solid and what is not. The work seeks to reflect on the tangibility of everyday objects and how we use and ritualize them, while echoing the transitioning natural world around us. Celia Dowson graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2018, specializing in both ceramics and cast glass. She received a BA (Hons) in ceramic design from Central Saint Martins, London, in 2014. Her most recent exhibitions include Artefact 2021 at Chelsea Design Centre, Young Masters at London Glass Blowing, and Collect at Somerset House. Dowson’s work can be found in the collection of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan. She received a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2020.

ACADEMIC AWARD First Place

Wai Yan Choi Hong Kong

Award Winners

Praemonitus Series, 2021 kilnformed glass, metal inclusions 12 x 38.5 x 4 inches (installed)

My practice is rooted in material experimentation. I am inspired by the qualities created by the often unpredictable reaction that happens when two or more materials collide. This series of work is a material investigation in combining incompatible materials: clear glass with alkali metal, solid low melting point metal and metal oxide. Although they are traditionally destructive materials in casting, under controlled circumstances new colors and textures can be created. Wai Yan Choi was born in Hong Kong, China. She graduated with a BA in fashion jewelry from London College of Fashion in 2018, and recently received an MA in ceramics and glass from the Royal College of Art, London. Choi’s creations in both jewelry and glass focus on the study of materials. In 2020, her glass series “Vessel-Boundaries” won the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers Ceramics and Glass Award, and more recently Choi was shortlisted for the Travers Smith CSR Art Program 21/22.

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD First Place

Abegael Uffelman USA

Award Winners

Moon, Hyun Kyung, 2019 pâte de verre, printer ink transfer 12 x 50 x 1 inches (installed)

As an adopted Asian American, I’ve questioned my identity and race since the ability to comprehend those terms. My responses lie within my work. When this piece was made, I had just read through my adoption records for the first time. I re-created some of the pages in glass, providing only language and information that intrigued or disgusted me, turning analytical text about myself into a poem-like archive using a fragile, yet precious material. As a glass and mixed media conceptual artist, Abegael Uffelman analyzes concepts of social interaction, politics, and identity through the creation of physical objects and installations. In 2019, Uffelman earned a BFA with a minor in art history from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia. Currently, she works as an instructor and kiln assistant at Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Art in Minneapolis.

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD Second Place

Lara Saget USA

Award Winners

Joshua Tree Inside, 2021 kilnformed glass, Joshua Tree ground (rock), desert rock 5.5 x 7.25 x 5.5 inches

Joshua Tree Insides, 2021 kilnformed glass, Joshua Tree ground (rock), ventifact rock 13 x 9.5 x 8.5 inches Joshua Tree Rocks Match, 2021 kilnformed glass 2.5 x 8 x 5.5 inches (installed) My work makes materially visible the limitations of logic. My practice is fueled by the belief that not all facts are absolute. I start by trapping rock in glass. Logically, the heat of the rock cracks the glass. However, this is not always the case. The separation between them is circumstantial. There may be no answers, nothing concrete to hold onto. But there are patterns; my charge is to distill the patterns to reveal new archetypes and, in doing so, crystallize the transience of certainty. Lara Saget lives and works in New York. She received a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, and an MFA from New York University. Her work has been exhibited in the US and abroad. Residencies include Yucca Valley Material Lab, California; Iris Project, California; Art Ichol, India; and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland. She has received grants and awards including a Brooklyn Arts Fund grant in 2021, New York University MFA Artistic Practice Award in 2017, a 2016 Steinhardt Scholarship Award, and an Urban Glass Scholarship in 2017-2018.

finalists

Finalists 36

Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum

Julie Alland

Andy Gersh

Magnetic Drawing Triptych 1, 2021 magnetite, sheet glass 6.25 x 26.75 x 0.75 inches (installed)

Signature Tree, 2021 kilnformed glass 31 x 120 x 120 inches (installed)

The Magnetic Drawings were created by placing magnets under sheet glass, sifting magnetite on top, then fusing the materials together in a kiln. Various magnets were arranged and re-arranged under the glass until the push-pull of magnetic fields yielded an evocative design. The magnetite is black sand gathered at Ocean Beach, near where I live in San Francisco. The series explores ideas related to the emotional pull of home, the poetry of place, ordered randomness, invisibility (magnetism) and time.

My love of glassmaking and the lettering arts are married in this installation that contains 45 signatures of my relatives, suspended to resemble an abstract tree. Inspired by weeping willows, the signatures are the sole design elements, suspended vertically to simulate drooping branches and elongated leaves. My grandparents create the trunk, and all offspring continue to bloom upwards. Seeking deeper will reward, as the signatures reveal their individual forms upon closer inspection.

Julie Alland was raised in New York State and has lived in San Francisco since 1985. She received a BFA in photography from Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Her studio practice involves investigating the physical properties of materials. This exploration results in work that connects process and concept. Intersection of the arts and sciences, substantiating the invisible, paradoxes and mortality are examples of predominant preoccupations and themes in her work. Alland has worked as a teaching assistant for Paul Marioni at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, and Matthew Szösz at Public Glass, San Francisco.

Andy Gersh tells stories with glass. His work is comprised of thoughtprovoking pieces that challenge the viewer to look past the glossy surface and explore the themes and concepts created from a designminded imagination. On the periphery of the fused glass movement for over two decades, Gersh is hoping to take significant, well-designed leaps going forward. On most nights, he can be found in his home studio.

USA

GERMANY

Finalists

Pink Dichroic Glitter Chicken, 2020 fused and cast glass, dichroic extract, silver mirror, aluminum gilding, hxtal, titanium oxide 17 x 13 x 3.75 inches

Seven skins, 2020 kilnformed glass 3 x 10 x 10 inches (installed)

Evan Burnette

We are constantly bombarded by half-truths, scams, ulterior motives, and advertisements disguised as news. Vigilant cynicism is one’s only defense. My work is a continuation of the conversation started by the Absurdists of the Age of Enlightenment. Like them, I feel a need for release from the rigidity of scientific reason. My art is a response to the excessive logic needed to thrive in our time. I express this through the vehicles of Absurdism, Surrealism, and Psychedelia. Evan Burnette is a multi-media artist specializing in glass. He is also owner and head designer of Local Art Glass LLC, located in Portland, Oregon. He received an MFA from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana in 2017.

Karola Dischinger

Several years ago, I became intrigued by the ages-old, worldwide power of the number seven. I made pieces dealing with the biblical story of the seven-tiered Tower of Babel and Babylonian communication confusion; psychologist Abraham Maslow’s seven-leveled Hierarchy of Needs, addressing human’s physical, psychological, and spiritual needs; and Buddhism’s seven chakras, or energy centers, each associated with a certain color. With ties to my own childhood, Seven skins has its roots in an old German children’s riddle: “Hat Sieben Häute, beisst alle Leute?” or “What has seven skins and bites all people?” Of course, the answer is “an onion,” with its many layers and its tear-inducing chemical reactions when cut. As a glass artist, I found the multi-layered beauty and mystery of this seemingly simple everyday item irresistible. Karola Dischinger has been working in glass for the past twenty years. Most recently, she has concentrated on theme-related projects such as Modern Times, which questions our modern working world. Current work considers the mystical number “seven” and its use in Mesopotamian culture, specifically in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and its influence on the mythologies and religions of the Babylonian Empire, the Middle East, and Europe.

Photo by Greg Piper

Finalists

Photo by myoung studio

SOUTH KOREA

AUSTRALIA

A relic of the early 21st century – relic high heels, 2019 kilnformed glass 6 x 9.5 x 4 inches (installed)

Murmuration – Brown Tones, 2019 kilnformed glass 45 x 45 x 1 inches

My work is a notion of what typical female beauty of this modern era would look like if viewed from far into the future. I think the items most representative of beauty would be luxury goods, particularly purses and high heels. To make the work appear to be “relics,” I emphasized the fragility of the material by using glass frit and powder. The implicit meaning of my work is a reflection on the vanity of humans, in terms of external beauty and our present culture, which has resulted in an overly materialistic society.

Murmuration – Brown Tones explores the silence in synchronicity and the beauty of unspoken energy. Highlighting the potential of color and abstraction as stimulative devices, I delve into the intertwined relationships of art, geometry, and spirituality; a space where there is no higher or lower ground, and energy is uniform and woven together, generating a vibration of matter. Through a composition of soft color and layered lines, I explore this intricate construct of innate feelings and timeless motion.

Hyesook Choi resides in Seoul, South Korea. After receiving a BFA and MFA in ceramics and glass from Hongik University in Seoul, she moved to the US in 2012 and earned a second MFA in glass from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Choi’s work was included in New Glass Review 41. She is currently an adjunct professor at Hongik University Graduate School.

Cobi Cockburn is a graduate of Sydney College of the Arts in Australia and an honors graduate of the Glass Workshop at the School of Art & Design, Australian National University, Canberra. She received the Tom Malone Prize in 2009 and 2015, and the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2006. Cockburn’s work has been published in New Glass Review, art ltd., American Craft and Craft Arts International, and is in the collections of the Palm Springs Art Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Hyesook Choi

Cobi Cockburn

Ana María Nava

Drift, 2019 kilnformed glass 19 x 38 x 0.25 inches

Envuélveme con tus Alas, 2021 fused glass, mica powders, plexiglass, aluminum 58 x 130 x 3 inches (installed) original installation located in a private home in Maracaibo, Venezuela

AUSTRALIA

My works are made up of small tiles arranged to form a large plane. The abstract patterns play with repetition and disruption through the placement of tiles in shifting tones of white and translucent color. The varying intensity, brightness, and opacity of the whites over the more muted tones of color result in an illusion of depth and movement. The still, hard object is a dynamic plane, the smaller components seeming to slide back and forth over each other in a constant shuffle. Hannah Gason is a Canberra-based visual artist. She graduated from the School of Art & Design, Australian National University, Canberra in 2015 and was awarded a University Medal. Gason has been an artistin-residence and visiting artist at Berlin Glas E.V., Germany; Corning Museum of Glass, New York; and North Lands Creative, Scotland. Working from her Canberra Glassworks studio, Gason has exhibited nationally and internationally, with work housed in several public and private collections.

Photo by Albert Frangieh

VENEZUELA

We all need special protection, even if we do not know it or do not want it; especially in trying times. Envuélveme con tus Alas was born out of one of many prayers to the Archangel Saint Michael that essentially asks for protection: “wrap your wings around us.” Investigation, exploration, and design are part of my everyday life; my studio is a lab of ideas in constant evolution. The organic and geometric are fused together in my work. I explore color, movement, flow, light, flexibility, and structure. Installations are versatile in space, they adapt. Movement, volume, and light give cadence to them all. When art and space merge, shadows appear, spaces change, light interacts, a game between dwelling and art begins until they become one and make our souls vibrate. From Maracaibo, Venezuela, Ana María Nava is an architect and glass artist. She is currently based in Miami. Nava has been commissioned to create installations for spaces such as The Bath Club in Miami Beach and the Falcon Building in Brussels. Her work focuses on the integration of art and space, light and shadow, and the experience of the viewer.

Finalists

Hannah Gason

Finalists 40

Vanessa Cutler UK

Gender, 2020 kilnformed glass 16.5 x 5 x 5 inches My practice explores the use of multiple technologies working with color and light, applied to a variety of forms. My research interests are very much about industrial engagement and the differences and subtleties of both artists and engineers operating in collaboration to produce work that extends the parameters of material and process for both. Pushing boundaries is always a focus. Vanessa Cutler trained in stained glass at Swansea College of Art, Wales, before completing an MFA at the University of Wolverhampton, England, where she was introduced to water-jet technology. She received a PhD from Sunderland University, England, in 2006. Since 1997, Cutler has specialized in using water-jet technology creatively and has worked with many artists to incorporate the technology into their practice. She authored “New Technologies in Glass,” published by Bloomsbury in 2012. Cutler was recently included in the Toyama International Glass Exhibition 2021 at the Toyama Glass Art Museum in Japan, and the exhibition Silica Valley at Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pennsylvania in 2020.

西遊記 (Journey to the west), 2021 kilnformed and engraved glass 8 x 8 x 8 inches The box represents the liminal experience of migration and my experience of being born in a detention center. Heavy yet fragile, it confines the “unreachable.” Subverting the power dynamic to question the value of bureaucratic recognition, the iconic plastic travel bag is made with fine art glass while the contained citizenship paper is of a cheaper material. It is a testament to the resilience of diaspora communities, and a love for how objects hold a wealth of experiences within them. Bonnie Huang is a queer Chinese-Australian artist based on Dharug and Gadigal lands. Informed by concepts, their multidisciplinary practice expands into different mediums to interrogate self-identity and social norms. Playing with semantics and using the body as a medium, they explore how the individual is situated in liminal and digital spaces. They often reference queer culture and collective histories to explore both personal and cultural narratives.

Finalists

Bonnie Huang

AUSTRALIA

Finalists

GERMANY/UK

Heike Brachlow

Jerre Davidson

Vortex I, 2021 cast glass 10.75 x 11.25 x 12 inches

Awakening, 2019 kilncast and coldworked glass 10.5 x 17.5 x 9 inches

I aim to make forms capable of transformation, ideally in several different ways. My primary focus is the investigation of transparent color in glass. Recently, I have started using two or more colors to achieve a personalized palette and to show flow patterns, which give an idea of how the glass flows into the mold during the casting process. My sculptures have no defined base and can be placed in several different ways. They can move at the slightest touch.

My early experiences as a graduate of the Scottish Ballet School in Edinburgh are fundamental to my identity. I portray my love of dance and music in my artwork. My current project involves recording dance movements and translating them into three-dimensional forms. This allows the dancer to become part of the sculptural concept. Research into gesture and emotion has allowed me to build my visual language of threedimensional sculptural forms.

Born and raised in Munich, Germany, Heike Brachlow received a BA in glass in 2004 from the University of Wolverhampton, England, an MA in 2006 and a PhD in 2012 from the Royal College of Art in London. She primarily works as a self-employed artist from her studio in Essex, England, and as a lecturer at the Royal College of Art. Her work is represented in many museum collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; European Museum of Modern Glass, Rödental, Germany; National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; and Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington.

Jerre Davidson is a sculptor currently working in glass. Her practice explores the shifting rhythms of a particular space, using gestural shapes to capture these spatial rhythms. Davidson has received several awards including an Ontario Arts Council Project Grant. Her work was featured in New Glass Review 41 and is in the permanent collection of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo. Her work has been exhibited in Korea, Scotland, USA, and Canada.

CANADA

Sibylle Peretti

Ana Laura Quintana ARGENTINA

Finalists

Photo courtesy of the artist Artwork courtesy of Heller Gallery

Home Range, 2021 kilnformed glass, engraved, painted and silvered; photograph, paper application 38 x 60 x 2 inches (installed)

Aquamarine Sea Vessels, 2020 glass powder, liquid gold 4.5 x 11 x 8.5 inches (installed)

GERMANY/USA

I create multi-media collages and sculptures in glass which explore the relationship between time, loss, emotion, memory, and solitude, often depicting liminal landscapes where the protagonists - people and animals - retreat. The work balances the nostalgia of impending loss - societal or environmental - with the profound fortitude of understanding ourselves and the world. Sibylle Peretti was born in Germany, where the rich tradition of glassmaking influenced the direction of her artistic training and the abundant Bavarian forests inspired her choice of landscape as a predominant theme in her work. Using two-dimensional kilnformed panels and three-dimensional lost-wax castings, Peretti composes narratives about the beautiful and poetic yet disrupted relationship between humans and the natural world. She received an MFA from the Academy of Fine Art in Cologne, Germany.

I am always exploring and experimenting with new ways of achieving the traditional pâte de verre technique. I mostly design using curving lines and round forms that connect me with nature, give the sensation of being contained, offer safety, and suggest love and harmony. I create vessels without the use of a mold and work the glass paste as if it were fabric. The results are very delicate pieces that have the spontaneity of a moment as demonstrated by the natural forms and folds. Ana Laura Quintana is an Argentine interior designer who loves to materialize her designs in glass. She learned several kiln-glass techniques from talented national and international glass artists and discovered that her preferred one is pâte de verre. Quintana’s work has been included in exhibitions in Argentina, Italy, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, China, and Japan.

Finalists 44

Verity Pulford WALES, UK

Study of Lichen, 2021 pâte de verre 3 x 8 x 2.5 inches each Algae Vessels, 2021 kilnformed glass; gravity-formed vessels sizes variable I use a variety of processes to create my work, combining kilnforming and architectural techniques in unique ways to create vessels, sculpture, installation, architectural and public art. My work is inspired by organic structures, in particular the small details, shapes, and textures of algae, fungi, lichen, moss, and ferns. The qualities of glass inspire me constantly: the fragility and strength, transparency, opacity, ability to create layers, depth, pattern, texture, and all of this combined with the ability to transmit, reflect, and channel light. Verity Pulford is a glass artist living and working in rural North Wales. She received a BA (Hons) in applied arts/architectural glass from North East Wales Institute of Higher Education in 2006 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education with Masters in applied art from Liverpool John Moores University, England, in 2008. Pulford’s work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions including Glass Life Forms at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, and It’s All in the Technique at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, UK.

CANADA

Finalists

Seeking: Happily Ever After, 2020 kilnformed glass 17 x 12 x 12 inches

Cheryl Wilson Smith

Through my work I strive to depict the graceful strength of nature that surrounds me, while contemplating the passage of time and genetic memory. I layer frit to create complex sculptural objects. The process of translating my drawings, then building gossamer-fine layers of frit into structural shapes is a captivating and meditative ritual. The individual layers are as delicate as torn paper, yet together create a sculptural object that manifests beauty and inspires curiosity. Cheryl Wilson Smith lives in Northern Canada. Her sculptures serve as receptacles for memory and time, while exploring the tensions created as we try to walk responsibly in this world and contemplate the extent to which we all alter the landscape. Wilson Smith received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018, Canada Council grants in 2014 and 2017, and the Design Award in the Craft Ontario Fusion Clay and Glass show in 2015. Her work can be found in the collections of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, both in Ontario, Canada.

Finalists 46

Judy Tuwaletstiwa USA

rock.text 3, 2019 kilnformed glass and matte gel on paper 44 x 30.5 x 0.25 inches Glass is a medium that synthesizes concepts that I have explored over the past 45 years in fiber, paint, and writing. As an artist I give images form, making breath visible. While painting, writing, and working with glass, I pay attention to the possibly transformative gift of an image. Glass is an amorphous solid, both metaphorically and scientifically. Also, it breaks. The fragile work I make can break in a way that intention invites the unintentional. Judy Tuwaletstiwa has been a visual artist, writer, and teacher for fifty years. In her visual art, she has worked with different materials including sand, mud, feathers, sticks, fiber, and acrylic on canvas. In 2012, during a life-changing, eighteen-month residency with Bullseye Glass Co., she began incorporating kiln-fired glass into her work.

Photos by Michael Endo

Photo by Tim Thayer/RM Hensleigh

Finalists

Photo by Michael Endo

USA

The Moon, 2020 kilnformed glass 10 x 10 x 1 inches

Recasting Portland, 2019 kiln-cast glass and 3D printed pattern 5 x 17.5 x 17.5 inches

“Silence is the only environment that enables you to hear yourself.” Through my art practice, I aim to create a space for the quaint observation and reflection upon the moment despite the rhythm of modern-day life. I consider myself a follower of the “Slow Art” concept, which is focused on tranquil and studious art comprehension. I strive to evoke in the viewer a desire to connect with their sensory experience through interacting with my sculptural compositions.

I find myself looking at the world as a surveyor – telling stories through objects. Stepping back and researching how pieces fit together gives me the opportunity to consider the impact of the component parts. Conversations with specialists in a range of disciplines — historians, urban planners, demographers, climate scientists, and statisticians — deepen my engagement with the subject matter and the complexity of my work. My artistic intention is to better understand our place in time.

Kseniia Vekshina was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She received both BA and MFA degrees from the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. Vekshina’s first solo exhibition, Silence, was held at the St. Petersburg Museum of Glass Art in 2017, and in 2020 she presented her second solo exhibition, What I See, at the museum.

Norwood Viviano’s work is about change. Utilizing digital 3D computer modeling and printing technology in tandem with glassblowing and casting processes, he creates work depicting population shifts tied to the dynamic between industry and community. Viviano received a BFA from Alfred University, New York, and an MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is currently an Associate Professor and Sculpture Program Coordinator at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

Kseniia Vekshina RUSSIA

Norwood Viviano

Finalists 48

Bruno Romanelli UK

Aquilae I, 2021 cast glass 3.5 x 14 x 14 inches

Procyon, 2021 cast glass 5 x 10 x 10 inches

Candidus I, 2020 cast glass, 22K gold leaf 4 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches My work is concerned with the relationships between light, color, form, and material. Through glass I aim to explore the interplay between these four elements. Inspiration comes from many places, from the sublime to the mundane. What draws me is light, and the way light interacts with the world around me. My intention is not to make representations of what I see but to extract the essence and translate that into my work. Formally, my work is drawn from geometry, in particular from the circle. Born and raised in Yorkshire, England, to Italian parents, Bruno Romanelli studied glass at Staffordshire Polytechnic, England, where he achieved a BA (Hons) in 1991. After two years as apprentice to Colin Reid, Romanelli went on to study at the Royal College of Art, London, where he completed an MA in ceramics and glass in 1995. He lives and works in South London, where he has been running his casting studio ever since. He exhibits widely both nationally and internationally and has work in many of the world’s leading museum collections.

Finalists

David Hendren USA

Schematic Stage Painting with Amp Stack, 2021 kilnformed glass, wood frame 12.5 x 11.25 x 1.25 inches (framed) Two Amplifiers (After the Show), 2021 kilnformed glass, wood frame 21.5 x 18 x 1.25 inches (framed)

Closed Stage, 2021 kilnformed glass, wood frame 18.75 x 14.25 x 1.5 inches (framed)

In the fall of 2021, I visited several music venues in Los Angeles, all of them struggling to stay afloat because of the pandemic. These glass paintings are inspired by the empty stages within these venues. My work deals with architecture’s impact on the body, making the stage a compelling subject. Through the delineation of empty architectural space and absence of figuration, these works explore the collective psychological toll caused by the closure of public venues for performative expression. David Hendren received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Hendren is a multi-media artist, working in painting, sculpture, and sound. He has exhibited nationally in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, and Detroit, and internationally in Berlin, Paris, and Portugal. He has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, a Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, and the Lincoln City Fellowship. Hendren lives and works in Los Angeles.

Glossary 50

Coldworking Changing the shape or surface texture of glass using tools and processes that do not rely on heat. Coldworking methods include grinding, carving, engraving, polishing, and sandblasting.

Pâte de verre Glasswork created by firing fine glass grains, usually mixed with a binding agent, against the surface of a mold. Literally “paste of glass” in French.

Frit (also glass powder) Grains of glass of varying particle sizes, often crushed mechanically from sheet or created by water-quenching hot glass.

Screen printing A method for printing images by forcing coloring material through a stencil mounted on silk mesh.

Glassblowing (also blown glass) Shaping a mass of molten or heat-softened glass by blowing air into it through a long metal pipe. Kilncasting (also kiln-cast and cast glass) Creating a glass object by casting glass into a refractory mold or other form. Kilnformed glass (also kiln-glass and fused glass) Glass formed using a kiln. Kilnforming methods include fusing, slumping, kilncasting, and other techniques.

Stained glass The joining together of disparate pieces of glass by means of lead or other metal channel. More accurately called “leaded glass” as pieces of colored glass rather than stains are most typically used. Tg Refers to the glass transition temperature that lies near the center of the region in which the material shifts between behaving like a solid and behaving like a liquid. Transfer Film Film for transferring water soluble pigment ink-jet prints to substrates using gels and transfer mediums.

What is kiln-glass? In glassblowing, the artist works quickly to inflate the glass by means of a blowpipe, shaping the glass by rotating the pipe, swinging it, and controlling the temperature of the piece while they blow. In contrast, kilnforming uses a kiln to bind and shape layers or particles (frit) of glass. Kilnforming methods include fusing, slumping, kilncasting, and other kilnrelated techniques. Tg refers to the glass transition temperature that lies near the center of the region in which the material shifts between behaving like a solid and behaving like a liquid during the kilnforming process.

Artist Index 52

Julie Alland page 36

Evan Burnette page 37

Cobi Cockburn page 38

Karola Dischinger page 37

Andy Gersh page 36

Anthony Amoako-Attah page 10 page 16-17

Hyesook Choi page 38

Vanessa Cutler page 40

Celia Dowson page 26-27

Cable Griffith page 20-21

Heike Brachlow page 42

Wai Yan Choi page 28-29 page 54

Jerre Davidson page 42

Hannah Gason page 39

David Hendren page 49

Ana María Nava page 39

Helen Slater Stokes page 18-19

Ana Laura Quintana page 43

Kseniia Vekshina page 47

Saman Kalantari page 1 page 14-15

Sibylle Peretti page 43

Judy Tuwaletstiwa page 46

Bruno Romanelli page 48

Norwood Viviano page 47

Verity Pulford page 44

Abegael Uffelman page 10 page 30-31

Lara Saget page 32-33

Cheryl Wilson Smith page 45

Te Rongo Kirkwood page 9 page 22-25

Artist Index

Bonnie Huang page 41