Fused Expression: John Littleton & Kate Vogel

FUSED EXPRESSION

JOHN LITTLETON & KATE VOGEL

JOHN LITTLETON & KATE VOGEL

FUSED EXPRESSION

BEVERLY & SAM ROSS GALLERY | CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY

JOHN LITTLETON AND KATE VOGEL first met in the glass shop at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1978. The next summer the two traveled to western North Carolina to work in the studio of one of the renowned founders of the Studio Glass Movement (and John’s father), Harvey Littleton. Their experiences that summer initiated what would become a lifetime of artistic production and collaboration. This survey of over three-and-a-half decades of work by these distinguished glass artists offers the opportunity to explore the evolution of their work over time, tracing how threads from one body of work inform and inspire another.

When studying their oeuvre, three loosely chronological groups of work emerge, starting with blown glass bag forms (1979-present), moving into a period of figural castings (1990-present), and concluding with a series of more recent lotus-inspired pieces (2009-present).

What is interesting to note is not how neat and orderly a curator can

Shard Bag (1990), blown glass with acid etched surface, 151/2 x 11 inches

define these formal periods, but how the ideas of the artists often transcending tidy classifications.

Littleton and Vogel are perhaps best known for their early bag forms, which for many studio glass collectors mark the first piece of glass they ever purchased. The original bags were inspired by a technical challenge—how to make glass look like a silk brocade bag without distorting the layers of intricate pattern during the production. This initial line of inquiry eventually led to more complex and anthropomorphic groupings of bags within bags, bags with cut-always, and families of bags.

A close examination of this progression of forms also reveals themes present throughout Littleton and Vogel’s work. Formal investigations of inside vs. outside, containment, and translating soft forms into a hard medium are present in works like Shard Bag (1990), where a larger bag opens to reveals a smaller grouping within. Such formal studies can also be found in later works such as To Know a Veil (2001), where a solid block of clear glass frames the etched casting of a face visible only through a curtain of fabric being stretched over its features by two tugging hands. Seeds of Littleton and Vogel’s conceptual interests in familial relationships and the human psyche are also present in their early work, though they become a focus in later series, such as What Do You Hold (2008-10) and What’s Between Us (2011-12).

This exhibition allows visitors to gain access to and reflect on the experience of the artists—to trace how their formal and conceptual interests transform from one body of work to the next. The art of Littleton and Vogel archives an ongoing and evolving conversation between each other and the influences surrounding them—technical challenges, familial ties, and emotional insight. Both glass student and art appreciator will be able to relate to, learn from, and be inspired by their practice.

— Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director and Curator at The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design

333 Kate and John in an early collaboration in Harvey Littleton’s studio, 1980

Bag (1981) blown glass with enameled fiberglass, 101/2 x 9 x 81/2 inches

Cha-ire (1982) blown glass with enameled fiberglass, 73/4 x 7 inches

Bagged Bags (1982) blown glass, 12ž x 9Ÿ inches

Flora-Pod (1985) blown glass, 91/4 x 91/2 x 83/4 inches

TOP LEFT

Untitled (1991) cast glass, 151/8 x 103/4 x 51/4 inches CENTER

Swimmers (1995) cast glass, 8 x 271/2 x 131/3 inches BOTTOM LEFT

Sleeping Muse (1990) cast glass, 121/2 x 151/4 x 71/2 inches

FRONT COVER

De la Tierra (2008) cast glass, oil paint, turquoise sphere, 151/4 x 161/2 x 131/2 inches

TOP RIGHT

Reflection (1997) cast glass, 10 x 101/2 x 71/4 inches

BOTTOM RIGHT

Imago (1994) blown glass, 19 x 13 x 131/4 inches

BACK COVER

What’s Between Us: Plug (2012) cast glass and copper wire, 143/4 x 15 x 6 inches

THIS PAGE

To Know a Veil (2001) 5 cast glass, 113/8 x 171/4 x 51/2 inches What Binds Us? (2005)4 cast glass, patinated iron paint, 22 x 173/4 x 51/2 inches

NEXT PAGE (clockwise from top left)

Rock and Hands (2002) cast glass and rock with mica, 143/4 x 8 x 61/2 inches Estrella (2007) cast glass, hot worked cut disk, 181/4 x 81/2 x 33/4 inches What Do You Hold? Wish Bones (2009),cast glass, steel, 7 x 143/4 x 63/4 inches

5 Succulent (2015) cast glass, 231/2 x 93/4 x 83/4 inches

4 Ikebana III (2015) cast glass, bronze and steel, 661/2 x 28 x 241/2 inches

6 Winged Wave (2014) cast glass, 111/2 x 131/4 x 91/4 inches

JOHN LITTLETON BORN 1957 [Madison, Wisconsin]

KATE VOGEL BORN 1956 [Wimpole Park, England]

SELECTION OF RECENT EXHIBITS 2016 Artfields [Lake City, SC]

44th Annual International Invitational Habatat Galleries [Royal Oaks, MI]

“Sculptural Objects & Functional Art (SOFA),” Navy Pier [Chicago, IL] 1988-2016

“Summer Salon,” Blue Spiral 1 [Asheville, NC]

2015 “Furnace and Flame,” Spartanburg Art Museum [Spartanburg, SC] 2014 “South by Southeast, Masters of Studio Glass,” Huntsville Museum of Art [Huntsville, AL] 2013 “Igneous Expressions,” David McCune International Art Gallery at Methodist University [Fayetteville, NC] 2012 “Fire on the Mountain,” Asheville Art Museum [Asheville, NC]

“Spark and Flame,” Chazen Museum of Art [Madison, WI]

“North Carolina Glass 2012,” Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University [Cullowhee, NC]

COLLECTIONS Art Museum of South Texas [Corpus Christi, TX] Asheville Art Museum [Asheville, NC] Bergstrom Mahler Museum [Neenah, WI] Christian Brothers University [Memphis, TN] Corning Museum of Glass [Corning, NY] Federal Reserve Bank [Charlotte, NC] Glasmuseum Ebeltoft [Ebeltoft, Denmark] Glasmuseum Frauenau [Frauenau, Germany] Guilford College Art Gallery [Greensboro, NC] Hickory Museum of Art [Hickory, NC] High Museum of Art [Atlanta, GA] Huntsville Museum of Art [Huntsville, AL] Milwaukee Art Museum [Milwaukee, WI] Mint Museum [Charlotte, NC]

Mobile Museum of Art [Mobile, AL] Musee de design et d’arts Appliques contemporains [Lausanne, Switzerland] Museum of Fine Arts [Houston, TX] Muskegon Museum of Art [Muskegon, MI] North Carolina Museum of History [Raleigh, NC] Racine Art Museum [Racine, WI] Rockford Art Museum [Rockford, IL] Saint Louis Art Museum [St. Louis, MO] University of Michigan Dearborn [Dearborn, MI] OberGlas Museum [Barnbach, Austria] New Orleans Museum of Art [New Orleans, LA] White House Collection, The Clinton Library [Little Rock, AR]

SELECTED MEDIA FEATURES 2014 2013 2012 2008 2007 2000 1997 1996 1995

1993

Winston-Salem Journal [February 5, 2014] UNCTV NC Weekend [November 7-8, 2013] UNCTV North Carolina Weekend [May 31, 2012] The Blue Ridge Parkway: America’s Favorite Journey [Film, 2008] Art of the Times [March 2007] American Style [Fall 2000] Southern Living [December 1997] The State Magazine [September 1996] Christian Science Monitor [May 18, 1995] Washington Post [April 27, 1995] CBS Sunday Morning [April 22, 1995] New York Times [December 23, 1993]

JOHN LITTLETON & KATE VOGEL

FUSED EXPRESSION BEVERLY & SAM ROSS GALLERY AT C H R I S T I A N B R O T H E R S U N I V E R S I T Y

JANUARY 13 - MAY 17, 2017 OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 • 5:30 - 7:30 P.M. www.cbu.edu/gallery | www.littletonvogel.com