2022 GAS Journal by Glass Art Society

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY JOURNAL

TACOMA

2022

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE 50 TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE TACOMA, WA, USA MAY 18-21, 2022

TACOMA 2022 4

GAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2021-2022 President

Jessica Jane Julius

Vice President

Nadania Idriss

Vice President

Heather McElwee

Treasurer

Michael Saroka

Ben Cobb

Leo Tecosky

Eric Goldschmidt

Demetra Theofanous

Glen Hardymon

Caitlin Vitalo

Michael Hernandez

Sunny Wang

Purnima Patel

Martha Zackin

Frederik Rombach

Lisa Zerkowitz

Lynn Everett Read

Ibrahim Erdogan Student Representative

Debra Ruzinsky

Paige Lizbeth Morris Student Representative

Published by: GLASS ART SOCIETY 700 NW 42nd St #101 Seattle, WA 98107 USA glassart.org Editor: Lauren Bayer Echevarria Graphic Designer: Sarah Kulfan Photographer: Mike Berger Copyright © 2022 by Glass Art Society No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced in any form without the written permission of Glass Art Society. The opinions expressed and text written in the GAS Journal are those of the annual conference presenters and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Glass Art Society, its Board of Directors, or staff. Copies of this GAS Journal (ISSN 2835-6950) may be ordered for a fee from glassart.org

Erika Tada GAS 2022 TACOMA CONFERENCE SITE COMMITTEE Debbie Lenk Co-Chair Dean Burke Co-Chair

For information about the Glass Art Society, visit glassart.org or email us at info@glassart.org

April Matson Ann Sweeney

Cover image

Ben Cobb

Front: Judith Schaechter, Ax Wielding Maniacs, 2021, Stained glass in light-box, 32 × 32 × 1 in

David Setford Hilary Conner

Back: Natali Rodrigues, Lacuna, #3 and #4, 9”x 3” and 9”x 4”, Glass, 2012. Photo by: Ward Bastian.

Kimberly Keith Patrick Cahill Paul E. Miller

All permission for photographic reproduction is the responsibility of the author. Unless otherwise noted, the photographs were submitted by the artist. Dimensions, when available, are usually given in inches or feet as height x width x depth.

Sophie Engle Walt Riehl GAS STAFF Brandi Clark, Executive Director Lauren Bayer Echevarria, Communications + Social Media Manager Cynthia Porter, Event + Program Manager Kristen Wagstrom Ferguson, Development + Membership Manager

Top: Conference goers exploring the Museum of Glass during the 2022 GAS Conference in Tacoma, WA, USA. Bottom: The GAS Board of Directors gather for a group photo during the Conference Kick-Off.

Mae Quach, Communications Assistant Olivia Chiaravalli, Temporary Communications Assistant Cathy Noble-Jackson, Bookkeeper* Mike Berger, Conference Photographer* Brent Starheim, Conference Videographer* Sarah Kulfan, Journal Graphic Designer*

*Contract employee

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

CONTENTS REFLECTIONS President’s Message by Jessica Jane Julius

Tacoma Co-Chair Message

AWARDS & EXHIBITIONS Lifetime Achievement Award, Judith Schaechter Lifetime Membership Award, Natali Rodrigues

Jianyong Guo

Alli Hoag

Su-yeon Kim

Alicia Lomné

Erin Taylor + Angus Powers

Grace Whiteside + Liesl Schubel

Georgia Redpath

Tomo Sakai + Eric Cruze

Nathan Sandberg

GAS Impact Award

Student, Member, and Green Exhibition Winners

CATALYSTS Saxe Emerging Artist: Fumi Amano

Saxe Emerging Artist: Krista Israel

Saxe Emerging Artist: Madeline Rile Smith

Littleton Lecture: Sharyn O’Mara

Willson Lecture: Jane Bruce

LECTURES

PANELS On Native Land: Pilchuck’s Ongoing Engagement with Indigenous Artists Benjamin Wright, Raya Friday, Dan Friday, Preston Singletary, Tomas Colbengtson

Burning the Olive Branch Frederik Rombach, Patrícia Šichmanová, Slate Grove, Danielle Ruttenberg

Unheard-of International Reports Jiyong Lee, Su-yeon Kim, Sunny Wang, Stephanie Kwok

The Life of a Carny: Glass at the Fairgrounds Jamie Adams, Devan Coe, Bryan Beck, Kayla Socha

100

American Exploring Lore Through Contemporary Glass Jamie Marie Rose, Carmen Lozar, Kimberly Thomas, Janis Miltenberger

102

Art and Mental Health Judy Ko, James Nole, Danie Nitardy

103

Recovery and Resilience-Overcoming Potential Career Ending Trauma Kathleen Mitchell, Josh Hershman, Steve Ciezki, Terri Grant

104

Gregory Alliss

Jerre Davidson

Marta Gorski

Brooke Hamling

Alison Kinnaird

DEMONSTRATIONS

Peter Kuchinke

Opening Demo: De La Torre Brothers

107

Joanna Manousis

Ed Schmidt

108

John Moran

Closing Demo: Better Together

109

Laura Quinn

Dr. Max Stewart

Jinya Zhao

LECMOS Mark Abildgaard

Jessie Blackmer + Kit Paulson

Mark Bolick

Michael Bokrosh, Lothar Böttcher, Peter Kuchinke

Jacci Delaney

Davin Karlsen Ebanks

Kristin Elliot

Don Friedlich

Celia Garland

Susan Gott

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

IN MEMORIAM

Kenny Walton, 1947–2021

117

Larry Albright, 1932–2022

Sylvia Vigiletti, 1933–2020

118

112

Dylan Christopher Atkinson-Betz, 1989–2020

112

Bill Boysen, 1936–2020

113

Carla “Sophia” Bruno 1958–2021

113

Erwin Eisch, 1927-2022

113

Ryuichi James (R.J.) Oki, 1997–2022

114

Troy Leithead, 1995–2021

114

William Todd McClure, 1920–2013

114

Robert M. Minkoff, 1951–2020

115

Benjamin Moore, 1952–2021

115

Greg A. Owen, 1967–2020

116

Doug Solyan, 1942–2022

117

Marianne Spottiswoode McLane, – 2020

117

CONFERENCE PROGRAM & ACTIVITIES Full Schedule

120

GAS Market Vendors

125

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Conference Committee + Sponsors

128

Glass Art Society Donors

129

Glass Art Society Upper-Tier-Level Members

130

Past Award Recipients, Conferences, Board Members, and Editors

131

CONFERENCE IN PICTURES

133

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

President’s Message

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE

By Jessica Jane Julius

The first in-person conference since 2019 was a momentous occasion. There was no better way to celebrate the Glass Art Society’s 50th anniversary than bringing so many members together after years of the world being shut down by the pandemic. The collaborative tone of the conference was set at the kick-off event with a breathtaking welcome from the Puyallup Tribe, who have lived on the shores of Puget Sound for thousands of years. Followed by a spectacular hot glass demo by Einar and Jamex De La Torre in collaboration with the Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team. This energy continued throughout the next couple of days with a diverse set of over 100 presentations, demos, exhibitions, and special events representing 25 countries] . So many people reached out to express how impactful the conference was - presenters that had given their first public performance, new members who had not attended a conference before, and returning members that come every year! Concluding the conference was a final demo with Crafting the Future that was an immersive, multi-sensory, collaborative performance that showcased choreographed dancers, glass artists, and musicians that transformed the Museum of Glass Hot Shop into an awe-inspiring, astounding experience that was physically felt by everyone in the room. After the conference, I was both struck by the amount of emotion and appreciation everyone had and inspired by the joy that was felt in the reunion, new relationships being built, and the increased representation and visible expansion of our community. We extend our gratitude to the founders of GAS, who created the organization out of a desire for community and sharing knowledge. Unknown to them at the time was the impact that GAS was going to have on the community and that it would grow into an international organization. We are extremely grateful to the site committee, who worked tirelessly to open their doors, provide spaces, and build connections to create one of the most impactful conferences in the 50 years of GAS . A sincere thanks to the board and staff of GAS, who are a small and mighty team that work extremely hard to make it happen, and gratitude to all the presenters and attendees who bring so much energy and inspiration to the conference. Attendees gather at the Canned Heat tent outside of the Museum of Glass during the 2022 GAS Conference in Tacoma, WA, USA.

A final thank you to the host city, Tacoma, Washington, that brought us to their vibrant community to build partnerships with Travel Tacoma and the City of Tacoma, the Museum of Glass, Area 253, LeMay: America’s Car Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum. It is through active partnerships and engaged members that we can shape the future of GAS and our community. Please continue to stay involved! Best wishes, see you in Detroit!

Jessica

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

Tacoma Co-Chair Message Debbie Lenk, Executive Director, Museum of Glass and Dean Burke, President and CEO Travel Tacoma, Mt. Rainier Tourism and Sports

AWARDS & EXHIBITIONS

We’ve long considered Tacoma, Washington to be among the truly great cities of the glass art world. So, we were absolutely thrilled to share Tacoma with you during the 2022 Glass Art Society Conference in May. All told, conference attendees came from 46 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, and more than a dozen countries, including Istanbul, Tokyo, Singapore, Great Britain, Belgium, and Ireland. In addition, more than 10,000 visitors partied in the sunshine at TAG, the Together in Art and Glass festival that followed. The GAS Conference, which was also a celebration of anniversaries—the 50th for GAS and the Pilchuck Glass School, and the 20th for the Museum of Glass, was a long time in the making. Like a lot of things around the world, GAS 2022 was delayed by the pandemic. And even then, with venues booked and furnaces fired-up, we were still a bit wary that a last-minute Covid surge might scuttle plans again. Instead, we were treated to one of the most exciting convergences of artistic talent our city has ever seen. We got a little taste of what the week would hold with the kick-off party at the Museum of Glass. We are not sure how many people found their way to this opening night welcome, but the Hot Shop amphitheater was at capacity, with guests filling the walkways and sitting wherever they could find an open spot. They enjoyed the fun glassmaking demonstration of Einar De La Torre and Jamex De La Torre. The energy was electric that first evening, and it stayed that way all week long. One of the highlights at Museum of Glass included a glassblowing tribute for Benjamin Moore Inc. Some of the glassmakers who honored Moore included his widow, Debora Moore, Rich Royal, Preston Singletary, Paul Cunningham, Dante Marioni, Robbie Miller, Dick Weiss, and Walt Lieberman. It was a heart-warming occasion and reminded us of how fused the glassmaking community truly is. What happens to one of us, impacts and transforms us all. Team Black/Better Together, a small but growing community of Black and Brown glassblowers, also enlivened the conference with a DJ, and several dance performances. From the first hours of registration to the post-event TAG festival, it was a celebration of art, creativity, and finally – finally – being together again. Most of all, the Tacoma GAS Conference was a celebration of collaboration. Just as an inspired, unfolding work of glass art requires many hands working together, so did this conference. The Greater Tacoma Convention Center crew provided a perfect place for attendees to gather. Local dignitaries and representatives from the Puyallup Tribe took the time to greet attendees. Local creatives Hilltop Artists and Area 253 Glassblowing Studios

Executive Director of Museum of Glass, Debbie Lenk speaks at the Tacoma 2022 conference kick-off.

donated their time, expertise, and facilities. Glassmakers both renowned and emerging showcased their talents and shared their advice with colleagues throughout the conference. Corning Museum of Glass brought a mobile hot shop across the country for demonstrations at Le May—America’s Car Museum. And the Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop featured area glassmakers throughout the week on the Museum of Glass Plaza. Local glass art collectors graciously opened their homes for a peek at their wondrous and rarely seen treasures. The day after the conference closed, we were honored to treat attendees and the public to a glass art festival which was so warmly received by Tacoma residents, that our collaborative partners decided to make “TAG—Together in Art and Glass,” an annual celebration. The hard work of four museums, 147 local vendors, and an outstanding slate of entertainers and glass artists, wrapped a bow around an extraordinary week. We are still talking about how much fun it was to see our community gaining a deepened appreciation for glass and glassmaking.

Attendees gather for the 2022 Conference Kick Off + Demo inside the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, USA.

For all of this, we are grateful to the Glass Art Society and members like you. On behalf of the Museum of Glass, Travel Tacoma - Mt. Rainier Tourism & Sports, and everyone who was fortunate enough to be a part of a wonderful week, thank you.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

L I F E T I M E A R T I S T I C A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D

Judith Schaechter

PART II: I Was Not Actually Raised by Wolves

Thank you, Mom, and Dad! First and foremost, [I want to thank] my parents Barbara and Elio Schaechter who not only wholeheartedly believed in me as an artist from a very early age but helped me get my start financially. The overwhelming majority of human beings and most of those in the arts do not have those advantages. And for that I feel overwhelming gratitude. By the time they had children, my parents had moved to Newton, MA, were borderline socialist, and 100% rabid atheists. All this is important for so many reasons. One being that the history of stained glass is intimately tied to Christianity. When it’s not, it still conjures up notions of spirituality…Because I had no religious history, not even so much as vague suggestions of spirituality. I don’t remember seeing stained glass windows until I was a teenager. Therefore, I had few preconceptions, no real associations with the medium when I first encountered it in art school. What an incredible gift that was! This allowed me the ignorant hubris to imagine I could invent stained glass for myself.

Judith Schaechter gives her Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award lecture inside the Museum of Glass theater.

The Glass Art Society honored Judith Schaechter with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Tacoma 2022 Conference Kick-Off. Her corresponding lecture took place the next day at the Museum of Glass Theater on Thursday, May 19, 2022, and selected highlights are included below.

Part 1: Gratitude List

When I found out I was getting this award… my first thought was all the people who have helped me along the way, who made this possible. This talk is dedicated to all of them, formatted as a gratitude list. So…what’s so great about me? That’s the kind of thing this award had me spinning around in my brain. When coming up with a talk, I wanted to be of use to you and maybe be a little entertaining and not just to indulge myself. Therefore, the subject of my talk today will be my quote-unquote “life’s” work, but not from the “normal” artist’s talk perspective wherein one shows the artwork and talks about the creative process and the inspiration and making of the pieces themselves.

world” and I think this is part of why I am here today. So, what’s interesting about me? I gather it’s that I am one of the “lucky few” who straddles the art world and the craft world. Not that there’s a Checkpoint Charlie anywhere…but if there was, I’d have one leg in each side. To use contemporary language: I identify as a craftsperson, a glass artist—yes, I did just say that!!! And specifically, a stained-glass artist and as a plain ol’ artist. I have toggled between art and craft in terms of career and, more importantly, in terms of creativity as well. I figure this gives me a special perspective on the old art/craft debate and the first thing I will say is that from where I stand, I do not think it has lost its relevance nor its political power to define career options. By dissecting myself with forensic detail, I hope to elucidate some of the issues with art, craft, and education today.

My frame of reference today is as “craft artist existing in the

When it comes to my own creativity, I will say in advance, I am incredibly proud to be part of a tradition of craft art history, decorative arts history, applied arts, whatever it is called. I would be proud to be part of mainstream art history if fate would have it, but I believe my real contribution is distinctly owing to my work in stained glass.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

…I never fit in with anyone and by the time I was a teenager I didn’t bother to try. But this turned out to be a superpower because it turned me into someone who could easily code switch, cross borderlines. Craft, art? Illustration, painting? Oh, who cares?! My upbringing was one that denied firm religious, class, social and even physical categorizations, and this set me up to become who I am today. And who I am is right smack in the crux of the nexus of an intersection that channels so very many people into the arts and poises them for the type of insecurity, sensitivity and perspective needed to be an artist with something to say. Considering all the things I have cited, it may seem a little like a left handed compliment but I really do thank my parents for creating this petri dish in which I spawned, virtually guaranteed to become an artist.

nently, and profoundly forever. I took the course spring semester of my sophomore year, and I knew immediately that I found IT. My glass teachers were Richard Harned and Ursula Huth and later, Bruce Chao. Also, very influential on me was Dirk Bach— the art history teacher who actually told us what in the heck art was (and you’re going to have to wait for it!) Richard gets an extra big thank you for his incredible supportive approach. Not once did he deride me for being figurative, decorative, crafty or anything else. It is probably no coincidence that it was under his care that I had my “Wizard of Oz” moment. …I had a very long history as a doodler. I doodled all over the margins of papers, notes, phone books, any piece of paper that came within my reach. Well, then came a glass assignment given by Richard wherein we had to design a window. Now, despite the fact that I liked stained glass, I thought of it as a somehow inferior medium…it certainly was not the focus of art history. So, when I had to think of what would be appropriate to make in stained glass, my mind went immediately to my doodles. And the first thing I thought was that they would be too difficult to render in stained glass. And I remember Richard saying “ANYTHING can be done in stained glass” which was very exciting for me to hear! (And I still have no idea if he meant technically or conceptually or both). Thank you, Richard—you may have said that as an offhand comment in the hallway, but it really changed my life. Now I can’t remember the exact moment I made the connection between my garbage drawings and garbage glass, but it was really fast and really decisive. In the words of that old 70’s band America: “Oz never did give nothing to the tinman, that he didn’t already have” which is why I refer to this as my wizard of Oz moment … I had gone everywhere looking for this thing, but I ultimately found my voice had been there all the time just waiting for me to listen to it.

PART III: Art School, aka “Uvi-nursery”

This is the moment I wish for my students to have, because that’s when I became “uncritiqueable”. I want them to know what it feels like to be so deeply in love with what they are doing, that they are suddenly in synch with the universe, as I felt. I had found this amazing secret to art making that appeared to be capable of sustaining me, maybe forever. If someone else found it wanting somehow, it just felt like the tap of a butterknife on the heel of my shoe. And I will say, my subsequent 35-year career has not been without moments of desperate lack of inspiration, doubt, and dry periods. But I have never once doubted my path.

In 1979 when I was a freshman it would have been bizarre to have known anything about being a “glass artist”, but it was an interesting time for glass…I first came upon stained glass when seeking out the graduate painting studios for inspiration. They were located next to the glass program and there I saw the work of the elective course which changed my life inexorably, perma-

PART IV: Living the Dream

Thank you, Richard Harned, Ursula Huth, Bruce Chao, Dirk Bach, and Allen Hacklin I want to say right off the bat, because I think this is so very, very critical in how we approach teaching art at art schools these days, that I went to art school because I loved MAKING THINGS. I went to RISD specifically to become an oil painter. I learned some stuff in school that has stayed, for better or worse, lodged firmly in my brain in the form of staunch injunctions to be pursued or battled depending on the situation…

Thank you to Michael Monroe, Susanne Frantz, Tina Oldknow, Judith Tannenbaum, Rick Snyderman, Claire Oliver…(and countless others) Early in my career, I was a legend in my own mind. This carried

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

L I F E T I M E A R T I S T I C A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D me quite far, believe it or not. But there was some at the front lines early on who truly believed in me way before I had proved myself. It was not long after I left RISD I began my career—New Glass Review was pivotal. Thank you, Michael Monroe, Susanne Frantz, and a little later, Tina Oldknow, Judith Tannenbaum, Rick Snyderman, and Claire Oliver (and countless others). It really was my first big break. When I graduated from RISD in 1983, I decided to quit my foolish glass “hobby” and go back to painting. But there was one uncomfortable fact to contend with. I truly had fallen in love with stained glass and didn’t really like painting all that much. So, ultimately, I did figure out how to set up a studio and eventually quit painting altogether. I became that obnoxious creature, the “Craftsperson Desperate to Be Called an Artist”. …My experience in the art world is that over and over again I have had to swallow my pride and accept compromises. I have had to do a lot of work I initially felt an artist “should not have to do”. The gallery system, especially in NYC, is inherently unfair to artists, it is unregulated and sometimes corrupt. This is just the way it is. But it is really depressing, so to those who think showing in a fine arts gallery equals respect, money, and a feeling of belonging to a supportive art community and endless validation, think again. I have been lucky in that my current gallery is ethical about money. They work to promote my work. But I am one of 15 or so artists that she does the same for. That adds up to about two and half hours a week of her time that I can reasonably expect.

PART V: Please, Please, Please Call Me a Glass Artist!

Thank you to Sharon Church, Bill Daley, Helen Drutt, James Makins, Rod McCormick and Mi-Kyoung Lee (my colleagues at University of the Arts) Now, regarding my bad attitude about craft, along the way I did a 180 degree turn. What accounts for my change in attitude? I came to favor craft over art eventually— probably teaching at UArts played a huge role… How was craft different from sculpture, painting, etc? We maintained that it was an ethos. It was a way of creating distinct from Fine Arts--primarily in that we did not require our students to have an idea. We allowed them to discover, through hands-on, material investigation what direction their project was going to take, coming to a resolution in an organic way. Our pedagogy was strikingly different from Fine Arts which was asking students to have an idea first, then to research it and then to begin making. Not to cast aspersions, but Fine Arts seemed to be teaching students that material and meaning were subordinate to IDEAS, which were disproportionately reified. Surely, they didn’t mean to suggest that material and meaning could not generate meaning— that solely the brain, segregated from the hands, heart, guts, and genitals oversaw CONCEPT all by its lonesome. Oh yes—that is

exactly what they were saying. And if you agree with them, I will say one thing: even neurologists maintain the brain doesn’t end at the neck…or even the fingertips. It exists entirely in a dynamic feedback loop with the body AND the environment.

I am less focused on myself. After 30 years, the anguished woman is, perhaps, no longer needed. Lately, I have become more interested in those ornamental backgrounds which used to exist mainly to support the human figure, and they are now taking main stage.

…And now, heartbreakingly, that department has been dissolved. Although they will probably bring back craft electives under the aegis of Fine Arts. Which galls me as it will not be the same as having craftspersons teach it. I mean, why not get rid of sculpture and painting and bring them back under the banner of Craft? I very much identify with the idea of “making to know”. My art is also made via material investigation. I know it look like I have some narrative or idea-–but that’s when its done. It doesn’t arise from any sort of a priori “idea”. My work is spontaneous and improvised to a great extent…

The background in a stained glass window is equally important to the foreground—at least in terms of thinking about it and making it. You can’t just “leave the canvas blank”, like some painters do! At the very least, when you cut out the pieces you have to consider them. One reason my work was (and is) detailed was because, when I was younger, I felt, rather strongly, that it was so damned difficult to be inspired that each piece might well be my last and I should take a long, long time, the rest of my life, perhaps, to create it! That’s true! And I still feel that way. But if you had said to me when I was younger that “labor intensity” and patience would be important to me, I would have absolutely laughed you out of the room (despite my tatting habit).

PART VI: Body Issues

Thank you: To those whose support remains Anonymous. So far, I have really discussed my past and now I am going to talk about the present. In this section, I want to talk about the themes of my work that have informed me as an artist for a long time and some emerging themes as well. These are: Figuration, Ornamentation, and beauty. …It’s my feeling that art works suffer when they are illustrations of their own theory, and/or propaganda for, well, anything. Art can move people. In my estimation its does so best one at time, very intimately and profoundly, across time, culture, and space. It does so by unifying spirit with matter—not separating them further. What I think is so important about Professor Bach’s idea is that art is place where we can synthesize mind and body, where we can enact a sort of axis mundi. Figuration is fascinating and it always will be until we are brains in a vat. That periodically, we feel the urge towards iconoclasm comes as no surprise. After all, successful figurative works are less image and more reliquary for a living soul presumably uploaded by the artist. Figuration also is paradoxical, because to create an object is necessarily to objectify. There are only two choices, you are stuck between choosing self-portraits or exploiting “the other”. I like to tell my students who worry about all this that if artists don’t depict figures, then only pornographers and advertisers will. Please don’t let that happen…

…When I see labor intensive work, including work that is ornamental, I think of someone sacrificing their time and energy to create something extra special. Not just for praise or money—that’s never guaranteed. I think people do it to show that it was so important to them to make it that they will go to any length, take any measure to show you how much it matters—that the piece was worth suffering for. And that by offering this to the world, it is worthy of that level of caring. Beauty, seen this way is a visual analog of love. To phrase it another way, after our sustenance level needs are met, we still need meaning, we need to understand our pain and yes, we even need a little pleasure in order to thrive. Objects, songs, stories, and other human created stuff are the by products of a search for meaning. Life may be disordered and chaotic, but art can reassure us that we are not all the victims of a vicious joke being perpetrated by a god with terrible priorities and a sick sense of justice. There is a famous quote from the Abbot Suger who designed the first “high gothic” cathedral, St Denis in the 12th C: “stained glass is enlightenment embodied”...

PART VII: Make/Believe

Kit Murray’s flight (actually it took 14 attempts) exemplifies the creative process to me. To hit his altitude mark, he said, it was a case of aiming the plane up, giving it throttle and letting it go. Once the fuel supply was exhausted, the plane kept climbing until it ran out of momentum, in the manner of a projectile. It then went into what’s called an “inertia spin” which basically means, it was spinning out of control. So, this man got to embody a metaphor. The creative process starts on earth with knowledge, research, and all the things you have learned. Then you take off. If you aim up and give it enough throttle, you may get to a point where you leave the known world… All of this happens metaphorically every single time I, and I assume many others, undertake a project. Thanks for the award, but I feel it’s only fair to let you know I have never really known what the hell it is I am doing! I have lost control of the rocket plane almost every single time! All I did was basically not pass out! I really admire this guy for doing this. … This has led me to consider imagination in a much more rigorous way. All my work is internally generated, meaning I seek inspiration within myself. I seek it via doodling or “automatic drawing” (i.e., scribbles which I turn into pictures.) I draw to “pull” images out of my head because I don’t see them until I do. I never had access to my imagination until I realized I had to break through some sort of gravitational field of the known world. Including other people’s imaginations which one might be tempted to imitate.

PART VIII: Coda

Thank you, GLASS! To wrap up I want to say a few words about my current perspective on my practice. I am happy to call myself a glass artist (and a craft artist) and that’s in part because I am such a contrarian that I like the term merely for its disparaged status. Around about the late 1980’s I started hearing glass artists repeat, in the manner of a hypnotized army of clone robots, the phrase “Ideas come first. I only use glass if it fits the idea” …I beg you to stop saying this as it denigrates the material and perpetuates prejudice against it, while simultaneously privileging thinking as something exclusively cerebral and not “whole-body”.

Thank you to my partner, Glenn Carter Glenn reconnected me to the history of stained glass which I had kind of been avoiding. But more importantly is his influence on subject matter. Perhaps it comes as no surprise, but the figures are receding, and the backgrounds seem to be taking over. I blame my partner Glenn, at least in part! For one thing, he’s gotten me into bird watching.

Thank you to Kit Murray Why am I showing you this sort of prototypical all American white hero dude? Well, he’s become my muse, that’s why. You have probably never heard of Kit Murray. He was an experimental test pilot with the air force in the 1950’s. In 1954, in fact, on May 28th, he flew a “rocket plane” to a record setting altitude of 17 miles plus. He was the first human being to see the curvature of the earth and he was known as the first “spaceman”. As it happens, his son, Patrick, is a good friend of mine. That’s how I heard of him. Pat told me his dad was really a super nice guy, modest and humble, which is why you may not know his name.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

PART VI: Just a Spoonful of Sugar—Ornamentation

I have never wavered in my faith that deep knowledge of a material can lead to a level of fluency, empowerment and yes, enlightenment, that cannot even begin to be imagined. I must be a glass artist because it would never even occur to me to ask, “is stained glass the right material for this idea”. The medium is the message! Of course, it’s the right material! Or as Richard Harned once said to me, a long time ago, “Anything can be done in stained glass!” ANYTHING can be done in stained glass, including enlightenment, catharsis, at-onement, divine inspiration. Thank you, glass!

L I F E T I M E M E M B E R S H I P AWA R D

Natali Rodrigues The Glass Art Society honored Natali Rodrigues with a Lifetime Membership Award at the 49th Annual GAS Conference in Tacoma. What was your experience with GAS? I have been a member of GAS since 1997, when I attended my first GAS conference in Tucson as an undergraduate. That experience forms the foundation of what I have experienced with GAS. It was magic. I saw so many ways of working and thinking about glass, that it has shaped my career. Every time I have attended or volunteered for the Society it has deepened my own understanding of our community at large and of glass. The Glass Art Society is the community that we have all built, it’s all our hard work and our dreams that make it possible. The Tacoma conference this past spring was the first one in a long time that I wasn’t responsible for anything—I wasn’t on the board or acting as president and I got to simply participate. It was magic. After almost 30 years working with glass, I’m humbled by how much more there is to learn. I can’t wait for Detroit! What does it mean to be honored by GAS? It seems like a dream. When Jessica Julius called me to tell me that I had been not only a nominee but the actual recipient for the lifetime membership, I was shocked. We have so many members, so many of our community who contribute in large and small ways to the Society, that I was certain there was someone more deserving. It is one of my career highlights to have my contributions acknowledged. It is incredibly moving. What is your fondest GAS memory? I have far too many, but here are three (other than being able to talk to and learn from all my heros): During my first conference in Tucson, I got to see Jamex and Einar De La Torre demo. I had only been blowing glass three years— seeing them work made me understand something about glass. You didn’t need to conform to a specific aesthetic when making, and that you could make work that is political, rich in post-colonial sentiment. Work that is pointed, fun and so very sharp. I am so grateful to them for their joyful and deeply critical approach to making, material and content.

G A S I M PA C T AWA R D 2 spotlights softly come up to reveal people wearing glass kimonos covered with images of people. There was no music, just the sound of the models walking to the sound of the glass clinking and breaking. Watching evoked in me a sense of mourning, of loss and of the sweeping remembrance of those past. What do you see as the value of GAS? The value of GAS for me, is in the community that gathers, in the stories we tell each other, and the free sharing of technique and ideas. Plus, it’s super fun. We get to nerd out for four days about a material that we all love, that surprises us every time we work with it, and that can bear the burden of complex philosophical ideas. Why are you such a champion of GAS? GAS was built and shaped by makers and thinkers, who also wanted to have a good time. It’s in the DNA of our community. The glass community and the studio glass movement find voice in various gatherings of which GAS is one of the oldest and most durable. It’s a really important site of transfer of information through play, demonstration, conversation, and exhibition. What do you hope new members to learn or come to expect from GAS? I hope new members can experience the same kind of joy, fun, exuberance, and learning that I have over the last 30 years. If you could sit down with a GAS founder, what would you ask? What would you say? And this is why GAS is so amazing. I’ve had an opportunity to talk to some of those people and ask them questions. Talking with Audrey Handler is exhilarating, because she knows so much about the history of the studio glass movement, because she was there, and I swear has an eidetic memory. But maybe the question I haven’t asked to any of them, is what they see in the legacy they have built.

The Glass Fashion Shows are extravagant spectacles, and in every one there has been a moment that has taken my breath away. Laura Donefer curates a performance that leaves us laughing and gasping and crying all within a few moments of each other. There was a moment when Tanya Taquak’s voice came over the sound system and I was rooted to the spot with tears welling in my eyes. I caught sight of Laura, she smiled and mouthed “just wait” and out came Teressa Burrow’s beaded regalia, Caribou Women. Another was the moment when the sound and lights went off only to have

About Natali Rodrigues Natali Rodrigues is an Associate Professor in the Glass Program at the Alberta University of the Arts in Canada. She completed her BFA at the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1999, and her MA(VA) at the Canberra School of Art in 2003. Her research investigates the experience of liminal space and transformative experience, which finds voice through two distinct making practises: drawing and glass. Her working methodology moves between a meditative making practise and one that is profoundly physical. Her work is an attempt to create a system of cartography of liminal space, where what is marked is not in reference to the physical but rather the transformative.

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El Laboratorio De Vidrio In partnership with NEUES GLAS/NEW GLASS magazine, in September of 2022, the Glass Art Society announced the recipient of their inaugural Impact Award: El Laboratorio De Vidrio (Lab) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Celebrating those who have made a significant impact or contribution to the glass community through their work, the award included a cash prize of $1,000, a 1-year membership to GAS, a feature article in NEUES GLAS/ NEW GLASS, and a spotlight across GAS communications. After an international call for nominations with over 163 submissions, Lab was selected because of their commitment to glass education and efforts to continue and expand their programs and community impact. Lab has welcomed more than 1,900 students through its doors since 2010, including exchange students from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and France. Alongside Carolina Rava and Carolina Frabasile, Beatriz Amorin praised the recognition for their program, saying the “Impact Award granted by the Glass Art Society shows the sustained efforts of the El Laboratorio De Vidrio, coordinating programs and bringing together people from different fields with glass as a design and art material.” Lab has developed a diverse and impactful range of academic and community programs focusing on sustainability, innovation, and the promotion of glass design spaces. Since 2018, Lab has provided opportunities for the local community with no previous glass training. Since 2020, they have analyzed, recorded, and organized glassworking techniques from various artists’ work to make them more broadly accessible. Most recently in 2021, their Glass Design Space brought together women from adjacent neighborhoods to build a space for the collective gathering of knowledge and employment opportunities for women who live on the outskirts of Montevideo. Over the next 5-10 years, the Lab plans to grow its impact on the community by forming an Interdisciplinary Glass Nucleus—a continuation of the working group formed for the 2022 International Year of Glass in Uruguay. Lab also hopes to design a postgraduate diploma, internships, and other opportunities to catalyze the use of glass as a technical and expressive material.

“Some of the most innovative and impactful work happening in glass right now is the community-building work happening across the globe, and the Glass Art Society wanted to create an award that reflects those efforts,” says Executive Director, Brandi P. Clark. “We are thrilled to support El Laboratorio de Vidrio with the first of these awards and cannot wait to see what they will do next.” El Laboratorio de Vidrio (Lab), aka The Glass Laboratory, belongs to the technology department of the Escuela Universitaria Centro de Diseño (EUCD) of the Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (FADU) of the Universidad de la República (Udelar), a free public educational institution. They promote meaningful learning by bringing together students and members of the community for activities and research through direct handling of the material. Since the opening of Lab in 2010, more than 1,900 students have passed through their courses—including exchange students from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and France. Lab has worked with locals, connecting through important socio-economic themes like sustainability, innovation, and the promotion of glass design spaces. Lab acts as the center of glass activity where people of different backgrounds can come together under their shared relationship to the material.

GAS’s selection process for this award began with a broad global call to the glass art community for nominations. GAS sent followup surveys to each of the top 6 most-nominated organizations to learn more about their programs, impact, and plans for the future. Created by GAS’s nominating committee, these questions were tied to a scoring system based on depth of impact, and the top 3 highest scoring organizations moved forward for a final anonymous vote by the GAS Board of Directors.

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EXHIBITIONS In Tacoma, we had exhibitions available for GAS members and the general public, both in person and online. Showcasing the depth and breadth of our membership and exploring a range of poignant topics in the glass community, our conference exhibitions offered a unique way for artists to participate from across the globe. Explore our 2022 exhibition award winners.

MEMBER EXHIBITION AWARDS

STUDENT EXHIBITION AWARDS

First Place Winner: Eriko Kobayashi, Sunny Side Up, 2021

First Place Winner: Tali Grinshpan, HomeLand I, 2019

Second Place Winner (Tied): Tuva Gonsholt, Creature(s) #jade, 2021 Second Place Winner: Jack Christeon, Wheel of Time, 2021

Second Place Winner (Tied): Peter Borkovics, The Rising Sun, 2019

Third Place Winner: Cassandra Jasulevicz, Spectra, 2021

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EXHIBITIONS

C A T A LY S T S

GREEN EXHIBITION AWARDS

First Place Winner: Karlis Bogustovs, Glass Skateboarding, 2020

Krista Israel, Smells Like Roses, But It’s All Horseshit (detail), 2020; flamework, kilncasting, coldwork, cold assembly, mixed media; borosilicate glass, silicone, toy stuffing, fabric, fake eyelashes, jewelry findings, nylon; D13.4 x W17.7 x H8.2 inch (Photo by Steven van Kooijk Photography)

Second Place Winner: Hannah Gibson, A Spoon Full of Sugar, 2021

Third Place Winner: Angela McHale, Atmospheric, 2021

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SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

Fumi Amano

Where are you from?, 2021. Rope, steel. H10’ x W15’ x D10’. Photo by Ian Lewis.

Touch me, gently, 2017, Rope, steel. H20” x W20” x D2”

I grew up in Aichi prefecture, Japan. I learned about glass making as a traditional Japanese craft and worked diligently to master all techniques presented to me. In order to learn more about glass and expand my horizons, I moved to Seattle, Washington in the United States. Even though I was hoping to pursue my career as a glass artist in the United States, It has slightly changed over years. I was frustrated by the failure of communication, social pressure and prejudice against Asian women by people. The frustration gave me a passion to make various forms of art such as sculpture and performance art to express the feeling I cannot explain in words.

Asian women are innately passive, “easy”, submissive, and quiet. The stereotypes of Asian women make it difficult for me to build healthy relationships. I feel the impact of being minoritized much more in America, where assumptions about Asian women are both superficial and hurtful.

The series of performance work “Worries of a 30 year old single woman” was a rather direct representation of my feelings being childless at 30 years old. When I turned thirty, I felt more and more pressure from those around me to have a child. Most of my friends from childhood are married and moving on to their next stage of life. Because of my age, I felt as if I needed to start preparing my body to bear children, even though I was nowhere near ready. I still had so many things that I wanted to do and accomplish before having a child, but external pressure made me feel as if I needed to put those things aside, hurry up and become a mother.

When it is funny, people laugh. When it is sad, people cry. The issues I am concerned with in my projects are not funny. The loneliness which a middle-aged Japanese woman has is rather sad. The personal issues and the feelings I have are difficult to understand, for people who are not in exactly the same situation as me. I wonder if there were a common sense of “humor” in my artwork, perhaps it might be helpful for “others” to gain a bit more of a universal understanding of my feeling. Since I struggle to communicate with others in English, I would like to communicate with people through my artwork. If people smiled when they saw my artwork, it would give me great pleasure.

Voice, 2017. Old window frames, wood. H7’, W10’, D10’.

directly connected with my viewing audience. Through this, I was able to talk with others, beyond, above, and below language’s normal spectrum.

Worries of a 30 year old single woman -Histeria2016

In January 2017, I participated in the Women’s March in Washington DC and witnessed many signs and placards with drawings of the uterus. The uterus is an apt symbol for women, as it is the source of life, conception, and birth. But in the context of the Women’s March, the uterus exemplifies how women still do not occupy the same place as men in society—they are not treated as well as men, and their bodies are still being controlled by the decisions of men. Thinking about these ideas, I started using the image of the uterus as a motif in my art practice. I created a glass neon uterus that responds to touch and a giant uterus sculpture that allows viewers to crawl inside of the uterus. Through the interaction and visual effect, I hope people can examine the ways in which women’s bodies are impacted by outside forces and re-think their own participation in the patriarchy. The artwork serves as a visual metaphor for the receptiveness and vulnerability of women. This piece exemplifies how the uterus should be treated as an illuminated sacred object, rather than disposable in the same way that society treats women.

This desire to have children feeds into my obsession with being a model Asian woman. To be a model Asian woman in the United States, I have to follow unrealistic standards and perform outside of my comfort zone. Since moving to the United States nearly 10 years ago, I have encountered problems due to people’s preconceptions about Asian women. The worst of these misconceptions generally come from American men, who believe that

My desire to express these feelings gradually has brought me to attempt to engage with the larger world. How can I reveal my inner world to others? What makes this “revelation” so difficult? I remember the feelings that I had when I stood in front of the sheet of glass (in an earlier performance), and was closely facing another person. That is similar the filter that we all have between us. It is clear but it exists, we see but are in one sense untouchable. It divides space and people. How can we overcome this filter to gain a better understanding of each other? In an attempt to address this issue; I created a house made out of old glass window frames in 2016. (Glass is a fragile material that I felt showed

my feelings). The glass house divided my private space and from others but we were both still visible to each other. Since then, I have created a series of glass house sculptures to perform inside. The shape of house and windows are constructed in a distorted manner to reflect the misunderstanding between people. Through the fleeting “messages” I created for the viewer, I hoped to connect more intimately with people in hopes of overcoming invisible barriers and going beyond our differences. Through the performance, I was able to become a sculpture that is

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Through my art, I want to express the reality of life as an Asian woman in the United States. I challenge the tradition of the “silent Asian woman” to reveal the complexities that lie underneath the guise of the superficial dream of being a model. Fumi Amano was born in Aichi, Japan. She earned a BFA from Aichi University of Education (2008) and studied glass at the Toyama City Institute of Glass Art (2010). In 2013, Amano moved to the United States and earned an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2017). Amano currently lives and works in Seattle, Washington, where she runs her art studio.

Humor has become a part of my work in recent years, it makes it easier to talk about complicated issues. Smells Like Roses But It’s All Horseshit is like a commentary on the political conditions we live in today. The white lie that reigns supreme.

SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

Good Hair Is 90% Of The Perfect Selfie reflects on the online phenomenon how life nowadays seems like a popularity contest measured by how many followers or likes you get. People judge each other by the beautiful life we share online. We have become obsessed with showing off our perfect and happy life through pink glasses.

Krista Israel It was in September 2021 that I received a text from Christel Serneels: ‘Hey Krista, I find your work super surprising and I would like to nominate you for the Saxe Award’. Christel and I know each other from the Institute for Arts and Crafts in Belgium, where we both graduated from the glass department. Surprised by her text and at the same time great compliment that a colleague appreciates your work, I decided to agree. After receiving the official invitation from GAS, I sent in all the details and photos.

The works I have made so far with the glass fur textures all had a core of fabric or silicone. These materials are soft so I had to fend off using fixtures inside to support the weight of the glass. I had been dreaming of a material that would allow me to make a hard hollow core, but wasn’t sure what or where to look for it. Until I met Richard Meitner at the Polish European Glass Festival in 2019, who tipped me off to working with glass fiber, a material that had been under my nose in my studio for years. With this newfound knowledge, I went to work and made the first work with a hollow but hard core, which could hold not only the fur texture but also the weight of cased parts. Before this project I worked for the first time with Hans Meijer aka Snob Glass, who made the glass legs of the bumblebee.

At the end of November I received an email from Brandi Clark, IMPORTANT it said in capital letters. A great surprise and honor to be 1 of the 3 winners of the Saxe Award 2022! Because we were still dealing with the pandemic, lockdowns and restrictions at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022, I decided not to book the flight from the Netherlands to Seattle. In addition to the travel and accommodation costs, at that time there were mandatory nose swabs to enter and exit the USA at $250 each. Besides the restrictions that were still in place at that time, both in the Netherlands and the US, it was financially not just feasible for me to make the trip. This is also because applications for funds for artists travel expenses are very difficult to get. By the time the conference was near, Covid restrictions were already eased. But by then the gas prices and also the prices of plane tickets had surged because of the war in the Ukraine. The chance of going became even less possible. Whether I regretted that I could not attend? Yes, of course. Especially when I saw the pictures and texts from friends and colleagues during the weekend of the conference. But sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’d wanted them to be. What would I have shown you if I had been there? The works I won the Saxe Award with are all with the glass fur textures, the recognition of my work in this style, that I started experimenting with in 2008, is dear to me.

together with my mother, which I covered with over 12,000 glass hairs. It was my most personal work, about letting go, leaving behind the past where I was terribly bullied as a child in school. The work was included in the collection of European Museum of Modern Glass in Germany after it was selected for the Coburger Glass Prize in 2014. Through a project that almost went wrong, I discovered that I could make a model out of silicone in a desired shape. With this newfound knowledge I made the silicone core for Pussycat (2014) inspired by a stuffed toy my grandmother made for me when I was a baby. My grandmother died when I was a year old and the stuffed toy is the only memory I have of her. The special thing about this project was during the making of it I created a new memory of or actually with my grandmother. Glass Museum Alter Hof Herding in Germany purchased the work in 2015. They told us a few years later that the cat had become the public’s favorite. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than that my grandmother’s memory now lives on through this work.

Top: Good Hair Is 90% Of The Perfect Selfie, 2021. Flamework, glass fusing, sewing, assemble, gilding. Borosilicate glass, silicone, fabric, toy stuffing, found objects: antique frame and brush, 22 krt goldleaf. D8.6” x W15.7” x H6.2”. Photos by Steven van Kooijk Photography. Bottom: Smells Like Roses, But It’s All Horseshit, 2020. Flamework, kilncasting, coldwork, cold assembly, mixed media. Borosilicate glass, silicone, toy stuffing, fabric, fake eyelashes, jewelry findings, nylon. D13.4” x W17.7” x H8.2”.

It was a great feeling to rediscover this technique. I once joked to a friend years ago: ‘I would like to make my career out of this’. Well, here we are! Winning the Saxe Award has confirmed to me that it was the right thing to do to follow my heart.

Last Flight Of The Bumblebee is a work referring to the bee colonies suffering great losses. As a child I was fascinated by these flying furry animals we so often saw in the garden. But now some 40 years later their numbers have dwindled. There’s no telling how devastating wild bee loss is to both our food security and the stability of ecosystems. A hybrid of a bumblebee’s body with a human head, placed on a circle of reflecting black glass, calling to mind and questioning the interconnection we have with nature, climate change and the effects of intensive agriculture. My latest piece Until The Answer Comes, Or A Worry Disappears (2021) was my ‘dream work’ made for the challenging project Not Grandma’s Glass by Habatat Fine Art Detroit. Aaron Schey invited 12 artists in 2020 for this project. #NGG is designed to create awareness for each of the participants and they are expected to lead the medium into the future, Schey said. The invitation to #NGG came at the perfect time, during the period when we came under the grip of Covid and the world came to a standstill. This work is therefore a personal reflection on this time. It brings back a sense of safety, security and wellbeing. Making such a large work was a huge challenge. At the same time, crafting the tens of thousands of parts for the glass fur was a grip to hold on to. Not worrying, not thinking, just creating and being in the moment.

The first installation I made with this glass texture was my graduation work Taking My Coat Off (2013). A life-size coat that I made

The first glass fur object after 6 years became Qu’est-ce Que C’est?. I have no explanation for or rationale behind this work - I was just playing again. With great pleasure.

My subjects in my work have become more socially oriented over the years, although they are always subjects that concern me personally. By making all kinds of connections that come back in my work, I try to understand complex subjects. Looking at my work is like entering a story, the artworks are pleasing to the eye but there is a layer of bittersweetness in all of them. My works are in a realistic style, but it is not about the obvious reality. I use the natural characteristics of glass to express her thoughts and reflections of the world and people and thus address the needs of our wellbeing. When I look back, wellbeing is the redline throughout my work.

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Meeting scientific glass maker Berthold Apple in 2008 and the opportunity he gave me to work with the torch in his studio was the cradle of my glass fur textures. One day a sprite with a drop on the end caught my eye in a pile of glass waste on the corner of the work table. The drop picked up the light. I started pulling sprites from glass. Hundreds of them. No idea yet what I was going to do with them.

After getting involved with casting for a few years, I still returned 2019 to the repeating textures. In itself it is not very strange that I like putting together small parts, after all I worked in a bead store for 10 years and before I came into contact with glass I embroidered a lot with seedbeads.

Together with John Moran, Morgan Peterson, Joseph Ivacic, I’m one of the selected winners of #NGG2021 and currently working on a new collection of artworks for this year’s presentation.

SAXE EMERGING ARTIST

walk and stand. I saw dozens of doctors, but none could explain the cause of my symptoms. Invisible illness is accompanied by a constant fear of being misunderstood. I spent years worrying about being perceived as antisocial, lazy, or unhelpful. That experience of isolation has taught me how important connection and communication is to me, and now I actively explore it in my work. Today I recognize that pain has a clarifying power, it has given me a focus and intention in how I use my stamina. It has given me license to focus on flameworking and experimental techniques. Limitations can be a source of creativity and freedom.

Madeline Rile Smith I consider glass as a somatic medium, one with limitations that mirror those of the human body. In my practice, I make bodyactivated objects to explore connection, and alter the user’s relation to space. I’m interested in glass’s unique ability to create sound, optics, and vibration, and I draw upon these qualities through absurdest musical instruments and wearable devices for performance art.

I’m inspired by antiquated inventions for amplifying senses such as listening devices from the 19th century. They improved the wearer’s hearing, but often looked whimsical and clunky and inhibited the body in other ways. Device for Opening Up is a sensory amplification device that puts the wearer in a heightened state of vulnerability. A headpiece that places a glass funnel over every facial orifice, it allows me to “take in” every aspect of my physical location, while speaking to potential risk. When I wear this piece in public, people turn and walk in the opposite direction. The feeling is both powerful and extremely vulnerable. I like the idea of looking utterly ridiculous and intimidating at the same time.

I have a musical background, and I began making glass instruments in 2012. At the time, I was delighted with the shrill resonance that could be produced by buzzing into a glass tube. Rather than replicating an existing instrument in glass, I wanted to see how far I could push the form. There is a humorous absurdity in glass horns– a clear, winding vessel that accumulates condensation (there is no a spit valve.) To me, the ridiculousness of the performance creates friction against the precise technique required to create the object. Bodily intervention became a central theme in my instruments, where the performer is put into a state of physical disruption in service of the goal of sustaining a collective experience, or asking questions about physical ability.

I identify the qualities of glass with the fluidity and fragility of the human body; a simple strand of glass is delicate yet resilient, brittle but flexible. Both glass and the body have a distinct sense of physical limits, and both are susceptible to breakage at any point. I became obsessed with pulling stringers as a way to physically mark time and movement. The stringer is a unit of stamina– when you pull the thread it goes on seemingly forever until its heat is depleted and its snaps from the rod. In the hotshop I spin glass into threads to make flexible cocoons that stretch and bend like slinkies. When handled, they shed thin trails of glass hair like dogs. I love the fact that a piece can have a distinct lifespan, just like a human body.

Instrument for Connection and Compromise is a trumpet for multiple people. It is an awkward, intimate and potentially uncomfortable piece to play. The player’s breaths work together and against each other. There is something squeamishly personal about sharing a mouth-activated instrument with another person. You and your partners must stand shoulder to shoulder, simultaneously blowing into a hollow vessel to create a tone. As you exhale, you can feel the back pressure of your partners’ breath on yours, like your mouths are touching, but from a distance. As a person with a physical disability, I am often confronted by my own issues of bodily restraint. I’m interested in making objects that blur the line between helping and hindering the body. The Isolating Trumpet wraps around the player’s head– it makes them taller and amplifies their voice, but it constricts their movements like a cage. The Deafening Trumpet, amplifies its sound into the player’s right ear, and will cause severe hearing damage when blown. The Backwards Trumpet has a bell end that loops back around past the player’s shoulders, so that they must perform with their back to the audience. I have been playing violin and viola since I was a toddler. Growing up, my passion was chamber music- a small, self-led group of players who work closely together. When I began glassworking I was immediately drawn to how similar it was to music. They are both communal acts of creation to make something delicate and ephemeral, where bodies are orchestrated toward

Top: Device for Deep Breathing, 2022. Glass, performance. Photo by German Vazquez. Middle: Instrument for Connection and Compromise, 2019. Glass, sound. 38” x 19.5” x 16”. Photo by Elizabeth Lamark. Bottom: Deafening Trumpet, 2020. Glass, performance. 13” x 23” x 25”. Photo by Elizabeth Lamark.

In one durational performance, I spun hot glass for twentyfour hours over the course of three days. The act ended when I was overwhelmed with exhaustion and physically incapable of holding up my arms. I documented the accretion of glass and depletion of my physical stamina. On day three, while I could barely stand, the form towered over me, a monument to the persistence of its own creation. There was a one-to-one exchange of my energy and the glass. The resulting piece is a luminous, densely woven form. I saw a body made of my own body, so I called the piece Corpus. It started around my height and shrank down slowly over time.

Corpus, 2020. Spun glass. 28” x 28” x 25”. Photo by Scott Semler.

barrier; the threat of bursting is a constant possibility. In my experience, flameworking is often a solitary art form. Because of this, I want to use the flame shop as a place for communion and interaction. This has taken the form of many different performances, including a piece where I tied myself to a friend and we each used one hand to collaboratively write a glass word, while speaking to each other in different languages. In a collaborative performance with Amy Lemaire, we flameworked with a theremin in between us (a musical instrument that senses your body movements with antennas.) As we shaped the glass, our arm positions created a musical composition. Performance art allows me to use the flame to explore interpersonal dynamics, and remain curious and playful in the studio. In October 2022, I will be doing the Emerging Artist Residency at Pilchuck Glass School, where I will be making interactive work for site-specific performances. This Spring, I will be joining Salem Community College as Assistant Professor of Glass Art. I am also part of an exciting collaboration with chamber music group FivebyFive, who commissioned a quintet by composer Amy Nam, inspired by my glass work. The music, which incorporates glass instruments, will have its world premiere this season. As an artist I am thrilled and thankful to be at a point where I get to merge my strongest passions, music, glass, education, and community.

In 2010, my artistic practice was interrupted when I developed a chronic pain condition that made it very painful for me to

Video work allows me to capture the ephemeral actions of glass. In The Connected Breath Series, performers blow hot glass bubbles together, charting the interaction of breath as they unite through the air in their lungs. This work intends to show the tension, beauty, and instability of collaboration. Bubbles unify to create a point of intersection that is also a

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the group effort of a shared goal. Music and glass both rely on mutual understanding of subtle, non-verbal communication such as eye contact or breath to synchronize movements.

LIT TLETON LECTURE

In 2013, I began a body of work that I think of as collaborations with my dogs. As I mentioned earlier, I was raised in a military family. We moved every one to three years and lived in several states in the U.S. as well as in England, and Okinawa. I was fortunate that we always had a house to live in, but I cannot say that I ever knew a place as home. My childhood dog was with me from preschool until she died just before I graduated from high school. I was deeply connected to her, and she gave me my only true sense of belonging, as have all my dogs since. The death of my Beauceron, Ecco, in 2006, was the catalyst for new bodies of work that expanded on my explorations of loss and longing. Working with the residue of my dogs’ presence and passing, I explore the fleeting nature of existence and profound sense of connection and loss that so often remains unspoken as we struggle to find words that might hold their weight. Hair shed in the spring, when burned out in a kiln between panes of glass, becomes otherworldly orbits that transcend the physical matter that would normally be discarded in the daily course of living. Photographs of my dogs’ nose prints on our front windows, when mirrored, become chandeliers, glistening smudges that serve as a reminder of wistful waiting, the ache of longing, and the often-overlooked tenderness that is to be found in that which is usually simply swept away.

Sharyn O’Mara The Littleton Lecture, named after Harvey Littleton, “was established in 2015 and looks to feature people that epitomize self-expression using glass to realize their potential as an artist and uses their creativity, knowledge and influence to educate others in the field of glass. The lecture focuses on innovators and educators who push the envelope.” I am humbled and grateful to be awarded The Littleton Lecture. Thank you to the Littleton Family and the Glass Arts Society for this honor. My lecture at GAS Tacoma provided the opportunity to reflect on my interdisciplinary practice working with glass and other media, and on over half of my lifetime as an educator. Following is a brief synopsis. Notes from a path I didn’t come to glass by seeking it as a destination; rather, my path meandered and I found myself there along the way. Raised in a military family, I was not permitted to study art in college and so I was educated to be a graphic designer and studied bookmaking. Immersed in typography, I developed a love of language as both form and content which remains at the core of my studio practice today. The graduate program in Graphic Design at RISD, where I earned my MFA, was based in an American semiotic model and my work there took the form of artists’ books and installations that formed the basis of my work going forward.

Its presence is gone, but we can still hear the echo.

Unspoken. § 6’ x 4’ x 4”. Sited drawing, fused Bullseye glass.

Notes from the studio My interdisciplinary studio practice has always been deeply informed by language as content and construct, and my works are interconnected through the marks and language and the language of marks – a kind of indexical

Living in the plains of the American Midwest while teaching at KCAI, I began to connect the mapping of the land with roads that create lines, intersections, and grids – and the mapping of experience using written language through grammar and composition. In my work, structures imposed on the topography of the land came to act as a metaphor for the organization and divided nature of language, and thus for the territories of experience. I began to explore notions of loss within this context, that which is missing but not necessarily known. I was interested in the power of pause, the significance and weight of the spaces in between

words, sentences, paragraphs, and the often-overlooked steps between one place and another. I started an ongoing body of walking drawings, ink of paper, wherein I walked while drawing lines without looking at the page, moving the pen in a western tradition from left to right across the paper, and then back to the starting point, and across again. I think of the resulting images as textscapes, and this term recurs throughout my practice. In some of these drawings, after walking I returned to the page in my studio and painstakingly removed the spaces in between the marks with an x-acto knife, rendering the drawing a fragile web of interconnectedness. More recent textscapes are glass drawings as sited installations and on panel. Drawing glass powders onto a kiln shelf in the form of imagined topographies and then firing to fuse, the resulting map-like forms of non-existent places are then deconstructed to generate an unintelligible lexicon, references to letterforms that are familiar and yet unrecognizable. White glass on white panel, the forms themselves disappear in certain light; they and the resulting shadows create a field in continual shift of that which is not spoken. Large scale installations of dozens of kilometers of optical fiber in abandoned buildings yielded fields of light. Inspired by the immense amount of language and data that could be transmitted through the fiber and yet the futility of so much communication, these works asserted their existence in an almost entropic way over imposed architectures, not unlike the tender grasses that grow assertively between the cracks in the pavement.

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BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

I didn’t work with glass until I started my first full time teaching job at Kansas City Art Institute in 1993 and started taking weekend glass workshops with Dierk van Keppel at Rock Cottage Glassworks in nearby Merriam, Kansas. I am forever indebted to Dierk for welcoming me into his studio with warmth and generosity. I was fortunate to have this experience as my model for the culture of a glass studio as it is not what I encountered in many studios. And because I had experienced it, I knew I could create it given the opportunity. That opportunity arose many years later, after I had left KCAI, taught again at RISD, and moved to Philadelphia in 2000 as founding chair of the Foundations Department at Tyler School of Art and Architecture. I was fortunate to be hired on a tenure track in Glass, and remain grateful to Jon Clark, professor emeritus and founding head of Tyer Glass Program, for his belief in me. At Tyler, I have served as department chair of two departments, Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Programs, and most recently for over ten years as program head of Glass. Over these many years, I worked in a variety of media and methods including installation, drawing, printmaking, and photography, with glass weaving in and out of my practice.

Untitled Walking Drawing, 2014. 6” x 4”, ink on paper.

mark-making. Influenced by the brief 1993 newspaper articles describing a violent crime again my dear friend, I was struck by the profound inadequacy of the words themselves to communicate depth of meaning or significance about the attack. Early mixed media prints and drawings on altered dictionary pages explored this limitation of language while tracings of sentence diagrams explored word choice, emphasis, and language as a power structure to question the nature of meaning.

Unspoken /side view

WILLSON LECTURE

Towards Understanding: From Film to Glass and Back Again By Jane Bruce

While I am honored to give the Robert Willson lecture, I was a little confused by the description accompanying it, which called for a presentation addressing glass and sculpture. My first thought was, “I don’t make sculpture, I’m an object maker.” However, recently I came to understand that I have always worked with space and actively engaged the viewer with the work. As an undergraduate at Leicester Polytechnic, UK, with a degree in Industrial Design and a specialization of Interior Design, my aim initially had been to be a film and theater designer and to be making movies by the time I was forty. It is amazing what can happen when one is not paying attention. Towards the end of my studies, a glass furnace was set up in a corner of the Ceramics Department. My itch for the unknown led me down from the 8th floor ID studio to the ground floor Ceramics and now Glass Studio to see what it was all about. John Cook, then a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art Glass Department, had been hired to develop a glass program. Cook made working with glass exciting, experimental and fun. To cut a long story short, my successful film and theater career dissolved in the heat of the furnace; three and a half years later I emerged, in 1973, from London’s Royal College of Art with a Master’s degree and a fully-fledged, paid-up member of the British Studio Glass Movement. Early influences are important. At the Royal College of Art (RCA), Sam Herman, who had studied with Harvey Littleton at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was the instructor and I didn’t appreciate his ‘free form’ approach to glassmaking, with its lack of structure and muddy colors. I was searching for my own way with glass and his way was not it. However, when I saw the work of the Finnish artist Oiva Toikka with its clean lines and colors, I had found the approach I wanted to take. On leaving the RCA, I became a partner in the Glasshouse Studio in London, where I continued blowing glass. However, after ten years of blowing glass, I was done and itching for an adventure. Having visited the US as a student, I knew I wanted to return and in 1979 I did, landing in the Glass Department at Alfred, NY. Here I found I could expand my ideas beyond glassblowing. I was extremely lucky to be there when Andy Bellici was Head of the Department. Bellici gave me a whole new education, introducing me to artists such as Robert Smithson, James Turrell, Nancy Holt and other inspiring Earth and Light Artists, many of whom subsequently have influenced my work. With all of

Object #5 , 1998. 6.5”h x 5.5”w x 12”l. Photo by David Paterson.

these artists there is what I call ‘a moment of recognition’ when suddenly everything gels and one understands, for example, the spaces Turrell has created or Holt’s sight lines. That moment is something I have strived for in my work. I also met the ceramist Karen Doherty who introduced me to room temperature paint, nail varnish, model airplane paint as well as to the idea of using whatever it takes to make an idea a reality. Limitations are often the best thing that can happen. They make one dig deep and really think about what to do. Alfred had no colored glass supplies. What they did have, however, was a really great sandblaster. I started to work, not knowing what I was really doing until Bellici said, “Of course you are destroying the vessel.” From this remark, I started cutting up the bowls and plates and deconstructing and reconstructing them with window glass and found materials. This led to the series called “Vessels About Vessels.” I also started seriously drawing again, which became and still is an integral part of my practice. My one year at Alfred turned into two. And then finally, after a four year teaching position at Ohio University, New York called. In 1985, I found myself in Little Italy as an Artist-in-Residence at the New York Experimental Workshop, now UrbanGlass. It was a very special place to be, with many extraordinary people and exciting work being made. Eventually, I became The Workshop’s Education Director organizing their classes, workshops, and Visiting Artist program. Here, I continued the “Vessels About Vessels” series. The vessels began as familiar forms whose elements, extracted from history, were examined, carefully taken apart visually, and logically reassembled into something that looks like a vessel, but that plays by different rules.

Colored, Vase, Bottle, Bowl, 2008. 12.75”h x 5”w x 25”l inches installed. Photo by Bulleye Glass Co.

continued the “Vessels About Vessels” series and over time, the pieces changed and developed into forms that had a new feeling and scale. They started to explore the viewer’s relationship to the work. They moved away from where the viewer could easily pick up the pieces to a scale where the pieces confronted the viewer in space. These large, tall pieces were named ‘Sentinels’ as they seemed to silently observe the viewer from a far. The ‘Sentinels’ became the final manifestation of the Vessels About Vessels series. At the same time the very talented glassblower, Ben Edols, was working in the Workshop and together we made some new asymmetrical blown forms that I wanted to explore. Once made, they sat and sat until I visited Uluru a few months later, one of the truly inspiring wonders of the world. I made drawings and worked on one of the pieces. This became the first in a series of “Objects.” Although these pieces were blown with very small openings, they were no longer vessels. With their obscured surfaces marked with deep and possibly cruel wheel cuts, they had changed into something else quite unknown.

alternated between two and three dimensions. I also found myself very moved by The Highland Clearances of the late18th-century to the mid-19th century which replaced people with sheep. This left a keen sense of desolation and loss in the Highlands with many abandoned crofts dotting the landscape. Alongside the “Vase, Bottle, Bowl” series, I developed a series of kilnformed house forms and works on paper which explored the empty crofts and this forced eviction of the Highlanders. In 2018, I was invited to a three-day retreat in Wales. Something deep down told me I should go. It was a fantastic experience and completely turned me around and inspired my current videos and installations. The format of the new work is inspired by a series of drawings I began several years earlier about spaces. The new series, titled ‘Constructed Space,’ embraces a range of materials and techniques - glass, wood, video and sound - to create wall-mounted installations. They, again, seem to alternate between two and three dimensions, explore time, and perform in collaboration with the viewer. The viewers are active and engaged participants, who, unbeknownst to them, turn the videos on and off as they approach and move away from the artwork. When turned on, the works connect the viewers to a particular place or feeling.

However, another adventure awaited, and in 1994 I arrived at The Australian National University’s Canberra School of Art. Teaching in the Glass Workshop and living in Australia were wonderful and inspiring experiences. I went for 6 months, but stayed on and off for 10 years, the last two and a half of which I was the Head of Workshop. When I arrived in Canberra, I

In 2004 my time in Australia came to its eventual end and I returned to live in New York. I had also begun to visit the Scottish Highlands on a regular basis as the Artistic Director of North Lands Creative Glass. This reconnected me with my Scottish heritage. Inspired by this and by the Neolithic structures located around Caithness and the Orkney Islands, I began a new series, “Vase, Bottle, Bowl.” This series reduced the vessel to fairly flat geometric forms, which, depending on how they were viewed,

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

Recently, I have been reading about the German poet Paul Celan, who wrote about how we don’t do this alone, whatever this is, we have companions who walk with us for part of the way. I want to end by thanking those insightful and amazing friends who have been my companions along the way.

LECTURE

Smashing Old Televisions for a Sustainable Studio Practice Alternative source materials in Art Glass Making.

LECTURES

By Gregory Alliss The lecture and this summary paper discuss my experiences using waste CRT glass as raw material for glass art making, and how this relates PhD research into contaminated waste glass and sustainability in the context of glass art studio practice. CRT Glass - Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass is contaminated waste glass sourced from old style tube televisions. CRT glass is not widely used by glass artists. Sustainable Practice - An artistic practice that can continue producing works of art, beyond the time that raw materials and resources traditionally using in within the making process become very scarce, have run out or are prohibitive to source for reasons of cost or environment. Why CRT Glass - I first became aware of CRT glass as a source of cullet glass at the Ruskin Glass Centre in Stourbridge. I was looked for a source of low-cost material and remembered the CRT glass. Smashing up old televisions in your garden is very satisfying and very dangerous. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! More recently as my practice developed, I was looking at different martials and CRT glass was there again. At that time, the CRT glass could be sourced for a local recycler that sold it for use as road aggerates. The patterns and colour of the kiln cast objects made from the CRT had an unconventional aesthetic and a unique colour. You cannot buy this colour at from an art glass supplier. This contamination can be utilized to create artifacts within art objects. Hence investigating the material properties of contamination in waste glass became part of my practice. Jacci Delaney presents inside the Greater Tacoma Convention Center for the 2022 GAS Conference.

‘Transparent Flow’, 2019, Kiln cast CRT glass (In work, machining, and final polishing) Material Testing - The initial studio investigations with the CRT looked at finding the correct kiln cycle for casting and explored the material properties of the glass, by combining it with other glasses and other materials. The investigation then moved onto shape. The object needed to be thin enough to let light through, yet strong enough to support the final object and have a variable formed profile to show different aspects of translucency. The CRT glass has a very dense grey colour, hence any object produced would need to be relatively thin. About 4 inches is the maximum thickness to allow enough light through the glass. Glass Recycling in the Studio - Traditionally recycling in the glass studio has used readily available materials such as waste from the glass blowing process, offcuts of glass from cutting flat / float glass

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Testing CRT cast in combination with other glasses.

and using glass from domestic sources such as bottles or other glass homewares. This readily available glass can be easily cleaned, sorted, and combined using any of the glass processes list above. Sourcing recycled glass in this way is low cost and straightforward. The low cost of the material lead to greater experimentation and iterative cycles during making. The main disadvantages of using this readily available recycled glass are: The time within making process to collect, sort and prepare the recycled glass material compared to using glass specifically designed and manufactured for use in the studio which comes in pre-cast billets without contamination or bubbles. Readily available recycled glass cannot be combined in hot making process with glass specifically manufactured for use in the studio due to material incompatibilities. Which can limit flexibility in making. My approach to recycled glass takes a different path using unconventional and contaminated glasses within my practice to demonstrate the creative potential of alternative materials to support the development of a sustainable practice. Sustainability Concepts - Using a recycled material within my artistic practice led me to consider the wider implication of sustainability within my practice and that ultimately lead me to the current research. Sustainable practice involves more than recycling. It includes energy usage, supply chains and process. The current aim is that material and energy usage enter a circular economy. Glass as a material is ubiquitous in our society and has an established lifecy-

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

LECTURE

cle. Part of my is investigation is understanding how as glass artists (who use a very small percentage of the worlds raw glass materials) fit into or plug into these energy and material lifecycles so that we can continue to practice purposeful and expressive approach to sustainability. Currently many products we make in our society have a have a liner lifecycle and are part of the liner economy. Where a product with a liner lifecycle is a product with a one-way life, from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use and eventual disposal. There is either no or very little reuse within this lifecycle. This approach to a products lifecycle is sometimes referred to as a cradle to grave approach to design and manufacture. In terms of glass although in theory glass can be endlessly re-melted without loss in quality, in practice only a small percentage gets recycled, mainly by the packaging industry. Most of the discarded glass fails to pass the high-quality standards of the prevailing glass industry – due to coatings, adhesives, other contaminants, or incompatibility of the recipe – and ends up in landfill (Bristogianni etal., 2018). Much of what we call recycling is really down-cycling where materials are steadily degraded until they ultimately become waste, downcycling just delays the point at which those resources are lost to waste. In terms of material lifecycles (McDonough and Braungart, 2002) suggest the avoidance of cradle to grave approach and instead promote a cradle-to-cradle design approach. Waste Material, New Material - Consider the idea of the affordance of waste glass when it is recycled and develops different material qualities from virgin glass. Where the term affordance is a relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent i.e., the artist, that determine just how the object could possibly be used. Does this recycled material have intrinsic properties other than just considering it as a direct replacement for virgin glass, that one would normally use for art glass making? Can we establish its intrinsic properties? Within my artistic practice I regularly choose to use unconventional waste glass and that choice is not always for sustainability or cost reasons or its locality. The glass produces aesthetically different results to similar off-the-shelf art glass cullet. The contamination within the material is an important property. I am drawn to the fact that it is not as straightforward to use. Graeber (2012) describes working with recycled material as working with ‘thing-materials’, whether they be offcuts of wood or old shipping containers, you need to be flexible, to work around and with these characteristics, to gently coax back into usefulness.

Shape of Dance Project By Jerre Davidson

‘Recast’, (Left: 2018, Right: 2020), Kiln cast CRT glass.

er, it does lead to more creative possibilities. Combining Different Types Glass - The image ‘Faux Textures’ is part of series of experiments combining that CRT glass with conventional clear casting glasses within a single kiln casting cycle. Again, this about developing additional making options for glass artists. This investigates how colour of the resulting object can be changed and how more light can be brought inside the object to highlight the patterns within the glass. These effects are highly dependent on the combination ratios of the two glasses. The resulting object is stable however, achieving a stable in kiln mix is difficult. Conclusion - CRT glass also a finite resource and my investigation has widened to look at other types of contaminated waste glass not normally used by glass artists. The testing again focuses on upstanding how to use the material and what the aesthetic possibilities of each type of new glass. Cramer’s Circularity Ladder or 10 R’s model deals with the circular economy concept. A circular economy does not just entail recycling and those strategies higher on the ladder generally have a lower environmental impact. (Cramer, 2017). Considering Cramer’s model is using recycled glasses within my research good enough or should I be aiming to be more sustainable with my practice and are there other approaches I should be investigating. I am truly moving towards a Sustainable Studio Practice. I am providing additional material options for glass artists and this will increase as I develop my investigation to include other waste glasses. I still find CRT glass fascinating and I would strongly recommend and support it use by other artists.

Using CRT Glass - Consider the two images on this page, both objects contain CRT glass from the same batch, so why is one so dark and one so light? Unlike commercially available casting glass the heavily contaminated nature of the glass, this glass is far more sensitive to the mould shape and variables of the casting process. I find it fascinating and mildly frustrating that changing such small variables can change to overall aesthetics so dramatically. Howev-

Bristogianni, T, Oikonomopoulou, F, Justino de Lima, C, Veer, F & Nijsse, R., 2018. Structural cast glass components manufactured from waste glass: Heron. Cramer, J., The Raw Materials Transition in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area: Added Value for the Economy, Well-Being and the Environment, Environment, 2017, 59, 3, 14-21. Graeber, D., 2012. ‘Afterword’ pp277- 290, in Economies of Recycling: The Global Transformation of Materials, Values and Social Relations. J. Reno eds. London; New York: Zed Books. McDonough, W and Braungart, M., 2002 Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point

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Growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, I attended the Scottish Ballet School from the age of 3 to 18 and danced professionally. This early background in ballet, has had a strong influence on my artistic practice. Just like the action painters of the 70s, the ability to create a sense of movement and energy in my work using whole body movements has been a lifelong goal. The Shape of Dance Project came about while I was exploring new methods to evoke a sense of dance movement in my work. I was intrigued by the possibilities presented by the technology of motion capture recording to directly translate dance movements into 3D sculpture. In 2018 I was awarded a grant to pursue this idea from the Ontario Arts Council. I contacted Fast Motion Studios in Toronto, who run a motion capture studio for the movie and video gaming industries. They helped me problem solve how I would convert the 360-degree video recording, from multiple cameras, into a 3D mesh file for printing. I employed a software engineer to write bespoke computer code to convert the movement pathways into STL files. I invited a friend, Meredith Blackmore, who is a dancer, painter, and performance artist to participate, and in May 2018, we travelled to the Fast Motion Studios, where we filmed all morning. Meredith improvised to the music and provided a wealth of different dance styles. The full 13-minute video of the process is on my website if anyone is interested in seeing more: jerredavidsonart.com I received about 3 hours of recorded movement from which I had to choose only a few seconds of each movement pathway for the software engineer to convert. Although a difficult choice, I eventually selected 4 sections that showed interesting shapes but were very different from each other. Once I had the files, I had to figure out how to get them printed. With no 3D printing knowledge or experience, I initially got one of the files printed using Shapeways 3D printing service. However, because of the cost, and time delay from submission to getting the finished print, I realized I had to do things differently. I also needed to be able to scale these shapes to much larger sizes and to have more control over the process. For these reasons, I decided to invest in my own 3D printer. The first printer I bought was a Wanhao Duplicator 9. Unfortunately, 3D printers are not plug and play and although I took two half-day workshops locally to try to understand how to print my models, I encountered many challenges and made a lot of mistakes. Eventually I managed to print a few good-sized models to work on.

Top: Rose Adage. Kiln-cast glass. Bottom: Sinuous Synchronicity. Kiln-cast glass. Photos by Sylvia Galbraith.

I also needed to learn some new software to be able to scale, edit and analyze the mesh files. The software applications I used for computer modelling and editing during this project were, Rhino (Rhinoceros 3D from Robert McNeel and Associates) and Meshmixer from Autodesk. At first, I didn’t work much in Rhino because it was complicated, however I now use it most of the time for editing and creating. Meshmixer is a free and very useful program. It is easy to use and performs most of the basic functions I needed, like cutting a model into several sections for printing larger scale and repairing faults in meshes. Using these software programs, gave me my first opportunity the edit the movement pathway models. To prepare a mesh or stl file for printing, I needed to run it through slicing software to program it to print on my specific printer. For this task, I used Cura, which is an open-source, software program. It worked well for most of this project Because of the size limitations of my printer bed, I had to print the larger models in sections. To make the rubber molds, of these sections, I used Smooth-on Rebound brush on silicone rubber, as this was the more cost-

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enclosing the plaster/silica mold in a thin layer of refractory cement. I initially cast with lead crystal as I had problems filling some of the narrower areas with soda lime glass but by adding more vents, adjusting the schedule, and reinforcing the investment for a longer hold at process temperature, I was able to cast these pieces successfully with soda lime glass. After many failed attempts, I finally completed my first successful casting of a dancer’s movement pathways. Although it was a costly and time-consuming endeavor, I learned a huge amount about casting with this trialand-error process. Left: Motion Capture recording session at Fast Motion Studios Toronto. Right: Welding sections of wax together with soldering iron. All photos by Jerre Davidson.

effective method. I supported the rubber mold with a two-part mother mold using Smooth-On Plasti-Paste. Although more expensive than plaster for a mother mold, the Plasti-Paste is much lighter and thinner. I had some experience in rubber mold making, however the complexity of these shapes made it difficult to create some molds and I had to learn various new ways of making multipart molds. As a resource, there are several very informative videos online that demonstrate various mold making techniques. As my models became more intricate, I used a poured blanket mold technique. Using this method, the model is clad in ½” of clay. A multipart mother mold is added and after the clay is removed from the model, the silicone is poured into the cavity. I used Polytek Platsil 73-20 for the poured rubber, and Poly 1512X for the mother mold. This multipart mold making was a lot of work, but it produced lovely clean wax models. When creating multiple molds for a larger piece, the resulting wax sections must be welded together. I use a hot knife and a soldering iron for this process.

Many different models can be made from the same movement pathway by editing in the computer prior to printing; or cutting and editing the waxes prior to investment. There were several casting problems to solve as well with these complicated shaped waxes. In one case, the cast glass cracked, because the shape of the protruding extensions that curved inwards acted like a hollow core or void casting and the investment mixture was too strong resulting in the break. I solved this problem by treating it like a hollow core casting and used a weaker investment mixture on this part of the mold. I also experimented with the lost PLA casting technique. PLA is an organic plastic filament that is used to print the model. This plastic can then be melted out of the plaster/silica mold at around 375 degrees F. However, because these molds are essentially closed molds (that is they only have small apertures to get the plastic out) this method was initially unsuccessful. I was able to get all the plastic out eventually, but I had to hold the investment mold at a higher temperature for a longer time and when the glass was cast into the molds, they broke, and I lost the glass. I was able to solve this problem by

I created a variety of pieces, from the 4 different motion capture generated, movement pathways in 2019, and the project culminated in a solo exhibition in early 2020. I was lucky to be able to show at all, as the exhibition went up at the beginning of January and came down on March 8th – by March 11th we were in lockdown. The exhibition was well attended, despite being held in January in Canada, and Meredith Blackmore danced at the opening reception. I still have a large amount of recorded movement to work with and I have been experimenting with choreographing or combining movement pathway waxes to create new shapes. I am now experimenting with Virtual Reality to make shapes using my own gestures. Jerre is a professional maker working primarily in kiln-cast glass for over 15 years. As a child growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, Jerre attended the Scottish Ballet School from the age of 3 to 18. Her life was full of music and dance, and this has become an integral part of her artistic focus. She also studied movement of the human body in her profession as a physical therapist, a career she practiced for more than 30 years. Her work has always been informed by her attraction to movement and rhythm, and she explores these factors as patterns within abstract sculptural glass work. Jerre’s work has exhibited her work in Korea, Scotland, USA and Canada.

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Tools For Sustaining Your Art Practice By Marta Gorski, BFA, MBA. Artists have long dictated civic style, acting as trendsetters for creative industries, socialbased businesses, and cultural norms1. In the wake of a global shutdown, the arts industry has experts forecasting significant changes2. As educators, artists, and facilitators, how can we adapt our practices to survive this multi-faceted landscape? A business-centric approach to creative industries can improve our function as organizations and professionals. We can utilize available knowledge to uphold our core values and continue participating in cultural goals without minimizing artistic expression. As artists, we have been fundamental in documenting the social condition; bringing economics concepts to the forefront of our professional practice organizes our work and reduces waste. Innovative business practices safeguard our financial decisions and create sustainability for our processes. I don’t encourage replacing emotional, connotative, and aesthetic choices. The idea is to support your art practice with logic and scenario planning. People link the notion of economics with capitalism, but economics is not inherently capitalistic. Economics studies the impact of coordinated human activities, a social science concerned with creation, circulation, and enjoyment. Strategy, Finance, Operations, and Marketing are the major elements of the economic equation; this article will offer you five tools, one for each foundational concept and one bonus tool to get started. These concepts are imperative to professional practice and can assist in developing a long-term vision. Strategy is what decisions to make. Finance is who and how you pay for those decisions and how you will make money. Operations are the order in which you execute your decisions, and marketing is how you tell people about it. I encourage adapting business terminol-

ogy and concepts to your practice, being creative, and not playing by the rules. Applying economics to the arts requires a cut-and-paste mentality, some things will fit, and others will need adjustments. Marketing is the most creative of these concepts and connects to the culture industry through the process, output, and content. Creative connotations drive the psychology of art and link people to objects with perceived emotional connections. The same can be said of the psychology of marketing, albeit marketing today has become data-driven and thus has diverged from the traditional practice3. We use marketing strategies to create value for objects and services; that value is why people choose to buy things. There are generally two categories of benefits, tangible and intangible. Tangible benefits are related to convenience, time, and resources. As artists, we don’t often fit into this category; our products and services are rarely more convenient and usually more expensive. Intangible or emotional benefits are about experiences or feelings. When it comes to the arts, the emotional benefits rule. When a viewer (buyer or participator) finds that connection with an artist or organization, they often continue to support them4. So how do we create that emotional connection with our people? And what else can give us professional leverage in the arts industry?

1. Give Them A Reason To Believe

A reason to believe substantiates the connection to your supporters, and the audience you work with (buyers, designers, donors, etc.) chose you. They are not underexposed to your competition and are aware of the alternative options. You expressly give them a reason to believe in what you do; RTB is the econom-

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ics version of your artist statement or mission. In the visual arts, it comes from mastery, potential, experience, and expression. In economics, the term valueadded describes that emotional connection, and we attribute an expense to the time and effort it takes to develop these concepts. As your supporters grow, your RTB increases in value. The tool ensures that you dedicate a portion of your practice to developing and nurturing your supporters and generating new supporters consistently over the years5. A reason to believe does not have to stem from a place of ultimate positivity; the supporter could be connected to your inner darkness or your created illusions. Whatever it is, nurturing your connections and evolving your RTB creates growth in your practice.

2. Brand Power (Marketing)

Brand power can come off a bit cheap or inauthentic; translated, it can mean much more than just popularity. In business, when we talk about brand power we are talking about exposure in the arts. We develop brand power through national or international awareness, repeat customers, word-of-mouth advertising, donors and their networks, and partnerships with other programs or institutions. Your supporters create brand power for you when they believe in what you do. Social media is only an outlet for content and does not replace authenticity, hard work, and consistent career development. Artists’ goals often extend beyond financial growth to incorporate an emotion or condition or to send a message. These things work simultaneously with your 1. (Goldblatt, n.d.) 2. (Hua 2022) 3. (“How Marketing Is An Art & A Science — YtC Studios” 2020) 4. (Guidry et al. 2014) 5. (Sullivan 2019)

LECTURE reason to believe. Your credibility as an individual or organization develops your brand power and your supporters’ ability to rely on your work, research, experience, and philosophy.

3. Price Elasticity (Finance)

Price elasticity centers on the consumers’ willingness to pay for an object or service. Your value plays a role in the price of your work, but it is essential to detach yourself from your customers’ willingness to pay. Frequently we work for a pricing segment that we do not purchase in; understanding the market segments (non-profit, value, premium, and luxury) and what defines them will support rational choices about your prices. The tool is knowing which market you do your work for and ensuring that you are pricing within your consumers’ elasticity6. Elastic people are not cost-sensitive but sensitive to value-added or brand power. They are concerned with heritage, origin, scarcity, and prestige. Researching your customer, their motivations, and willingness to pay will give you a different perspective on who they are and why they believe7. A consumer of luxury goods will be willing to sacrifice price for the reason to believe.

4. Optimal Solutions (Operations)

Optimal Solutions is an ideal calculation for what you want to achieve, where effort and output culminate to get the best results. You can calculate which decisions will benefit you the most and which may inadvertently cost you more than anticipated. Feasibility is an essential aspect of optimal solutions. Your highest potential must fall within reality, for example, the most objects with the fewest assistants or the highest price for the lowest cost (without sacrificing your added value). With optimal solutions, you can add your economic cost, your added value, and your market’s elasticity to find the optimal price for your work. This calculation may teach you that the cost of producing one more item causes you

to lose money or that adding just a few dollars to the price of your products may increase your profitability exponentially.

5. Opportunity Cost (Strategy)

Opportunity Cost demonstrates what is lost in the option you didn’t take. This tool teaches you to determine which loss is best for your future. Intangible benefits and value-added apply to opportunity costs as well. Consider each option’s personal and professional value: work experiences, technical skill advancement, knowledge investment, or emotional connections. Consider how each opportunity can play into your career advancement or decline. Prepare for your career by goal setting and calculating which options are worth the most to your pathways8. The cost/ benefit will impact you, your community, supporters, and clients9. These are ways we avoid burnout and continue to benefit our networks. Economics is mastering the reality of your situation and resources, and it’s positioning yourself to create the work you want to make, not minimizing what you are capable of. Organization, savings, and an ability to determine the next best option could be the defining difference in your success. Frequently these choices are already intuitive; with certainty, you can create space for inspiration and new ideas. 6. (Abadia and Lin 2009) 7. (“The 24 Anti Laws of Marketing. A must read on “The Luxury Strategy”, a thought-provoking article by Vincent Bastien on marketing to high-end consumers” 2019) 8. (Edgington 2013) 9. (Haile, n.d.)

References “The 24 Anti Laws of Marketing. A must-read on “The Luxury Strategy”, a thought-provoking article by Vincent Bastien on marketing to high-end consumers.” 2019. Linked In. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/24-anti-lawsmarketing-must-read-luxury-strategy-article-rahuldutta/. Abadia, Marta G., and Johnny Lin. 2009. “Nonprofit Cost Analysis Toolkit:.” Bridgespan Group. https://www. bridgespan.org/bridgespan/Images/articles/nonprofit-costanalysis-toolkit/NonprofitCostsAnalysisToolkit.pdf. Edgington, Nell. 2013. “Financing Not Fundraising: How to Calculate Opportunity Cost.” Social Velocity. https:// www.socialvelocity.net/financing-not-fundraising-calculate-opportunity-costs/. Goldblatt, Patricia. n.d. “How John Dewey’s Theories Underpin Art and Art Education.” Education and Culture 22, no. 1 (2006): 17–34. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/42922581. Guidry, Julie, Dan Hamilton Rice, Carolyn Popp Garrity, and Stephanie M. Mangus. 2014. “Artist Authenticity: How Artists’ Passion and Commitment Shape Consumers’ Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions across Genders.” Psychology & Marketing. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/abs/10.1002/mar.20719. Haile, Marcus. n.d. “What’s the Real Cost of a Fundraising Opportunity?” Raise-Funds.com. Accessed 2022. https:// www.raise-funds.com/whats-the-real-cost-of-a-fundraising-opportunity/. “How Marketing Is An Art & A Science — YtC Studios.” 2020. YtC Studios. https://www.ytcstudios.com/ blog/2020/7/30/how-marketing-is-an-art-amp-ascience. Hua, Sue. 2022. “Disruption, Digitalization and Connectivity: Asia’s Art Market in Transformation.” MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/11/3/57. Marquand, Ed. 2019. “Artists and Other Cultural Workers: A Statistical Portrait.” National Endowment for the Arts. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Artists_and_Other_ Cultural_Workers.pdf. “Own Your Own Costs | National Council of Nonprofits.” n.d. National Council of Nonprofits |. Accessed 2022. https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/ own-your-own-costs. Sullivan, Felicia C. 2019. “Let’s Talk About Brand Benefits and a Reason to Believe.” Medium.com. https://www. st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/fus/FAQ_value_added.pdf. “3 Unexpected Costs in a Nonprofit Marketing Budget.” 2016. The Nerdy Nonprofit. https://www.thenerdynonprofit.com/blog/nonprofit-marketing/three-costsnonprofits-fail-evaluate-recharity/. “2021 Art Market Trends and Predictions.” 2021. Sotheby’s. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/2021art-market-trends-and-predictions.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Exploring ZIRCAR Luminar Glass Products and Mold Mix 6 By Brooke Hamling Mold making and high temperature materials can be pivotal tools for artists that manipulate molten glass into unique shapes and vessels. Zircar Luminar Glass Products produce high temperature ceramic materials that expand the possibilities of what can be cast, slumped, and blown in glass.

The Origins of Zircar

In the early 1970’s, Engineer Bernie Hamling was researching ceramic technology for Union Carbide in Sterling Forest, NY. He created several patents for state-of-the-art high temperature materials during this period and in 1974 he purchased these patents to create the original Zircar Products. At the time, Bernie envisioned limitless potential for this line of ceramic materials and decided to investigate all their potential markets. By the early 1980’s, Zircar’s high temperature alumina and zirconia furnace insulation had become the standard for high temperature, rapid cycle furnaces. In the 1980’s the company expanded manufacturing to create rigid boards that were the first viable asbestos cement board replacements. Zircar created and began offering a line of thermal, structural, and insulating ceramics to dozens of industries including aerospace, solar energy generation, battery technology, glass manufacturing, aluminum manufacturing, and many more. ZIRCAR Refractory Composites, Inc. (ZRCI), as it exists today was founded in 2000 after the original Zircar Products was split into three separate companies upon Bernie’s retirement. Today, ZRCI produces a comprehensive line of advanced highperformance ceramic-ceramic composite materials and related products. These materials are used around the world in the most demanding thermal, structural and electrical insulating applications ranging in temperatures from 600°C (1112°F) to 2200°C (3992°F). Like the original Zircar, ZRCI is acts as a problem-solving resource for it’s customers. Engineers at ZRCI work with customers to resolve their thermal management problems. As a result they have developed products that have become industry standards for induction melting, forging and heat-treating applications, investment casting, glass processing, hot pressing and high temperature electrical applications.

Working with Glass and Metal

Beginning with Zircar Products and continuing with ZRCI, these products have remained favorites of glass and metal artists looking to expand and develop new casting techniques. Bernie had a personal interest in glass art and continued to

Brooke Hamling performing a mold making demonstration at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, February 2020. Small molds: Approximately 4 x 4 x 4 inches. Creating molds for lost wax casting using Mold Mix 6.

work on products for Luminar well into his retirement. Luminar Glass Products is the line of products specifically tailored to the needs of artists working at high temperatures. Thanks to the help of early collaborators new techniques were developed around these products and were shared between artists. Some of these early collaborators including Leslie Rowe-Israelson, Melanie Rowe, Boyce Lundstrom, Stephen Paul Day, Sibylle Peretti, and many others. Today, the goal of Zircar Luminar Glass Products is to create and fine tune new techniques using high temperature materials that are usually only accessible to industrial operations. These products are composed of alumina or aluminum oxide. Bauxite is a raw mineral substance that is mined and refined through the Bayer process to create alumina. This is the first step in the

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The Rear-View Mirror By Alison Kinnaird

Mold Mix 6 Molds made from 3D printed models by Patricia Sichmanova, Pilchuck 2019. Ranging from 1 to 3 feet in length, several inches tall. 3D printed plastic and Mold Mix 6 , kiln cast glass. Photo and molds by Patricia Sichmanova.

Hot Glass Pour into Mold Mix 6 Mold, 2005. 18 x 12 x 6 inches. Hot casting glass into Mold Mix 6 Mold. Photo and Mold by Leslie Rowe-Israelson.

chemical process of refining aluminum. From this point alumina can be further processed into powders, fibers, papers, textiles, or suspended in the form of colloids in liquids and pastes. Zircar has taken advantage of alumina’s versatility to create many products with different textures and densities to fit various high temperature needs. Alumina maintains its structure at high temperatures and is very resistant to thermal shock. This quality allows the material to undergo rapid heating and cooling without cracking.

Mold Mix 6 isn’t limited to creating molds on wax positives. 3D printed plastics including PLA can be melted out of the mold in the same manner as the wax. If there are no undercuts on the plastic positive and the plastic is lubricated with a release agent, the plastic can be removed and the positive can be removed and used to make more molds. Other materials can be used as positives for molds including organic materials (anything that can be burned can be used as a positive). Open faced positives made of materials that cannot be melted or burned (clay, metal, glass, silicone) can also be used but may need a release agent release to separate the positive from the mold material.

Mold Mix 6

Mold Mix 6 is an alumina refractory paste used to create molds that can withstand the temperature, weight, and stress of molten glass. When Mold Mix 6 is applied in layers to a positive it creates a very strong mold that can be used for kiln casting, hot casting, glass blowing, and lamp working. This material consists of a mix of alumina powders and fibers. This mix allows Mold Mix 6 molds to retain strength despite being significantly thinner than traditional plaster silica molds. These thin molds are light weight and easy to move. This unique strength allows these molds to be used multiple times if they are properly primed with a release agent and if they have no undercuts. These molds are rated for use up to 1550°C (2822°F). The most common method used when making Mold Mix 6 molds is the lost wax method. This process begins with a wax positive of the desired shape. If the wax positive has no undercuts the mold can be reused for multiple castings. The paste is applied in layer until the mold reaches a quarter of an inch thick. Once these layers are dry the wax is melted out with dry heat (this is often accomplished with a torch but can also be done in a burn out kiln or with a heat gun). After this step, molds should be primed with a release agent, loaded with glass, and fired in the kiln, resulting in a solid glass piece.

These molds can also be used in the glass hot shop. Because these molds are resistant to thermal shock they do not need to be preheated before glass is poured into the molds. Many artists choose to preheat their molds to ensure that there is no moisture in the molds when the glass is poured inside. Residual moisture can result in the formation of bubbles within the glass. Mold Mix 6 can also be used as an inclusion inside finished glass pieces. Fully dried and cured Mold Mix 6 designs can be incased in molten glass. Color and texture can be added to these inclusions using enamel paints or graphite on the surface of the inclusion before it is encased in glass. These methods can be used to create press molds for beads and other pieces of lamp worked glass. Mold Mix 6 is one example of how technical ceramics can expand artists creative process with glass. Zircar offers workshops to schools and glass studios to teach artists and students the new creative boundaries created by these state-of-the-art materials.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

The title,’The Rear-View Mirror’ points out the value of looking to the past – not always a fashionable idea – to benefit from the hard-won skills and technique handed down through generations of makers, and also, importantly, to find inspiration in the imagery and artistic expression of those before us, in which we can recognize our common humanity and take our own work forward. There are other artists in glass whose links with their own cultures are clear, rich and diverse. In my own work, the act of looking back has launched a voyage of valuable discoveries in technology and personal expression. There are various methods of engraving, but wheel-engraving, specifically, is on the official endangered list, and has been overtaken by faster methods of marking glass. But I always think that a technique that has lasted for 1000s of years must have something special. Engraving dates back at least 2000 years to Babylonian times, when drills and wheels were used to carve soft semi-precious stones. Some contemporary glass engravers such as Ronald Pennell are trained in gem engraving. He demonstrates the bold and immediate use of the wheel that is also characteristic of his larger glass-engravings. Another engraver, also comfortable with a small or large scale is Pavlina Cambalova. She sometimes works on Moldavite, often regarded as a gemstone, but is actually a naturallyformed glass. Pavlina is a graduate of one of the Czech glass schools. It was particularly in Bohemia – in Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic – that the techniques of wheel engraving have persisted. One fashion was to engrave through a layer of color. In modern times, Katharine Coleman, in England, uses extraordinarily thick vessels, where the engraving through the color on the outside is reflected again and again in the inner bubble. In the Czech Republic it was given new impetus in the 20th Century, by Jiri Harcuba. He re-energized the art-form, freeing it from the expectation of fine decorative detail. Jiri founded a school which Pavlina, one of his pupils, continues in his name. His work will always be a point of reference in the history of engraving. Like all the best teachers, Harcuba’s pupils feel free to express themselves in diverse ways, and April Surgent, who later taught alongside him, has taken cameo engraving to new heights and dimensions in her large panels which deal with the built-up urban scene or the loneliness of an empty landscape with her own truly contemporary vision.

Triptych, 1995, optical glass, wheel-engraved, 23 x 32 x 10cm. Photo by Ken Smith.

For many years I found it impossible to clothe my figures. It was when I began to combine the wheel engraving with sand-blasting, giving a much looser, more painterly effect, that I felt it suited the urban scene. It was also essential to include light within the glass for it to stand out strongly. These long panels – Streetwise I and II, are based on contemporary life. Any glass artist knows how important light is to the medium, and this is especially relevant to engraving. New developments allowed me to integrate first optical fibers, then LEDS into my pieces. The sheets of glass are colorless, layered together. I often add the colors by gluing strips of dichroic glass to the bottom edge. The light then transmits up into the glass, where the engraving interrupts it, taking on that color. LEDs are also programmable, and I have used this a number of times, so that elements of the engraving appear and disappear. Assembling the separate sheets in series so that they form a larger whole, has been important to me. Wheel engraving suffers from being regarded as insignificant in scale. Some engravers have adapted their equipment, using flexibledrive wheels to increase the scale. John Hutton’s techniques are currently being taken further by Claire Ellen Bell in NZ, whose subjects feature the natural world around her, combining detail with a bigger scale. Wheel-engraving is a very solitary and focused activity, but we sometimes do need help from others. In Scotland, a friend, a talented stained-glass artist himself, Patrick Ross-Smith, assisted me in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I was honoured to be commissioned to create the Donor Window. This demanded a new way of treating 13 portraits, so that the images would stand out against a light grey sky. I found that engraving on both sides of flashed glass, with the modeling on the clear side, and the shading on the other side, through the colour – all done with the wheel – the likenesses were clear, even at a distance.

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In the 14th C, the average person, apparently, met 100 people in their lifetime – now we pass as many in a few minutes. The Graffiti Artist looks very contemporary, but the motifs in the background are adapted from the Neolithic tombs – starsigns and calendars, as people tried to make sense of their place in the universe. Pushing the old techniques can open up new possibilities. But technique should not limit the expression of your ideas. I was turned down for Art College – sometimes I think it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead I did a degree in Celtic Studies and Archaeology. I know that this often comes out in cultural references in my glass. Here in Triptych, I represent Past, Present and Future with Man, Woman and Child. Artists all over the world find inspiration in their own Traditions. The work of the De La Torre Brothers reflects their Mexican background and immigrant experience, blending Catholic religious, pre-Columbian and contemporary political commentary to spectacular effect. Subway Photographer, 2020. Flashed glass, wheel engraved, laminated. 120 x 60cm. Photo by Robin Morton.

Another commission posed a different challenge. I was asked to create windows and doors for the 11th C St Mary’s Church, in England. The doors, if leaded, would have been impossibly heavy. Lamination was ruled out, because the accepted wisdom was that engraved glass cannot be laminated.. But I asked Derix to experiment with reversing the normal lamination, and this was entirely successful with my double-sided engraving. I was able to take this ‘double-engraved, reverse-lamination’ into 3 panels of my own, each about 5ft tall, on the subject of Time. In the Astronomer, the telescope looks beyond the personal to the vast, timeless universe beyond. The Subway Photographer emphasizes how quickly we pass through each others’ lives.

Preston Singletary is an artist who found a new direction for his work, combining indigenous art from his own Tlingit cultural background with a different material. His work brings out the beauty of the imagery and glass. Keerong Choi, from Korea, uses the ancient Korean sangam technique with geometric patterns and counterfeit lettering, encasing these in colorless glass, creating a feeling of ambiguity.

‘Celtic Knotwork’ symbolizes the tangles of human relationships – the interlacing patterns seem a good metaphor for this, as our lives weave together. Music and art have intertwined throughout my life, as I also play Scottish harp music. The Scottish musical tradition is often passed on orally. In windows for the Piping Centre in Glasgow, John Clark took the great music of the bagpipe and used syllables that represent each note in a striking design. In 2019, he used a residency at Bullseye Glass to develop a visual representation of music, using the frequency of the sound, linked with the frequency of light, resulting in a specific color for each note, thus creating a window which notates 4 bagpipe tunes in a montage of complex colors. I too am fascinated by the possibilities of expressing music visually, and developments in science allow us all to ‘see’ the sound of music in a different way. At the Physics Department of Edinburgh University, I put the harp notes through a computer program so that the sound waves can be seen as ‘lissajous patterns’, complex interlacing patterns, astonishingly similar to Celtic knotwork. I have used these often in my engraving. We are just at the beginning of making many connections between the knowledge, expertise and emotional expression of previous generations, and our own new skills, vision and imagination. Looking back helps us all to move forward.

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Jan-Erik Ritzman: Teaching the “Swedish Style” of Glass to the World By Peter Kuchinke Jan-Erik Ritzman was born on August 25, 1943 in Vetlanda, Kronoberg County, Sweden, and at the age of 11, he moved to Kosta. Jan Erik went to school and worked at the glassworks during the school holidays. In August 1957, at the age of 13, he was employed by Kosta glass works and was a part of Bengt Heintze`s workshop, the master who made the samples for the designers as well as large series of free-formed art objects. The old master enthralled the young Jan-Erik with the craft and instilled his curiosity to develop; this was in contrast with the spirit of the times where the work was viewed as hot, exhausting and poorly paid. Jan-Erik Ritzman became a master in 1964 at the age of 20 and took the production of art glass. At that time, Vicke Lindstrand was the leading designer in Kosta as well as Mona Morales Schildt, a “life-style influencer” of her time, whose glass collections were as successful as herself. In the 70`s, directly because of all the designers and glass artists, KOSTA BODA became an internationally acclaimed brand for high-quality art glass. At that time Jan Erik worked with all designers, blew their art pieces, and undertook product development. His interest in the craft and its development was often crucial to the result. Many of these then young designers, such as Ann Wollf, Göran Wärff, Ulrika Hydman Vallien, Bertil Vallien, Erik Höglund,Monica Backström, Paul Hoff and Anna Ehrner, socialised with each other and Jan-Erik and even flew the perhaps first ever hot air balloon over Sweden.

Commenting on waves of immigration into New Zealand, Te Rongo Kirkwood incorporates details of Maori design in glass garments, exploring stories which reflect celestial and metaphysical themes.

The then still unknown American glass artist Dale Chihuly traveled to “The kingdom of Crystal” in 1978 and met Jan-Erik, who the following year was invited to the famous Pilchuck glass school as an “artist in residence.” There he met many future glass artists who themselves wanted to work with glass in the hotshop. They came to appreciate Jan-Erik`s skills to such an extent that he would return to the United States for many years as a respected teacher.

It is important to recognize that we all have a background as migrants – sometimes many generations ago, sometimes more recent. Patterns are similar in cultures throughout the world and throughout time. Often deriving from elements in nature, there is commonality in carvings, textiles, pottery and tattoos. My piece,

After about 20 years of working within the factory context, Ritzman decided to start his own glass studio, Transjö Hytta, with Sven-Åke Carlsson, a colleague from Kosta. Transjö Hytta produces high-end art glass in smaller series, as well as unique one-of-a-kind artworks in blown glass, designed and produced by the two masters. Collaborations with national, as well as international artists, architects and designers continued and so did the teaching. For 40 years students have come from all over the world

Donor Window, Scottish National Portrait Gallery (detail), Alison Kinnaird, 2012. Photo by Vivian Ross-Smith, Flashed glass, wheel engraved, 50cm diameter.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Top to bottom: Jan Erik as 14 year old employed at Kosta Glasbruk. Jan Erik as a young master at Kosta Glasbruk (around 1965). Jan Erik at Kosta Glasbruk, Dale Chihuly visiting (we guess around 1976).

to learn from the masters; about 30 glassblowers have apprenticed for 2-3 years while living in the small village of Transjö. In his more than 65 year long career, Jan-Erik Ritzman has taught widely in universities, schools and in manufacturing industrial exchanges in Japan, Swaziland, China, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and of course, in the US at such schools as Haystack, Pilchuck, and Penland.

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LECTURE The glass, investment, and firing for 25 of the most promising and visually diverse samples from ‘Phase 1’ testing were applied to enclosed investment moulds, ‘Phase 2’, to observe if the properties of the cast surface and mirror quality remained consistent with a completely different mould set up.

Mirrors of the Third Dimension By Joanna Manousis

The recessed detail of a three-dimensional ‘bullet’ shape enclosed in a cylindrical dome of solid glass utilizing refractory core-forming techniques was used as a sample. This form was created by making rubber ‘mother-moulds’ to create the investment mould for the dome in two halves. This two-part investment mould ‘tension set’ the investment core of the bullet shape in place. A final coating of investment material was then applied to set the two halves permanently for the duration of the firing.

There are certain qualities in objects and entities in life that attract our attention. Light paves the way to discovery, which is amplified when light is reflected to us from shiny surfaces. Water, polished obsidian, metal, and glass all do this, however arguably, no other human-made entity has captured our gaze more so than the mirror. It has allowed us to perceive what we cannot by eye – ourselves, while setting up a range of polarized dualities, vanity in beauty, truth in fiction, good and evil. It was a glass sculpture that paved an ambition to pursue a PhD focusing on three dimensional cast glass mirrors. Created in 2012, a series of cast lead-crystal distillery jars entitled, ‘Distilled Portraits’ (Fig. 1), were made that contained the residual voids of objects representing individuals. Using ‘core-casting’, a process whereby investment ‘positive(s)’ are embedded within a mould and extracted from the glass after annealing to create negative space, the hollows of pig’s feet, oysters, spools of yarn and a magpie resting on a pomegranate were encapsulated in solid, hand-polished glass. Satin surfaces of interior silhouettes trapped light, creating ambient glow, and an internalized energy reminiscent of the souls the objects referenced. A coating of silver nitrate mirror was applied to the magpie (Fig. 2), with an intention that it would become a reflection of itself, its audience, and the jar; a vessel used for the containment of objects. However, rather than enlivening the surface to encapsulate its environment, the bird transformed into a brushed silver statuette that denied the reflected gaze. Mirror coatings only look fully reflective on blemish free, shiny surfaces that are best viewed optically through clear glass . For these reasons, mirroring to this day has been performed almost exclusively on blown and sheet glass applications, whereby the surface is pristinely polished, thus rendering a reflective mirror. This may be the reason why refractory cast glass has not been considered as a valid choice in the production of mirrors. Striving to obtain a pristine, clear glass surface cast directly from an investment material is challenging, particularly when creating moulds and glass forms by hand without mechanized equipment. ‘Distilled Portrait I’ became emblematic of a decade-long pursuit to create reflective cast mirrors. As years passed, consecutive pieces shed light on factors that affect reflectivity, however variables were never controlled, constant and systematically catalogued. For these reasons, empirical research was undertaken to ascertain if reflectivity could be achieved on un-polished, investment cast glass.

Fig 4, Phase 2 Mirror Tests, 2021. Cast glass / crystal / mirror (Enclosed Zyp Coating (thick application) test with open-face counterpart).

(Soda-Lime) were used in combination with a range of commercial and hand-made investment mixes.

Top: Fig 1, Distilled Portraits, 2012. Core-cast crystal / stainless. (x3) 16” x 6” x 6”. Bottom: Fig 3, Phase 1 Mirror Tests, 2021. Cast glass / crystal / mirror.

Preliminary studio testing started in February 2021 within the Glass and Ceramics Department at the University of Sunderland, a complex of material specific studios housed at The National Glass Centre, UK. Over 100 samples were carried out in ‘Phase 1’ of studio testing, some of which can be seen in Fig. 3. An optical flat lens was used as a base model to create silicone inserts for the duplication of open-face investment moulds for casting. It had been determined through previous studio practice and other documented findings that steaming wax from a mould when utilizing the ‘lost-wax-casting’ technique causes mould weakness and surface erosion due to the introduction of excess water and heat. To negate these adversary effects wax was avoided wherever possible within this research.

To keep variables constant, the same Kiln Care GTA 80 / 12 KW kiln made in 05/07 was used for all firings. Preliminary samples were subjected to flow tests to find a temperature range that would allow all glasses to melt and fill the mould within a given time. Moulds were also pre-fired before loading glass to prevent devitrification on the glass surface. It was observed that higher temperatures and longer peak firing durations (even at low temperature ranges) lead to greater surface opacity which reduces the reflectivity of an applied mirror coating. Cristalica was omitted from testing due to its viscosity and resistance to flow, followed by Gaffer crystal due to its higher surface opacity in comparison to Reichenbach crystal (40% lead) when cast. Although many of the Bullseye samples had a high level of opacity, this glass was retained for further testing due to its promising results using Boron Nitride (B4N) coatings (ZYP Coatings) and molochite within the investment mix (noting that molochite lacks strength within an investment mix compared to quartz (silica)). Boron Nitride (B4N) was used as both an investment modifying ingredient and as a surface coating using ZYP Coatings products. Tests using B4N as a modifying ingredient were poor, with severe surface contamination causing a black mirror. However, several B4N coatings created iridescent, non-reflective silver mirrors with Bullseye and Reichenbach.

This process was tedious and time consuming, however it was the only way to create a core-formed mould without the need of lost wax. A greater volume of glass was used to fill the enclosed moulds, which were subjected to a slightly longer pre-firing cycle to ensure that the glass would flow. After annealing and divestment, enclosed samples were then cold worked to a full polish by hand, in order visually assess the interior surface left from the investment core with clarity. Once mirrored, the cold worked samples made in ‘Phase 2’ highlighted very similar mirrored surface effects when comparing them to their ‘Phase 1’ counterparts, however the curved surface of the bullet shape recess led to higher levels of reflectivity in some instances when compared to the flat open-face tests. Although the initial ambition for this research was to create full reflection in cast glass, a broad palette of visual ‘effects’ for cast glass mirrors were unveiled during preliminary testing. These effects offer a range of aesthetic options, for example, the mirror can take on the appearance of iridescent ‘tin foil’, brushed silver ‘peach fuzz’ or mottled ‘moon rock’ (to name a few). Ultimately, these tests present new ways in which the mirror can function visually when applied to cast glass. Within the realm of art making, silvered glass does not necessarily need to be a perfect reflective surface but can be used to emulate a range of materials, textures, hues, and surface patterns. This palette of silvering effects gives the artist / maker multiple choices in the aesthetic outcome of a cast mirror application. This sets up a new and extended vocabulary in how the mirror can look and function. The glass form, its interior surface, and the visual effect achieved in the mirror can all play a part in the narrative of the artwork. Now that a breadth of material testing is complete, a series of artworks are currently in progress that entwine the rich metaphors and cultural associations of the mirror through time while harnessing a new palette of mirroring effects. For information and insights on Joanna Manousis’ creative practice, research, and publication dates, please follow @joannamanousis / www. joannamanousis.com for more information.

For the research to be relevant and have a higher impact, four of the most utilised clear commercial glasses within the international studio glass-art community (Gaffer (Lead-Crystal), Bullseye (Soda-Lime), Reichenbach 1500 (Lead-Crystal) and Cristalica

Further tests with controlled applications of B4N - ZYP Coatings using a soft brush and spray gun were carried out. These samples assessed the thickness of paint causing surface cracking in fired tests and whether a spray method of application would help to alleviate the linear marks created by a brush.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

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LECTURE

Rhetorical Narrative in Contemporary Glass By John Moran

Art is a mechanism; it is a tool we can use to express complex ideas, emotions, and discontent offering an alternative to apathy. It is a powerful tool and an important device for social change and political dissent, but it is often neglected. My main focus as an artist is to use this tool to its fullest extent and attempt to reach others in the same manner as I was. Additionally, as a scholar (I know right?), I seek out other artists who are also using this tool to focus the dialogue onto our contemporary society – both politically and personally. Contemporary art, though not entirely, has moved away from the political, away from the idea of art as protest, away from the idea that art has an impact and can create change. I am not saying that there are no artists doing this, there certainly are! But I am saying that there is a push back from institutions, academia, and the gallery scene who rarely support or exhibit this type of work for fear of what the donors or collectors might think. I realize this is a broad statement, but it is one shared by most (if not all) of the artists I have spoken to making this type of work. I can say that I personally have been told many times I really love your work, I just wish it wasn’t so political” or “political art is dead, it was done in the 80’s”. The irony that belief is present as we literally enter a decade with the threat of nuclear war, another epidemic being blamed on the LBTGQ community, and the systematic dismantling of women’s rights. So, what’s the point? Well, luckily, we have people to look up to in our community. For the sake of brevity, I am just going to highlight a few inspirational artists in my life who create representational work – typically figurative in nature – in order to address contemporary political and societal issues. Einar and Jamex de la Torre for instance, who just completed the inaugural exhibition of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture with their exhibition “Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective”, have been an inspirational duo for decades creating work that seamlessly blends American consumerism, multicultural mingling, pop-culture, religious critique, and the human condition. Their unique approach to the material and more importantly to their subject matter has impacted a generation of artists (myself included) and opened the door for reflective, controversial, and abrasive work to become part of the discussion – in both contemporary glass and in the broader scope of the contemporary art world. There are few other artists who

Einar and Jamex De La Torre. Florentine Syndrome (installation detail). Photos courtesy of SIC Gallery, BWA Galleries of Contemporary Art, Wroclaw.

have made such an impact on the lives of their students, friends, and colleagues. I am lucky to have worked with James Labold while we were in undergrad at Tyler School of Art. James has always had a passion for political work and pushing the boundaries of material aesthetics. He has continuously strived to evolve conceptually and technically into one of the most outspoken and thoughtful artists in the field. His work is overtly political in nature, but is encrusted in his East Coast tenacity and biting wit. His use of continuously layered historical references, mystical symbols, and political pop culture create a visual narrative with never a dull moment. Coincidentally, I am also lucky to have worked with Doreen Garner at Tyler. Doreen is a complete power house, transitioning from the ‘glass scene’ into the New York and international art scene, while make powerful, visceral work that tackles racism and racial inequalities openly and unapologetically. Very few artists can say that they have directly had a societal impact, yet Doreen’s work White Man on a Pedestal at Pioneer Works was instrumental in the removal of the statue of J. Marion Sims. Doreen has ascended from the studio glass world and has had features in ArtForum and ART21, while maintaining complete integrity in her narrative and aesthetic.

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James Labold. Den of Snakes. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Sadhbh Mowlds. Double-crossed. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Marta Byrdziak began her career studying at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw. I met her when she came to do an internship at Gent Glas, where she focused intently on learning to hot sculpt and developing her ideas conceptually. Over the past few years, her work has evolved into a harsh critique of Poland’s political treatment of women and a reflection on the so called ‘roll of women’ in society. Though most of her work is mixed media, her use of glass is incredibly articulate and poignant. Marta participated in the European Glass Context Prize in Bornholm, Denmark with her work Chastity Belt, and more recently completed an artist in residence at StarWorks Glass in Star, NC. During the GAS Conference in Tacoma, WA she demonstrated the creation of one of her signature vagina dentatas.

One of the struggles of creating this type of work is finding venues or galleries willing to support this pursuit. Aaron Schey and Habatat Detroit Fine Art began an exhibition series specifically designed to focus on artists working in this manner. Not Grandma’s Glass had its inaugural exhibition series in 2021, featuring 12 artists, each with their own monthly exhibition. Aaron selected artists who are not working traditionally with the medium and specifically sought out representational artists driven by narrative. He has continued to grow the concept and invest in finding a market and venues for the NGG Family. The first year included: Morgan Peterson, Matt Eskuche, Michael Janis and Tony Porto, Jon Boley aka Shaggy, Chad Fonfara, Petra Herbackova, Caterina Urrata-Weintraub, Joseph Ivacic, Dean Allison, Anthony Amoako Attah, Krista Israel, and myself.

In 2017, I taught a class at BildWerk in Frauenau Germany, I was lucky enough to have Sadhbh Mowlds as one of my TA’s. During that time, I got to know Sadhbh personally, but she was not making much work at that point in time. Sadhbh is originally from Dublin, Ireland and had been living and working in Berlin at Berlin Glas. In 2019, she began the pursuit of her MFA at the University of Illinois Carbondale, and immediately began making incredibly meaningful works which were not only deeply conceptual, but also exceptionally crafted and realistic. Her work is an emotional experience drawing from her experiences as a woman and an immigrant, using almost surreal symbolism portrayed hyper-realistically. She seamlessly blends hot sculpted, blown, or cast glass with a virtuosic use of silicon, resin, and hair. Her graduation exhibition ‘Bad Faith’ is a tour de force of technical ability and narrative conceptualism.

Does art make a difference? I grew up in Philadelphia and was lucky enough to get to go to the PMA (Philadelphia Museum of Art) during my formative years. The PMA has the most incredible Marcel Duchamp collection. Of course, I was amused by Fountain, but my life was changed by Étant donnés. I stumbled on this piece – which is well hidden by design – and my experience with it made me want to be an artist. I have revisited it many times over decades and it still moves me every time. It reminds me that we can never fully know the impact of our work; we never know who might see something, decades after our death, and have the course of their lives changed in an instant.

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LECTURE

Words of Isolation | Words of Connection Broadening the Glass Community During Covid-19 By Laura Quinn

With limited resources, but a need to keep our hands learning, I started to use and teach with unconventional tools and materials from around my house, or that were easily accessible online. Through live video calling demonstrations and classes, paired with pre-recorded and edited online video tutorials my students began, or continued to learn fundamental glass processes in coldworking by using wet and dry sandpaper, lampworking with a chef’s torch, copper foiling, etching, laminating, glass cutting and glass bending using a candle flame. As the weeks went on, seeing the positive impact of setting these at-home tasks for my students, I decided to share them publicly through social media and on my youtube channel. The series of videos entitled Home Glass Hacks, allowed students, glass makers and complete novices to start, or continue to develop their material and process knowledge by using accessible tools from around the house. One of the Home Glass Hacks shows how to bend thin glass stringers using a candle. I began to bend the glass into words, starting with a simple message to the community, ‘hello’. I shared the message with the public online, to my surprise it seemed to garner attention.

Words of Isolation | Words of Connection is an international collaborative glass project that called on members of the public to get involved. They were asked to communicate their experience of the COVID-19 isolation with glass words made by bending glass stringers using a tealight candle flame. Submissions to the project have been made by scientists, engineers, butchers, artists, entrepreneurs, photographers, teachers and students to list a few. Words of Isolation | Words of Connection crosses boundaries, language, race, sex, gender, age, religion, background and culture. The low tech and low cost nature of the process allows the work to become accessible to a large and diverse group. Through the creative catharsis of craft, It provides a physical representation of the feelings and words we have been sharing during this unified period in the COVID-19 crisis. The project has allowed the public to develop their relationship with glass, a material many of which have never worked with before. It has opened up conversation and further appreciation of our craft. “Slow craft time also enables the work of reflection and imagination” (Sennett 2009, 295).

At a time when the global nation was separated by isolation, our written and spoken words and messages online became so important. It became poignant to capture these words in a physical form. Glass seems to have an ability to make something be viewed as precious, as delicate, and fragile. Translating the words we use to connect into glass started to give them more of the stagelight. This was the inspiration for starting the Words of Isolation | Words of Connection project.

For some makers, where the treadmill of orders, exhibitions and commissions keeps coming in, national lockdowns somehow have provided a full stop on this momentum. This has a large negative impact on many small businesses, but it has also provided many with a chance to finally make better changes to their creative practice, studio equipment and processes.

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Hello, Glass Bending Using a Candle. The image shared online which sparked the project. Photo by Laura Quinn, 2020

Still, Emer O Donnell. All participants were asked to submit a note with their word. Emer’s word still resonated with many people. The notes were exhibited alongside the words.

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This project has given me the opportunity to create work in a far more accessible and sustainable way due to the low-fi making

Top: Words of Isolation | Words of Connection installed as part of Design and Crafts Council Ireland. Connected Sculpture Trail, Kilkenny, Ireland. July-Oct 2020. Image Credit: Design and Crafts Council Ireland. Right: Still taken from Home Glass Hacks Lampworking with a Chef’s Torch video tutorial. I am teaching the connection point method taught in lampworking to build larger pieces from smaller components. Soft glass bamboo made using a chef’s torch. Photos by Laura Quinn, 2020.

In April 2020 during the early stage of the COVID-19 lockdown, I had just started employment at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham, UK as the Glass Technical Tutor. The staff and students at UCA began to reform learning methodologies in response to the rapidly changing restrictions due to the COVID19 pandemic. Once full national lockdown began, we turned towards online teaching and learning. It became a time when video calling lent itself to online tutorials between teaching staff and students to discuss projects and ideas, however there was a distinct frustration from all sides: it is essential for educators and learners to navigate craft and glass education with the knowledge and information that hands on making provides. In 2013 Glenn Adamson wrote of the perils in focusing craft too much in its technique and material, foretelling that digital modes of creativity could endanger traditional craft for its ability to deliver information faster, to a wider audience.

But Adamson also goes on to say that the craft and the digital can live side by side, and don’t have to be mutually exclusive of each other. The relationship between craft and digital can take on many modes, but it was in exploring this relationship that enabled me to continue to teach glass making at home. Craft demands proximity- the material to the maker, the tool to the work- and this spatial consideration applies its own sort of friction. But to count too heavily on such immediacy is to construct a conception of craft premised upon its own eventual failure [...] Digitization is too sweeping in its effects to be ameliorated by simply digging in and sitting tight. It transforms and speeds up not only the flow of information, but also the production of material things and their subsequent movement.

method and lower energy consumption needed to form the glass, compared to traditional gas furnaces and torches. This project and its gaining momentum on an international level has forced me to ask myself ‘how much energy do I need to spend to make glass art that matters?’. The first iteration of the project was installed and exhibited as part of the Design and Craft Council of Ireland outdoor exhibition trail Connected which is running throughout Kilkenny city from 30 July- 20 October 2020. The art works in the Connected exhibition were displayed outdoors across the city of Kilkenny. This has provided a way for exhibitions to continue, but it has also allowed the work to reach a public audience which has changed immensely in the time it has been on display, from a national audience to a local community audience. The project has paralleled our experience of the period of isolation. Each work is made in isolation, but when we are all allowed to be back together again so too can the glass words, it is a reflection, and a celebration of community and resilience in some of the most challenging years we will have experienced. When an artwork encapsulates a range of people’s experiences and reaches those who it would never previously would have, when it allows a creative catharsis for many across different countries, when it allows young makers a chance to add to their resume and professional practice by being involved in an international collaborative art work, and all made with a candle, I wonder how can I learn from this and include its more sustainable nature in my work after the pandemic? I hope that being away from our usual modes of making has allowed us to consider more closely what we are making and why we are making it. In total there were 40 participants, from 10 countries and 58 glass words that connect us through our time in isolation. Words of Isolation | Words of Connection participants. Words in bold show the same words that were submitted by different participants:

Kate. Dublin, Ireland. “Cosy”. Lisa. Ohio, USA. “Grammy”. Laura. Surrey, UK. “Accept” , “These Four Walls”. Louise. Devon, UK. “Reset”. Lutie. Northamptonshire, UK. “Challenge”. Madeline, San Diego, USA. “Self”. Maggie. Down, Northern Ireland. “Home”, “Hope”. Mark. Dublin, Ireland. “Static”. Margo. Slubice, Poland. “Samotność” (Loneliness). Maria. Perthshire, Scotland. “Time”. Martin. Galway, Ireland. “Freedom”. Martin. Mayo, Ireland. “Confinement”. Mary. Mayo, Ireland. “Overwhelmed”. Meadhbh. Belfast, Ireland. “New Normality”, “Monotony”. Michelle. Cambridge, UK. “Zoom”. Naomi. Hampshire, UK. “Hope”. Nicola. Surrey, UK. “No Change”. Paula. Seattle, USA. “Patience”, “Befuddled”. Per. Karlskrona, Sweden. “Tvivel” (Doubt). Pratibha. Berkshire, UK. “Help”, “War”, “Well”, Opportunity”, “Bird song”. Rachel. Surrey, UK. “Help”. Richard. Berkshire, UK. “Fear”, “Hope”. Róisín. Dublin, Ireland. “Radius”. Sammy. Berkshire, UK. “Frustration”. Sean. Galway, Ireland. “Sólás” (Comfort) “Run”. Steph. Surrey, UK. “Invaded”, “Skeptical”, “Weary”. lauraquinndesign.com Instagram: @lauraquinndesign Facebook: lauraquinndesign To view the Home Glass Hacks video tutorials visit: youtube.com/channel/UCigrpdcjSFpfe0bJaud8ZDQ/videos Bibliography Adamson, Glenn. 2013. The Invention of Craft. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Sennett, Richard. 2008. The Craftsman. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Adrienne. Dublin, Ireland. “Loss”. Amanda. California, USA. “Patience”. Aoife. Aarhus, Denmark. “Fear”, “Stress”. Chris. Berkshire, UK. “Thrive”. Daniel. Dunedin, New Zealand. “Appreciate”. Eleanor. Surrey, UK. “Unsure”. Emer. Longford, Ireland. “Still”. Emma. London, UK. “Reflect”. Fanny. Lyon, France. “Thoughtfulness”. Fred. Stockholm, Sweden. “Time”. Gary. Dublin, Ireland. “Pleasant”. Jack. Cambridge, UK. “Beer”. Jenny. Karlskrona, Sweden. “Tråkigt” (tedious). Jo. Wiltshire, UK. “Awful”.

LECTURE

Gods and Monsters: Towards a New Identity. By Dr. Max Stewart

In this lecture paper I explore my own personal work and how it has developed during my research. My continuing investigations in Amalric Walter’s methodology and techniques, and in particular his colour palette, have inevitably had an impact on my own work and thinking. Sometimes it is just the clear understanding of where I sit as an artist within his tradition, and sometimes the realisation that I am new ground and am extending existing boundaries, which challenges my work on many levels - not least in it subject matter and in the scale on which I have chosen to explore it and importantly in my identity as an artist. My journey from there to here has been a disparate one: I come from a theatre background: I studied acting and stage design at university eventually ending up at the Slade School of Fine Art in London taking a Masters in Theatre design. Whilst there, and afterwards, I designed in London’s West End, and I also worked in France and Italy at the Palais Garnier in Paris, and La Scala in Milan. Towards the end of the 1980s I was asked to join the BBC and later Channel 4 (UK) designing and making classically musicbased animated films for adults and children. I worked copiously in animation, and won several prizes including a Peabody Award, International Emmy nominations for my work, alongside a European Broadcast Union Prize for ‘the most significant contribution to European Culture in the year 2000’. Whether in glass making or other forms of expression it is the adherence to a script, which communicates with an audience that appeals to me as an artist-designer. And I enjoy the foundational research that goes with developing a piece of work. By the 2000s I decided that I wanted some time off to recover my creative energies, and whilst living out in New Zealand I discovered glass making. I wanted to be a glass blower, not a caster, but with the absence of a good course in Auckland I took a casting course with Jo Nuttal, eventually moving into pâte de verre as way of expression of ideas and themes. I set up a studio with Diane Greenwood, a friend and colleague of mine, who was also interested in pâte de verre – although neither of us really knew what pâte de verre was. At that time in New Zealand little was known about the process and much historical pâte de verre was doubted as being that at all. In trying to establish oneself on the glass scene, I noticed that the successful casters such as Anne Robinson, Chris Cathy and David Murray all had specific identities in their work. I rapidly concluded that if one was to succeed then an identity

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Fig 1: The Hanging Man (From ‘The Singing Forest’. Cast glass, lead crystal. H 30cm x W 10cm x D 10cm (approx)). Photo by David Wotton. Image Courtesy of Max Stewart.

would have to be established, alongside the research into making and developing pâte de verre. The advice the burlesque strippers in ‘Gypsy’ give to the Rose-Louise character that to succeed you ‘gotta have a gimmick’ is sound advice. Following my theatre background, I alighted upon masks and heads as well as figures for their immediacy of appeal, and the exploration of the human condition that goes with them. It seemed to me that in searching for an identity the use of theatrical psychology could be a good thing. Artists such as Ana Maria Pacheco (Brazil) and Isabel de Obaldia (Panama) also started to feed into my consciousness at this time, alongside British artist Michael Ayrton, and Irene Frolic (Canada). I have never really been completely obsessed with glass to the exclusion of other forms of art making, so my pool of interest is disparate and wide. It is subject matter and the interaction with an audience that I find interesting, and I search out artists who deliberately have that connection with the viewer. Whilst doing so my gay identity also came into play. As an out gay man things are very much coloured by people’s perception of you. Living in a relatively tolerant heterosexual society such as New Zealand, being ‘out’ isn’t a ‘problem’, and it gives one a sort of power and ease, and confidence. I was at the time looking the gay experience in the Nazi concentration camps

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LECTURE matter became personal and dangerous. The relationship between what one sees and what one think one sees would be narrowed. And a thick soup of imagery was employed.

Fig2, The Sense of My Screaming Skin: Manifesting My Bi-polarity, 2010. Pate de verre. Lead crystal, metallic salts and oxides, steel, brass. H 45cm x W 45cm x D 45cm. Photo by David Wotton. Image Courtesy of Max Stewart.

Fig 3, And So (I Press My Lover’s Palm to Mine), 2010. Pate de verre. Lead crystal, metallic salts and oxides, steel, rope. H 30cm x W 25cm x D 25cm. Photographer: Max Stewart. Image Courtesy of Max Stewart

and had begun work on an installation project called ‘The Singing Forest’ about those atrocities. The research and its designing of it had a profound effect on me, and I made one piece “The Hanging Man’ along with some waxes of some of the other participants (Fig 1). Later this project was abandoned and is only now being resurrected. But its effect on my consciousness has had a profound one. My inner workings, whether they are gay identity or human emotions, came into play.

even if that audience doesn’t initially want to listen: Find another way to pay the gas bill. If need be, be a burlesque stripper. The romance of Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’ is endless and paramount.

When I met with Ana Maria Pacheco in 2007 she told me that to succeed one must stay true to one’s identity whatever it was. When I related this at the GAS conference this year, one well-established artist came up to me after my lecture and said ‘That’s all very fine – but what if you have to pay your gas bill?’. A good point. My only answer is that gas bills aren’t art. Throughout history the artists that achieve longevity or deliver a legacy are determined to make work that speaks to an audience –

Returning to the UK in 2005 and working on the Amalric Walter Research Project with Keith Cummings, the great pâte de verre artist and British Studio Glass pioneer, led on to studying for a practicebased PhD at Edinburgh University. Using the findings of the Walter project as a springboard for my studies my supervisor asked what I was going to make. It seemed to me that I could easily copy Walter’s work, but instead I should do the antithesis of it. Walter’s work is small scale, salon-based and precious. Its appeal to an audience was, and still is, immense, as the work is covetable and appealing. I decided I would deliberately do the opposite and create large scale pieces (often with complex internal cores), which pushed the boundaries of making and, importantly, audience acceptance. Subject

Evoking the Atmospheric By Jinya Zhao

Discovering I had a Bipolar condition around this time gave me that opportunity to start developing pâte de verre sculpture, which spoke in terms of the purely personal. The piece pictured here (Fig 2) is one of those first works. It directly expresses the emotions and chemical surges one has as one is experiencing a Bi-polar episode. All my pâte de verre work is made using a colourless lead crystal, which is stained with metallic salts and oxides during the kiln firing process to give the colours. Curiously, this piece acts as a metaphor, as in the kiln firing process the salts actions are relatively uncontrollable, and work through the glass to create their own visual effect - just as the chemicals in the brain and body are uncontrollable and produce their own Bi-polar effects.

My research by practice seeks to ascertain how qualities of atmospheric and sublime phenomena can be expressed through hot glass. In particular, the question of how ethereal and intangible qualities of atmospheric phenomena can be revealed, physically captured and translated into hot glass, so as to effectively convey novel and personal meaning. These questions are examined by conducting practice-based investigations. In this article I expand my research on atmospheric phenomena.

The piece in Fig 3 is an extension of this process. Manganese dioxide is employed with an opaque grey blowing crystal to give the effect of blackcurrant sorbet, or bruising, or kaposi’s sarcoma - an AIDS related disease. The effect is disturbing and confusing, and the mind of the viewer becomes troubled. The object of the work is a slave-boy, possibly in the throes of a sexual encounter. That there is bruising, or illness in the situation disturbs. That effect is precisely what I wanted in my work. To disturb the mind and confuse the eye. Thus, gods and monsters are formed.

The interplay between imagination, observation, memory, and atmosphere are contextually entwined with colour theory, aesthetic research, and the descriptive language of the sublime. This investigation is grounded in Modernist abstraction and colour theory (Josef Albers) and the writings of Kassia St Clair. The atmospheric paintings of J.M.W. Tuner and Mark Rothko’s boundaries of colour also inform this research, supplemented with the concept of vast and infinite space in traditional Chinese paintings (Ma Yuan). The installations of James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson and Antony Gormley and the literature of William Wordsworth, supported with photography of Maarten Vromans and the theories of philosopher Edmund Burke also provide theoretical framing and contextual reference.

Visual effects in glass are generally accepted as akin to the transparent, the colourful and seductive. Here in my work, I have rejected that notion and push for hearing the phrase ‘Oh, but it doesn’t look like glass!’ or ‘That’s disgusting…’ and at the same time seducing the view to stare at the work for longer than they want. That control is the actor’s effect. When I am able to do that with my work, I feel I have created my identity.

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Figure 2, Foggy, 2017. Jinya Zhao. Photo by Yunpeng Zhang.

The primary research method comprises studio-based personal experimentation with painting, varied applications of colour and density, as well as combinations and distributions of colour across the form. Tests are undertaken to explore how conducive levels of opacity and transparency might be achieved. Atmospheric phenomena are further explored outside the studio, where I reorganise my memory and my written poetry as a means to translate the intangible and sublime qualities of atmosphere, conveyed through glass, and thereby generate a new expressive language through the medium of glass. In so doing, this research shall provoke new understandings.

A rigorous focus on formal elements (such as colour, shape, form, balance and depth) is established in my glassblowing praxis. I explore the expressive potential in blown glass whereby the phenomena engulfs the viewer with the perspectives and experiences of the artist. Atmospheric Phenomena Atmospheric phenomena often manifest as optical phenomena, caused by interactions between the light of the Sun or Moon with elements in the air1. Many artists, including myself, take inspiration from this and seek to capture it. Some artists aim to reproduce this visually, through pigments and immersive spacial installations, whereas I chose to explore it through the attributes

Figure 1, Storm at the Mouth of the Grand Canal, 1840. JMW Turner. Watercolour and white highlights on off-white wove paper. 21.8 x 31.9 cm.

of three-dimensional glass objects, and through effects obtained via techniques that change colour and opacity. The combined thread in the works of these following artists informs my exploration of atmosphere and my experience and memories of place, transformed into physical materials. Through attempting to capture the beauty of being located in an environment, I see my work as an endless landscape in miniature. I begin by discussing how atmospheric conditions can be affected by diffusion between light and materials. The artist JMW Turner and I both focus on the observation of an industrial atmosphere as a reflection of personal experience.2 His atmospheric painting Storm at the Mouth of the Grand Canal (Figure 1) is indicative of his sensitivity to atmospheric effects. He was drawn to flashes of light, an interest manifested in his attempts to draw out the effects of smoke emissions from steamships and trains. Likewise, I am creating atmospheric effects based on my personal experience of industrialised China (Figure 2), whereby I express my experiences and reflections of living in a changing, industrialising country. I take Turner’s painting as a reference and expand upon 1. Ahrens, C. Donald, Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate, and the environment, (Minneapolis/St. Paul: West Pub, 1994)

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LECMOS

Figure 4, Non-Existent Existence 2, 2019. Jinya Zhao. Southern Illinois University. Photo by Jinya Zhao.

how he represents phenomena in a technique that boarders on abstraction. I would like here to advance my discussions of how observational methods influence the representation of atmospheric phenomena by comparing how immediate observation and memory recollection is predicated on specific times and places. As the pioneer of Impressionism, Claude Monet’s painting Impression, Sunrise (Figure 4) is a reference to how the artist becomes the filter of experience. Monet developed an approach to capturing changing, fleeting moments by painting from direct observation the effects of nature on his immediate environment that became known as en plein air3. Monet often captured the same landscape in different momentary atmospheric conditions, combining colour and light with atmosphere to achieve, as with Turner, a remarkable degree of abstraction. This inspires my use of colour gradation and sandblasting, unlike Monet’s direct approach, using cast glass requires me to recollect the memory of a time/place and to undergo a number of technical processes to conjure these qualities. I will now move to discuss how ethereal and intangible qualities of atmospheric phenomena can be physically captured via differences in scale. In Gormley’s installation Blind Light, he creates a thick and dense environment, conveying a disorienting background and large scale atmospheric experience, which effectively heightens bodily consciousness. These foggy white conditions are created using artificial fog, facilitating visual diffusion, similar to the sandblasting effects I employ. Gormley here utilises a large-scale and immersive work. In contrast, I work in a much smaller scale but also try to articulate the same feeling and

effect as Gormley’s work through my sculpture. We both aim to dislocate the audience’s perception, and in the way that Blind Light undermines architecture’s role in providing protection to people, audiences are invited to ‘enter’ my work’s interior space, analogous of being on top a mountain or at the bottom of the sea: an immersed figure in an endless horizon. Finally, I explore the combination of scale, memory and space through the monumental spirit of atmosphere conjured through the small paintings produced by the Chinese painter, Ma Yuan. Yuan focusses completely on the articulation of the different gestures of water, depicting it through the absence and presence of descriptive mark-making and drawings, all of which are predicated on his own subjective understanding of a visual experience. Yuan’s process is similar to my recollection of memories informing my creations. I repeatedly sketch, aiming to discover the colour and shape of memory, which inform the subsequent steps in my glass blowing.

Georgia Redpath presents at Area 253 Glassblowing in Tacoma, WA, USA.

In evaluating my works, I ascertain that the control and transmission of atmosphere is not contingent upon scale, and rather is predicated upon the colour, form, and relationship of structure, as well as its presentation and connection with surroundings. Atmospheric phenomena is elucidated through the carrier of colour, manipulated by the form and shape, enhanced with structure and texture of the work, and are constantly changing according to conditions informing the presentation of the work through time and space. The sublime is a quality of greatness which provides me a wider range of possibilities.

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Kiln Casting Process By Mark Abildgaard

The process of kiln casting glass involves heating plaster/silica based molds loaded with glass in an electric kiln. This process has as many different approaches as there are artists who use this technique. Each individual will adapt the process to fit their own specific requirements for creating their work. I have been kiln casting glass since 1986 so I have accumulated a lot of technical information, most of it by trial and error. People who were involved in the beginning of the Studio Glass Movement had always encouraged the sharing of information related to glass making. My intent here is to continue that tradition and share some of what I have learned through my studio practice and teaching experience in the hope that people can take away anything that makes sense for their own pursuit in kiln casting glass.

Clay molds for wax

I have been using pottery clay to make molds for wax. The clay molds are able to capture impressions in a similar fashion to how images are made in sand molds for hot glass casting. To make impressions in a clay mold I use bisque fired clay shapes to

create images of faces. I can also texture the surface of the clay mold with wood, rock or other porous organic materials. The clay molds are prepared with thick slabs so there is enough depth to press into. The wax can be easily removed and the clay washed off with a spray of water. (See figure #1 – 2.)

Multi-layer plaster based molds for glass

I have had success by using two different layers for the mold that will hold the glass. For the first layer I use a mixture consisting of: 50% - 295 mesh silica 45% - #1 Pottery Plaster 5% - EPK (Edgars Plastic Kaolin) The kaolin adds alumina to the mold mix which helps let the glass casting release from the mold with a clean surface. Simple 50%/50% plaster/silica mixes tend to leave a cloudy or dull surface on the glass casting as they lack alumina. I use this mix for the “Splash Coat” which is brushed on the surface of the wax model to capture all of the detail and texture. I use a plaster silica mixing chart to calculate the amount of dry mix to add to the water to get a ratio of 1.75:1.00 by weight. The plaster/silica mixing chart is available from the Bullseye Glass Company’s publication; Tip Sheet 5 for Box Casting on page 8. bullseyeglass.com/images/stories/bullseye/PDF/ TipSheets/tipsheet_05.pdf. I may need to mix several batches of the Splash Coat to achieve an even coating over the entire surface of the wax. I use a different mix for the second layer or “Jacket Coat” for the mold. I based this mix on one that was developed by Jerry Newcomb and was sold by the Uroboros Glass Company as Jerry’s Mix. My Jacket Coat mix has a large amount of loose fiber

Top: 1. Clay mold for wax, 2013 • 84 x 24 x 8 Bottom: Wax model , 2013 • 73 x 18 x 6 - Photos by artist.

Top left: Plaster silica mold, 2013 • 84 x 24 x 8. Top right: De-waxing steamers, 2015. Bottom right: Uroboros Totem, 2013 • kiln cast glass • 73 x 18 x 14 • Photos by artist.

glass strands that I rake out of fiber glass mat. These fibers are longer and thinner than chopped fiber glass strands. The fiber glass provides an extremely strong structure for the mold much like how rebar adds structure to concrete. The Perlite is like neutral filler that keeps the mold light in weight. I make the mix by measuring out the ingredients by volume as follows:

before the molds start to dry out. I will keep molds wrapped in plastic if I cannot get them into the steamer right away. When the plaster/silica mold is saturated with water the melting wax cannot be absorbed so it melts out completely and leaves the mold clean. I have found that the most efficient way to remove the wax it to use a water proof vessel that can hold the molds on a grate in a space heated by steam. A galvanized wash tub, aluminum or stainless steel stock pot or even a livestock tank will work. I leave a few inches of water at the bottom of the vessel to catch the melting wax which will float and can be re-claimed after it cools. I use wallpaper steamers to introduce the steam in the space underneath the molds. I have used a standard 24 inch washtub with a metal grate set inside to hold the molds and the top covered with aluminum foil. Two wall paper steamers with their hoses clamped under the molds will heat the space quickly. (See figure #4.)

3 parts White Hydrocal plaster 3 parts 295 mesh silica 2 parts Perlite (industrial grade) 1 part fiber glass strands All of the ingredients are mixed together dry. I add the Jacket Coat into water until it reaches a thick consistency that is almost like pudding or a very thick milkshake. Since I already have captured all of the details on the wax with the Splash Coat the Jacket Coat and be applied by spreading it over the surface of the mold by hand or using rubber spatulas. I try to have an equal thickness for both layers of the mold. During the firing any crack that might occur in the Splash Coat layer will not be able to open up as the Jacket Coat acts as barrier. (See figure #3.)

De-waxing the mold

The best way to remove wax from a plaster/ silica mold is to heat it with steam until the wax melts and drips out. This is done

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Firing and Annealing Schedules

I separate my firing and annealing schedules into two programs. It just works for me to re-program my kiln controller after the glass has melted and as the temperature starts to cool. The firing program is designed to bring the temperature up

slowly to prevent the molds from cracking. Large molds with variable wall thickness can crack if heated too quickly. The annealing program has several step holds to let the glass casting reach the same temperature as the air in the kiln as it cools. I have found that a hold during the firing at 1375 F helps to settle the glass in the molds and not trap air bubbles. A slow ramp up from 1375 F to a hold at 1500 F will finish the glass melt and avoid the breakdown of the plaster above 1500 F. The schedule below is one that I use in my studio for a variety of castings in open face molds. For molds that are not open face I would add a step to cool from 1250 F to 900 F at a controlled rate of 45 degrees per hour to eliminate shrinkage of glass inside the mold.

Large Open Face Mold Firing Cycle - 46 hrs. STEP RATE TEMP HOLD 1. 75 175 1:00 2. 25 300 3:00 3. 35 1065 1:00 (quartz inversion) 4. 50 1375 2:00 (bubble squeeze) 5. 75 1500 as long as needed (visually checking the kiln every 15 minutes)

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Large Open Face Mold Annealing Cycle - 35 hrs. STEP RATE TEMP HOLD 1. AFAP 900 6:00 2. 10 750 1:00 3. 12.5 700 1:00 4. 25 500

LECMO

Sally Prash was a relatively local resource and she was able to see her demonstrate and speak on numerous occasions giving her, if not technical experience, at least an awareness of the process and its potential.

Small Scale Large Impact By Jessie Blackmer and Kit Paulson Both Jessie and Kit rely upon flameworking as a major component of their artistic practice for practical reasons regarding shipping, mobility, accessibility, ease of creating and maintaining detail in their works, as well as the relative cost effectiveness. However, the larger truth of their small works is that they seek to draw the viewer into the detail and create a space of fascination, revulsion, intrigue, and beauty. They are creating moments where the distractions of the larger context fades as these tiny works focus one’s attention and for a moment become a world unto themselves and fill the viewers whole visual range. When we talk about contemporary tiny glass, we’re usually talking about flameworking. Much like the evolution of furnace work, while the equipment technology has changed, the process remains similar at its core. Ancient bead making furnaces were likely small earth and clay chambers in which the beads were heated from below, similar to contemporary Japanese volcano style torches. The heat coming out of the top of the furnace was enough to melt glass rods that had been previously produced in a larger glass blowing furnace. The technology moved away from earthen, wood furnaces to small oil lamps made hotter by means of foot powered bellows in the Renaissance. From the perspective of a modern glass maker, it seems almost unbelievable that such an arrangement could make glass hot enough to melt. A couple of things made this style of production possible. One was the comparative softness of the glass: think soft like Moretti/Effetre COE 104 or even softer. The other thing making this style of production possible was that it was usually practiced in close proximity to furnace glass, often as an associated cottage industry. In many cases, flame workers were not batching their own glass, they were using rods and tubes specially pulled for them by nearby furnace workers. So these little lamps didn’t have to bring the material all the way up to batching temperatures, only to re-melting temperatures. The resulting objects from this technology were delicate and lovely Verre de Nevers figurines, snuff bottles, Lachrymal bottles, beads, glass eyes, and scientific apparatus. In some sense, the age of reason and the beginnings of science as we know it were quite dependent on glassmakers producing small things.

We both experienced a shift from trying to make large works in the hot shop to works with greater detail and diminished scale while experiencing the frustrations of trying to do this type of work in the Hot Shop. As a result by the time we began pursuing graduate degrees, flame working was a large component of our work. Jessie’s practice includes flameworking in addition to furnace work, and kiln forming. Drawing upon the tradition of using prepared glass from a furnace she creates custom color rods, chunks, and tubes of glass that she then modifies on the torch. Flameworking has become the most accessible glass working process for her since the relatively small studio footprint and corresponding start up costs allowed her to create a small studio that serves in facilitating the daily possibility of glass exploration. Essentially, when Jessie has an idea for a new work her initial reaction is to figure out how much of it can be made on the torch and what additional equipment access is necessary to complete the work. She uses both soft and borosilicate glasses, depending on the working properties she requires and the desired aesthetic of the final form.

Kit Paulson, Lungs, 2020. Borosilicate glass. 13” x 13” x 3”

(think giant size scientific apparatus) but he’s also an exceptional maker of really tiny glass. Kimberly Thomas creates dark and amusing narratives with fanciful and sometimes whimsical objects within larger constructed dioramas. Jessica Jane Julius effectively uses small scale techniques to create installations with a much larger presence. Her flame worked components form massive volumes constructed from tiny elements. David Willis is another artist who uses small scale techniques to build much larger structures. His work moves from unimaginably small details to human size environments. In addition to his small scale flameworking activities, Willis also constructs large scale images out of layers of individually placed, tiny pieces of frit. Yoko Doi works to describe micro processes in nature using small scale glass techniques. Her work is often minuscule in scale but she also makes larger things out of small components. Kari Russell-Pool uses small scale glass techniques to make a larger impact in ways that are reminiscent of the way historical flameworking has existed as an ancillary activity to furnace glass. Her work often incorporates other materials in thoughtful ways.

Top left: Jessie Blackmer, Crushed (Detail), 2019. Blown, Kiln formed, and Flameworked Glass. 10” x 10”x 4”. Top right: Jessie Blackmer, Leaves of Three, Let it Be 2008. Blown, kiln formed, cold worked, and flameworked glass, Dimensions variable (each element approx. 4.5”x 2.5”). Bottom: Jessie Blackmer, Salmonberry Prostheses (Detail), 2007. Flameworked Glass. Dimensions Variable.

He uses small, repeated motifs to build larger forms. Dafna Kaffeman uses small components to create larger contexts and relationships between objects. Each piece demands the attention of the viewer with its detail.

Kit has developed a mobile practice that allows her to travel the world as she works almost exclusively in borosilicate. She has found the perfect way for her curiosity and desire to manifest glittering and ethereal works into a reality which is made magical by their very existence. Her Instagram is a record of objects one longs to hold and otherworldly constructions that reflect her intellectual whims and current obsessions. Kit was recently able to use the tiny scale of her production work to keep her online shop open while living abroad for six months. She was able to make more works while in Germany and pack 50 to 100 pieces in a box that cost around $20 to ship to the states. She also deliberately restricts the scale of her work to a size that she can safely transport home, by hand, in a small box on the airplane. If the thing doesn’t fit in the box, it stays where it is.

Moving forward into the contemporary we see many artists creating small works as standalone sculptures or as elements in larger assemblages. The following includes just a few:

Kentaro Yanagi makes mildly absurd, fairly giant mechanical contraptions built from small movable components. Working small allows him many possibilities for moving parts and it allows him to build up scenes made of loosely connected components.

Kiva Ford is perfectly capable in the realm of regular size glass

Youngho Park is a younger artist entering the world small glass.

Though our practices are very different, the path that led us to flameworking as a primary process are very similar. We both graduated from BFA programs with a limited to practically non existing flameworking component. Kit was lucky enough to be influenced early on by Carmen Lozar who was a graduate student during her undergraduate studies. She introduced Kit to the possibility of flameworking but it wasn’t until many years later that she really became interested in it. Jessie is similarly fortunate in that

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By drawing upon the history and tradition of flameworking as well as the contributions of our peers and colleagues, we will continue to develop works that push the boundaries of our materials and concepts, and share the knowledge gained along our journeys.

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Coldworking Glass with Diamond Lap Disks By Mark Bolick

Coldworking, which has been viewed as something to avoid or a necessary evil for years, has slowly become a more significant part of everyday glasswork. From finishing pieces to changing the entire design and look of a piece, coldworking your glass is moving out of the basement and corners of the glass shop to take a more prominent role in glass art creation. Along with this transition comes the desire to refine and expedite the grinding process. And when more and more work needs cold working, the coldwork needs to be more efficient. That is why grinding and polishing with a diamond lap grinder becomes an important skill to learn and master. While most glass education touches topically on coldworking, those lessons have centered around using a slurry grinder to lap glass surfaces instead of using a diamond lap for this process. While slurry grinding is effective and inexpensive, it can often suffer from long processing times and lost pieces due to the dreaded suction grab of the slurry on the part as you work. On the other hand, utilizing diamond lap grinders with electroplated and resin diamond disks can be more efficient than slurry grinding without replacing the slurry process completely. Many shops will use slurry and diamond grinding processes to achieve the fastest and most economical result on their glass pieces.

speed of a slurry grinder. That increased speed means increased efficiency in grinding the glass surface, too. Slowing down the speed on a variable speed lap grinder will allow you to control how quickly the diamonds remove material from your surfaces. This can be useful when working with smaller surface areas where fast removal can soon ruin a piece (i.e., faceting jewelry or working smaller millefiori). Higher speeds can be helpful when working larger surface areas that need material swiftly removed. With the abrasive locked to the disk, the risk of suction grab from a diamond lap is virtually eliminated from the grinding process. This also lessens fatigue on the operator’s part and increases efficiency with the ability to work more pieces without tiring quickly.

Diamonds are very hard substances and remove material quickly. The faster they move, the quicker the material is removed. Typical grinding speeds for diamond laps are roughly two to three times the

While suction grab is not an issue with diamond laps, hydroplaning can be. With the abrasive locked to the pad’s surface and water flowing over those diamond abrasive points, it is possible to use too much water while grinding and “cover” most of the diamond points with water. This is the most common hazard when working with diamond laps. The user feels that more water is better to help flush away the swarf created by the grinding process. This is not the best solution. If you use too much water and begin hydroplaning on the disk, you’ll feel like your disk is working well, but the grinding process seems to take an extended period, or you’ll experience random deep scratches on the surface of your glass. The glass is floating above the diamonds, only touching a few points. This increases the time it takes to grind down the surface of the glass. You can also put enough pressure to displace the water and “grab” a passing diamond point that will leave a deep scratch on the surface of your glass. Understanding water usage is the best way to effectively work with a diamond lap. You need only enough water to remove the swarf being created barely. Lessening the water applied to the disk to the point where the swarf begins to build up on the edge of the disk is a good indicator that you have just enough water on the disk. This can often be down to a slow, steady water drip on fine grit diamond pads like the

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To understand the best way to utilize diamond laps in your process, it’s a good idea to know how diamond laps work. The most surprising aspect of diamond laps, according to those who have learned coldworking exclusively on slurry grinders, is how quickly diamonds work. With loose grit slurry, you want the lap wheel to move at a slower speed. This prevents all of the abrasive grit from being pulled off the wheel head by centrifugal force. The loose slurry also tends to cause the glass to suction down onto the grinding plate, pulling the piece out of your hands as you work. At higher speeds, this happens more often and with more force, causing not only the loss of work but a danger to the operator. Diamonds, however, are locked onto the surface of the grinding disk (by nickel that is electroplated to the substrate or with a phenolic resin bonded to the substrate). There is no danger of abrasive removal from the disk, so centrifugal force is not an issue. Diamonds also like to go fast.

piece’s orientation, so you provide even pressure and grinding to all points on the glass. It’s essential to remember that diamond grinding is much faster than slurry grinding, so the techniques need to alter to keep your grinding surfaces uniform while you work from step to step.

resin diamond pre-polish pads. You’ll want to ensure you’re not building up large amounts of swarf on the surface of the disk and clean the disk surfaces well after each use to remove any buildup that has been created. With the diamond abrasive permanently attached to the surface of the disks, you’ll want to adjust how you handle your glass on the lap grinder. With a loose slurry abrasive, moving the piece around in a more random pattern on the surface of the plate would help move the loose slurry around under the glass and assist in grinding the surface more quickly. With the speed and efficiency of diamond disks, more random movements on the surface of the lap grinder will have more adverse effects on the glass, such as creating multiple planes on the grinding surface or removing more material from one side of a piece too quickly. You’ll want a more controlled movement on the grinding surface with diamonds. Typically moving in a straight line from the center of the disk to the edge and back with several passes, then picking up your work, turning it either a quarter turn or a complete half turn, and then moving in a straight line again from the center of the disk to the edge. This accomplishes two things. It keeps your diamonds on the disk wearing evenly by using all parts of the surface of the disk when grinding, and it keeps your piece level by changing the

Once you move to the polish stage with cerium oxide, you’re again working with loose abrasive slurry, so a more random movement on the polishing pad will help your glass surface polish faster. That being said, a good rule of thumb is to add the time you spend on all your previous grinding and pre-polish steps, and that’s how long you can expect to spend on the polishing stage. Polishing your glass will be the slowest step in the process, and being aware of that will go a long way toward tempering expectations. Getting your polish as quickly as possible also entails knowing how cerium works on your glass. Cerium is both a chemical and a physical reaction with the glass surface. You need friction between the cerium and the glass to accomplish a polish. If you put too much cerium on your pad, you are effectively making an oil slurry that your glass will float on top of. Too much cerium will reduce the friction between the glass and the cerium and make your polish take considerably longer. Less is better when you use cerium to polish your glass. Add too much, and you won’t achieve your polish, and you’ll waste expensive cerium. Use a small amount on your polish pad, just enough to see a milky white water viscosity around your glass when you polish (if you are using white cerium). Put a small amount of cerium on your pad when the water is clear. If you see solid cerium building up around your piece when you polish, you have too much cerium. Stop adding any more and scrap some off the pad and begin again. Learning to grind and polish effectively with electroplated and resin diamond pads and cerium for your final polish can be simple and enjoyable if you know how these abrasives work and the best way to achieve their desired results.

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LECMO

Lathe Riders - Pass (it) On

Experimental Casting II: Pouring Plaster/Silica on Anything, Whale Times

By Michael Bokrosh, Lothar Böttcher and Peter Kuchinke

In all of my 50 plus years as a glass artist I have never seen other artists collaborate using the same glass “canvas” and having it go from studio to studio around the world, in the way this Lathe Riders group is presently doing. It truly is both a shared autonomous creation of each artist’s creativity worked in their own studio & with their own tooling. This creativity is done without communicating with the previous artists in a way that is spontaneous and lots of fun. We do not know what we are going to receive nor do we know what we will created as we work on each “canvas”. We all agree that the most difficult thing for each of us to do is to remember to leave sufficient “interesting” space on each glass “canvas” so that the next Lathe Rider has room! It is unfortunate that for decades the Greater Glass community has minimal interest in the coldworking process as compared to our elder hot glass brothers and sisters. Yet through this “Passing it On” process some of the most interesting and innovative artistic communal work done to date in the history of glass art is happening under their slightly lifted noses. Now we all are witnesses to how the increased price of fuel has seen the upsurgence of coldworking in the hot glass sculptural environment for them to be able to stay with the medium they are committed to and for them to not have to abandon their chosen art form due to the economic environment. - Michael Bokrosh owner of Bokrosh Studio, Seattle

Pass (it) on Project for GAS 22

As far as I remember this whole Lathe Riders thing started with a first meeting 2019 called “Grit ‘n Wheels” at Sam’s place in Schießheim / Germany. Such a pity I was not able to join in there at this time for some reasons. So the first pass on project was meant to be part of the 2020 GAS conference in Boda/ Sweden. As everybody knows sadly it was cancelled because of this shitty virus! But right after our Lecmo “Secrets from the Cold Shop” for the virtual GAS Conference 2021, the Lathe Riders decided to revive that concept of team-working and having fun together even if we can’t meet each other as a whole group.

By Jacci Delaney

But finally we also took with us a heavy diamond wheel lathe for Simon and two young students from the IKKG Koblenz to give them some experience in the cold shop and about the glass community. Right after the beautiful first neodymium blanks came out the annealer Simon, Sam and me decided to give this project a first try in the cold shop. And even if this piece was not accepted for the membership exhibition it turned out quite well we think. Meanwhile Jenny Mulligan also joined the team at Simons colds hop and when Mickey told us that he wants to have some overlay blanks as well, Peter and the whole hotshop team at the wonderful Glassfactory Boda helped us to get some Swedish overlay pieces done. Great two weeks we had in Smaland working together, having fun, meeting a lots of interesting new glassies and for sure to celebrate Sam’s 44th birthday with a big hotshop party. Even if some pieces got lost somewhere during the whole sending process, finally I think two days before the 2022 GAS Mickey received most of them to do his demo glueing the final installation. As we all hope GAS should come back to Europe again (especially Sweden or Czech Republik) the Lathe Riders are already planning the next meet up at Bildwerk Frauenau in 2023 and maybe a “Glass Safari” at Lothars place in South Afrika in 2024. So please stay tuned for more activities by the LATHE RIDERS! At this point we are a bunch of professional cold workers from 9 different countries and for sure one glassblower. - Patrick Roth, Austria

The Lathe Riders are:

To get this party started Sam and me decided to visit Simon Holm and Peter Kuchinke (the only hotshop guy who’s part of the latheriders) at the Glassfactory Boda/SWE by the end of January 2022 to get some blanks done and send them around the globe.

Michael Bokrosh (USA) Samuel Weisenborn (Germany) Patrick Roth (Austria) Lothar Böttcher (South Africa)

Tobby Ritzkowski (Germany) Simon Holm (Sweden) Jenny Mulligan (Ireland) Jeroen Kuiper (Holland) Peter Kuchinke (Sweden)

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Welcome back to experimental casting where the most bizarre items can be turned into a mold for casting. The setup to do these molds is the most important part. Our goal is to make it as stiff as possible for the pouring of the plaster/silica (p/s). The object I am making a mold of is a stuffed whale with fabric flowers that I attached with Thum-Gum. I decided to use a whale because were in the Northwest and I want to go whale watching. Here’s an image of the whale with flowers after I started spraying glue on it. The first thing I sprayed on the whale is 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive. I sprayed this on the bottom to attach the whale to the board. This is a thicker spray and I will not spray this on the outside of the whale because it leaves its own texture. The next thing I did was I put some weights to keep the whale flat on the board so I grabbed some bricks. Always be prepared. I let that dry for at least an hour and then I came and took the bricks off. When I came back I started putting the thumb gum on the back of the whale because I knew it would be too thin for that to fill in a casting. So I decided to adorn the whale with some flowers. I found Thum-Gum with an A/C installer and they use that to seal around the hoses in walls outside instead of silicone. The technician said it’s easy to work with and it just gets harder over time and they get it for about $2 a brick. I figured I’d try it out for attaching the flowers to the whale. It worked surprising well even with the flowers being flimsy, the flower bases stuck in the ThumGum. Thum-Gum is from Bramec Corporation and there is also Ace Refrigeration/Air Conditioner Sealing Compound (ATG) Thumbing Grade. I chose the Thum-Gum because the name is fun and I’m sure I’ll use the Ace gum when I run out. It was better to use the Thum-Gum because a hot glue gun might make the flowers or whale melt. The next part is inserting the braces to stiffen the stuffed animal so it won’t move when you pour the p/s. I use Popsicle sticks, bamboo sticks, and wood stirring rods. For the whale I put bamboo sticks in the fins as much as I could. I cut a little hole with scissors or an Exacto knife to slide the wood in. I had a lot of trouble with the tail with trying to get that not to move or be flimsy. I suggest using as many sticks as you can for this. When I did the teddy bear I used a 2” x 2” dowel to go through the spine to the head of the bear. For the bears arms I stuck a Bamboo stick through the leg through the arm and that prevented the arms from moving. Also, it made it easier to cast.

To stiffen the whale were going to use Shellac spray. This is the finest hardening spray I could find that didn’t affect the texture and I used a whole can on this. Always apply it in little circles all around the whole object like the karate kid, wax on wax off. I lift the board up and spray sideways and everything. I waited about an hour between coats. It was 80 degrees outside in Ohio when I was doing this, so everything dried pretty fast. I did 5 coats of the Shellac and then I let it sit overnight. The whale and flowers are as stiff as they are going to get. Now we have to do the first release. I’m putting on Murphy’s Oil Soap and water in a spray bottle. I use about 30% ratio of Murphy’s Oil to water. I’m spraying the whole thing and particularly inside the flowers. Again I’m doing the little circles and I’ll pick up the board to spray the sides really well. I did that about 5 times and I left it uncovered because I figured if the water evaporated and left the soap on the Shellac that would work perfect. The next release is Mineral Spirits mixed with Vaseline. I didn’t watch to touch this at all and I knew I couldn’t mix it well. I used a drill with a brush on it to mix and it worked great. I learned this mix from my ceramics professor at OSU in his mold making class. I apply that with brushes but trying not to leave brush strokes. Since it was so hot outside it all seem to absorb in anyway. You can

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we have now is only 1 coat. I lightly sprayed it with water all the way to Tacoma and back to Ohio so that it wouldn’t dry out. Back in Ohio we do the Plaster Silica grog layer and that is still 1:1:1:1. This layers sets up the fastest because of the grog. At the conference I pulled the whale out of the mold. Here’s an image of that. This stuffy came with a dog squeaker in it. Here’s the cast glass whale. I mixed blue and clear so that most of the blue would go in the whale. I wanted the flowers to be a lighter blue. Its good that it turned out so well even when I poured the plaster/silica when it was too setup. This image is before I do coldworking. Here’s an image of the teddy bear from the 2020 Online GAS Demonstration. It’s interesting to compare the textures. Thank you to GAS for having me do this LECMO and thanks to everyone who came and asked questions. It was a great experience. Any questions please look me up on Instagram @jaccidelaney.

Top: Whale With Flowers, 2022. Bottom: Blue Whale, 2022. Cast glass, 9” x 5” x 5”. Photos by Jacci Delaney.

LECMO

Thoughts on Digital Technology for Glass Artists and Students By Davin K. Ebanks

Glass as a medium for artistic expression owes its existence to technology. Prior to the glassblowing workshops by Harvey Littleton in 1962 (which relied on new technologies and spawned the Studio Glass Movement), only glassmakers and designers working in factory settings had access. Nevertheless, for all its reliance on technology, Studio Glass has traditionally been focused on handcraft. However, recent developments in digital technology provide new tools and opportunities for the glass artist.

My Creative Research

My artwork explores connections between identity and culture. I use patterns from the environment that surrounds my homeland of the Cayman Islands. There is a visual connection between waves, ripples in the sand, and patterns on tropical fish that live under those waves. While researching my native environment, I discovered a new pattern, one I’d never seen in the wild before: the Lionfish, Pterois volitans (red lionfish). Originally native to the Pacific, the invasive Lionfish has become established in the Caribbean through human activity—possibly released from fish tanks—and they have wrought havoc on the reefs. I decided to overlay the patterns of Lionfish onto a model of my head (Fig. 1), asking a simple question: who is really the invasive species here? I researched technical solutions for this work. I could screen-print enamels onto the surface of sheet glass or a transfer decal, but even high-fire enamels lose their brilliance at the high temperatures required for blowing glass and they fade when blown too much. Then I discovered you could waterjet cut sheet glass. I had my solution: Instead of applying the pattern onto the surface, I would make the pattern in the glass. I would use transparent and opaque glasses to achieve various effects. Since I would be cutting the pattern with a CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) machine, I could cut parts to within several thousandths of an inch tolerance. This meant I could easily mix colored parts by swapping out various sheet glasses. The patterns would then be fused into a panel, rolled around a bubble, blown into a mold and hot-sculpted to create detail. The example outlined below—Portrait of the Artist: Monstera Leaf Mask—is a recent iteration in this series, exploring how various images might be used as masks that both obfuscate and reveal identity.

use this mix to fill any holes you don’t want in the mold, so that’s a plus. You can use straight Vaseline to fill the holes. I’m really trying to get in every crevice of this especially the flowers and the top part of the fin. While I’m applying this I realized the whale has started lifting off from the bottom. So I sprayed the 3M Super 77 spray on the bottom and the fins again and weighed it back down. This time I covered everything to keep it all moist for the mold pouring. I let that sit for a day again. Time to pour the mold! I’m using plaster, silica, and water at a 1:1:1 ratio. It’s the easiest formula to remember especially when I teach. I dry mix the p/s together to save time when I’m mixing in the water for a more uniform mix. For pouring the p/s mold were doing the splash method here and I let it set up a little too much so I had to drip it on as fast as possible. I always try to wear gloves because I don’t want plaster silica sticking to me, but the gloves reduce how well I can pull plaster up. The fun with the splash coat is your always brushing everything back up on the object. I had trouble getting the plaster to stay on the tail. After the first coat you would wait at least 20 mins to put on the next coat. The mold

Raymond, 2020. Cast glass, 2” x 11” x 9”. Photo by Jacci Delaney.

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The Process

Cutting the Parts • Generate the pattern in Adobe Illustrator, Rhino, or other vector-based drawing software. The drawing will be exported as a .DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) file. These files can be

Portrait of the Artist Redaction 17-05-13 Pterois volitans • Waterjet cut, Fused, Blown, Hot-Sculpted & Silvered Glass • 18H × 20W × 10D inches • 2013 • Photo by George Abiad, property of the Author.

read by most CNC machines, like a waterjet. • Check the .DXF file for glitches. Any break in the drawing or toolpath (no matter how small) will cause the machine to stop cutting. Most waterjet software has a tool to check toolpaths for breaks and automatically fix them. • Select which side of the toolpath you want to cut on. If you have a pattern with 2 colors, you’ll need to cut out both colors as parts so they can be fit together. For example, if you have a red circle in a black square, you’ll need to cut outside the line when cutting the red circle, but inside the line when cutting the circle space out of the black square. This is because the jet creates a “kerf”, removing material like the blade of a saw. If you were to cut directly on the line for both parts, there would be a space between those parts the width of the waterjet stream. This space causes issues when fusing the glass. • Select where you wish the jet to begin cutting. When piercing, start away from the cutting line in a section of the glass you don’t wish to keep. This prevents “piercing blowout” on the back of the glass from affecting finished parts. In our example, when cutting the circle out of the black square we would pierce the glass well inside the circle and move the jet to the cutting line. When cutting the circle part out of the red glass, we would start outside the circle and move to the cutting line. • Select options for material type and thickness. In my research I’ve used 2 waterjet machines, a WardJet and an Omax. Both are capable of piercing and cutting sheet glass. On

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either machine you need to pierce the glass at low pressure, sub-10,000 psi. If the machine you’re using cannot do low-pressure piercing, you’ll need to adjust your design so you can cut in from the edge of the glass. Most waterjets run at 40-60,000 psi; trying to pierce glass at that pressure will simply shatter it! • Secure the glass to the cutting bed. Do this gently, but firmly. The sheet glass cannot have any flex when secured. This flex puts the glass under tension, which will be instantly released in the form of a crack when the waterjet hits the surface (Fig. 3). I’ve had the best results securing the glass from one side only with wood screws and fender washers. Add a bit of foam or cardboard between the washer and the glass. • Cut the pattern.

Assembled Cold: Process of Lamination By Kristin Elliot My coldworking demonstration at the Glass Art Society’s 50th Annual Conference took place in the Museum of Glass Coldshop where I focused on the process of lamination. I covered materials needed, tools, equipment, safety and my own strategies for a successful lamination. This process takes well over an hour and half, so I brought along numerous prepped pieces of glass in different stages to help guide the audience through my Q&A style demo.

Fusing the Pattern • Clean the parts, making sure to scrub the edges. Waterjet machines use an abrasive to essentially blast their way through material. Typically, this is a garnet sand, which is not compatible with glass. Any residue of this abrasive will inhibit proper fusing of the parts. • Fuse the parts. In my work I’ve fused the parts onto another layer of glass, a full-fuse or a tack-fuse, depending on the tightness of the fit. If there is a large space (greater than 1mm) between parts, I tack fuse to retain pattern fidelity. For the glass I’m using—System 96—I use the following program in a top/side fired SKUTT kiln: 1. 250º/hr. — 1050ºF, HOLD 30 min. 2. 250º/hr. — 1250ºF, HOLD 20 min. 3. 300º/hr. — 1360ºF, HOLD 10 min. 4. 9999º/hr. — 950ºF, HOLD 1 hr. 5. 200º/hr. — 100º • Clean kiln-wash or kiln-paper off fusing.

Davin Ebanks rolling up a fused-glass panel at Kent State University.

• The surface you waterjet cut on is critical to successfully cutting glass. The best surface I’ve found so far is called “Water Brick’’ and is made of corrugated, high-density plastic sheets bound together to create bricks that are 4”H x 6”D x 48” wide. They can be stacked together to create a perfectly flush

surface upon which the sheet glass can sit. The advantage of this cutting bed is that the corrugations are parallel with the stream of the water (Fig. 2, far left) and allow the jet to pass easily through the brick without blowback that could wash delicate parts away. Water brick also has another advantage: you can easily screw a wood screw or lag bolt into the corrugation to secure the glass. Standard cardboard was used to help secure the glass—when the cardboard gets wet from the waterjet it sticks to the glass. • You MUST pierce glass at low (>10K psi) pressure. This means the machine you are using must be capable of dialing the pressure up and down. • If you’re fusing large flat areas and are having trouble catching large bubbles between layers, try sifting clear powder between layers. • If you have a tight fit between parts you can fuse face down to get a crisper line between parts. • If you want your pattern on the outside, you must flip the fused panel face down onto the kiln shelf before re-heating and rolling up. If you are using colors that are prone to burning or reducing, you could keep the clear sheet glass substrate on the outside as a protective layer.

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Rolling up the Fusing & Blowing • Preheat to prep for roll-up process. I suggest a slow ramp to 1000ºF (at least 4 hrs) to prevent the panel from cracking. NEVER heat on a wet/damp kiln shelf. Steam will become trapped under the panel and crack it. • Spike to 1150ºF in preparation to introduce to the reheating furnace (reheating glory) to soften for the roll-up process. • Roll-up panel, prep and blow your object. The example shown here involved mold-blowing and then hot-sculpting the bubble after the roll-up. Tips

To start, I introduced my epoxy of choice, Hxtal. I covered where to purchase the material along with tools and supplies you need to mix, heat, and glue properly. We discussed the pros and cons of Hxtal with the main con being cure time of the epoxy (usually 3-7 days). Over the years, I have worked on various projects and for numerous artists and have gained knowledge of how to speed up the cure time using a heated sand bath and temperaturecontrolled room. The day before the demo, I mixed a batch of Hxtal using no heat and another batch using heat to show how you can get the cure time down to 24-36hours. These samples were passed through the audience with toothpicks to show the different viscosities achieved by the different mixing methods. I then went step by step on how I mix and heat Hxtal using a crockpot full of sand and candy thermometer. This was done at the beginning of my demo so I could also show how to use a small vacuum pump to remove the gases and bubbles from the epoxy before laminating which takes around 45 minutes.

By this time, the Hxtal I mixed was ready to be used. I had various pieces ready for lamination. We went over gluing on a transparent light table, along with gluing on clear acetate for easy cleanup. The pieces I prepared were ground through 600 grit but still needed to be properly cleaned. I showed how to use acetone to remove all sharpie marker to prevent color bleeding in the lamination and A1100 solution on all surfaces that were going to be glued. We went over how to apply Hxtal in various ways for successful laminations on large flat to flat sandwich joints (horizontal joints) and smaller upright joints (vertical joints). Both techniques allowed me to show how to apply pressure to remove bubbles created by pouring the epoxy and how to get tight, gap free joints. We discussed using hot-glue and popsicle sticks for bracing along with my technique of using duct tape wrapped steel weights (again having less waste and easy clean-up). This was the end of my actual demonstration, but many people wanted to ask more questions. We continued to discuss many things about laminating and coldworking in general, repairs and various personal projects people were working on. It was an amazing experience to share my knowledge with our community as well as make new connections and gain information from like minded individuals.

After mixing the epoxy, I moved on to discussing the proper glass preparation for lamination. I had a solid clear cube of glass that was previously laminated with 3 stripes of grey sheet glass that I used as my main demonstration piece. This allowed me to show how to use machinists’ squares to get lines and edges parallel and perpendicular in a very precise way. I also used each side of the cube to show the different grits and surfaces you get through the process. The main machines that were used during this demo were 24 inch grit flat mills and the upright wet belt sander. We covered proper water to grit ratios, important coldworking safety, and how to properly seam/bevel glass. From there, I went over the final grinding step, hand lapping at 600 grit. Usually this is done on thicker plate glass but I brought along my blanchard ground steel top lap table. This allows for numerous uses and less waste than the standard glass to glass hand lapping.

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New Warm and Cold Approaches to Dichroic Glass By Don Friedlich Whenever I begin working with a new material, I research its visual and physical characteristics, but to respond with sensitivity and inventiveness to the material, there’s no substitute for the insights gained by working with it directly. The more I experimented with dichroic, the more I found myself turning with frequency and excitement to a glass that was earlier unappealing. This change of heart was cemented by the exhilaration I felt not only upon finishing my pieces, but also during the making of those pieces as I acquired new skills and developed new approaches.

Slumping 96 Glaass Over Borosilicate

Lumina Series Necklace/Brooches (4 views), 2022. The two sides can also detach and be worn as brooches • Dichroic glass, borosilicate glass, neodymium magnets, plastic cord with a 18k gold clasp. 3” x W 2 ½” x D 11/16”. Photo by Sanders Visual Images.

I’ve been making jewelry professionally for forty years and for the last twenty-five, glass has been a primary material. I’ve used all kinds of glass from crystal to float glass to borosilicate, but for the longest time, dichroic glass was one material I avoided due largely to its overpowering metallic palette. And yet dichroic intrigued me. Jewelry, when worn, is viewed in motion and one of my self-imposed conceptual challenges as a jeweler is to play with and call attention to this kineticism. This was a primary reason I had turned to glass in the first place. In some of my pieces, the material’s transparency and optical qualities integrated the clothing they were worn on into the composition. Other works took advantage of glass’s reflectiveness. Given that dichroic glass is simultaneously transparent and reflective, I knew it might allow me to work with both qualities in a single design. A workshop at The Studio of the CMOG with Sid Hutter on the use of UV cured adhesives, on which the construction of this series depends, was pivotal in persuading me to give dichroic a try. I also found translucent surface finish options that diffused and softened dichroic’s intensity and came up with slumping techniques that literally bent the dichroic to my will, letting me create forms I’ve long envisioned. All these elements coalesced and dichroic, largely from Coatings by Sandberg (CBS), became central to my work as is evident in my recent Lumina Series brooches and necklaces where the material, and thus the pieces themselves, appear to dramatically change color with movement.

Of all the techniques I’ve come up with, slumping Oceanside 96 COE glass over borosilicate sheet or tubing is probably the one that most flies in the face of tradition. I found that this approach produces crisper and smoother impressions in my jewelry and wall pieces than I’d likely get from kiln fiber board. Boro has a much higher slumping point than the 96 and this process exploits the temperature differentials, essentially using the boro as a slumping tool. Because the radically different COE’s of the two glasses would cause cracking should they fuse, I prevent this outcome by coating the borosilicate with boron nitride spray. For my jewelry, I cut the small boro forms myself, but for my large-scale wall pieces, for a recent residency at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, I had them waterjet cut.

Quick Drop-out Molds from Luminar Moldable Sheets

Recently, I’ve needed custom shapes for small drop-out molds. After trying three different rigidizer liquids painted on 1/8” (3mm) kiln fiber with results that were merely adequate and useful for only one firing, I switched to .040” (1mm) thick

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Luminar Moldable Sheet. I cut it with a Cricut Maker craft cutter machine that I also use to create sandblasting resists. The Luminar, which is available in four thicknesses, has endured multiple firings and even at just .040” is surprisingly strong. It can also be soaked in water for a few minutes and molded to complex curves or used to pick up textural effects. The performance of this product is impressive.

Converting a Diamond Lap Into a Grit Lap

Like many coldworkers, I prefer grit laps to diamond laps, but my small studio space limits me to a single machine that can go from rough to polish. So, I’ve long wondered if it was possible to have the best of both worlds in one machine. When I finally decided to spend the $800 it cost to replace my diamond lap’s fixed speed motor with a variable speed one, I had the ability to run my diamond laps at high speed and explore if it was also viable to use the same machine as a grit lap, run at a much slower rpm. What developed is a process I call “power hand lapping,” that starts with a round sheet of quarter inch float glass that a commercial glass shop cut 19” across, with a one-inch center hole and radiused edges, to fit my 18” machine. (As I learned the hard way when an earlier version cracked, the extra diameter makes it easier to remove.) To give the glass lap some tooth, I sandblast both sides, cover the back with 3M Feathering Adhesive, and attach an adhesive-backed magnet sheet from HIS Glassworks. The abrasive is applied with a plastic squeeze bottle filled with water and grit, used in combination with a water mister to spritz the lap when it gets a little dry. This process produces a lovely silky surface and allows me to carefully modulate the glass’s translucency. Because the lap is eroding simultaneously with my object, to make the lap last longer, I use it mostly with finer grits.

“Puddle drilling” using a ring of lapidary putty as a water reservoir. Using a Flexshaft Drill Press with a Triple Ripple Diamond Drill and a rubber tubing depth gauge. The glass is secured in a wooden jig with ends that can be adjusted in height to level tapering forms. Photo by Donald Friedlich.

Concurrently, HIS was working along a similar vein with Covington Engineering, on a recently available mild steel plate that could be used in the same manner. HIS also sells the kind of V-trough device traditionally used to feed grit onto a lap. Some artists might prefer this, especially for larger machines. For my little 18” lap, the feed angle was too steep, and I preferred the inexpensive squeeze bottle.

Flexshaft Drill Press With Small Diamond Drills

The best $140 I ever spent was on my flexshaft drill press, which converts the standard #30 Foredom handpiece into a precise variable speed press with a sensitive touch. I pair that with the exceptionally effective .044” (1.1mm) Triple Ripple diamond drills to make holes for pinbacks. These drills cut quickly and are durable. When drilling I smush a small ring of lapidary putty onto the glass to make a little water reservoir. I call this “puddle drilling.” Since my forms are often cylindrical and tend to roll when drilling, I often make simple wooden jigs to hold my brooches securely and squarely. Drilling with water can make it difficult to see what’s happening with the glass and to determine how deep you’ve drilled. For my pinbacks, I want to drill as deep as possible without going through the front of the glass. To prevent this kind of damage, I slide a small rubber tubing section onto my drill. The tubing creeps up the bit as I work, acting as a depth gauge. Every time I come up from the water, I can see how far I’ve gone. To my fellow glass artists, I wish you the best of luck in exploring dichroic glass and to finding new ways of using it. Thank-you to GAS for this opportunity and to Howard Sandberg of Coatings by Sandberg for his support, counsel, and remarkable dichroic glass.

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Lumina Series Brooch (2 views), 2020. Dichroic glass, borosilicate glass, 14k gold. 2 5/8” x 2 5/8” x 1/2”. Photo by Sanders Visual Images.

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Reclaiming Glass Sustainability in Principle and Practice By Celia Garland

Reduce Reuse Recycle, 2022. 6” x 6”. Flameworked Bottle Glas. This immediately recognizable symbol of the three pillars of sustainability, holds the foundation that we can build off of for a more sustainable future.

and roof of Notre Dame will have to be sourced carefully to ensure that their removal from forests doesn’t have a lasting impact on the entire forest ecosystem. Bottle Goblet Tryptic, 2022. Varying Size. Flameworked Bottle Glass. These goblets are each made from one entire wine bottle. By taking the bottle that the wine comes in and transforming it into a vessel that is made to hold the same liquid, I hope to show how our quickly the apparent value of glass changes. Each bottle goes from perceived trash to precious.

How Green is your Footprint? 2021. 8.5” x 4” x 2”. Flameworked Bottle Glass. This piece is made entirely from recycle bottle glass and reclaimed wire. The foot prints are made of individual flamework botanical elements woven together to form the outline of a shoe print. This piece plays on the idea of individual environmental impact.

There are those who say that glass art and conservation are opposing disciplines. I disagree. While glassmaking throughout history has had negative environmental impacts, deforestation for fuel, mining for materials and localized impacts of production, glass has also led innovation and made possible the world as it is today. As there is more and more evidence of how human activities are impacting our planet, the conversation around ‘Glass Art in the Time of Climate Change’ has never been more important. The glass community is uniquely positioned to take control of our contributions to climate change. Now is the time to reckon with our impact on our environment and to ensure that our collective positive impact is higher than our consumption.

of history poachers killed hundreds of thousands of elephants for their ivory, and an incredible animal was nearly pushed to extinction. This extreme demand for pianos was during the height of the Romantic Period in music, a period that produced many musical works that are still highly influential today.

I think the best way to delve into what can be an overwhelming topic, is zoom out and take a look at the larger picture. Before we can discuss glass art in the time of climate change, we could take a much broader view at art as it relates to environmental impact. The process of creating art has always had environmental cost, but this does not mean that we should not use resources to create art. Rather it means that we should create art with intention and greater perspective. Take the case of elephant ivory and the popularization of piano music. While much of the demand for ivory currently comes from overseas, between 1840-1940 the US was the largest purchaser of ivory. This came at a time when a piano in the parlor was a sign of prosperity in a rapidly growing middle class. During this period 70

In an even older connection between art and environment, we can follow that elephant ivory back to some of the most recognizable land marks in Europe. Long before pianos were popping up in every household, they were center pieces of cathedrals. Architectural marvels that still seem larger than life, but also hold a history of environmental exploitation. The construction of these colossal structures required that entire old growth forests across Europe had to be harvested. In 2019 when a fire broke out in the world-renowned Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, this history was brought crashing back to the present. For once the fire was extinguished discussions for the cathedral’s restoration began. There were many proposals on how Notre Dame should be restored, but ultimately it was decided that is should be rebuilt exactly as it was. This recreation of the original construction will now require a thousand oak trees that are each more than a century old. Oak trees are extremely slow growing, and don’t produce acorns until they are a minimum of fifty years old. Even once an oak tree reaches maturity, just one of the 10,000 acorns it produces in a single year, will itself grow into a fully mature tree. This means that the trees that will be harvested to reconstruct the collapsed spire

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At the time that Notre Dame was built and during the popularization of owning pianos, it would have been nearly impossible for the average person to see the large-scale environmental impacts that were happening a world away. Now with information readily available at our fingertips, with minimal effort it is possible to understand how the interconnectedness of our world applies to each of us. Looking at the relatively short history of glass we can see that glass is far from blameless. In just 3,500 years our medium has been a symbol of wealth, allowed for advancement in technology, and in some cases is now considered to be nearly as disposable as plastic. With a this many faceted material, spanning across a plethora of industries, it is not up to the glass art community alone to step up to the challenge of reducing the environmental impact of glass production. As artists though we hold an exceptional ability to both raise awareness and inspire change, it does give us a unique opportunity to have greater positive impact. Too many glass artists to list draw upon nature for inspiration just as artists through all of have time have looked to the beauty of the natural world. As artists learn throughout the creation process, an attachment to the source of inspiration is to be expected. In turn, glassblowers and other artists use their artistic expression to create the societal awareness that spurs real change. Glass has an intrinsic and seductive quality that draws the viewer in, this allows for difficult conversations around the original inspiration of the art to be possible. Glass is also infinitely recyclable, making it possible for it to become a medium that has lesser environmental impact overall. This is why I choose to continue to work in glass. It allows me to continually lessen my impact, explore themes that are becoming more pressing by the day, and reinspires me with every new thing that I learn. With a bit of history, science, and plenty of

The Wait, 2022. 19’ x 1”. Flameworked Bottle Glass and Embroidery Thread. This necklace is made from one entire wine bottle, the first bottle of wine that was shared with friends after we were all vaccinated against Covid-19 and could gather again. Broken down into 282 beads and crocheted together this necklace weighs 1.5 pounds and stretches for 19 feet before being looped back on itself. This piece is quite heavy, between the physical weight of the object and the sentimental weight of waiting so long to be able to share moments with friends again.

glass magic I hope to show why we needn’t feel that turning up the heat is inevitable. My current work uses recycled bottle glass on the torch. My first few pieces of work with recycled glass explore themes of conservation, in which the recycled nature of the materials is important to the piece but not immediately apparent. As I began to use recycled glass, I found that some bottles that would have previously been cast away began to hold meaning and sentimental value. The work made with these special bottles became about elevating this glass from perceived trash to precious. Working with recycled glass or glass that was not designed for artists is hard and presents challenges that include compatibility, limited color range, and less desirable hot working properties. Luckily glass artists have never hesitated to pursue something even when it is difficult, or else we would never have continued to work with glass of any kind. Glass is an incredible medium with a history of environmental impact and a future that can strive to become sustainable. The allure and inherent value of glass, combined with the limitless potential of glass’ recyclability and use, make it a clear choice for the planet.

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Thinking Outside of the Sand Box An Overview of Rigid Sand Molds for Glass Casting By Susan Gott One of the most contemporary, core-making processes for foundries, studios and schools is to use the sodium silicate/CO2 process, which creates a ‘Rigid Sand-Mold.’ In this process, liquid sodium silicate is mixed with the sand. Commonly used for metal casting in a foundry, the sand is rammed into a core-box and cured by passing CO2 through the core. Sodium silicate cores are very strong. Cores made from this process produce less gas and are less environmentally invasive than other processes. Cleanup is also easy since water can dissolve the sodium silicate. The environmental friendliness, ease of cleanup, and simplicity makes the process very simple to conduct. Recipes will differ for glass verses foundry casting processes because of the nature of the material. There are limitations or disadvantages to every technique and I encourage you to experiment with other materials. As an example, I mix 8%-10% by weight; 100 lbs. of sand - mix 8-10 lbs. of liquid, depending on grain size. For accuracy, weigh the sandbags and adjust the liquid sodium silicate accordingly. The techniques covered are specific to one manufacturer’s product, which I have found to have properties making it advantageous over other products and are specific to humid environments.

SAND: Grain size verses Mess Size.

Grain Size numbers correspond to the U.S. Screen Size, the smaller the number the courser the sand, just like sand paper. Don’t confuse Aluminum Oxide sizes, which are sieved. In contrast, Foundries talk in Mesh Size. Foundry sands and Olivine Substitutes are NOT recommended for this process. 6/20 20/30 30/65 50/60 60/80 140

Very Course Medium Course Medium Medium, (common foundry size) Medium Fine Very Fine (good for facing sand)

Mixing Equipment

Sodium silicate can be mixed using a variety of equipment. Small amounts of sand can be prepared using plastic or galvanized tubs by hand or kitchen stand mixers. These are very suitable for small quantities. Mullers, cement mixers, high-intensity mixers, and continuous mixers are normally used by industry. The mixture may be stored for future use in heavy-duty contractor bags. I

double bag the mixture, pushing as much air out as possible and keep in a heavy-duty plastic storage box with a lid. It is possible to store the mix for 4 to 6 weeks. Mixing equipment, screens, measuring tools should be cleaned immediately with water. If not cleaned, then a hard, rock-like deposit forms. The deposit can be removed by soaking it with water.

Packing the Mold: Tips

• “Facing Sands” are fine mesh, hard-packed on the face with course loose on back. • “Backing Sands” richer, thicker mixtures can be used as back up sand especially on large molds. • Richer mixtures can cause issues if it comes into contact with glass, the silicates can fuse with the glass • Put straws or injection holes into mold in difficult thick areas. Paper straws work great, creating “vent tubes” leaving a small hollow holes and the paper will burn out. • Over-packing: Gas cannot get through the density of the sand = “soft spots” • Under-packing: loose detail, sand is crumbly and you may loose detail in smaller imagery

Gassing Equipment & Chemistry

Gassing equipment is relatively simple. A cylinder of CO2 with a regulator and some type of diffusing system are all you need. The diffusing system can be made of parts from your local hardware store; an air gun, PVC end cap, and rubber pipe reducer, toilet plunger or an insertion tube with holes connected to the hose. A cover or heavy contractor bag should be used to keep the excess gas from escaping. Carbon dioxide gas pressure should be between 5-15 psi. Typical gassing times are 30 to 60 seconds depending on the gas pressure and mold thickness. Thick molds may require a series of small holes to be created in the sand to distribute the CO2 into thicker spots. The sodium silicate/CO2 process hardens through the following reaction: Na2Si2O5 • H2O(1) + CO2(g) > SiO2(gel) + Na2CO3 • H2O (glass) The binder in the B720 product is an organic cornstarch based, ‘proprietary’ material, which helps with the cure. It is non-hydro-

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scopic, which reduces rehydration. The advantage is molds can be made in advance and stored for long periods of time and is resistant to humidity. The ‘strength’ of the mold happens from dehydration, from gas forcing precipitation out. The silica is coming out of solution as ‘precipitated silica’ and allowing the water to dehydrate the mold naturally, which would give the best strength. Carbon dioxide gas is a weak acid and sodium silicate is alkaline. The acidic CO2 pushes the oxygen out and changes the sodium silicate to form ‘free silica’ or a silica gel, which binds individual sand grains together. ‘Over-gassing’ can occur when the CO2 becomes sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is brittle, so the mold will be brittle. In conclusion, OVER-GASSING turns the sodium oxide, that’s in the sodium silicate into sodium carbonate; i.e. soda ash... and the mold turns to shit, very brittle, falls apart easily, especially when you pour glass into the mold.

Alternatives: Catalyst System based products

Catalyst systems and sodium silicate use two part systems. The binder is the Sodium Silicate. Weak organic acids, such as CO2 do the same thing to the sand as sand mixed with catalyst and binder. Add 10% -15% catalyst to the raw sand FIRST, based on weight of the Binder. For Example, if using 25 pounds of sand, add 5 OZ. of Catalyst 10%-15, to sand; then 2 pounds of 720 Binder at 8%-10% by weight of the sand. Refcobond C15 Catalyst; sets up slower, estimate 20 minutes to half hour, other products may set up faster depending on the ambient temperature.

Catalyst Advantages

Resources and Suppliers

Refoctec Foundry Supply Orville Ohio 44667 Tel: 330-683-2200 refcotec.com customerservice@refcotec.com Lancaster Foundry Supply Lancaster PA, 17601 717-394-0753 lancasterfoundrysupply.com

Graphite

Weaver Industries Denver, Pennsylvania Jared Poff Phone: 717-336-7507 Jpoff@weaverind.com weaverind.com Reynolds Orland, FL (Rubber Mold Materials) reynoldsam.com orlando@reynoldsam.com 800-328-8786

Glass Notes By Henry Halem Henry Halem has an excellent section in his book, outlining rigidsand molds, mold-making, tools, mixing and gassing processes.

• No need for CO2 • Set time of couple of minutes to hours • Add the liquid binder and Make the mold = no storage time • Mix more consistent

Disadvantages

• Can not store the left-over sand • Excess is thrown away. • Hot day/temperatures, material may make it set up faster. Materials for mold/ glass separation: Acetylene Gas = Carbon = Graphite: graphite powders-flakes-liquids, Molasses, Other

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painting for snuff bottles. The combination of these traditional techniques and contemporary glass casting methods has created a new glass art form of inside-painted cast glass sculptures.

A New Model of ‘Inside Painting’ Casting Glass Sculptures

In the current development of traditional Chinese snuff bottles, many inside painters only copy and repeat some existing paintings or photographs, focusing too much on trying to make their pieces similar as the original pictures, but often ignoring the importance of the self-expression of emotions or concepts. Coupled with the rapid development of society, traditional inside painters often care most about financial income rather than technical and artistic innovation. This has led to a large number of poor-quality mass-produced inside-painted snuff bottles.

By Jianyong Guo

The art of inside paintings in snuff bottles has a history of more than 200 years in China. It is a well-respected traditional folk art in China that is part of its intangible cultural heritage. This kind of art has received wide attention domestically and worldwide and there are collections displaying inside-painted snuff bottles in many famous international museums (see Figure 1). Many private collectors are also enthusiastic about this art form. I started to pay attention to this style of art in 2012, with the biggest attraction for me being its exquisite and unique method of creation , which has also led to me continuing to study its innovation today. I am a sculptor. I started to study sculpture when I was very young. At that time, there was a river near my home. The riverbed was full of viscous yellow mud washed from the famous Yellow River in China, which was an inexhaustible material for my sculptures, making it convenient for me to create various mud sculptures, so I developed my interest in sculpture and my creative abilities. It was my dream to study sculpture at one of the several famous academy of fine arts in China. However, at that time, it was very difficult to enter the sculpture department of the academy of fine arts because the enrollment rate was too low and the competitiveness was too high. After persisting with exams for many years, I was admitted to the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in Wuhan in 1997, where I studied sculpture for five years and obtained a bachelor’s degree. During this period, I made many sculptures from clay, stone, wood, fibreglass, stainless steel and bronze (see Figure 2). However, I always felt that these sculptures made from an opaque material did not express what I wanted to say and my personal views through their external form. At that time, there were no glass courses in the fine arts schools in China, and of course, there were no glass studios. I tried to make sculptures with a clear resin but the transparency and texture of the finished product was nothing like that of crystal glass. I gave up after a few tries. Then, I went to Beijing. I studied sculpture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts for three years from 2004 and received a master’s degree in 2007. During my master’s studies, I began to learn about glass in 2006. At first, I made several kiln-cast glass works at the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University. Then, I went to Cangzhou, Hebei province, and blew 50 glass bottles using the method of flame working. I printed some pictures in the small

Figure 3. Waiting II, 2016. Blown glass, inside painting, 45 x 50 x 15cm.

My research has, to a large extent, revealed a clear creation method for the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese snuff bottles. Of course, there may be other people in the future who undertake innovation in other ways. My research has also provided new curriculum content for Chinese glass art education and a creation method that can be referenced by glass artists around the world.

After several years of exploration, I finally arrived at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland in the UK in 2013 and started my doctoral research project related to inside-painted glass sculptures at the University of Sunderland. As a contemporary sculptor, I am particularly focused on the smooth line rhythm and general form of my sculptures, which must be expressive. I also have high requirements for the content of the paintings, which must be consistent with the content expressed by the outside form and is a supplement to the connotations of the outward appearance that are not stated.

satisfactory blown and kiln-cast inside-painted glass sculptures, obtaining my PhD in glass. I also paint oil paintings on canvas, using these paintings as preparation for my inside-painted glass sculptures. I pay special attention to the harmony and unity between the external and internal appearance of a sculpture, with these elements displayed together and speaking together to show the strongest emotions in my heart (see Figure 3). The love between things is the eternal theme of my expressions. Everything in the world develops in the same cycle, with a beginning, a climax and an end, including life, people’s careers, love and wealth.\ The guiding ideology of my sculptures and inside painting is the harmonious concept of traditional Chinese Taoist philosophy. The harmony between yin and yang is a balance point for the harmonious existence of all things in the world, such as soft and hard, cold and warm, heaven and earth, long and short, big and small, and laughing and crying. Only when these opposites are in harmony with each other can everything in the universe live in harmony together. What is good must be retained and what is bad must be corrected or discarded. For example, in the face of global warming, we should be reminded of the harmful acts we have been committing. We need to act to protect the planet on which we live. I try my best to express and display these views in my works. Examples of these works are Dialogue (see Figure 4), Brilliant Life (see Figure 5), and Beauty and Nature II, which was selected for the GAS 2022 Member Exhibition. I am very grateful to the experts of the GAS Organizing Committee for selecting my work and for giving me such a good opportunity to exhibit it in the Museum of Glass to audiences and glass artists from all over the world.

After three years of hard work, I first practised calligraphy and Chinese painting in recycled transparent glass drinking bottles, creating hundreds of paintings and calligraphies. In the end, I mastered the inside painting method and I made a number of

In my inside-painted cast glass sculptures, I have absorbed the Chinese painting techniques, the hollowing techniques for inside hollowing, the inside sand-blasting techniques and the brushmaking methods for inside painting of traditional Chinese inside

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Top: Figure 1. Shaoxuan Ma, inside-painted snuff bottle, Qing dynasty (1901), Height: 8cm, 1945, bequeathed by Oscar Charles Raphael. British Museum, Registration number: 1945, 1017.318. Bottom: Figure 2. Waiting, 2008. Stainless steel, 55 x 65 x 17cm. Photo by Jianyong Guo.

glass bubbles in the centre of the glass bottles using screen printing. This collection of works reflects the events, characters and stories that I believe have played a part in the progress of human civilisation. However, I still felt that these works were not perfect. I needed to find a way to express my personal feelings more easily and directly.

During my 90-minute LECMO demonstration, many glass artists from different countries and regions showed great interest in my lecture and asked a lot of questions about my technique for inside-painted cast glass sculptures. Some even said that they would like to try it out when returning to their studios. I am very grateful that GAS has provided me with such a good opportunity to present my research methods and to exhibit my works. This has greatly encouraged me to continue to work hard in conducting this research, and in the near future, I will certainly create a series of more innovative works so as to entertain such a passionate audience across the world.

Figure 5. Brilliant Life, 2021. Inside painting, inside hollowed-out. 61 x 65 x 35cm. Photo by Jianyong Guo.

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blowing bars as a casting glass as well. Due to the density, the colors do not mix well, but some colors offer a deep intense color. The surface of the color bar castings is more matte than the gaffer and I also have applied a sealer to the surface during finishing. I have not tested blowing colors beyond a limited blue spectrum but have found that the range of transparent blues tend to have a sufficient flowing capability.

Glass Taxidermy: Casting Approaches for Surface, Texture and Thin, Complex Forms By Alli Hoag

For a more lustrous cast surface, I experimented with using Reichenbach casting crystal. With fine tuning the firing for each kiln, Reichenbach (high lead content) was able to achieve a higher luster cast surface.

This presentation outlines some processes I have used for the last 10 years and some testing I am currently working on. When translating natural surfaces to glass through the molding and casting process I am continually surprised by this magic moment of super vision, which reveals details that are often obscured.

Most recently, I have been interested in a more saturated, yet translucent color palette and the possibility of casting in non-leaded glasses. While I am still developing and learning more about casting thin forms with Bullseye glass, the cast surface, color transitions and color density have a lot of potential.

The possibility of casting thin glass forms began with looking at the potential within a failure point. In flashings where a mold cracks, glass can flow into very thin spaces, and gave reason to think that there was a possibility of casting very thin forms in a more focused way. Some advantages to thin casting processes include usage of less glass material, less time annealing, and investing with a thin layer of Ransom & Randolph 910 leads to using less investment material and less waste. Some important general “guidelines” to cast thin forms are consistent with traditional lost wax glass casting, but become more crucial to successful casting results: -Head pressure in pouring cup must be significant to push glass into thin spaces -Wax Forms must be gated so glass flows from thick to thin areas of the form. -Investment needs to be thin enough for heat transfer into mold and to easily remove after firing without breaking cast glass. In exploring casting thin natural forms through the lost wax casting process, I have made adaptions in the molding, wax working, investing, and casting process, which are described below.

Molding Making

When assessing thin forms in nature for glass casting, they are themselves too thin to be translated into glass through the lost wax process. While making molds there needs to be some steps toward strategically thickening the model while maintaining maximum detail. Examples such as butterfly wings have paper thin wings and are very fragile. The model itself is too thin to cast in glass, and we need to add thickness to the form. This is achieved through a preliminary alginate step.

Firing Schedule for Small Items (about 400g or less with pouring cup weight )

Aerial Vistas- Land and Sea (detail), 2022. 48” x 48” x 8”. Cast glass, steel, mixed media.

• Items that are too porous/have surfaces not suitable for directly molding in rubber. I typically use Smooth-On Algi-Safe alginate and pour alginate over each side of the butterfly wing, and then pour wax sheets of each side. I then take the 2 sides of the waxes and cut them out from the sheet and assemble them back together, to create a wax wing that is thick enough to cast in glass. At his point, one could use the wax to cast directly in glass or make a master silicone mold for reproducibility. I use Smooth-On platinum cure “Mold Star” silicone in slow set. For small molds, I regularly use the block mold/poured flask process. This allows me to open molds while pouring in wax to let wax into thin spaces and then pressing the mold shut quickly. Once Mold is cured, I use a steady hand and long razor blades to cut open the form with a small nipping action to create keys as I cut. This allows for easy realignment.

Wax Working

I use about a 30/70 to 50/50 mix of “Red C” (Sprue Wax) and “Premiere Bronze “wax (A little more rigid than Victory brown and less sticky) from Remet.

• Used for taking molds of items too thin or fragile to mold directly in rubber.

When pouring waxes, I open the mold and pour the wax so that it can enter smaller spaces, then I press it closed. The rubber has an elastic quality that wants to go back into its original shape, so it springs back to its closed shape. Vents are made of

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Alginate

Synthetic Reverie #2, 2021. Lost wax cast crystal with metallic coating, blown and solid glass, kiln cast glass, NSG mirropane float glass, music wire, mixed media. 14” x 8” x 22”

thin twine dipped in wax. They are usually connected to 2 areas needing to be vented and are self-supporting. The vent holes of the resulting investment are also used to determine when the mold fills, as small drops of glass leak out. Wax models are gated and sprued on a pouring cup, and then pouring cup is affixed to plexiglass square with some hot wax. This allows for the wax model to be maneuvered while investing to apply investment into all the details and underside.

Investing

I use Ransom and Randolph 910 and typically brush on 3 layers of investment with a dabbing motion, careful to wait until the previous layer sets up before applying the subsequent layer. I wait at least two hours before steaming and then immediately load and fire the investments after steaming. Investment is mixed with water according to manufacturer specifications 100g investment to 28g water

Types Of Casting Glasses

Gaffer Crystal has a lovely ability to flow from one color to another and possesses a pastel palette in thin castings. However, in casting, I have a consistent matte surface where the thickness is below roughly 1/8”. This is alleviated readily with the thinnest application of sealer. For a denser palate range, I have also used Reichenbach glass-

Initial Heat • Ramp 650 Degrees Per Hour • To 325 Degrees • Hold 3 Hours (910 Cure) • Ramp 150-200 Degrees Per Hour To 1300 • Hold 1 Hour- (Removes Wax Impurities And Organics) • Ramp AFAP To Process Temp Gaffer/Reichenbach

AFAP to 1540 hold 2:00 • AFAP to 1560 Hold :30–1:30 (Watch to see mold filling) • AFAP TO 806 (Gaffer)/ 896 (Reichenbach) and follow crystal annealing schedule for 2-3x your model’s thickness/ pouring cup thickness (I usually anneal with a 1.5” schedule and 1.5” pouring cup thickness) Bullseye • AFAP D/H to 1600 hold 3:00-5:00 (watch to see mold filling) • AFAP to 1250 Hold 1:00 (still testing this step- seems to cause a less lustrous surface) • 100 D/H (still testing this step- causes a less lustrous surface) TO 900 and follow glass annealing schedule for 2-3x your model’s thickness/pouring cup thickness (I usually anneal with a 1.5” schedule and 1.5” pouring cup thickness) Initial data collected working with Bullseye vs. Leaded glasses (still in progress) Even when annealing for pouring cup thickness and 2-3x the model thickness, more butterflies crack in wing. In leaded glasses this hasn’t been an issue. Initial data is leading to the shape of the pouring cup and form can be leading to stress. Potentially less angular, complex shapes can result in less breakage.

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

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Drawing through Glass By Su-yeon Kim During the 2022 Glass Art Society Conference in Tacoma, Washington, I shared my artistic process that combines drawing with glass. I use my drawings as a resource for my artwork. I have often transferred my drawings to other materials such as ceramics, glass, and printmaking. More recently, I started using glass stringers, thin glass threads as a drawing tool to create line drawings. At the Lecmo, I introduce my artwork that combines with drawing in the different art forms, such as video, installation, printmaking, and glass.

Introduction

I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. I studied Ceramics and glass and printmaking at Hongik University (Seoul, South Korea) and completed my master’s studies in glass at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2016. I returned to Korea in 2017 and continued my career as a glass artist. I participated in residency programs domestically and internationally; Korea Ceramics Foundation (Icheon, South Korea), Gyeonggi Craft Center (Yeoju, South Korea), Pilchuck Glass School (Stanwood, WA, USA), and Wheaton Arts (Millville, NJ, USA). I am running a private studio at Ansan and have been teaching as a Lecturer at Hongik University since 2021. I consider my drawings as my journal, implicit experience, and emotions of daily life. I often fictionize the image to create a drawing, and the figure in the drawings is sometimes myself and sometimes not. During grad school at SIU, I created glass works based on my daily drawings. For the MFA thesis exhibition, as a conclusion for my drawings, I made an installation of an archive space containing the collection of drawings that transfer into inflated clear glass. In this installation, drawings are shown by a shadow from inflated glass. I engraved lines and applied glass stringers on the surface to create shadow drawings.

Forest of the stools: late night, 2021. Kiln formed glass. 945 x 545 x 40 (mm). Photo by Jandee Kim.

Serobogi: dot-line-dot 02, 2021. Kiln formed glass. 380 x 480 x 40 (mm). Photo by Jandee Kim.

Firing Schedules of doing a repetitive action and collecting each impression of the drawing. I created a forest of stools from this series, and I would like to invite the viewers to join this forest and share and empathize with their stories.

Supplies for stringer drawing

• Glass Stringers: Any glass stringer will work. Glass stringers can be made in the hot shop and pulled from the vitrigraph kiln. I mostly use Bullseye Glass stringers for my work, which comes in various thickness and colors. I prefer a 0.5mm thickness glass stringer because I need to bend them easily with an alcohol torch. Thicker stringers or rods need a hotter torch, such as a butane torch or torch for flameworking. • Alcohol torch (or candlelight): You will need a small flame that can bend the thin glass stringer. Flameworking torch is not necessary for this process. I use an alcohol torch filled with denatured alcohol. • Butane torch: A small hand torch will work well enough to tack fuse your stinger drawings before it goes into the kiln. Also, it works better when you need to bend thicker (1mm~) glass stringers. • Kiln Shelf or a Brick: Thin Glass stringers get hot when you start working with them. Prepare a kiln shelf or a brick near your workstation to place the piece while working.

Forest of the stools: late night (detailed photo), 2021. Kiln formed glass, 945 x 545 x 40 (mm). Photo by Su-yeon Kim.

I want to keep the feature of the stringers, so I fire in specific methods to keep the glass stringers can stay sharp on the surface. The first method is firing the glass at a low temperature that can fuse on the surface. I used to do multiple tests and hold longer at the temperature. For example, I fire 1250F and hold for 50 minutes to keep the texture of the glass powder and a stringer. The second method to keep the glass stringer qualities sharp is placing the stringer down when you fire the glass.

of shadow. I also use enamel paint to achieve certain shades of shadows. I mostly use soft flux, a medium that makes color enamel paint transparent. Using the soft flux separately creates a clear glaze on the surface. Shades from the soft flux paint are diverse depending on the thickness and strokes of the paint. The shadow is much more delicate than the engraved lines. I create a series of shadow drawings on glass from this practice. The piece is only actively visible with a specific light.

(Schedule for Forest of the stools series) Bullseye Glass/ 0.5mm stringer + powder + 3mm glass sheet

Supplies for shadow drawings

Rate(F/hr) Temperature(F) Hold 370 1250 0:50 9999 900 1:00 100 700 -

• Glass that has a clean surface: float glass works well. Clear blown glass also works, but you will see the tool marks and texture of the blown glass. Sometimes you can use this textured shadow for your background shadow. • micro motor grinder: Dremel works too. However, the micro motor grinder has less vibration on hand, making it more comfortable grabbing the grinder. I often use a tiny ball shape diamond bit for scratching delicate lines. • Reusche & Co. D2879 Soft Flux: Firing temperature is between 1050 to 1080 Fahrenheit. After firing, the paint became clear. Soft Flux usually works as a medium to make opaque enamel transparent. When you use soft flux separately, it works like a clear glaze on the surface. I often mix the enamel with Arabic gum and water to paint on glass. Sometimes it fires in gray, and it is because it either didn’t fire enough at the desired temperature or the paint itself is too thick.

I have been creating a series of works, “Forest of stools,” since 2018. It was the first time using glass stringers as a drawing tool. I created line drawings of stools with thin glass thread and fired them with glass powder at a low temperature in multiple layers. “Forest of stools (stool series)” is a body of work representing continual thoughts. These connected and stacked stools indicate a constant thinking process. When you sit down on one chair to consider one idea, another idea pops up, and you move on to the next one. A stool indicates temporary time, which you can spend limited time on a stool because of its discomfort. Each stool is created individually from different glass stringers with the alcohol torch. Stacked glass line drawings of stools show the obsession

Tweezers: It is more convenient to use tweezers to hold or bend the stringer.

Glass is a unique material that transparency makes the viewer look through the material, making the glass less significant. This feature inspired me to develop shadow drawing on glass. I use several methods to create shadow drawings, and one is using a micro motor grinder to engrave lines on the glass. Slightly scratched lines create strong black shadows. I use 2mm float glass for the best results because of its clean surface. Using float glass, only shadows from the marks you made on the glass will be visible. I also use low-temperature enamel paint to achieve various shades

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Creating shadow drawing on glass

vessel behind the wall with which I am pushing the inclusion into; keeping a soft but constant pressure. I place the element against the surface of the mold and push it firmly into the clay about an ¼ - ½ inch depth. Keeping pressure from the opposite side ensures you do not deform the shape of your model too much as you press into it. I give each element a light tap to make sure they are seated well and do not wiggle. You don’t want your elements falling out during the mold pouring process. Often after placing the element a small gap occurs between clay and inclusion as the form tapers out. I fill this gap with a bit of soft clay to help the element stay seated properly and prevent plaster from running into the gap. Generally, I work from the top of the vessel to the bottom.

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Creature Habits By Alicia Lomné In 1989, I took a class with my mom at Pilchuck studying lost wax casting with Clifford Rainey. I fell in love with the process of glass casting. It would be almost ten years, and many path diversions later that I found myself taking a “refresher” course with Jeanne Marie Ferraro at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. During this class, we had a single project in pâte de verre, which I couldn’t wait to be finished with so I could get back to the lost wax. I dutifully crushed, washed, dried, and then sifted lead crystal with the rest of the class; the process of making our own frit. We used the wax positive of a rice bowl as our model and I carved a small tree in relief on its surface to use as an inlay. I remember the next week when we came back and took our pieces out of the kiln. Two sides of my bowl had slumped down even though I was “sure” I had tamped that glass very firmly in place. There was one woman in class who made a perfect bowl, it was thin, very well packed so all the walls stayed up, a lovely shade of green, and it absolutely glowed! I was quite impressed and captured by its presence. There was something different about the way the light moved through the glass, it wasn’t shiny but luminescent. It caught my attention, my curiosity, and my stubbornness. I wanted to try again and succeed. I will be forever thankful to Jeanne for sharing her love and knowledge of pâte de verre with us in that class. I spent a year experimenting, trying, and mostly failing at pâte de verre. I tried different glasses, different kinds of molds, different binders, and tools. My mom, Keke Cribbs, very kindly and patiently offered words of advice and pointed me toward different books or products I might try, including Bullseye glass. The first time I used Bullseye glass was the first time I had a piece come out of the kiln perfectly intact, no cracks, reactions, or pizza bubbles. It was such a rush of excitement, a triumph. For the next

pre-fired inclusions that transformed the vessel into animated and expressive characters.

few years, I kept working with the vessel form; pushing it higher, bigger, changing design styles and techniques, then changing frit sizes and layering. For every triumph there was a new question driving me forward, something new to discover. Curiosity and love of the process drove the work. Artistically I was still developing my voice,which is how in the early 2000’s, I suddenly found myself wondering…why and how did I become a vessel maker?! I was a sculptor…wasn’t I? When I am having one of these dilemmas, I find it helpful to return to language, starting with the dictionary. Vessel: Boat, hollow container, a duct or canal conveying blood or fluid. Historically the vessel is very important to humans, carrying us across oceans, rivers, and lakes. We use vessels to carry water, food, and all kinds of other commodities. Vessels run blood through our bodies keeping us alive. Nature is filled with myriad vessel forms. In other definitions you can also find reference to a “person” holding a certain quality being called a vessel. Reading about our history with the vessel, I started to change my idea of what a vessel could be. Changing my relationship to the idea brought about a new context for the work. My next burning question: How to bring the vessel to life? Thinking a little of Frankenstein and thunderbolts, I returned to the dictionary following paths of words, meanings, and etymologies. I found, Animate: Bring to life, give inspiration, give the appearance of movement. From the Latin Anima, meaning life or soul, and one obscure text said breath, to breathe life into. Now that was what I was searching for. In this Lecmo, I described the step-by-step process I invented (it may have been done before, but it was entirely new to me) of working with pre-fired inclusions. The pieces created embodied the idea of vessel as a creature. Breathing life into the glass required the pieces to have bellies, haunches, spines, and, sometimes spikes, scales, or wings. It was the addition of those

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Pre-fired inclusions: Working with clay I form the model of what will become the protruding spikes, scales, or wing forms. When designing the model, I always keep in mind the point of attachment, where the inclusion fuses to the body of the vessel. I make this part thicker so there is a greater surface area and point of strength. After the models are formed, I adhere them to plexiglass with an extra depth of clay, which then forms a reservoir. Next, I pour a 50/50 (pottery plaster #1 and 220 mesh silica) refractory mold of the models. I always create more elements than I need knowing I might want to play with slightly different shapes, sizes, and design layouts. After the mold has hardened the clay is removed and the mold is washed clean. The molds are then filled with powdered and fritted glass. I often first apply powdered glass to the surface of the mold in a designed pattern, which I then back fill with a larger frit size. The filled mold is placed in the kiln and fired. I fire at 1450-1500 for 20-30 minutes so the elements are solid cast. You get the best results with a piece that is fully fired. I then cold work each element to completion. I try to avoid having to do any cold working once they are fused to the vessel body. Model: Generally, I work with clay. As I build my model, I work hollow using the method of coil building. I try to keep the thickness of my walls uniform and approximately 1 inch thick. This gives the model strength and keeps it from deforming when you later push the pre-fired elements into it. When the form is complete, I let it air dry for an hour or two. This drying time is very dependent on your clay body, and the weather. The clay should be firm to the touch but not at all dry, close to “leather hard”. I finish the surface of the clay as I would want it to be in a finished model. Placing Inclusions: While the vessel model is drying, I sort through my pre-fired elements finding the best ones and setting aside ones that won’t work. Working on the table top I arrange them in the approximate pattern in which they will be placed. When I am ready to begin attaching elements, I place one hand inside the

Pouring the mold: After the model is complete, I place another 1 inch coil of clay in the center of a plexiglass board. I flip my model upside down on top of this coil and adhere it to the plexiglass with the edges of the coil flanging outward, this opens the mouth of the mold, so you have better access to the interior. The mold is poured in two layers of 50/50 plaster/silica with the addition of fiberglass mat in the second layer. The first layer is poured over the model forming a thin, approximately ¼”, layer and then carefully brushed on over the protruding inclusions. The idea is to keep an even layer over everything and not to bury the inclusions in a thick wall of mold material. While the first layer sets up, I combine the second batch of refractory mix. The fiberglass mat is dipped into the wet mixture and then agitated to loosen it so that it will cohere to the first layer without forming air bubbles. You build it as one would casting a broken bone, just one layer thick but taking care to overlap your ends and not have any gaps in coverage. The mold and glass: Once the mold is hardened, the clay removed, and the mold washed, it is important to check for clay lodged on the underside of the inclusion. I use a dental mirror to see the side facing away from me. At this stage I have not let the mold dry completely, I wrap the mold in damp paper towels and a layer of plastic to maintain a damp mold surface while I place the glass. Using small enameling sifters, I can apply powder to the mold surface in fine lines which are then formed more precisely with wet paint brushes. Eventually I cover the whole surface of the mold with powder. I then take a larger frit size (01) and mix it with gum arabic and water. This creates a paste which I build up in thin layers (3) over the powder. I use a variety of metal and wooden tools including spoons to “tamp” the glass very firmly to the walls of the mold. I complete an entire layer before starting a new one, as I come to the inclusions, I first bring the glass around them and with subsequent layers they become fully covered. When all the glass has been placed and the interior has been smoothed, I mix silica sand with water and then carefully tamp a layer of sand over the top of my glass before filling the rest of the cavity with Talc. The sand acts as a vapor barrier allowing moisture to escape past the talc in the drying and heating process. Filling the interior with talc helps to hold the walls of glass in place through the firing process. After firing…much careful excavation around the inclusion points!

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE • TACOMA, WASHINGTON, USA

LECMO

Beyond Binary Bling: Incorporating Digital Fabrication in the Hot Shop Classroom By Erin Taylor and Angus Powers

During the Spring 2022 semester at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, Erin Taylor and Angus Powers co-taught a Junior-level glassblowing course, ‘Digital Glass Blowing, Beyond Binary Bling,’ that integrated digital fabrication techniques. This was the first time this type of course has been taught at the University. Their presentation at the 2022 GAS Conference, ‘Between Here and There’, gave an overview of the creation of this course, the course assignments, technical development, technical approaches to the assignments, and student outcomes.

Background

The ‘Digital Glass Blowing’ course incorporates Erin Taylor’s background in art, architecture, glass, and digital fabrication with Angus Power’s experience in glassblowing and wizardry. Erin Taylor currently serves as the Digital Fabrication Lab Specialist for the School of Art and Design and the Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Kansas, then worked in the architecture field for over fifteen years. During this time, Erin was introduced to glass working at City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. While earning his MFA with glass specialization at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, he drew on his background in architecture and digital fabrication to help establish the Subtractive and Additive Maker (S.A.M.) Lab for the School of Art and Design. His work uses digital fabrication and glass to create custom-built light projectors for immersive light installations. Erin then worked at University of Cincinnati as a Digital Fabrication Specialist at the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) and as a technician at the University’s new campus makerspace. While at UC, he did extensive research into integrating digital fabrication technology with traditional craft methodologies such as bronze casting. This research was instrumental in the development of the ‘Digital Glass Blowing’ course at Alfred University. Angus Powers, Professor of Glass, is currently the Glass Area Head in the Sculpture and Dimensional Studies Division at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Angus attended the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University where he earned his BFA and received his Masters of Fine Art degree from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. His work presents as functional and sculptural, with a playful use

Beyond Binary Bling, Erin Taylor and Angus Powers, 2022. Detail of Vessel. Blown and stamped glass. Dimensions variable. Photo by Erin Taylor.

of glass, light, technology, craft, and design. Angus has done considerable exploration at The New York State College of Ceramics working with machinist David Greene to prototype CNC molds for glass blowing. The molds were designed in Solid Works and then milled in-house either in steel (to be cork lined) or graphite. He had intended this be the focus of his sabbatical in 2020; however, his research stopped abruptly with the onset of the pandemic shutdown. That is when he began working with 3D modeling software and 3D printing of functional forms using PLA (polyactic acid, a bio-plastic) and an FDM (fused deposition modeling) printer. This work led directly to the collaboration with Erin and the creation of the digital curriculum for glass students at Alfred University. It was clear that combining their expertise would be beneficial to the students looking for innovation in the hot shop.

Laser Cut Stencils

The first project in ‘Digital Glass Blowing’ was ‘Dot +/- Line = Pattern.’ With this technique laser-cut stencils are used to sift fine glass powders into complex patterns for rollups. The project began with students sketching patterns using dots and lines. These sketches were refined and the designs were transferred to vector drawings in Illustrator. An 80 watt CO2 Epilog laser cutter was used to cut the patterns into a paperbased material to make a stencil. To prepare the pattern for the pickup in the hot shop, glass powder was sifted onto kiln shelves through the laser-cut stencil in a dedicated powder booth. Special attention was paid to the safety aspects of using glass powder. This included wearing nitrile

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Rhino CAD’s Heightfield Command, Erin Taylor and Angus Powers, 2022. Using Rhino CAD’s heightfield command to take 2D images and transform into 3D models. Photo by Erin Taylor.

gloves, N-95 or KN-95 respirators, and cleanup using a shop vac outfitted with a HEPA filter. For the rollup, the kiln shelves were placed under the ventilation hood to reduce exposure to any off-gassing. After the pattern was rolled onto a fresh gather, it can be blown and shaped into an infinite variety of forms that meet a student’s design objectives.

3D Printed Bronze Prunts

The second ‘Digital Glass Blowing’ project, ‘Bring the Bling’, involved creating a CAD (computer aided design) model, 3D printing the design, casting the design in bronze, then using this bronze stamp to make impressions in a glass bubble. The process began by having students bring in five black and white images. Those images where then extruded into three dimensions using Rhino CAD’s heightfield command. Heightfield creates a surface mesh that can then be turned into a solid form for 3D printing. These designs were then 3D printed on a Prusa MK3S+ printer using PLA filament. As a result of the heightfield command having limitations, some students modeled their designs from scratch in Rhino. Prior to turning the design into a bronze prunt, the 3D prints were tested by pressing them into clay. This review created a feedback loop where designs could be visualized and modified if required before converting the 3D print into a finished bronze prunts. After the finalized designs were printed, work moved to the foundry process to convert the 3D printed plastic into metal. The

Top: Finished Bronze Stamp, Isabella Dorozynski, 2022. Finished bronze stamp detail, bronze and wood. 1 1/4” diameter. Photo by Angus Powers. Bottom: Adeye Jean-Baptiste, Erin Taylor and Henry Jackson-Spieker, 2022. Stamping final form during demo. Photo by Angus Powers.

models are sprued and then invested in plaster using a vacuum chamber. After burning out the PLA in a kiln, each mold was centrifuge cast in bronze and cleaned up. The stamps were then drilled and threaded to add a handle.

Research and Appropriation

During the course we had discussions and reading assignments

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Homosilica: Glass is Still Gay. Performance at the 2022 International Glass Art Society Conference By Grace Whiteside and Liesl Schubel Presenters: Grace Whiteside and Liesl Schubel In Collaboration with: Anna Mlasowsky Featuring: Hannah Bowlus, KP, Alexander Rosenberg Documentation by: Alyssa Radtke

Left to right Erin Taylor, Henry Jackson-Spieker, Adeye Jean-Baptiste, Alex Young, Angus Powers, and Tom Ryder. 2022, demonstration at CMOG Mobile Hot Shop.

related to cultural appropriation. We wanted to share concepts of appropriation with the students as they are in the developing stages of their creative endeavors. We encourage everyone to review some of the resources in our bibliography on the topic. As part of class research, Susie Silbert, Curator of Postwar & Contemporary Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, gave the class a tour of the collection. The emphasis of the visit was on ornamentation (bling) and discussion of cultural appropriation when viewing the Corning galleries. Many thanks to Susie Silbert, Harry Seaman, and to The Corning Museum of Glass for their time and expertise!

Demonstration

The GAS conference lecture/demonstration was composed of live glass blowing and a corresponding slide show presentation illustrating techniques we developed for the ‘Digital Glass Blowing’ course. It covered the digital fabrication process, students’ exploration of these techniques in the studio, as well as student outcomes in their final projects. The demo piece we created was a large cloud-blown form that was decorated (blinged) with a powder pickup and a combination stamped surface and bits using the custom prunts. Special thanks to Henry Jackson-Spieker (MFA Alfred 2022), Alex Young (BFA Alfred 2022), and Adeye Jean-Baptiste (Rising Senior Alfred BFA) for assisting with the demonstration!

Conclusion

Ultimately, our aim is to promote collaborative teaching and to show that there are many possibilities when combining traditional craft methods with emerging digital fabrication techniques. We realize we are fortunate to have extensive resources at Alfred University; however, many of the hot shop and digital fabrication processes demonstrated could be replicated in some form at other hot glass programs in higher education. Bibliography Brüderlin, Markus. Ornament and Abstraction, The Dialog Between non Western, modern and contemporary art. Bramsche: Rasch, 2001. Cutler, Vanessa. New Technologies in Glass. London: A&C Black, 2012. Doczi, György. El poder de los límites, Proporciones armónicas en la naturaleza, el arte y la arquitectura. Boulder: Shambala Publications, 1981. Jones, Owen. The Grammar of Ornament. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1972. Lee, Joe. “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Cultural Appropriation.” June 18, 2018. https://medium.com/@ClockworkF/what-we-dont-talk-about when-we-talkabout-cultural-appropriation-e8ead79a6117. Lee, Joe. “Why Appropriation is Offensive.” January 20, 2020. https://medium.com/@ClockworkF/why-appropriation-is offensive5c006a067224. Lee, Joe (@clockworkfeathers). “An Open Letter to NCECA, To whom it may concern.” August 24, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/p/ CESPY2mn8DR/?hl=en. Lee, Joe (@clockworkfeathers). “Regarding NCECA’s upcoming 2020 [sic] “Fertile Ground” conference in Sacramento.’ March 10, 2022. https://www.instagram.com/p/ Ca8Heu6Aa-J/.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

This interdisciplinary hot glass performance invited viewers to investigate the fluidity of glass through the lens of queer identity. Homosilica is the characterization of glass’s nonbinary/queer properties such as its ambiguous state of matter and willingness to stick to itself. This performance was a part of an ongoing series and focused on the idea of queer visibility within the glass community. Through the platform of a TV Talk show the guest of honor, Homosilica (in the form of various personified glass bodies) dives into their experiences of past performances and what it is like being a queer material in the field of glass. The repeating visual of greenscreen stood in representation of recent governmental attempts of queer and trans erasure. Glass being a queer material may be subjective, but scientifically accurate, providing an inclusive entry point into working with this material that may be averse to the bodies that have occupied the majority of hot shop spaces in the past. This performance aimed to create a new, queered space within the parameters of a typical hot shop.

Characters

The Interviewer: Grace, A very charismatic, cheezy, slapstick host, makes a lot of side smiles and uses a lot of sarcasm. Homosilica Voice and Tech Support: Liesl via computer voice Homosilica Activators: Anna, Hannah, KP Commercial Voiceovers: Alexander Rosenberg

Performance Script Excerpts

Interviewer (INT): Thank you all for coming out to the premiere of our new talk show series, Homosilica Tells All and we are here today with the star of Homosilica: Glass is Gay, Homosilica themselves. Throughout the show, we will also get an insight to some of Homosilica’s favorite products, play some games and we have a very special musical guest - surprise! It’s also Homosilica! Just a little background on Homosilica before we get into it. They made their debut appearance on the very intimate Documentary series, Homosilica: Glass is Gay which premeired at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City as a part of the Glass Meets Future Film Festival. Their vulnerability touched viewers, as they exposed themselves over and over, revealing intimate truths surrounding their identity and sexual orientation as a member of

the silica glass family. In this film, Homosilica, and I quote, “came out stringers a blazing,” leaving stigmas at the door and inviting us into scenes of double penetration, unclogging pipes, and gleefing. Please give a big hand in welcoming the one and only Homosilica. Grace proceeds to hug the bubble, bursting it into shards and apologizing for messing up their hair. Liesl responds to a few opening questions via computer talk to text. A recap of the 2021 Homosilica performance at MAD is played. The Interviewer continues to interview the Homosilica Specimen about their experience in these previous encounters. INT: Simple as that, right? I mean I remember the first time I saw myself on TV I was like, woah, where are the blinders here ha. But it’s so true, I mean, your vulnerability is so evident and appreciated, so thank you for that. So in this film I mean we all really got a chance to not only meet you for the first time but also get a good understanding of who you really are. Would you say that this is an accurate depiction? Did we miss anything? I guess what I am trying to ask is How do YOU really see yourself, Homosilica? Homosilica (HS): I am a non binary amorphous solid, I am chemically queer but the most important part of my identity is that I am extremely fluid. Some days I wake up and I look IN myself, a.k.a. the mirror, and say, today, Homosilica, I want to be a reticello vase with fancy handles. And then that’s what I become. But you know other days it’s different and I just want to be a shattered iphone screen, dropped so many times I forget who I am. And people will judge you and tell you that you are supposed to be this or that. That you aren’t round enough, straight enough, hot enough, but that’s all talk. On the inside I am a hard, brittle, majority silica substance and the rest is just objective. I am a nonbinary, non monogamous, queer material and those are just facts. They can’t be stripped away regardless of what form I take. INT: You really are an inspiration, I mean it is rare to come across someone or something so confident and sure of it/themselves (wait - what are your preferred pronouns by the way?) HS: Oh, um, they are Gloop/ Glosh/ Gloosh. Thanks for asking. The Homosilica Specimen continues to demonstrate acts that were

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LECMO hence the documentary, in order to create space for other, perhaps more closeted, homosilica specimens. INT: And so is it about inhabiting space? Where do you find yourselves most comfortable? What does your home look like? Drapes and decor? We want to know it all!

Grace Whiteside and Liesil Schubel present “Homosilica: Glass is Gay” inside Area 253 Glassblowing as a part of Tacoma 2022.

performed in these videos, exercising their tactile fluidity and queerness to the audience. The Interviewer continues to ask harder and more pointed questions. INT: Are there any challenges that you face being Homosilica in the field of glass? HS: Well, I am often looked at as an outsider from other glasses even though we are chemically the same. It is all about perspective and you know, me coming out as Homosilica can really make some heteronormative species uncomfortable. They may feel like me living my best life is challenging their identity. They are fragile and don’t know themselves. Because of this I am treated differently. But you know, at the end of the day, it’s not about them. They are selfish actors whose feelings are unknown to them. All the while we are all a part of the same silica family. INT: Is there a particular look or gesture that one could point out that would separate Homosilica from other Glass? HS: You know, we are all individuals. Perhaps for a long time Homosilica beings have disguised themselves as Glass as a mechanism for survival. But I would say that there has always been a gestural code between Homosilica specimens. Amongst each other anyway, whether it is obvious to others or not. When in doubt, short moil in the front, long stringer in the back, probably a sure thing. INT: Oh, I know the type. So, you have always been present but maybe not so visible is that right?

HS: We have always inhabited this space, what most know as the “Hot Shop.” This is our ritualistic place of bonding, of togetherness. Where we practice intimacy with each other, grow, expand, explode, start over. It is our home. You want me to describe it? We sleep all together in one fluid mass, moving together and in between one another. It is tastefully decorated with a touch of whimsy. When we wander out of bed into the studio, it is a modern vibe - concrete, steel, dark wood accents. We have the Glory Hole, an in-house party spot, which is fun and all but then your desires change. Once we pick a form, we go into a cooling closet to rest for a little bit but we will be out again and maybe taking a new form or a new shape, or have changed colors but we are still present and occupy this space. Some throw themselves back into the bed and try again another day. You have to be careful to get in the right furnace or you might end up in an incompatible space. A commercial for Homosilica Green Screen Glaze is played as the interview takes a break for an intermission. The interview continues with some games and light questioning followed by another commercial for Dr. Homo which is a silica liquid sodium demonstration with this live voice over: Voice Over: Ever feel so angry you just want to explode? Do you have unaddressed rage building inside of you at all times because of the state of the world? Do you lay awake at night thinking of all the places it’s illegal to be you? Let it out, with Homosilica soda! Bubble, froth, poppity pop and flow to your hearts content. Make a mess. Don’t clean it up. 90% satisfaction guaranteed. Now in Comey Barret, Thomas, Kavanugh, Alito, and Roberts flavors. Here is how it works… Grace takes the mic and walks over to the commercial state and narrates what is happening. In the final scene, the Homosilica specimines turn into mirrors and a conversation about queer introspection and liberation occurs between the Interviewer and the Homosilica specimines.

Modular Making: The Unique from the Repeat By Georgia Redpath

In the beginning

Although I didn’t realise it at first, my exploration of modular making started a decade ago. It was a practical way to make a large wall piece: rather than making a single cast, I could make the form using one, much smaller, repeated unit. It would mean that I could do a few firings of a couple of days each in my small kiln, rather than waiting weeks for one firing to complete in a hired kiln: less time, less money, and less risk if a firing should fail. It was a brief comment on a tour of Tudor Crystal’s glass factory, a few years later, which made me revisit the idea of modularity more seriously. The manager picked up a crystal wine glass and said that it had passed through at least twelve pairs of hands during the making process. Each pair of hands specialised in a particular task, be it blowing, cutting, or finishing. Although there was only one pair of hands involved in making my work, how many specialist tasks were they actually performing? And which ones interested me the most? I started to really question my casting process: perhaps there were tasks which I could cut out, or at least make less onerous? My casting process is indirect, in that I go through an intermediate stage of mould making with rubber, rather than casting my model directly in investment. The rubber mould produces a wax version of the original model, which is then invested. While slower, this approach does offer the opportunity to repeat a form, or create an edition. Remembering the large wall piece, I started to think about using a modular approach. Instead of creating rubber moulds of a unique form, I could create moulds of modular parts – a family of modules, rather than just the single unit of the wall piece. This would marry perfectly with my interest in geometric pattern and structure, and enable me to build a whole body of work from a few repeated pieces.

Reliefs and Surfaces

My repetitions began with the spiralling stacked squares which had been a feature of a recent piece of work. I started with eight silicone moulds, which produced wax spirals with different heights, centres and directions of twist. I grouped these individual square modules together in larger squares of nine, joining the waxes to each other and to a flat base board before casting.

Examples from the Modular Silicone System, 2016-2019.

then steaming out and drying the moulds. There’s also the risk of over-steaming, which can damage the surface of the mould. I didn’t want to be the ‘wax specialist’. Instead of using negative silicone moulds to pour modular waxes, I decided I should be creating modular silicone positives. Obviously, creating multiple positives would be a more expensive endeavour – silicone is not a cheap material. But I felt that if they could be used over the course of years, and save time and effort within the casting process, it might be worth it. The lightbulb moment was deciding I should set a small bolt into the centre of each silicone module while it was curing. This allows the modules to be fixed to any surface with locating holes – making the investment process relatively simple, as the modules stay firmly in place. With the new silicone modules, I returned to making the ninesquare pieces I’d originally created with wax modules. It was now a much speedier process! Several moulds were completed within a day, with the silicone modules pulled away from the investment each time and reconfigured for the next panel. Having a bunch of pristine empty moulds with no need for steaming or the additional drying time was a real boost to my confidence in the idea.

HS: Exactly, but now we are trying to be more visible and open,

The performance ends in Karaoke with the Interviewer singing “We Belong” by Pat Benatar as the mirrors sway in the background.

However, in making the first three pieces, I came to realise it was the wax stage of making which I desperately wanted to avoid: it is difficult to join wax with geometric precision; and it adds days to the casting process – waiting for moulds to cure properly and

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Moving to 3D with the PhD

It was at this stage I applied for a PhD at the University of Wolverhampton. I wanted to achieve two things: develop a truly threedimensional modular system, rather than one constrained by an underlying surface; and explore whether this abstract geometric system could be used to represent life. I knew that Wolverhampton could provide both the digital equipment and conceptual feedback I would need.

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Printmaking with Glass By Tomo Sakai and Eric Cruze

Early in the process I chose to work with the icosahedron as my basic 3D module – a solid with twenty faces which are all equilateral triangles. I felt that choosing a regular and highly symmetrical form would make mould making easier. Twenty faces also offered multiple joining possibilities. Finally, I discovered that icosahedral structures are found in nature, particularly in virus structures (underlined a few months later, when images of COVID-19 were everywhere). Initially keen to remain wax free, I focused on producing an investment mould system – one for creating multi-part moulds. Each two-part module would cast an icosahedron, but each had a different configuration of ‘open’ faces allowing glass to flow in and out. When joined together by these open faces, the investment modules would produce chain and branch structures.

Top: Satellite Flowers, 2021. Cast glass. Ø100mm x 120mm high and Ø75mm x 90mm high. Bottom: Examples from the Modular Wax System, 2021-2022.

Triangles and pentagons quickly followed the square modules, and I started attaching these to folded cardboard surfaces and forms, rather than just horizontal boards. This offered the opportunity to make 3D work, as well as reliefs. A large body of work developed: each form unique, depending on the configuration of the different modules and the surfaces used to hold them. However, I soon realised that my audience didn’t always notice these changes in form, even when they were quite marked. Although the modules were different, they were being read as essentially the same – with people focused primarily on differences in colour. Only with the more 3D pieces did people really read the difference in the sculptural forms – and because I needed to attach the modules to a geometric surface, those forms were relatively limited.

The first few firings using these multi-part investment moulds brought both joy and frustration. Initially, I was overjoyed to successfully cast multi-part moulds in the kiln. With care, there was only a little flashing at the joints, and it was possible to add vents and even colour to specific modules within the whole. On the downside, I found that the geometry of the individual icosahedra dominated the overall forms – there was not a hint of the organic. For the individual modules to ‘disappear’ and allow a more natural overall form to take over, the structures would need to be huge. Although successful, the mould system was just too limiting for what I wanted to achieve conceptually. I would need to start again – working with positive models, not negative moulds. My heart sank as I realised this would mean working with my archnemesis – wax. But developing a positive wax system offered definite advantages. I was able to move beyond a single size of icosahedron and to introduce some minor variations to the standard module. These included a ‘dimple’ icosahedron (where five faces are pushed inwards by a vertex), a version with a flat base, and one of the forms from the mould system – a hollow half icosahedron. With this small family of four modules, it suddenly became possible to build pieces where the icosahedron faded into the background and the overall form was the primary focus.

However, what was particularly exciting, was that the repetition of the spiralling modules was leading to work which was almost figurative – I’d put abstraction into reverse. Despite being created from highly geometric elements, the work was reminiscent of simple organisms, like coral. I was keen to discover whether this was possible with other modular forms – or a product of the logarithmic spirals I’d chosen for my first modules.

Don’t get me wrong: wax still frustrates me enormously. But it is allowing me to explore the pattern and structure of the world in a whole new way. I have the moulds for two sets of wax modules: the positive icosahedron with its variations; along with the negative modules originally intended as mould parts. Sixteen shapes in total – and yet I suspect they will sustain my practice for many years to come: offering both technical challenges and conceptual freedom.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Introduction

necessary as a resist as it is in traditional lithography. Both intaglio and planographic processes can be used alone or in combinations of different plates.

Printmaking with glass, also known as vitreography, has been one of my interests since learning about it as an undergraduate student at Tama Art University in Tokyo Japan. With a focus on glass engraving, it was natural to combine engraving with printmaking.

Materials

Recently, I have started experimenting with other techniques. During my Hauberg Fellowship residency at Pilchuck in May, 2022, I used waterless lithography, or siligraphy, to create a new series of work. This technique was used extensively by Stanislav Libensky.

Preparation

Description of siligraphy process (from the website www.glassismore.com): The glass plate can also be printed planographically as a siligraph, on an etching press as well, where ink sticks to some areas of the plate and is rejected by others. Planographic vitreographs are made by applying a thin coating of a diluted silicone mixture over the image the artist creates on a ground glass plate with water-soluble drawing materials. The silicone is allowed to dry and the drawing is washed out from under it, creating a stencil. The plate is rolled with ink and printed. Because the silicone stencil rejects the ink, water is not

Glass plate Water-soluble materials to draw (crayons and sumi ink) Silicone for caulk - non paintable Synthetic turpentine 1. Bevel the edge of glass and sandblast with #220 grit. 2. Draw on glass. I had better luck with sumi ink than crayons. When I used crayons, the coating on the drawing didn’t wash out well. 3. Prepare the mixture of silicone and synthetic turpentine like light maple syrup. Spread over the plate and buff down. 4. Allow the silicone to cure at room temperature overnight. 5. Wash the plate with warm soapy water. Do not scrub. 6. Print on press with light pressure.

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LECMO

Keep your elbows close to your body to avoid reaching out and pulling the stream towards you at an angle. Try to pull straight down. Let go occasionally for the stream to re-center itself.

My Vitrigraph Adventure

When the kiln first gets to temperature carefully pull the fiber plug and notice the progress. A head should be forming at the aperture of the pot. Wait for the head to drop about an inch (usually ~5 mins after reaching temp) and grab it with the pliers and begin to pull downwards. You now have a head and a neck situation, and the neck is usable murrine consisting of the glasses in the first few layers of the pot. Continue to pull downwards in a start/stop pattern. Pull for an inch or so and then let go and wait for ~5sec. Pull again. Wait again. This stop/start approach will help you maintain a decent diameter, up to ~3/8”. Pulling constantly, and faster will produce a smaller diameter cane. Pulling slower will produce a thicker cane. Not pulling for too long will allow a large mass of glass to slowly build up around the opening in the pot and waste a bunch of glass.

By Nathan Sandberg I met my first Vitrigraph while working in the Research and Education department of Bullseye Glass Company, around 2005. The little kiln with a hole in the bottom was originally conceived by Rudi Gritsch during a Bullseye factory exchange project with artist Narcissus Quagliata in the mid-Nineties. Having access to the hot glass as it emerged from the bottom of the kiln meant Narcissus could hand pull lines of varying thicknesses and length to use in his glass drawings which were the beginnings of the methods known as Painting with Light or Painting with Glass today. The word “Vitrigraph” is composed of Vitri, the Latin root for glass and Graph, the Greek root for writing and has been used since then to produce smooth, flowing lines, or stringers of glass. Jump ahead to 2009 and I started to ask some questions as a member of the Bullseye R&E department. If we can fill a flowerpot full of frit or sheet glass scrap and pull what were essentially stringers of varying length and thickness at 1600-1700F, could we not turn the heat down and think a bit about what we put in the pot to produce decorative cane and/or murrine? You wouldn’t be reading this if the answer wasn’t, YES. Looking back, my first tests were over engineered, and the cane yield was dismal at about 2 feet. These days I can carefully load about 5Lbs (2.3Kg) of glass into a flowerpot and produce up to 60 feet (18m) of cane. That’s a lot of murrine! The Kiln: Any small kiln with a controller that can fit a 6” flowerpot sitting on ½” risers can become a Vitrigraph. Simply replace the solid bottom with a 1” thick piece of vermiculite board that has a 2” hole in the center. Alternatively, if you’re committed to pursuing Vitrigraph work, you could also drill a hole directly in the brick bottom of the kiln. The next step is to support the kiln in a way that you can get under it and have room to work. I’ve seen and used everything from heavy duty wall brackets to freestanding wire racks to little kilns supported on the forks of a forklift. I usually tell students to grab a pair of needle nose pliers and raise their arm above their head with the tool in their hand. The end of the tool is a good height for the bottom of the pot. Be sure to follow the manufacturers recommendations with regards to proximity to walls and ceilings.

Tools:

• Safety Glasses to protect eyes • Leather welding gloves to protect hands • Needle-nose pliers for pulling • Nippers to cut glass canes • Good circle cutter • Fiber Frax plug for the bottom of the kiln

Dan Kvitka, 2019. Vitrigraph murrine wall panel. 19” x 18” x .375”

• Sheet glass to make murrine • Terracotta flowerpot for crucible

Vitrigraph Murrine:

If we fill a flowerpot with circles of sheet glass from bottom to top, we can expect to pull cane with a cross section that displays concentric rings of those colors. The glass on the bottom of the pot will end up as a skin on the outside of our cane. Each subsequent layer will display as a solid round core, until the glass above it shows up in the middle of the cross section turning the previous circle into a ring:

Filling the Pot:

The first sheet glass circle needed for the bottom of a pot is usually ~3”. From there, each circle is bigger than the one under it by about 1/16” but sometimes 1/8”. The circles should be somewhat loose in the pot. This will help preserve about 1/8-3/16” of space between the circles and the side of the pot. It is important that we leave space for air that is squeezed out from between the layers to escape up and out of the pot. Each circle should be able to slide side to side, just a bit. Each circle should be placed into the pot “smooth side up”. From the bottom of the pot to the “shoulder”, where the wall becomes straight, the circles are increasing in diameter. When you reach the height of the shoulder the circles can remain the same size until the pot is full. See diagram above. Pulling: In workshops at OnGrade Studio, I recommend a two-handed approach to pulling. This way we can make use of both arms/shoulders which should make us a bit stronger than pulling with one hand/arm alone. Right-handed students usually prefer a gloved left hand and a naked right hand to work the pliers. The pliers grasp the end of the cane and both arms help pull downwards.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

I usually pull until my cane hits the floor. Then it’s time for the dismount: • Position a gloved hand relatively low on the hot cane to avoid burning through the glove. • Position the blades of your nippers on the hot cane, about 6-8” below the bottom of the kiln. Chill the cane at this spot for ~5sec with the blades of the nippers before attempting to nip/cut the cane. • Make sure your gloved hand is holding the cane before cutting! • Set hot, cooling cane on a wooden cane ladder. • Towards the end of the pull, you should notice that your cane is hollow. • By the time you’re done pulling the final cane, all the previously pulled canes will be cool enough to handle.

Transparent Reds, Yellows, Oranges: Many transparent red, yellow, and orange glasses are ultra-sensitive to the amount of heatwork they receive and may opalize during Vitrigraph firings. If a transparent glass shifts to opalize during a firing it may now be unstable (incompatible) and jeopardize your piece. Once you’ve made your cane/murrine, Bob’s your uncle and you are free to use it as you see fit. I usually keep it in the kiln and use it to create dropout vessels, Kilncast boxes, sculptural objects, and wall panels. It can, of course, also be used in the hotshop in some sort of rollup/pickup process. Artist and educator, Nathan Sandberg is based in Portland, Oregon. After working in the Research & Education department at Bullseye Glass company for 8 years he started Nathans LLC in 2012 and has established himself as one of the top kiln-glass educators teaching today. From Santa Fe to Zurich and Australia to Norway, Nathan is usually somewhere on the planet presenting fresh, innovative curriculum at a wide range of studios, schools, and art centers. He is widely credited as the pioneer of the modern Vitrigraph methods which he began to develop at the Bullseye Factory in 2009 and has since taken to unprecedented levels of control. In 2015 Nathans LLC moved out of the basement and into a proper studio space in the Kenton neighborhood of North Portland. Today, Nathan uses OnGrade Studio as his home base and can be found there relentlessly producing work for exhibitions and developing new curriculum to teach whenever he isn’t on the road. His primary material is glass although his installations commonly make use of other materials such as wood, metal and concrete. And his artwork can be found in private and public collections around the world.

The cyan murrine with a clear skin on the left was the beginning of the pull. Notice how the cross section develops and evolves over the length of the pull as the upper layers of color get pulled down, into the cross section. The orange cored murrine on the right was the end of the pull.

Vitrigraph Firing Schedule:

Rate (°F/hr) Temp (°F) Time (h:mm) 200 1225 2:00 400 ~1520 1:30

Glass Notes:

Reactions: The colorants used in certain glasses can react with the colorants from other glasses. Notice the dark ring around the white (French Vanilla) core. The white glass contains Sulphur. The cyan glass contains copper. Copper and Sulphur react with one another to produce a dark shadow at their interface. This reaction, and the fact that the cyan is getting thinner and thinner over the length of the pull account for the darkness present in the skin towards the end of the pull.

Nathan Sandberg, 2020. Virigraph murrine, kilnformed dropout vessel. 14” diameter x 5” deep.

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PA N E L

On Native Land: Pilchuck’s Ongoing Engagement with Indigenous Artists

PANELS

Panelists Benjamin Wright, Raya Friday, Dan Friday, Preston Singletary, and Tomas Colbengtson

Abstract:

Pilchuck started its 50th year of programming immediately after the summation of the 2022 GAS Conference in Tacoma. We kicked off this historic season with a special session that acknowledges that the school is located on Native lands. In workshops, ceremony, casual conversation and storytelling we explored our history and peered forward at our future work to introduce and support the work of Indigenous artists in glass. Pike Powers, our former artistic director, was crucial in establishing links to native practitioners and making this work an ongoing priority of Pilchuck’s mission. Moderated by Pilchuck Artistic Director Benjamin Wright, the panel presented an in-depth look at the work of four contemporary Indigenous glass artists: Dan Friday, Preston Singletary, Raya Friday, and Tomas Colbengsten. These individual artist presentations were followed by a brief conversation on the role of glass in their artistic practice and relevant strategies and considerations for art organizations that are interested in engaging with Indigenous artists and communities.

Introduction from Ben Wright:

Attendees gather inside the Greater Tacoma Convention Center for a panel discussion on “Sustaining Success for Young and Emerging BIPOC Artists.

I would like to start by thanking Connie McCloud, culture director of the Puyallup Tribe for her eloquent reminder at the opening ceremony that as we sit here today we are located on Puyallup lands and I ask that you keep that fact front of mind as we engage with humility on this conversation with and about the amazing work being made in glass by this group of Indigenous artists here with us today and many others around the world. I am honored to be joined today by Preston Singletary, Dan and Raya Friday and Tomas Colbengsten and will give space in a moment for each of them to introduce themselves visually and in more depth in their own words. Pilchuck has a long and interesting history of engaging Indigenous artists and we will kick off our 50th season of programs with a special session dedicated to bringing that work into the next 50 years. I am very excited to announce for the first time publicly, that Raya Friday has agreed to join our team this summer as our new Outreach and Education coordinator and will provide invaluable perspective and leadership to these programs moving forward. All that being said, my hope is that this panel will not serve so much as a historical look at what has happened at one school but rather what we can learn as a glass family from a look at how the material is being used by Indigenous artists, what are its untapped

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Genetic Memories • Blown and sand carved glass • 27.5” x 12” x 7” • Photo by Russell Johnson.

potentials, and what can we do as organizations and a community to best support this work. Some of you may be aware that I started my professional life as an Evolutionary Biologist and for much of the past two years I have been living in a cabin in the woods so it should come as no surprise that I often look to the natural world for help in understanding the complex relationships that make up our human existence. With this in mind I would like to read a short passage from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin is a fellow biologist as well as an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi tribe and blends the wisdom of these two traditions in a way that I hope will set a tone for this conversation. “I don’t know the origin of the giveaway, but I think we learned it

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perforated glass bowls woven together with harvested cedar strips that are on display at SEA airport. Preston Singeltary spoke about his introduction to glass through Pilchuck and his involvement in the Pilchuck totem pole project. He gave a comprehensive look at the evolution of his work through the span of this remarkable career and spoke about his meaningful collaboration with Joe David. He concluded his presentation with a look at his far-reaching show Raven and the Box of Daylight that had just opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Dan Friday also incorporated a deep dive into his family’s significant role in the history of the Pacific Northwest and how he uses symbols and objects from that history to create a contemporary connection to that deep lineage. Dan showed a series of images of his show that was on display at the Museum of Northwest Art in which he branched out from his glassmaking background to also engage installation, a wide range of materials from finely crafted reef nets and cedar house planks to large scale neon interpretations of his personal iconography.

“Bissie giebnie-Holy caldron.” Public art to South sami museum Snåsa Norway. Overlayered glass, slate. © Tomas Colbengtson 2022.

from watching the plants, especially the berries that offer up their gifts all wrapped in red and blue. We may forget the teacher, but our language remembers: our word for the giveaway, minidewak, means “they give from the heart.” At the word’s center lives the word min. Min is a root word for gift, but also the word for berry. In the poetry of our language, might speaking of mindewak remind us to be as the berries? The berries are always present at our ceremonies. They join us in a wooden bowl. One big bowl and one big spoon, which are passed around the circle, so that each person can taste the sweetness, remember the gifts, and say thank you. We are all filled by the same bowl that Mother Earth has filled for us. It’s not just about the berries but also about the bowl. The gifts of the earth are to be shared but gifts are not limitless. The generosity of the earth is not an invitation to take it all. Every bowl has a bottom. When it’s empty, it’s empty. And there is but one spoon, the same size for everyone. “How do we refill the empty bowl? Is gratitude alone enough? Berries teach us otherwise. When berries spread out their giveaway blanket, offering their sweetness to birds and bears and boys alike, the transaction does not end there. Something beyond gratitude is asked of us. The berries trust that we will uphold our end of the bargain and disperse their seeds to new places to grow, which is good for berries and for boys. They remind us that all flourishing is mutual. We need the berries and the berries need us. Their gifts multiply by our care for them and dwindle from our neglect. We are bound in a covenant of reciprocity, a pact of mutual responsibility to sustain those who sustain us. And so, the empty Bowl is filled.” 1

All of the artist presentations seamlessly blended their personal and cultural histories with the visual arc of their artistic evolutions making it clear that each was drawing strength and inspiration from traditional symbols, patterns, forms, and craft, while establishing their own individual voices within that continuum.

their motivations as makers and how they saw that fitting within or departing from a history of Indigenous materials and makers. While their opinions did differ somewhat, Dan Friday summed up the gestalt but asserting that Indigenous people have always experimented and used the materials at hand and that, in that sense, glass is inherently no different. The conversation did not go into great depth about how glass organizations can best serve Indigenous artists but Raya did describe her plans for a new program prioritizing mobile glass techniques such as mosaics, kiln working and stained glass to take Pilchuck’s outreach mission off of the hill and into the cultural and social centers of our neighboring tribes. She cautioned against organizations predetermining what would be of value to native artists or communities and encouraged that conversations start with lower impact introductory demonstrations and interactions that can be taken out into the communities. This was just the beginning of this important conversation and I do hope that we will see it revisited in future conferences perhaps featuring the next generation of Indigenous glass artists filtering up through supportive public access studios, youth programs and craft schools.

Panel Conversation: Killer Whale Totem. Lead crystal. 106” x 33.5” x 22”. Artist with totem at Blue Rain Gallery.

Artists Presentations:

Each artist then gave an in-depth visual presentation of their work in glass and mixed media artworks.

Unfortunately, the length of the artist presentations only left time for a very short panel conversation. The artists each described their initial entry point to the material and its ongoing appeal as an integral part of their practice. As much as the physical characteristics of the material which each artist uses to their full extent each mentioned the community aspect of working with the material as a resonant motivation. They also discussed

Tomas Colbengsten started with a fascinating narration of his personal and cultural story of his upbringing in Sami lands spanning the northern border of Sweden and Norway. His work is greatly influenced and often sited in the landscape but he uses imagery of ancestors and traditional language to address a history of colonial injustices. From his origin as a traditional craver, Tomas’s current practice spans many materials and media but often incorporates elements of printmaking and a fondness for transparent materials such as glass or Ice. Raya Friday spoke to her personal history being raised as a member of the Lummi Tribe and in particular the accomplishments of the strong women in her lineage. Raya described her origins in glass, path through Alfred college, her return to the Pacific Northwest and eventual recent graduation from the Native Pathways Program at Evergreen State. Raya showed images of her work that ranged from large scale castings to more recent exquisitely

1. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants.(Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2020), 373.

“Tsigele-Pathfinder.” Public art, screen overlayered glass rock chrystal. © Tomas Colbengtson 2018.

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I Have Not Slept. Blown and sand carved glass. 19” x 10” x 7”. Photo by Russell Johnson.

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Burning the Olive Branch Panelists Frederik Rombach, Patrícia Šichmanová, Slate Grove, and Danielle Ruttenberg

The green panel of 2022 hopes to celebrate 50 years of studio glass by looking at change in the field from a sustainable perspective. Patricia Sichmanova will be leading the conversation by offering her view on moving forward as an artist through the worldwide economic challenges that are facing us. Danielle Ruttenberg will offer us a view of how a sustainable glass company works to sustain a healthy balance between work and play. Last but not least Slate Grove will shed some light on his views on the transfer of knowledge through academic systems from his perspective of sustainability.

Lastly Slate posed the following questions specifically to students and institutions with regards to glassblowing : • Are blow slots skipped, and equipment left running? • Are 3-hour blow-slots being used, or would 2 hours be enough? • Are weekends being used? Weekend evenings? • Encourage the use of public access studios and Co-Operatives after graduation • Teach about energy prices and energy calculations

This panel hopes to find parallels in these perspectives and hopefully inspiration to move forward, learning from each other.

Patricia Sichmonova

Patricia gave us a great insight into 3d printing and how it connects to making sculptural work with glass. She also gave incentives to look at 3d printing as a packing tool, specifically for bespoke pieces. Patricia comes from Norway and started her research into 3d printing. She did research at Pilchuck and also an internship at S12 gallery in Norway. Works relating to her research can be found on her website www. sichmanova.sk She also realized she could do a lot more with the technique and started looking towards packing for specific pieces- also using waste cardboard and making cutouts with 3d cutting techniques. Using her technique of 3d printing she could show us that her use of material was very minimal, which ties in well to sustainable practices, especially today where material costs are becoming an even stronger factor than they used to be.

Danielle Ruttenberg

“The origin of the business was to create a safe space to be parents and business owners to have some control over our lifestyle even though it may have been easier to get a job and take the child care, we chose to pay for it together, work for it together, and make it happen together.” Remark Glass was founded in 2016 in Philadelphia. One of the more interesting programs Remark is setting up works with waste glass and is called “CLOSE THE LOOP WITH BOTTLE UNDERGROUND”:

In Summary

On average 70% of post-consumer glass will end up in landfills, mostly due to contamination. Bottle Underground is committed to innovating and localizing systems for collection, recirculation, recycling, downcycling and upcycling. By maintaining a high-quality collection system, our team is dedicated to reducing waste now and making the best use of glass for our future.” bottleunderground.com

Slate Grove

Slate gave us a great perspective on the academic institution he is working for in Aalto, Finland. “Sustainability is at the core of Aalto University’s new strategy and a cross-cutting principle across our operations. The aim of the Carbon Neutral Aalto 2030 action plan is to examine all of our operations and to develop practices for decreasing carbon dioxide emissions”, says Aalto University Vice President Ossi Naukkarinen.

“Glass is the most recyclable material, however, our current glass collection systems are ineffective.

Slate gave us an insight into how the uni is moving towards these goals within the glass sector. One big difference with us universities is that students do not learn how to blow glass. Instead they develop concepts which are executed by Slate.

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“Generally, the students act as designers and my role as Glass Workshop Master is that of a fabricator. We have valuable discussions about process, designs and ideas that replicate the kind of conversations that they will have with professionals that will make their work after they leave the university. Our glass consumption averages about 75 kilos per week. Our gloryholes run from 9am to 4pm only on the days those courses need them.” (Slate Grove) Slate made a strong case for studio maintenance and sustainable practise. Here he sums up some core points every studio should work towards: • Good Technicians are worth their weight in gold • Make sure the doors on your gh’s fit right, and operate well • Have an assistant to operate the doors • Ensure that your furnace door fits as it should • Equipment that is temperature controlled and utilizes variable speed blowers • Combustion trains sized properly to utilise the entire range of adjustment • Check the tuning of furnaces and gh’s every 6 months • Just because a piece of machinery will reach glass melting temperature does not mean that it is intended to do so efficiently • Regardless of your process, if your equipment isn’t efficient neither is your process

The panel hoped to connect these 3 perspectives together. Starting from an individual artistic perspective from Patricia that works to minimise material use in her works as well as other aspects of the products like packaging, leading to an entrepreneurship like Remark Glass who are developing products with a minimum of fossil fuel consumption and smart reuse of existing waste cycles in their project “close the loop with bottle underground”, to Slate Grove and his take on educating students to understand fuel and energy consumption in the learning process, and what comes after it. It seems that the discussion within the panel found parallels. Patricia and Danielle could see interesting crossovers using 3D as a packaging and mondmaking tool- utilising waste materials for the packaging as well as speeding up production processes with interesting forms that can be developed with 3D technology. Danielle and Slate found a connection in that education on higher level of supply chains with local materials in set contexts could be introduced into concept development for students. Slate could also see the introductions of 3d modelling into the curriculum as viable, especially where in the case of Aalto university students do not blow glass, but design with it.

Links

Patricia Sichmanova: patricia.sichmanova@gmail.com Danielle Ruttenberg: danielle@remarkglass.com Slate Grove: slategrove@gmail.com Frederik Rombach: info@rombachs.com

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graduate with glass major in those BFA programs every year. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in glass, some go to graduate school to continue to study glass art, and some start small businesses in glass or set up glass studios.

Unheard-of International Reports

Current Glass art scene in South Korea There are several public access glass studios all over the country; Glass Island Museum (Ansan), Kyeonggi Craft Center (Yeoju), Do-gye Glass World (Samchuck), Korean Craft Museum(Cheong ju), Jeju Glass Museum (Jeju), and Jeju Glass Castle(Jeju). These places often run exhibitions and offer to make your own experience to the public. Initially, some areas run artists in residence programs and studio rentals. However, most residency programs temporarily closed due to the global pandemic, and studio rentals are currently unavailable.

Panelists Su-yeon Kim, Stephanie Kwok, and Sunny Wang Moderator Jiyong Lee The Glass Art Society (GAS) annual conference has been an important event that provides presentation opportunities for international artists and their international networking and exchanges across the borders for all conference attendees. The most recent on-site GAS conference was in St. Petersburg, FL, in 2019, and Professor Jing Li from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, organized the panel presentation about Contemporary Chinese Glass Art in Mainland China. William Warmus, Dr. David Francis, and Jiyong Lee were on the panel presentation. Through the presentation, we learned that there had been explosive growth in glass art in China. Australia and Japan have been other powerhouses in contemporary glass art on the other side of the Pacific Ocean for several decades. 2022 is the UN International year of glass, and we would like to propose a panel presentation that presents glass art in a few countries and regions in Asia where they are much smaller glass artist communities. They also do not have organizations like GAS. Due to the limited number of glass artists, galleries, and schools in the field, there are limited opportunities for exhibition, education, promotion, business, support, and recognition in those countries and regions. This article will describe a few facets of the glass art communities and several artists in selected areas.

South Korea: by Su-yeon Kim

Brief history of glass art in South Korea Glass is a craft material with a long history of over 5,000 years. However, glass didn’t get recognized as much in Korean culture than other countries. After the Shilla period, around ac 7-8, glass reappeared in Korean history in the modern period. The handmade glass industries didn’t progress due to lacking competitiveness in innovations in design and automatic glass blowing machines. Glass factories gradually suffered from financial issues and eventually closed businesses. Despite the circumstances, since the late 1980s, the artists based in ceramics, metals, painting, or sculpture studied abroad in the US, Japan, the UK, Finland, Germany, and France and learned about glass art. After these artists returned to Korea, they started teaching glass art courses in universities. As Glass art became a significant subject in art schools, glass started to introduce as a material in Korea as an artistic medium.

Public organizations running by the country have been offering several opportunities for artists in craft in South Korea. As the population of Korean glass artists increases, emerging or established glass artists are easily found on the Korean art scene these days. Craft trend Fair is an annual art fair focused on craft objects and artworks organized by Korea Craft & Design Foundation. Cheong ju Craft Biennale, which started in 1999 as the world’s first craft biennale, has established itself as a significant contemporary craft event over the 20 years. There are also opportunities for artists, such as support funds to do exhibitions or encourage them to run a small business.

“No Thing” by Elenora Lim Bee Liang • Stained glass • (630 x 1300)mm

Contemporary studio glass art history in South Korea Studio glass art in South Korea began with the introduction of glass art courses in higher education institutions in the 1980s. The people who studied glass art in these institutions and continued their careers as studio artists in the past 30 years.

Recently Glass art has been shown by art galleries through exhibitions and art fairs. Gallery Sklo is an art gallery specializing in contemporary glass sculptures and objects. Gallery Wannmul, a craft art gallery located in Seoul, has been exhibiting established and emerging artists in craft. Gallery LVS, originally a Fine art gallery, recently has been introducing Korean artists in craft. These galleries hold exhibitions and actively participate in art fairs domestically and internationally.

Singapore: by Stephanie Kwok

To my knowledge, no studies have been done about glass or glass art practice in Singapore before. So this writing has been sourced from aural and written interviews conducted (within two months) after GAS’s invitation to present at this year’s Conference. As such, this writing is not a definitive history of the glass art scene in Singapore, neither does it contain an exhaustive list of practising glass artists. What this writing seeks to do is to expound upon how glass art practice possibly began in Singapore, how it developed, and what the scene looks like at present.

Top: Hyesook Choi • 21st Century Version of Portrait of a Beauty • 2021 • Glass, Kilnformed, Screen-printed • 500 x 600 x 2 (cm). Bottom: Seonmin Park • Modified Rediscovery-Root series • 2020 • Ceramic, recycled glass bottle, engraved, gold plated, varied sizes.

At present, in Korea, five universities have curricula in glass art. In most universities, the glass programs are combined with either ceramics or other craft areas. There are three universities located in Seoul. Hongik University has BFA, MFA, and Ph.D. programs in the Department of Ceramics and Glass. Kookmin University has an MFA program in glass. The Korea National University of Arts has a BFA and MFA program in Fine Arts and has a glass major. Namseoul University, located in Cheonan-city, has a BFA, MFA, and Ph.D. program in the Department of Glass and Ceramic Design. The Namseoul university has run the annual international glass workshop since 1999. Cheong ju University, located in Cheong ju-City, has a BFA and MFA in Craft and Design program and has a glass major. An average of 50 students

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The first encounter for glass enthusiasts in Singapore seemed to be in the 1980s, when two “foreigners” - American, Peggy Nimmo and British, Sandra Worth (both wives of expatriates working in Singapore) started teaching stained glass to other expatriates’ wives based in Singapore. Before long, locals got wind of it and started to learn from them. Then, several local artists ended up working for either of them before venturing to start

practices in the West. Tools and materials required for production often must be imported from the West. Taiwan is important in the rebirth of glass in the region. The 1940s witnessed the growth of glass factories on the island. As Taiwan became a major exporter, the commercial glass industry produced all kinds of glass objects, including tableware, perfume bottles, little figural sculptures, and more. These “made in Taiwan” glass goods were shipped worldwide. However, production of these glass items shifted to mainland China in the mid-1990s to take advantage of lower overhead costs.

Kwan Tse, Disfiguring • 2019 • Cast glass and steel stand

“Of Trees, Leaves and Patterns” by Steffi K • Hand-engraved on glass mirror rear, backlit • (668 x 668 x 3)mm

their own glass art practices. Meanwhile, Singaporeans were also making their way to the USA and Europe to do apprenticeships and pick up other glassworking skills. And so, in the 1980s, the first generation of glass artists in Singapore was born! These pioneering artists include stained glass artists Felicia Yong, Reggie Lim, Vijaykumar K.R. and Elenora Lim Bee Liang; and mixed methods artists Janet Goh, Florence Ng and Woo Meng Fye. Meanwhile, through the decades, “foreign” artists continue to reach Singapore shores, contributing to the glass art scene. The longer-staying ones include Peter Brown (stained glass), Jane Cowie (glassblowing and kilnwork), Dominic Fonde (engraving), and Mahine Rattonsey (lampworking). Through the 1990s and new millennium, younger local artists interested in glass sought out locally-based glass artists and continued to travel abroad to learn. Aside from the USA and Europe, trips were made to Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. The 1990s and 2000s produced the next two generations of local glass artists including Tan Sock Fong (kilnwork), Stephanie Kwok [Steffi K] (engraving and sandblasting), Valerie Yang (glassblowing) and May Chua (glassblowing and lampworking). These days, although it continues to be challenging to be full-time glass artists in Singapore due mainly to rising costs (imported glass materials and tools, expensive real estate and energy costs), learning glass art has become more accessible. Many more artists and businesses have opened their studios to teach the paying public stained glass, fusing, slumping, kilnwork, lampwork and glassblowing. Although often, serious glass artists still venture abroad to get a more in-depth education. At present, no educational institutions in Singapore teaches glass art.

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Due likely to Singapore’s small market size (leading to intense competition for business), there is no glass community here. However, things are looking up! To celebrate the UN-declared International Year of Glass in 2022, the Singapore Glass Association (whose members deal with industrial glass) has commissioned glass artist, Steffi K to organize and curate a glass art exhibition in October. So far, 17 glass artists are onboard. This is a monumental event for glass artists here because the last time a “national” glass exhibition was organized in Singapore was back in 1993! May this be the start of a glass art community developing!

Taiwan & Hong Kong: by Sunny Wang

Taiwan and Hong Kong share a number of similarities, perhaps most importantly the dynamic combination of Chinese traditions with contemporary culture. Taiwan and Hong Kong are located just 800 kilometers (500 miles) from each other thus, there are numerous commercial and cultural exchanges. Members from both creative communities, including artists working in glass, have exhibited and held workshops and residencies together. The glass art communities in Taiwan and Hong Kong continue to grow and develop. Glass has a long and unique history in the broader context of Chinese culture. The creation of glass can be traced back to at least the Western Zhou dynasty (1122-770 BCE). In Chinese antiquity, glass was often equated with jade and was used similarly for adornments and ritual objects. Perhaps the zenith of Chinese glass in premodern times dates to the 18th century during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Knowledge and specialized technology were directly transferred to Chinese artists at the Imperial court from European glassmakers who set up workshops near the Forbidden City in Beijing. Techniques and experiences from the West remain critical in the ongoing development of glass art in the region. The vast majority of artists working in glass in Asia received advanced training in the West. Glass artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong typically receive training and maintain close connections with artists and studio

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As a result, the remaining glass factories and glassmakers in Hsinchu, which is the center of the glass industry in Taiwan, began to transform from largescale production to creating art glass. The Hsinchu local government assisted in this transformation of the glass industry. The changes in Hsinchu caught the attention of a new generation of glass artists (including myself) who began to work in the medium. At the same time, many young people were inspired by two Taiwanese glass casting companies- Liuli Gong Fang and Tittot (formerly Grand Crystal). These companies brought glass to a wider audience and stimulated interest among young artists. In Hong Kong and Taiwan today, a new generation of artists working in glass is poised to write the next chapter in the history of the medium in the region. Increased educational opportunities at home play an important role, for example, the undergraduate program with a concentration in glass at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. However, advanced training in the West remains an important factor in the development of emerging and newly established artists working with glass. Several general trends are evident among emerging glass artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In recent years these artists have been working more frequently with hot glass techniques such as glassblowing and hot sculpture rather than the previous emphasis on glass casting. These artists typically establish their studios, and many use these spaces for teaching glass art as well. Social media is an important means of creating their professional identity.

Din You Wai, Robot Camp Series -10 • Hot Glass Sculpture • 18 x 18 x 24 cm

Facebook, Instagram, other social media channels, and their own websites help promote their work. The subjects and themes explored by these artists are varied and defy generalization. While social and political concerns are evident in some cases, other artists concentrate on emotional self-exploration and other themes. Another notable and relevant development in the region is how glass is being used by artists working with various media and techniques – for example, with ceramics, video, metalwork, and 3D printing. Many glass artists and students in Asia are interested in participating in the GAS conference, workshop, and many glass-related opportunities in the States. There are several challenges for them in making international travels, and the dates are one of the difficulties in attending the GAS conference. All Universities in Asia end their spring semester in late June, and typically the GAS conference dates are set between mid-May and mid-June. In addition, many graduates in these areas struggle to find professional opportunities right after graduation. We hope that GAS continues to cover the pockets of the small glass communities worldwide and support their education and creative activities in future annual conferences and newsletters.

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Life of a Carny: Glass at the Fairgrounds

There’s a lot of fun to be had but the pressure can be on to turn out work and keep audience interest. Contracting the times and putting space between demos can be a big help to yourself or employees. There are typically 10 plus hours with set up and break down so it’s important to make sure you aren’t exhausting your time and take hydration breaks and food breaks. Doing things like saving difficult pieces for a larger crowd and quick or simple demos with smaller crowds in between is a good way to split time too. Where the sun is and time of day in relation to set up matters because not only can the sun get into your space and get you overheated but it can make your tools scolding and you won’t be able to pick up the handles to work without dipping them in your water bucket. You can make sure that your contract works for you with things you need like bigger tents, or the venue providing tents and get more refined every year, as far as specifications go. Contracts are a good place to set expectations. Sometimes the entertainers around us don’t know we can’t share power sources or have our equipment be shut off or unplugged so someone will move a plug and a blower goes off, or there’s a power outage and all of a sudden the flames are huge and we have to cut the gas as quick as possible and stop what we are doing. Including things like a dedicated outlet in the contract with your event space can also avoid complications like this.

Panelists Jamie Adams, Bryan Beck, Devan Cole, and Kayla Socha It’s a lot different working on the road or sea than within the controlled environment of a stable studio. Jamie, Bryan, Devan and Kayla have worked at county fairs and festivals, for nonprofits and cruise ships between them. There are tips and tricks from regulations and safety to the joy of getting to experiment and push yourself with audience requests. There’s a lot to be said for meeting the different people on location in vastly different areas than your home studio. Many glassblowers are building their own mobile units and even without fabrication experience are able to get equipment from Mobile Glassblowing Studios so that it’s even easier to go out and blow glass on our own and on the road. There are so many people in the audience that don’t know about mobile glass, but when they see a flier about an upcoming event, they think it’s amazing; they would’ve never thought they’d have that opportunity. There are some differences between traveling and blowing on land and at sea. “The motion of the ocean plays a part in the adjustment and at first you may feel like you’re dancing with the glass a little which is something you have to get used to” (Kayla Socha, Hollywood Hot Glass) but doesn’t necessarily take too long. There, it’s a different kind of vacation and there’s glamour to it with an extra sense of time for new experiences. Travel can also come with surprising crowds and unexpected challenges. A couple fairs were mentioned in which the audience kept the glassblowers on their toes. One instance of teenagers breaking out in a fight right next to the setup and a kick catching the leg of a glass worker. Situations like that could end badly without certain preparations like visible chains and barriers along the tent. Some event venues won’t recognize certain safety concerns. For instance, a kids play area set up across from a set up and, sure enough, the ball coming over and landing on the marver during color pick up. If things like this come up, always communicate with your venue. They want you to be happy and probably will invite you back so they’ll help make your environment better if they know what to look out for. There’s a range of things to prepare for with equipment as well. One panelist mentions a fair in which they wired the trailer lights the night before leaving and after the shows while loading up, extremely tired, the lights stopped working. Having to stop everything and again; trying to rewire, get to a hotel and get out of there is a lot of time added to a work day already. Add in the trailer getting stuck under a low roof and you could be at the end of your rope. Luckily, the problem was resolved by deflating the tires and driving out from under the roof before re-inflating them. Improv skills on the road will save you more

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than you’d think. One good thing to do is make sure you have repair tools and a regular tool box when you’re on the road as well as any extra parts that are less common to find in any given place. You can’t ship specialty things out quickly, but you can always drive to a nearby hardware store for some electrical and trailer supplies. There are some pros and cons for personal living to consider like “being away from our brick and mortar studio, people thought we closed.” (Bryan Beck, stARTup Studios) Forgetting about or not shopping with you in your home location while out on the road can be harmful to your business and has to be weighed. With all your typical bills still due, you have to make sure trips are worth it before going out. Some artists have minimums of 5 to 7 days for bookings to compensate for loss of time while working. Another consideration is that not a lot of glasswork lends itself to availability and an open schedule. One panelist even made it work to her advantage. By setting up work to cover 6-8 months’ pay for just a couple months’ worth of traveling, “my maternity leave was possible without having to worry about when I needed to go back to work. It worked so well that now it’s a regular summer job to travel and supplement income for the rest of the year so that a part time job instead of full time is enough.” (Jamie Adams, The 567 Center for

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Renewal) This trade off can give more time for family or professional development depending on where you are in your career. It can also be a huge plus to get paid for time/demonstration/ skill and save the amount of time marketing yourself and selling your work takes. Travel itself can be wonderful. Artists can stop by local hot shops and build their glass family. Every city has its perks and things to see.

As much as you can have the fair do- make it their job. One panelist’s goal is to one day be just blowing glass. “When I’m at the fair, I’m a performer, and everyone is so excited and things go awry with pieces and that’s when things get interesting and that’s what the audience is there for.” (Devan Cole, Hot Glass Academy) When you get there you should be done with all the work but blowing glass. Period. That when it’s time to concentrate on entertaining. A lot of times at set up the people around don’t know anything about the equipment and even the fair will sometimes put you in spot where your gas is too close to something else, so making sure to mention they’re paying attention to regulations too before you get there when assigning the spots and layout so you don’t have to move or deal with anything unexpected after set up is important. In Florida, the fire extinguishers can have to be Florida inspected and one artist couldn’t bring their own from Georgia. In New Mexico you can’t haul your own propane, anything over the size for a bbq tank. Also, you can’t move propane in some places if it’s enclosed in a vehicle or trailer, it has to be on an open trailer or the back of the truck. Different states have different rules for all of these things. You’ll constantly be updating your understanding of regulations while traveling. That’s why planning and logistics is paramount. There’s room for everyone out here, so if you have any questions for any of the panelists please reach out, we welcome you to life on the road.

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American Exploring Lore Through Contemporary Glass

Art and Mental Health

Panelists Carmen Lozar, Janis Miltenberger, and Kimberly Thomas Moderator Jamie Marie Rose

Panelists Danie Nitardy, James Nole, and Scout Cartagena Moderator Judy Ko Judy Ko a licensed mental health associate in Seattle, WA. Prior to that, she was a graphic designer in NYC before moving to Seattle to earn a counseling psychology degree. She now serves children and families as a play therapist at a group practice Seattle Play Therapy. Scout Cartagena is a recent graduate from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, PA. They are an emerging sculpture artist working in themes of memory and memory loss, mental health, and pulls from their Black and Latinx upbringing.

Carmen Lozar, ‘Blow’, Flameworked glass and found object. Varying dimensions. Approx. 3”H, 2019

James Nole is a Psychotherapist in Private Practice based in Seattle, WA. His approach to therapy is rooted in both Existential and Relational Psychodynamics and stems from his personal experience of learning to live with a disability.

This panel was inspired by glass’s long and storied history of being identifiable with the fantastic; as a vehicle for inspiring stories. This discussion allowed three artists to discuss the stories behind their work.

Danie Nitardy is a clinical social worker and experimental therapist. They are currently working in an internship with Project FIRE; a glassblowing and trauma recovery program for youth injured by gun violence. This program is a part of Firebird Community Arts which offers personalized ceramics and glass blowing instruction in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Carmen Lozar focuses on the figure, using the human form in a manner that immediately makes one think of fairy tales and bedtime stories. Lozar shared her own inspirations, which included literal stories from childhood as well as her experience as a mother, nurturing two daughters through the pandemic. The works she discussed illustrated the anxiety many felt in the beginning of 2020, using a scale and glass to highlight the intimacy of personal struggle. Janis Miltenberger discussed work that showed how effective culturally charged items can act as metaphors, giving great weight and meaning to what is otherwise benign. She gave us great insight into her practice, her work, and how she believes the magic happens when viewers create a story of their own upon viewing one of her works.

We began the panel by inviting the audience to join in a short movement and breath exercise to foster embodiment and collective engagement.

Kimberly Thomas is known for creating work that is intentionally flawed, brimming with unusual motifs that often fly in the face of the typical expectations of ‘glass art’.Thomas revealed that many of her works are inspired by the death of her father and the consequent fallout. Her use of ‘crunchy’ glass components consisting of dilapidated lawn chairs, fire hydrants, and more, create scenes that look as though they could be plucked from a dystopian comic book. It was sobering for the audience to hear that they are, in fact, inspired very much by reality.

Top: Kimberly Thomas, ‘Left Behind’ (triptych), borosilicate glass, mixed media, 12” x 5” x 7”, 2021. Bottom: Janis Miltenberger, ‘Unspoken Promise’, lampworked borosilicate, oil paint, pencil. 30” x 14” x 11”, 2004.

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The panel conversation engaged panel members with each other as panelists spoke to their identities as creatives and therapists and what brought them to the conversation of mental health and the wellbeing of artists. Each panelist advocated the importance of mental health, sharing their stories of personal and systemic struggles, finding support

Panelists Danie Nitardy, James Nole, and Scout Cartegena in discussion with moderator, Judy Ko.

and perspectives on cultivating community. Audience members raised questions throughout the conversation, with listener comments and sharing at the end. Here, James shares his experience of the panel event: “What an honor it was to share space with everyone on the panel. The conservation that emerged was organic and took us in directions that we had not entirely planned out. Discussing mental health and its intersection with art opens many doors and pathways. This being the first panel focused on such a topic, finding a direction and grounding in how we define and can redefine mental health and how we channel trauma or suffering through art was a wonderful beginning. Scout and Danie brought unique perspectives on stepping back, slowing down, and using

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art as restoration and pushing against the systems and structures of productivity that burden people living in the modernized, capitalistic world of today. We push ourselves tremendously and can even fall prey to this in our work with art as well. For myself, bringing this into conversation with the relational aspect and working through our emotions through art, made for a beautiful start to a conversation that is truly only getting started. You could see the coming together and sharedness, while also holding space for each person’s individual perspective and experience on full display both in the panel and Judy’s wonderful moderation and guidance. It was a true pleasure to participate, and I hope this opens up many more conversations around mental health and art in the future of this conference, and throughout the glass art and art communities.”

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Recovery and Resilience Overcoming Potential Career Ending Trauma Panelists Kathleen Mitchell, Josh Hershman, Steve Ciezki, and Terri Grant

PANELIST: Kathleen Mitchell

I conceived of this panel after re-meeting Josh Hershman following his accident. I too had a near fatal accident in my studio in 2015. I had not met someone with the similar experience of having a catastrophic tragedy while doing something we love. The long journey back from trauma through re-traumatization and PTSD has been rocky and I wanted to discuss this in a public forum as a part of my healing. I had the good fortune of being introduced to Terri Grant as another potential panelist and she was on board immediately. My friend, artist, author, and educator, Steve Ciezki, agreed to moderate and we had a complete panel. My vision was to bring our community valuable information as to how to show up for a traumatized person as well as a sensitivity to retraumatizing triggers.

PANELIST: Josh Hershman

After suffering a life-threatening accident in the coldworking studio, which resulted in 150 stitches to my face, longer-lasting effects manifested because of the nature of the trauma that involved a very loud explosion. I was mildly shell-shocked and had symptoms of PTSD. I thought my art career was over, but once I asserted significant effort into alternative treatments, I was able to face the traumatic event and get back into the studio again. The healing process can take a toll, and there are many individual paths that one can take. It was the goal of this lecture to share some strategies that helped both me and Kathleen Mitchell during our individual healing journeys. I personally worked with alternative trauma therapists who helped achieve a profound and long-lasting positive result without prescription drugs like anti-depressants. Regular talk therapy was the foundation, but I also used a well-known process called “Tapping” which involves working through your thoughts out loud, while tapping specific points on the body. It literally rewires your brain, and helped me stop the negative self-talk that plagued me for years. As effective as the different talk therapies were, I achieved the most profound long-lasting results from deeper work involving “Somatic Therapy” with the addition of psilocybin treatment. This involved months of therapy before doing a day-long session where a large therapeutic dose of medicine was administered with the guidance of my therapist. This single treatment method helped me to finally forgive myself, trust my abilities again, and achieve my goal of reentering the studio with confidence and a renewed sense of safety, responsibility, and creativity.

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PANELIST: Terri Grant

Resilience is the ability to adapt and adjust to changes in the face of adversity. Trauma and other stressors can lead to the development of PTSD. Preventing and treating PTSD begins with an understanding of what occurs in the brain during the traumatic event. When an individual faces trauma, an important “fight or flight” area of the brain becomes activated (the amygdala and limbic system). In some circumstances, the amygdala can become chronically activated1 and this chronic activation allows for a ‘fight or flight’ response to occur even with a seemly minor event. For example, a loud bang can trigger a response in someone who has survived an explosion. In this case, the person experiences the same level of fear, increased heart rate, etc. as when the incident first occurred, since the brain’s physiologic response is identical. How can we prevent or mitigate PTSD? Through scientific research, we know that there are genes, which are protective.2 Scientists have begun to understand on a biochemical level, specific changes that occur in the brain during stress and are now actively working to develop new medications to treat PTSD. Additionally, there are several behavioral factors that can help develop resiliency. The first is optimism, not the Pollyanna sort but rather being an optimistic realist. The second factor is developing “cognitive flexibility” which is the ability to take a negative thought and replacing it with a positive thought, i.e., making “lemonade” or seeing a “silver lining”. The third factor is learning active, positive coping skills; fourth, maintaining a supportive social network; fifth involves looking after your physical well being and the sixth factor was embracing a personal moral compass.3 Researchers have also found that practicing altruism or volunteering was helpful in strengthening resiliency.4 Working to develop these seven areas can help to insulate against the negative consequences of trauma.

MODERATOR: Steven Ciezki

The panel consisted of three creative minds, Kathleen Mitchell, Josh Hershman, and Terri Grant. Both Kathleen and Josh experienced traumatic accidents in the coldshop. Terri was an emergency room physician for 28 years and helped guide us with her years of experience and research from helping traumatized patients as an ER doctor. The conversation began with a brief description of the traumatic accidents in the studio. Both accidents were life-threatening,

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led to emergency room visits, and took long roads to recovery. In thinking the worst was over, our panelists shared how these accidents were viewed and discussed by their community. It was most hurtful how others spoke about the accident. Societal shaming became a second trauma on top of the physical trauma. Shame from their community impeded their healing. Along this path of healing, we discussed ways to get back into the studio after a traumatic accident. Josh explained how this started with a visit to the studio without the intent of working. It was a re-introduction to the sights, sounds, and smells of the space. His objective was to stay as long as he could without working. As he felt more comfortable, he turned on the machinery but did not use it. He kept a token of positive affirmation on his body as a source of empowerment. Finally, he became more aware of negative self-talk and changed the narrative to a positive one. The path back to work in the studio after an accident can be challenging. It is important to take time to slowly ease back into a routine in a calm and controlled manner.

Finally, I talked briefly about what we can do to prevent accidents in the studio. Similar to doctors, pilots, and front-line workers, safety checklists are important reminders before each shift in the studio. This should include safety information on clothing, personal protective equipment, tied back hair, etc. Whenever possible, work with a buddy in the studio to keep up the morale. We need to be aware of our own limits, take frequent breaks, avoid rushing, and know when to stop, especially when feeling fatigued. 1. Gang, Wu, et al, Review Article: Understanding resilience, Front. Behav. Neurosci., 15 February 2013, 21, 25. 2. Gang, Wu, et al, Review Article: Understanding resilience, Front. Behav. Neurosci., 15 February 2013, 2 . 3. Iacoviello B. M, Charney D. S. Psychosocial facets of resilience: implications for preventing posttrauma psychopathology, treating trauma survivors, and enhancing community resilience. European Journal of Psychotraumatology. 2014;5 23970. 4. Southwick, S. M., Vythilingam, M., and Charney, D. S. (2005). The psychobiology of depression and resilience to stress: implications for prevention and treatment. Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol. 1, 255–291.

Both traditional and alternative therapies were beneficial for Josh and Kathleen to manage and treat their PTSD. Traditional therapies included PTSD IOP (intensive outpatient treatment), tapping, EMDR, coping techniques, talk therapy, and observational walks to change the narrative. Some alternative therapies included shamanic healing methods, somatic therapy, and psilocybin treatments. All of these therapies were conducted with the help of a trained therapist in a controlled and monitored environment. If a friend, family member, or loved one has experienced trauma, Terri described several ways to show up for this person. Sit down with them to get on the same level. This body language is perceived better and the person feels heard better. Allow this person to have their own voice. Ask non-leading, open-ended questions and listen intently to their responses. Reflect back their answers so they know they are heard. Be kind and non-judgmental. Acknowledge we are not perfect. Look forward, have a sense of humor, and be respectful. This is a good start down the path of healing, but seek professional help when necessary. A strong defense against trauma comes from building resilience. As Terri mentioned, resilience comes from many aspects of our lives. Our family, community, and social network, among others, all affect our ability to adapt to change and adversity.

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C O N F E R E N C E K I C K-O F F D E M O N S T R AT I O N

D E M O N S T R AT I O N S

Einar + Jamex De La Torre Our aim for the keynote/opening for GAS 2022 was to do a demo and then a short lecture to finish off. Things took longer than we expected and we ran out of time, so the lecture will have to be at another conference. For the demo we asked the fantastic team at the MoG to fabricate prickly pear cactus leaves in an upholstery ‘diamond tuck’ style, reminiscent of lowriders. We have designed for the donor wall at the new Cheech Marin Museum of Chicano Art and Culture in Riverside, California a ‘donor heart’ that has the names of the donors on the cactus leaves. We decided to make a version in glass for the demo. The large human heart’s aortas transformed into cactus leaves, with attached glass diamonds representing the flowering fruit. A sculpted glass lowrider wire wheel rim was used as a base for the sculpture. We have presented the unfinished glass piece as a placeholder while the large bronze casting is finished and installed, scheduled for September of 2022.

De La Torre Brothers kick off the 2022 GAS Conference inside the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, USA.

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C L O S I N G D E M O N S T R AT I O N

Many Hands Make Work Light...and Fun!

Better Together

By Edward T. Schmid

Ed Schmit shares handouts during his presentation at Area 253 Glassblowing during Tacoma 2022.

Inside the Museum of Glass Hot Shop for the Tacoma 2022 Closing Night Demo with Better Together (featuring Nate Watson at the bench).

A Hot Sculpting Demonstration--- A Tree + Hand + Goblet aka “Goblet Grab”

“Welcome to the Hot Shop here at the Museum of Glass. My name is Emily Martin and I will be your Emcee for the evening. The closing demonstration will be hosted by Better Together. Better Together is an organization founded by Cedric Mitchell and Corey Pemberton that celebrates and supports the work of BIPOC artists. Thank you for being here with us. Please come in and have a seat as we prepare to start the demonstration”. Terri Sigler approached me and whispered “Em, don’t forget to remind everyone the front row is reserved for all BIPOC guests”. Small details are so easy to overlook while public speaking in a room packed with people. I thanked Teri and carried on to invite all BIPOC guests down. “I would also like to invite all BIPOC guests to the front row, the front row is reserved for all BIPOC guests”. My name is Emily Martin. I am a Tacoma native, I work as a glass artist and an art educator. I’ve spent many days at Museum of Glass speaking as an Emcee for artists from all over the world. I was excited to finally Emcee for a large group of BIPOC artists. A celebration of glass art and the BIPOC culture

For the 50’” Anniversary Glass Art Society Conference in Tacoma, Washington May 18- 21, 2022 2022 has been declared the International Year of Glass, but it is also my 38th year working with this amazing material. At Tacoma 2022, I shared what I have learned over the years: from first blowing glass solo, and then hotsculpting & coldworking the material into all kinds of things. I talked about art, anatomy, and the human condition, and discussed the benefits of teamwork, collaboration, and community through the magnificent medium of glass. One of the hardest things to draw or sculpt is human anatomy. In my demonstration, I explained the reasons why rendering anything realistic in molten glass is fraught with unexpected

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challenges and shared some of the solutions that I have found to overcome them. This demo included a mix of solo working/hot core glass sculpting and teamwork including blowing a cup and final assembly—working with my hands and my friends. I also shared the origins of how I got started making hands and the evolution of this body of work of mine, which holds special meanings on multiple levels. For example, we use our hands to communicate, indicate and gesture. As artists, we constantly use our hands as tools. We also sense the world through our hands in textures and in touch; from soft to rough, smooth to coarse, & from hot to cold and everything in between. We feel connected to others through: embrace, caress, and stroke all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum to: claw, scratch, punch, poke, squish and squash etc. et . There’s a lot to talk about here and even plenty more to share—until your cup runneth over!

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was set to take place. As Corey called us into a huddle, he said a few words and gave us all a black hoodie. This was a thoughtful and an ironic gesture because it was also his birthday. Thoughtful, because this type of silent solidarity was needed within the African American Community. Just three days before the Better Together demonstration, 10 innocent African-American civilians were gunned down in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. This was only one of the many violent attacks on the AfricanAmerican community this year, and it was only the month of May. Corey gave us all a few final directions. “Emily, I shared the list of artist names. When Emily calls your name, please walk out and line up in the Hot Shop. Similar to a ball player during the NBA All-Star game.” As the team huddle ended, we all scurried

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to pull our hoodies over our heads. The Better Together team was ready to execute the proposed vision. All moments after the huddle were literal Glass Art Society and BIPOC glass art history. It was now time to start the show. I began by introducing the Glass Artists. “It is my pleasure to introduce the Better Together artist who will be in the Hot Shop this evening. Corey Pemberton, SaraBeth Post, Cedric Mitchell, Nate Watson, Terri Sigler, Jason McDonald, and Arthur Wilson.” Everyone lined up properly and remained in line while Kenya Adams opened the show. It’s a Black tradition to open or close African American ceremonies with the Hymn, Lift Every Voice and Sing. The Hymn was created in the 1900’s by James Johnson, the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and was later recomposed by his brother John Johnson who transformed the poem to lyrics. “I would like to introduce you all to Kenya Adams. Kenya is a Local Artist, art educator, and extraordinary singer. Will you all please rise for the Black National Anthem.” The performance was phenomenal, the crowd cheered in agreement. Kenya brought an element of soul to the room. “Let’s give Kenya another round of applause. Thank you Kenya Adams, what a job well done!” Between acts, DiscJockey Kevin Phyall spun out all your favorite summer-time backyard barbecue hits. From early 90’s hip hop, motown, Stevie Wonder to reggaeton he curated a playlist full of vibes.

ful, educational, clever, and very mighty. Devin Williams, 2021 winner of the young artist and authors showcase, presented her poem titled Mama. Devin’s poetry recital depicted the term “young, black and gifted.” The spirit was alive, the room was flowing with joy, but we still had a bit more culture to add to the mix. Klair Ethridge, Director of Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, prepared her dancers. “I am excited for our next group of dancers. The Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center also known as TUPAC, located in The Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, is an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of underrepresented youth through the performing arts. It’s my pleasure to introduce the TUPAC Ballerinas.” Two young girls ran out onto the balcony. The lights were dimmed in the room and the Hot shop floor began to glow. The movements alluded to the idea that “glass blowing is kind of like a dance”. The atmosphere became poetic. “Let’s give a hand to our young ladies. Thank you girls you did such an awesome job.” The West African Dancers, another division of TUPAC dancers, arrived ready to tear the house down. They entered with two drummers, and four dancers dressed in authentic West African outfits. The sound of the drums matched the movement in their feet, their bodies bent, stretched, and leaped across the stage. They raised the roof of the Hot Shop cone. The performance was electric.

Two poets, Korey Stroizer and Devin Williams watched and waited for their cue to deliver their poems. Korey Stroizer serves the community as the Tacoma Public School Board Director. He recited his poem titled Words of Wisdom. The poem was insight-

The level of excitement brought to the Hot Shop by the poets, dancers, and DJ was a direct reflection of the artwork being created by the Better Together team. All the BIPOC artists brought one brown orb after another, and placed them onto the clear glass cylinder which held all the brown orbs together to form a ball. Clear glass cane was pulled, formed into circles, and slowly linked together to form a glass chain. The demonstration became a performance art piece. The effort of each glass artist on the Hot Shop contributed to the success of this piece. Such a fragile idea was so effortlessly carried out to amplify the idea that if we work together we will always be Better Together.

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Better Together teams formed at each bench and the glass demonstration officially started. Corey and Cedric Gaffed at the first bench, Nate Watson gaffed at the second bench, and Jason McDonald gaffed at the third bench. With so much experience on the Hot Shop floor the whole demonstration appeared to be choreographed.

A snapshot from the Benjamin Moore Tribute demonstration held on Friday, May 20, 2022 featuring Paul Cunningham, Dante Marioni, Robbie Miller, Richard Royal, and Preston Singletary.

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IN MEMORIAM

Memorials were taken from GAS member submissions via our website throughout the year and from an additional call for memorials for a conference slide show in May 2022. Our sincerest apologies to any individuals who may have been missed.

BILL BOYSEN (1936–2020)

Larry Albright

LARRY ALBRIGHT (1932–2022) “Larry Albright was an inventor, mentor, artist, pilot, magic maker, and friend. He helped us touch the cosmos, and was deeply invested in advancing the art of plasma as well as the effort to make neon, electric, and kinetic art accessible. He designed and patented the first mass produced plasma ball, and the objects he created for Star Wars, Star Trek, Close Encounters Of the Third Kind and many other films conjured up worlds of possibility. Larry played an integral role in the history of the Museum of Neon Art and his joyous exuberant signature, which loops and rises much like the arcs of electricity in his mind bending artworks, is proudly scrawled on the museum’s incorporation papers. Larry served on our honorary board for many years, and his works are crowd favorites at the museum- inciting wonder, curiosity, and exploration. Larry was playful, friendly, endlessly inquisitive, and generous. His ethos of experimentation and altruism was infectious. So many carry his light within them, passing on this generosity through generations of people who dare to tango with lightning.”

went on to receive an Associates Degree in Graphic Design from Seattle Central College. Dylan went on to work at many studios, including Glassybaby and Glass Eye Studio in Seattle, Washington. He moved to Oakland, California with Glassybaby, where he helped to set up their Berkley location and train countless glassblowers. No matter where he went, Dylan impressed people with his friendly nature and attention to detail. Most recently, Dylan worked at Monarch Glass Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, from 2019 until his passing. While there, he began to branch out into stained glass, as well as becoming an integral part of the Kansas City glass community. Dylan taught countless classes and lessons, impressing students with his patience and consistent good will. He also produced lighting, home goods, installations, and other commissions. He had the rare talent of being good at almost anything he tried. In his own artwork, Dylan painted on glass using enamels, and enjoyed making whimsical glass sculptures, or collaborating with friends. His ink drawings gained accolades from a young age and continued to amaze viewers through the whole of his career. Dylan also enjoyed trying new foods, comics and anime, film, listening to music, video games, and spending time with friends and his dog, Mars. If you ever knew or met Dylan Betz, you will know what a loss this is, and the glass community joins his family and friends in mourning the passing of this lovely soul.

“He was my Father. Bill Boysen was an American artist, specializing in the use of glass to produce three-dimensional artworks. In the mid-1960s, Bill Boysen, professor emeritus from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, originated one of the first university-based blown glass programs in the Bill Boysen United States. Boysen travelled to Australia in 1974, where he promoted glass artistry by presenting a “revolutionary demonstration of glass blowing” to a gathering of around 250 attendees. Boysen’s mobile studio “successfully toured eight eastern states’ venues in ‘74, thus greatly enhancing the credibility of hand crafted glass.” Boysen’s visit is credited with helping “inspire a generation of [Australian] artists to work with glass and eventually led to the creation of the national art glass collection” in Wagga Wagga, Australia. This important collection includes over 450 works of art and is “the most comprehensive public collection of Australian studio glass anywhere.” Erwin Eisch

-Kendell Boysen

ERWIN EISCH (1927–2022) CARLA “SOPHIA” BRUNO (1958–2021) “Carla brought a sense of joy and humor to Hilltop Artists. She was inspirational to all the young people she worked with and will be greatly missed.”

- Corrie Siegel

- Jessica Hogan

DYLAN CHRISTOPHER ATKINSON-BETZ (1989–2020) In the early morning hours of July 19, 2020, the American glass community lost a shining star. Dylan Christopher AtkinsonBetz passed away suddenly at the age of 30. Dylan was an artist from a young age, and he began working with glass in 2001 at the Hilltop Artists in Residence at Jason Lee Middle School in Tacoma at the age of 12. His first paying job was as a member of their production team. He attended Tacoma’s School of the Arts, focusing on the visual arts, especially drawing and illustration. He

Dylan Christopher Atkinson-Betz

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Carla “Sophia” Bruno

“The lights dimmed as all the students anticipated an exciting lecture from the teacher and German glass artist Erwin Eisch. He was nowhere to be seen and the discord simmered. Suddenly a voice from the lodge’s balcony drew a gasp from below. There was Erwin dressed as a glorious woman, preaching in broken English the need for more women to take their place in the glassblowing world. I was lucky enough to be part of that moment and since have spent over 30 years working alongside Erwin in his art academy, Bild-Werk, in Frauenau Germany. With his feet firmly rooted in Bavaria’s ancient glass industry, Erwin was perfectly placed to be an artist that found expression through a constant play of material, rebellious disregard for technical priority, and a passionate fervor for instinctual creativity. A true poet and storyteller at heart his philosophy placed primary importance on the idea of individuality in forming unique and significant art.” - Stephen Paul Day

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IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM ROBERT M. MINKOFF (1951–2020) RYUICHI JAMES (R.J.) OKI (1997–2022) “R.J. loved working with hot glass. He was creative, talented and an inspiration to others. He will be missed by everyone who knew him especially his Hilltop Artists family.” - Jessica Hogan

Ryuichi James (R.J.) Oki

He created the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation to promote understanding, education, appreciation, and overall success of the glass arts. His love of art, specifically glass art, led him to become an expert in the field, serving on the Board of the James Renwick Alliance, Wheaton Arts, and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. He lectured at the Corning Institute, developed friendships with glass artists, and used his foundation to create scholarships for up and coming artists. Robert also served on the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, where his commitment to the Jewish People was apparent.

TROY LEITHEAD (1995–2021) “Troy was a thoughtful and creative artist who inspired others with his risk taking. Always pushing the envelope of what was possible on the torch. He will be deeply missed by his Hilltop Artists family.” - Jessica Hogan

Troy Leithead

WILLIAM TODD MCCLURE (1970–2018) “Todd was a ally in glassmaking. The guy you could count on when you needed a hand. A generous spirit with a clear head who could talk you through a concept and clarify ideas. His philosophy on glass was guided by the idea that it should have three elements. It makes so much sense to me. I miss traveling, glassmaking and sharing music with you my friends.” - Lynn Read

Right: William Todd McClure

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Robert Minkoff passed away September 6th, 2020 after a 2018 diagnosis of CNS Lymphoma. Robert was born and lived in Chevy Chase with his family who were very involved with Washington Hebrew Congregation. After graduating from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, he attended Washington University in St. Louis where he received both undergraduate and graduate Robert M. Minkoff degrees in Structural Engineering. He followed his father into the family real estate business, Minkoff Development, where he and his brother in law worked to expand the business. He retired in 2005 to focus on his passion for the arts.

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Robert’s passion for his community, and for making the world a better and more beautiful place, will be dearly missed. If you would like to honor Robert’s memory with a donation, please consider the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington or Housing Unlimited in Montgomery County, Maryland.

BENJAMIN MOORE (1952–2021)

Benjamin Moore

European masters via his influential role as the longtime creative director of the Pilchuck Glass School, a title he held until 1987. And the studio he established in Seattle, Benjamin Moore, Inc., quickly became an essential crossroads where a new generation of glassblowers learned their craft and connected with established elders. After high school, Moore — ever ready to learn, travel, and connect — left his native Washington state to study ceramics at California College of Arts and Craft (now CCA), where he went on to earn his BFA in 1974. There, he learned about glass through professor Marvin Lipofsky. The summer after he graduated, he headed to the newly formed Pilchuck Glass School, where he would meet his mentor Dale Chihuly, who was also the chair of the glass department at the Rhode Island School of Design. Enrolling in the graduate program at RISD, Moore would earn his MFA in 1977, after which he took off for Murano, to learn from the masters he had heard about from Chihuly, who himself had been a Fulbright fellow in 1968.

By John Drury with additional reporting by Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet editor Andrew Page. Excerpts are included below, but the full article can be found via Urban Glass Quarterly.

Unlike his mentor’s visiting artist position at Venini, Moore spent two years sweating alongside the factory workers, developing personal relationships and accessing some of the technical secrets kept from most outsiders. Moore returned with an extraordinary level of skill, and with ideas inspired by two legendary Venini designers — Napoleone Martinuzzi and Carlo Scarpa — from which he developed his own distinctive blown-glass aesthetic.

Details are still emerging, but glass great Benjamin Moore died on Friday, June 25th, 2021, in Seattle. Moore is considered one of the most influential American glassblowers of the 20th century, not only for achieving a rare level of skill, but for helping to connect the nascent American Studio Glass movement with esteemed

An extraordinarily generous person, Moore was eager to share his connections with the glass world, and his position coordinating the educational offerings at Pilchuck allowed him to do just that. He tapped his Murano network to invite Checco Ongaro to teach at Pilchuck in 1978, and brought his brother-in-law to

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take his place in 1979. That would have been Lino Tagliapietra, whose willingness to share some of the time-honored techniques during his repeat visits to Pilchuck were a seminal moment in the history of American glassblowing. But it wasn’t just Italians. He also tapped connections established by Chihuly in his world travels, and the two worked together to bring Bertil Vallien, Ulrica Hydman-Vallien and Ann Warff (now Ann Wolf) from Sweden; stained-glass artist Ludwig Schaffrath and fusing legend Klaus Moje from Germany; and arguably the premier glass casters in the world, the husband and wife team of Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, from what-was-then-Czechoslovakia.

DOUG SOLYAN (1942–2022)

It is his reach to the next generation however, that best reveals Ben’s deeply generous nature. He would soon hire Dante Marioni and Preston Singletary fresh out of high school. Each would become world class makers. Paul Cunningham, Mike Fox, Pete Hundrieser, Robbie Miller, and Brian Pike would all find regular employment through the studio at pivotal early stages of their careers, and each was allowed a few days a month to perfect their own practice. Ben created an extended “family” – one who would learn to appreciate his love of jazz (a strict jazz-music-only policy remained in effect until after lunch), share an untold number of meals and support to see one another rise to the apex of the glass world. Those who knew him best would affectionately call him “Benny”. “I worked with Benny for over 20 years and he was much like a father to me,” said Preston Singletary in a text exchange with the Hot Sheet. “He demanded excellence from his team and I benefited from this high level of expectation. It’s reflective in my own work and as a human being. He was always so supportive of everyone he worked with. He took pride in the growth and evolution of all of us who worked with him. We often joked about him being the Dick Clark of the glass world because he was so eloquently spoken.” Moore would continue to serve the school that he loved as a member of the Board of Trustees for the next 30 years. In 1990, a Pilchuck student found her way to the door of Moore’s King Street Seattle studio, clutching the scrawled directions supplied by Robbie Miller. As the story goes, Benny shook Deborah Moore’s hand in meeting her, and never let go, eventually becoming husband and wife.

“Doug was super kind to me when I visited his neon shop in Richmond VA. I was just starting my neon journey and he happily showed me around this amazing collection of clocks and other amazing Doug Solyan neon history. He also shared his price structure for rentals and other neon tips he learned over his many years in the craft, something that neon shops usually keep under wraps.

Left: Greg A. Owen

GREG A. OWEN (1967–2020) “Greg Owen was an influencer and an inspiration to many. He found kind words for anyone he encountered and fostered thoughtfulness and compassion wherever he went.”

- Danielle James

MARIANNE SPOTTISWOODE MCLANE (–2020)

- Katrina Hude “Everything to me” - Joseph Grogan

Moore’s infamously steady hand, his exacting demands of those who worked for him, and his unshakeable love for the material glass and those who manipulate it in pursuit of art, will be sorely missed. Benjamin Moore’s mark on the glass world is indelible, and impossible to fully document.

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Doug founded Olde Towne Mirror and re-silvered thousands of antique mirrors. Upon its closing, he owned and operated Uptown Neon for 35 years. Many Richmond area restaurants, bars and businesses have Doug’s neon in their establishments. He also made neon artwork for private individuals, movie sets and collaborated with numerous artists. He was kind and generous, gladly sharing his love of neon with all interested customers who came into his shop. He mentored several people who were enthusiastic about learning the neon trade.”

Marianne Spottiswoode McLane

forged a remarkable career.

It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Marianne, known to her family as ‘Jean Marian’. Marianne passed away on Sunday 23rd August 2020, in Tijuana, Mexico. Marianne was blessed with an abundance of talent and optimistic spirit that inspired everyone she met. Her creativity never slowed and her energy to support friends and family was beyond measure. She had an immense love of all aspects of the arts and

KENNY WALTON (1947–2019) “Kenny was my husband, and I saw him develop his unique art glass, and shared aesthetic interests as we both are artists. Kenny grew up on a rural truck farm in Edison, Ohio. He graduated from Mt. Gilead High School in 1965. Kenny was drafted into the US Army in 1966 and served in the infantry and as a radio repairman in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, when he was honorably discharged. Kenny used his GI benefits for educaKenny Walton tion at the Department of Art at Ohio State University 1970-76, and worked in the ceramics and glass areas, joining in at the beginnings of the Studio Glass Movement. He taught stained glass at art centers in Columbus, Ohio, blew glass at Columbus College of Art & Design from 1978-85, and worked with developmentally disabled adults for Franklin County and the State Institute for 10 years. Kenny moved to Nebraska in 1985 to build his own glass studio and develop his art business. Through 1990 to 2007, Kenny exhibited his hand-blown glass at the highest level of juried arts and craft fairs around the country and region, winning many awards. He had solo exhibitions of his glass in Nagoya, Japan, Ohio Craft Museum, and the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln. His work was included in “New Glass Review” at the Corning Museum of Glass in 1995, and shown in group exhibitions in Chicago, China, Montana, California, St. Louis, Washington DC, Kansas, Ohio, and Nebraska. He received two Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships in 1994 & 1995, and a Mid-America Arts Alliance/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1995. He lectured on his glass in Finland, Poland, Hawaii and throughout the Midwest.” -Karen Kunc

Her generosity and kindness touched so many, and her legacy will be remembered by us all. “God Bless your dearest heart Marianne.” If you would like to make a donation to the Marianne Spottiswoode Memorial Award, a residency for an emerging artist working with glass please visitresidencyunlimited.org. THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

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IN MEMORIAM SYLVIA VIGILETTI (1933–2020) An inspirational force in the early years of Studio Glass and the Glass Art Society, Sylvia Bernice Vigiletti passed away peacefully at home in Southfield, Michigan on Monday, October 12, 2020. She was born in Chatham, Ontario on Friday, September 22, 1933 to John and Dora Glover. On February 14, 1958 Sylvia married Robert “Bob” Vigiletti in St. Martha’s Episcopal Church in Detroit. Sylvia was a multi-talented artist, from photography to weaving, and she had an exquisite eye for beauty; however, her true passion and artistic genius was in studio glass. Her works are in countless public and private collections including the Detroit Institute of Art, The Corning Museum, the Smithsonian Museum and the Penland School of Craft. In 1993, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Glass Art Society for exceptional achievements in the field of glass art.

“This is so emotionally hard to write. Sylvia Vigiletti was a special friend and it was a pleasure and so much fun to work with Sylvia on the Board of GAS. Without the internet we communicated constantly by phone, at all hours of the day and night. Many times, at conferences, we stayed up into the wee hours stuffing envelopes with information for our membership. I remember fondly our trips together to conferences and overseas adventures. We traveled together to Washington

Sylvia remained dedicated to GAS and attended almost every conference and she continued to carefully monitor GAS financial statements at business meetings (and made sure we joined her at all of the meetings!) We will all miss this smart, funny and very talented artist. We are grateful for her friendship, dedication to the Glass Art Society and to our extended glass family. 120

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

–Beth Hylen

DC to a fun filled reception honoring the Corning Museums “New Glass” Exhibition that was opening at the Smithsonian Art Gallery. A reception for the artists was held at the Vice President Walter Mondale’s home. We were in awe as the Vice President’s wife, Joan Mondale, greeted us at the door and we were treated to drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Our trips to England, Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, etc. were filled with great adventures, notably one with Erwin Eisch and Harvey Littleton in Frauenu and Gianni Toso in Murano. Gianni took us swimming in the sea and made us flameworked images of ourselves blowing glass.”

“Sylvia was always such a giving person. She was an inspiration and such a wonderful role model for all in the glass art world. I have always called Sylvia and Audrey my glass moms, they opened a path for women in the field of glass. She was very supportive especially to young students. I will always cherish the time traveling with Sylvia, and miss her history lessons on everything art. One of my fondest memories is our trip to Mexico for the conference and then through the country. Going off the beaten paths and finding the best markets. Sylvia and I had so much fun when we roomed together at so many conferences, talking late into the night about glass. She opened her home to me when I would teach at the University of Michigan. Her love for the Glass Art Society was strong and together we would go to every business meeting long after she was off the board. When she was unable to go to the conference it was my duty to get the treasurer report to her. I truly believe the dedication and love that Sylvia contributed was a critical part of forming the Glass Art Society into what it is today. Quiet, calm, efficient, compassionate and diplomatic, she showed us how to be. I will miss her kind welcoming ways and the wonderful stories about the early glass years.”

–Audrey Handler

– Sally Prasch

Sylvia also served as a board member of the Glass Art Society in the 70’s and 80’s. Camera in hand, she was always taking their pictures. When Sylvia retired from the GAS Board in 1984, Robert Kehlman gave this tribute: “…And then there’s Sylvia Vigiletti. Sylvia…was one of the founding “fathers” of our organization…. She has literally run the organization’s treasury and membership out of shoe boxes in her home since it expanded. Now that’s a lot of work for a lot of years, and all of us are deeply indebted to Sylvia for the amount of time she’s contributed. Probably without her, we wouldn’t be here now. She, perhaps more than anyone else, has really held this organization together for a long, long time.”

“Sylvia told wonderful stories – I remember sitting a booth at the Asheville conference party laughing with Sylvia, Audrey and Sally as they told tales about the early days of GAS. She participated in GAS with curiosity, enthusiasm and joy! At later conferences, Sally and I often roomed together with Sylvia – I appreciated her thoughtful evaluation of talks and demos each evening. She joined us backstage at GAS Fashion Shows to help us dress, take photos and cheer us on. She was always kind. Her enduring friendships with other pioneering studio art colleagues like MarvinLipofsky, Henry Halem, Fritz Dreisbach, and Audrey were inspiring -- their deep appreciation of her gifts was evident. I treasure our time together.”

Sylvia Vigiletti in her Detroit, Michigan Studio

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Cedric Mitchell (center) demonstrates his hot glass techniques, assisted by Corey Pemberton (left), on the Corning Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop.

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G A S 5 0 TH A N N I V E R S A R Y C O N F E R E N C E P R O G R A M

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18

HOT DEMO: Cedric Mitchell, The Pursuit Of Perfection

EVENT: Student Meet-Up EVENT: First Timers Networking

HOT DEMO: Ann Potter, Glassblowing Outside the Bench

EVENT: Conference Kick-Off + Hot Lecmo feat. Einar De La Torre + Jamex De La Torre

COLD DEMO: Sean Hogan, The beauty of glass bridging communities through the Mighty Spear

THURSDAY, MAY 19

FLAME DEMO: Emily Martin, Hollow Glass Apples

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT LECTURE: Judith Schaecter, Nothing Persona LECTURE: Jay Macdonell, LightBulb: Bespoke Lighting Design and Manufacturing HOT DEMO: Marta Byrdziak, Prepare for family life HOT DEMO: Phirak Suon + Brandyn Callahan, The Digital and Analog of Glass and Ceramics

Megan Stelljes showcases her neon process during a demonstration in the flame tent.

COLD DEMO: Kristin Elliot, Assembled Cold: Process of Lamination

NEON DEMO: James Akers, 3D Blinky Neon Scribbley Mess

NEON DEMO: Megan Stelljes, Get Bent

LECMO: Tomo Sakai + Eric Cruze, Printmaking with Glass

FLAME LECMO: Jessie Blackmer + Kit Paulson, Small scale, large impact

SUSTAINABILITY PANEL: Frederik Rombach, Patrícia Šichmanová, Slate Grove, Danielle Ruttenberg, Burning the Olive Branch

COLD LECMO: Michael Bokrosh, Lothar Böttche, Peter Kuchinke, PASS IT ON KILN LECMO: Alicia Lomne, The Creature Habit: Using Pre-fired inclusions in Pate de verre FLAME DEMO: International Year of Collaboration LECTURE: John Moran, The Use of Rhetorical Narratives as a Form of Reactionary Art FLAME LECMO: Laura Quinn, Words of Isolation | Words of Connection HOT DEMO: Katherine Huskie, Textures to Embrace HOT DEMO: Bibi Smit, In the heat of the moment: communication as a tool

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WILSON LECTURE: Jane Bruce, Towards Understanding: From Film to Glass and Back Again HOT DEMO: Raven Skyriver + Preston Singletary, Native species HOT DEMO: Sammamish High School Students, High School Glassblowing Program COLD DEMO: Cecile Derel, Glass Engraving with the Drill Technique LECMO: Don Friedlich, New Warm and Cold Approaches to Dichroic Glass MOLD LECMO: Susan Gott, Sand Molds, Graphite, and More; Thinking Outside of the Sand Box

LECTURE: Brooke Hamling, Exploring Zircar Luminar Glass Products and Mold Mix 6 LECTURE: Marta Gorski, Tools to Sustaining Your Art Practice

HOT DEMO: Jermiah Brown, N’Kosi Barber, MiShawn Cabrera, Jason Minami, Growth of a Dynasty

FLAME DEMO: Christopher Hurley, Goblet assembly with Millie work and facets

LECTURE: Jerre Davidson, Shape of Dance Project

HOT LECMO: Grace Whiteside + Liesel Schubel, Homosilica: Glass is Still Gay

LECTURE: Dr. Max Stewart, Gods and Monsters –Towards A New Identity

NEON DEMO: Danielle Kaes, Chemistry of Neon and Physics of Light

SAXE LECTURE: Fumi Amano + Madeline Rile Smith, 2022 Saxe Emerging Artist Award Winners Lecture

KILN LECMO: Su-yeon Kim, Drawing through Glass

EVENT: Student Exhibition Opening

ACTIVITY: Portfolio Review

EVENT: Free Third Thursday + Downtown Art Walk by Travel Tacoma

HOT DEMO: David Patchen + James Devereux, A Collaboration to Create a Murrine ‘Clovis

FRIDAY, MAY 20

HOT DEMO: Hanne Enemark + Louis Thompson, Beyond Borders: Outside the Limits of Scope

LECTURE: Jinya Zhao (Virtual), Exploring the unfinished narrative of artwork through the creation of atmospheric phenomena within glass blowing LECTURE: Peter Kuchinke, Jan-Erik Ritzman: Teaching the “Swedish Style” of Glass to the World TECH LECMO: Davin Karlsen Ebanks, Thoughts on Digital Technology for Glass Artists & Students

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COLD DEMO: Steve Wortley + Aimee LaBelle, Redefining Faceting in Glass Art – A Discussion and Demonstration HOT DEMO: Paul Cunningham, Dante Marioni, Robbie Miller, Richard Royal, Preston Singletary, Benjamin Moore, Inc Tribute

EVENT: Member Exhibition Opening

ACTIVITY: Silent Auction

LECMO KILN: Mark Abildgaard, Mold Making and Related Processes for Kiln Casting Glass

FILM + LECTURE: Brandyn Callahan + Ethan Steinman, Glassblower Vision: Thermal Imaging in The Hot Shop

KILN LECMO: Georgia Redpath, Modular Making: Creating the Unique from the Repeat |

FILM: Holy Frit (2021)

FLAME LECMO: Celia Garland, Reclaiming Glass Sustainability in Principle and Practice

PANEL: Corey Pemberton, James Vella, Amira Rogers, Trenton Quiocho,

Deaunata Holman, Sustaining Success for Young and Emerging BIPOC Artists LECTURE: Alison Kinnaird, The RearView Mirror FILM: Holy Frit (2021)

SATURDAY, MAY 21 ACTIVITY: Silent Auction COMMUNITY PANEL: Jiyong Lee, Su-yeon Kim, Sunny Wang, Stephanie Kwok, Unheard-of International reports PANEL: Jamie Marie Rose, Carmen Lozar, Kimberly Thomas, Janis Miltenberger, American Exploring Lore Through Contemporary Glass MOLD LECMO: Jacci Delaney, Experimental Casting Part 2: Pouring Plaster Silica on Anything COLD DEMO: Matteo Seguso, “You ask…I’ll engrave it!” FLAME DEMO: Davis Hanscom Thal, Networking: Queering Perspectives of the Flameworking Community

FLAME DEMO: Rashan Jones FILM: Light Keeper (2020) feat. Riikka Haapasaari LECTURE LITTLETON: Sharyn O’Mara, Off Center: Shifting Paradigms LECTURE: Amy Hughes, Haunted Sites of Modernity: Dissent and Glassmaking in Communist Czechoslovakia

Newly elected GAS Board Member, Kimberly Thomas demonstrating her skills on the torch.

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Cecile Derel demonstrates the art of drill engraving inside the Museum of Glass Cold Shop.

Tacoma 2022 Closing Night Demo with Better Together (featuring Jason McDonald, Cedric Mitchell, Corey Pemberton, SaraBeth Post, Terri Sigler, Nate Watson, and Arthur Wilson) inside of the Museum of Glass Hot Shop.

HOT DEMO: Cathryn Shilling + Louis Thompson, Shrouded in Myth HOT DEMO: Jay MacDonell, Polythermic: Connecting

NEON DEMO: Dani Kaes, Galen Turner + Jacob Willcox, Gas Filling Tube Suckers

MOLD LECMO: Alli Hoag, Glass Taxidermy: Lost Wax Casting approaches for surface, texture and thin complex forms

ACTIVITY: Goblet Grab

COMMUNITY PANEL: Kathleen Mitchell, Josh Hershman, Steve Ciezki, Terri Grant, Recovery and ResilienceOvercoming Potential Career Ending Trauma

LECTURE: Joanna Manousis, Mirrors of the Third Dimension

TECH LECMO: Benny Hill, Digital Tools For the Hot Shop and Kiln Forming

HOT LECMO: Erin Taylor + Angus Power, Beyond Binary Bling

KILN LECMO: Jianyong Guo, A new model of ‘inside painting’ casting glass sculptures

MENTAL HEALTH PANEL: Judy Ko, James Nole, Danie Nitardy, Art and Mental Health

HOT DEMO: Nicolas Laty, Birth of a Dino

LECMO: Nathan Sandberg, My Vitrigraph Adventure

COLD LECMO: Mark Bolick, Coldworking Your Glass with Diamonds

HOT DEMO: Jeff Ballard + Joe Tsoulfas, Form Follows Function, It’s Not Your Grandma’s Soft Glass

HOT DEMO: Dylan Katz, Ice from Fire

HOT DEMO: Edward Schmid, Many Hands Make Work Light...& Fun! FLAME DEMO: Jill Allan, Bead Tube

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FLAME DEMO: Kimberly Thomas, Scratching the Surface LECTURE: Gregory Alliss, Smashing Old Televisions for a Sustainable Studio Practice

CAREER PANEL: Jamie Adams, Devan Coe, Bryan Beck, Kayla Socha, The Life of a Carny: Glass at the Fairgrounds

PRE-CONFERENCE RECEPTION Tuesday, May 17 | 5-7pm | Tacoma Art Museum | Add-on at Registration GAS welcomed guests for an intimate evening at the Tacoma Art Museum to kick off the 2022 conference and celebrate 50 years of Glass Art Society. Surrounded by TAM’s world class galleries and one-of-a-kind glass objects from the Museum of Glass Hot Shop, attendees enjoyed delicious appetizers, an open bar of beer and wine, live musical entertainment and more as they met fellow glass enthusiasts, reconnected with old friends, and prepared for the excitement of the conference!

COMMUNITY PANEL: Benjamin Wright, Raya Friday, Dan Friday, Preston Singletary, Tomas Colbengtson, On Native Land: Pilchuck’s Ongoing Engagement with Indigenous Artists

Located in the center of Tacoma’s downtown museum district, the Tacoma Art Museum showcases some of the world’s best collections and artwork. A portion of the proceeds from this event went directly to supporting the Glass Art Society.

HOT DEMO: Better Together with Jason McDonald, Cedric Mitchell, Corey Pemberton, Sara Beth Post, Terri Sigler, Leo Tecosky, Arthur Wilson, To the Beat

CLOSING NIGHT PARTY

EVENT: Closing Night Party

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Saturday, May 21 | 8:30pm-10:30pm | 7 Seas Brewing | Included with Pass No GAS conference is complete without coming together for a closing night party. From presenters and conference staff to

attendees, friends, and glass family from all over the world, we celebrated being together for our first conference since 2019. Thank you to 7 Seas Brewing for partnering with us to host this memorable event.

EXHIBITIONS Each year, we host free, public exhibitions in conjunction with our annual conference. Artwork for GAS exhibitions is accepted through applications that are reviewed by curated juries of professionals. From these submissions, a limited group of student and member artists are chosen to show their work at the conference.

GAS MEMBER EXHIBITION Connections 2022: Glass from Every Angle Wednesday, May 11 - July | Museum of Glass, Lobby + Hotshop Thank you to our 2022 Jurors: Ann Wåhlström - Sweden, Anna Grigson - Australia, Therman Statom - USA, Shane Fero - USA, and Sung Won Park - Korea.

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GAS MARKET VENDORS

GAS STUDENT EXHIBITION

including Grant Garmezy, Rob Stern, Susan Gott, Fritz Dreisbach, Austin Stern, Jeremy Sinkus, Nao Yamamoto, Minhi Su England and more. seattleglassblowing.com

The GAS Market (formerly Technical Display) gathers the best vendors, educational organizations, and more into one easily browsable marketplace. Join us in the Greater Tacoma Convention Center on the Fifth Floor. Free and open to the public. Thank you to our GAS Market Sponsor, Pilchuck Glass School!

RIFF RAFF: GROUP GLASS SHOW

*Booths 1, 2, & 3 Hot Glass Color & Supply 2225 5th Ave Seattle, WA 98121 USA hotglasscolor.com

*Booths 6 & 7 His Glassworks, Inc. 2000 Riverside Drive Suite 19 Asheville, NC 28804 USA hisglassworks.com

*Booth 9 Oceanside Glass & Tile 5858 Edison Pl Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA Oceansidecompatible.com

*Booths 4 & 5 Steinert Industries 1507 Franklin Ave Kent, OH 44240 steinertindustries.com

*Booth 8 Mobile Glassblowing Studios PO Box 1083 Americus, GA 31709 USA mobileglassblowingstudios.com

*Booth 10 Moore Tools for Glass PO Box 1151 Port Townsend, WA 98368 USA toolsforglass.com

Evolution 2022: A Showcase of Emerging, International Talent Monday, May 16 - Saturday, May 22 | Tacoma Art Museum, Chaney Classroom Thank you to our 2022 Jurors: Audrey Handler - USA, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello - Australia, Richard Whiteley Australia/USA, Rachael Wong - Canada, and Diane C. Wright - USA.

GAS GREEN EXHIBITION Trace 2022: An Exploration of Sustainable Glass Art Wednesday, May 18 - July | Online via glassart.org/trace-2022 Thank you to our 2022 Jurors: Telesilla Bristogianni, Faidra Oikonomopoulou, and Min Haeng Kang.

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GAS 50TH ANNIVERSARY POP-UP Between Here + There: 50 Years of Glass Art Society Wednesday, May 18 - Saturday, May 22 | Greater Tacoma Convention Center, 5th Floor This interactive pop-up installation explores the past 50 years of the Glass Art Society.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS IN SPECTRA: GLASS FROM THE PNW AND BEYOND Seattle Glassblowing Studio | 2227 5th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121 Explore glass in its varied forms. Works from established and emerging artists

Fulcrum Tacoma | 1308 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Tacoma, WA 98405 Participating Artists: Megan Stelljes, Bri Chesler, Joe Sircoulomb, Trent Quiocho, Morgan Peterson, Galen McCarty Turner, Oliver Doriss, Dick Weis, David Rios, Walt Leiberman, Jacob Wilcox. Early viewing May 17th, Opening Reception May 18th, Late Night Party May 21st, Closing Reception May 22nd. fulcrumtacoma.com

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*Designates Premium Booth

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GAS MARKET VENDORS *Booth 11 Wet Dog Glass, LLC 100C Russell Dr Star, NC 27356 USA wdg-us.com *Booth 12 Olympic Color Rods 1050 W Nickerson St, Suite A Seattle, WA 98119 glasscolor.com *Booth 13 Leviathan Glassworks 2909 71st Ave NW Gig Harbor, WA 98335 leviathanglassworks.com *Booth 14 ABR Imagery 3808 W Vernal Pike Bloomington, ID 47404 abrimagery.com *Booth 15 Bullseye Glass Co. 3722 SE 21st Ave Portland, OR 97202 bullseyeglass.com

Booth 19 Glass Axis 610 W. Town St. Columbus, OH 43215 Glassaxis.org Booth 20 High Volume Oxygen - Kornbluh Design 500 W South Street, #5 Lincoln, NE 68522 highvolumeoxygen.com Booth 21 Pilchuck Glass School 1201-316th St NW Stanwood, WA 98292 pilchuck.org

Booth 24 Bay Area Glass Institute 635 Phelan Ave San Jose, CA 95112 bagi.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Booth 25 Zircar Luminar Glass Products P.O. Box 489 Florida, NY 10921 luminarglass.com Booth 28 Glass Art Society Educational & Professional Resources glassart.org

Booth 22 Studio Glass Batch 5200 Delmar Blvd St. Louis, MO 63108 studioglassbatch.com

Booth 29 UrbanGlass 647 Fulton Street Brooklyn, NY 11217 urbanglass.org

Booth 23 The Studio at Corning 1 Museum Way Corning, NY 14830 home.cmog.org

Booth 30 Tulsa Glassblowing School 7440 E 7th St Tulsa, OK 74112 tulsaglassblowing.org

Booth 16 ULTRA TEC 1025 E Chestnut Ave Santa Ana, CA 92701-6425 ultratec-facet.com

Bibi Smit demonstrates her hot glass techniques at the Coring Museum of Glass Hot Shop.

*Booth 17 Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen 6371 Ershig Rd Bow, WA 98232 willenbrinkjohnsen.com Booth 18 Crafting the Future craftingthefuture.org

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2022 SPONSORS

GLASS ART SOCIETY DONORS VENUE PARTNERS

Chap & Eve Alvord

Lori Hultman

Aaron Rhodes

J. William & Janne Wissel

Museum of Glass

Fumi Amano

Celia Hunt

Walt Riehl

Michael Wilson

Lynn Read

Anna Alsina Bardagí

Nadania Idriss

Chris Rifkin

Karen Wilson

Kait Rhodes

Danny Bargas

Annabelle Javier

Arden Rodgers

Katy Woodworth

Kate Rhodes

Jacob Barter

Jenny Judge

Frederik Rombach

Elif Yalcinkaya

Natali Rodrigues

Ryan Bavin

Jessica Jane Julius

Leslie Rowe-israelson

Martha Zackin

Susan Roston

Angela & Eddie Bernard

Sydney Kaster-Oftedal

Debra Ruzinsky

Lisa Zerkowitz

Nathan Sandberg

William Bernstein

Mark Kelley

Fred & Susan Sanders

Paris Birdwell

Daniel Kerry

Jon Biscan

John Kiley

Akiko Sano, Leonardo Nagata, & family

Rees Bowen

Sabrina Knowles

Dave Braun

Gene Koss

Lorraine D. Bressler

Robin Levin

Katie Burkett

Jon Lickerman

Daniel Clayman

Claudia Lipschultz

Lynne Clayton

Chuck Lopez

Therman Statom

Carolyn Comiskey

Michele Macfarlane

STUDENT EXHIBITION

Jane Cook

Patrick Martin

Clifton Crofford

Harrison Mask

Brandy Culp

Ashleigh Mason

7 Seas Brewing Area 253 Glassblowing Corning Museum of Glass Mobile Hot Shop Hilltop Artists LeMay: America’s Car Museum Museum of Glass

GAS MARKET SPONSOR

Tacoma Museum of Art The Greater Tacoma Convention Center

EXHIBITION JURORS MEMBER EXHIBITION Ann Wåhlström Anna Grigson

SILENT AUCTION + GOBLET GRAB SPONSOR

Shane Fero Sung Won Park

Audrey Handler Diane C. Wright

Sheila Davis

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello

STUDENT EXHIBITION SPONSORS

John De Wit

Richard Whiteley

Laura Donefer

Rachael Wong

Hilarie Dyer Percy Echols

GREEN EXHIBITION

Stephen Edwards

Telesilla Bristogianni

Shoshana Englard

Faidra Oikonomopoulou

Evan Fable

Min Haeng Kang

Kristen Ferguson Kimberly Fields

PORTFOLIO REVIEWERS

COLOR GLASS SPONSORS

Liam Fisher

Bohyun Yoon

Sayuri Fukuda

Davin Ebanks

Bruce Gerus

Kimberly Thomas

Eric Goldschmidt

Paula Stokes

Maud Hallin

Sarah Traver

FLAME GLASS SPONSOR

Dorothy Saxe Rick Schneider Christel Serneels Kathleen Sheard Jeannine Sigafoos Vanessa Silas Dana Smith Marilyn Smits Chandler Snidal

Crista Van Slyck Matteson Elaine Sokoloff Jasmine Steinacker Heather McElwee Lani Mcgregor & Daniel Schwoerer

Amy Stephens

Cynthia Mcintyre

Kyle Suits

Kimberly Mckinnis

Ruth Summers

Paul Messink

Stephanie Swinehart

Dale Meyer

Vincent Tancredi

Jay Musler

Davira Taragin

Darleen Nixon

Demetra Theofanous

Christine Nowatschin

Betsy Tinkham

Lisa Oakley

Mark Truett

Judith Obermayer

Mauro Vianello

Sarah Jayne Olan

Caitlin Vitalo

Viviana Paredes

Sunny Wang

Purnima Patel

John Webster

Doug & Pat Perry

Joann Webster

Wayne Strattman

Terri Grant

Nygell Halvorson

SAXE EMERGING ARTIST JURORS

Audrey Handler

Stephanie Pew

Edris Weis

Glen & Florence Hardymon

Mike Poulton Dominic Pradetto

William & Dina Weisberger

Doni Hatz

Sally Prasch

Tim Hazeldine

Duncan Price

Mark Holford

John Reed

Marja Huhta

Andreas Renner

Anthony Amoako-Attah Timothy Horn Paul Marioni Zesty Meyers Yoko Togashi

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Michael Saroka

Thank you to the Takako Sano and Becky Winship Scholarships whose contributions brought 10 students and non-students to the 2022 conference.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

Ellen & Bill Hamilton

The Glass Art Society is thankful for the annual support from these company partners: Goldray Glass, HomeLight, and Wet Dog Glass.

Cierra Weissmiller Margarete Wells Leilee Weyerhaeuser Mary B. White

Ed Schmid Ross Thackery Gregory Thompson Gregory Thompson Jeri Warhaftig Marcia Wiley Steve Wortley

2022 SILENT AUCTION + GOBLET GRAB DONORS Matt Abadi Jeff Ballard Allison Bondy Theo Brooks Bullseye Glass Co. Evan Burnette Deborah Carlson Stephen Ciezki Amber Cowan Jerre Davidson Christopher Day Suzanne Frantz Susan Gott Mathieu Grodet Michael Hernandez Benny Hill Karen Willenbrink Johnson Jessica Jane Julius Su-yeon Kim Sara S LaGrand Jeff Lindsay Tom Marosz Dylan Martinez Barbara Matteson Joy Munshower

Ristiina Wigg

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G L A S S A R T S O C I E T Y U P P E R-T I E R-L E V E L M E M B E R S

PA S T AWA R D R E C I P I E N T S

COLLECTOR

Pilchuck Glass School

PrismWare, Inc.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Chap & Eve Alvord

Salisbury University

Rago Wright LLC

Mark Bolick

Shanghai Museum of Glass

Rath LLC

Barbara Caraway

SiNaCa Studios

Red Hot Metal Inc.

Diane Farber

Sonoran Glass School

Rural Modern Glass Studio

Penelope Gregg

Schiffer Publishing

Ellen & Bill Hamilton

Stamelos Gallery Center, UM-Dearborn

2022 2020 2019 2018 2018

Frederick Heath & Merrily Orsini

Sunderland Culture Ltd

Special Shapes Refractory Company

The Corning Museum of Glass

Spiral Arts

Leonardo Nagata

The Glass Factory

Steinert Industries

Barbara Paull

The Glass Furnace

Studio Glass Batch

Doug Perry

Third Degree Glass Factory

Studio Glass Batch

David Porter

Toyama Glass Art Museum

ULTRA TEC

Debbie Porter

Tulsa Glassblowing School

Warner Art Glass Center

Walt Riehl

Tyler School of Art/Temple University

Wet Dog Glass, LLC

Arden Rodgers Katrina Russell & Jeff Lehman Michael Saroka Dorothy Saxe Gail Weyerhaeuser INSTITUTION Bay Area Glass Institute - BAGI Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, Inc.

University of Montana Western Waterfall Arts Glassworks Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center VENDOR COMPANY ABR IMAGERY ACME ARTWORKS Akron Glass Works

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass

Blenko Glass Company

Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

Broken Arrow Glass

Cleveland Institute Of Art

Chihuly Garden and Glass

CMoG Rakow Research Library

D&L Art Glass Supply

CV Art Center Inc Edinburgh College of Art Library

Farbglashütte Reichenbach GmbH

FOCI Minnesota Center for Glass Arts

Fascapple Glass Ltd. Firehouse Glass

Glass Art Kalamazoo

Glasmanufaktur Harzkristall

Glass Axis

glassybaby llc

GlassRoots

Goldray Industries Ltd.

GRT Glass Design

High Volume Oxygen Kornbluh Design

Hilltop Artists Hot Shop Valpo Massachusetts College of Art + Design Neusole Foundation Penland School of Craft

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Blockhead Tools

His Glassworks, Inc. Hot Glass Color & Supply Inspired Fire Glass Studio & Gallery Mobile Glassblowing Studios Oceanside Glass & Tile

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

2017 2016 2015 2014 2012 2012 2011 2010 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1998 1997 1996 1996 1995 1994 1994 1993 1993

Judith Schaechter Richard Meitner Ginny Ruffner Livio Seguso, Artistic Pino Signoretto, Technical (1944-2017) Joyce J. Scott James Carpenter Paul Stankard Dan Dailey Joel Philip Myers Bertil Vallien Ann Wolff Dan Klein (1938-2009) Mark Peiser Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) Henry Halem Jirí Harcuba (1928-2013) Ann Robinson Richard Marquis Paul Marioni Dale Chihuly Fritz Dreisbach Finn Lynggaard (1930-2011) Thomas Buecher (1926-2010) Klaus Moje (1936 - 2016) Ludwig Schaffrath (1924- 2011) Kyohei Fujita (1921-2004) Alice Rooney (1926 - 2019) Lino Tagliapietra Jaroslava Brychtová (1924-2020) Stanislav Libenský (1921-2002) Erwin Eisch (1927-2022) Itoko Iwata (1922-2008) Sybren Valkema (1916-1996) Dominick Labino (1910-1987) Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1993 1993 1992 1992 1988 1988 1988 1986 1984 1982 1982 1982 1980

Scott Benefield Tom Philabaum John Leighton (1948 - 2018) Laura Donefer Michael Rogers Penny Berk Lani McGregor Dan Schwoerer Robert Carlson Daniel Crichton (1946-2002) Takako Sano (1939 - 2006) Mark Peiser Ginny Ruffner Josh Simpson Dan Dailey Susanne Frantz David Jacobs (1939-2007) Jack Schmidt Audrey Handler Henry Halem Joel Philip Myers Sylvia Vigiletti (1933-2020) Robert Kehlmann Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend Fritz Dreisbach O.J. Gabbert (1918-1992) Elizabeth “Libby” Labino ( -2008) Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) Andries Copier (1901-1991) Erwin Eisch (1927-2022) Frances Higgins (1912-2004) Michael Higgins (1908-1999) William H. Blenko, Jr. (1921 - 2016) Paul V. Gardner (1908 -1994) Thomas S. Buechner (1926-2010) William Brown Jr. (1923-1992) Frank M. Fenton (1915-2005) Dominick Labino (1910-1987) Harvey Littleton (1922-2013)

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP AWARD

1980 1979 1977 1977 1977 1977

2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2012

2021 Virtual Conference 2020 Virtual Conference 2019 St. Petersburg, FL 2018 Murano, Italy 2017 Norfolk, Virginia 2016 Corning, New York 2015 San Jose, California

Natali Rodrigues Pamela Koss Robert Mickelsen Durk Valkema Wayne Strattman Jutta-Annette Page Mary B. White Shane Fero John Steinert

PAST CONFERENCES

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2014 Chicago, Illinois 2012 Toledo, Ohio 2011 Seattle, Washington 2010 Louisville, Kentucky 2009 Corning, New York 2008 Portland, Oregon 2007 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2006 St. Louis, Missouri 2005 Adelaide, Australia 2004 New Orleans, Louisiana 2003 Seattle, Washington 2002 Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2001 Corning, New York 2000 Brooklyn, New York 1999 Tampa, Florida 1998 Seto, Japan 1997 Tucson, Arizona 1996 Boston, Massachusetts 1995 Asheville, North Carolina 1994 Oakland, California 1993 Toledo, Ohio 1992 Mexico City, Mexico 1991 Corning, New York 1990 Seattle, Washington 1989 Toronto, Canada 1988 Kent, Ohio 1987 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1986 Los Angeles, California 1985 New Orleans, Louisiana 1984 Corning, New York 1983 Tucson, Arizona 1982 New York, New York 1981 Seattle, Washington 1980 Huntington, West Virginia 1979 Corning, New York 1978 Asilomar, California 1977 Madison, Wisconsin 1976 Corning, New York 1975 Toledo, Ohio 1974 Marietta, OH/Williamstown, WV 1973 Marietta, OH/Williamstown, WV 1972 Penland, North Carolina 1971 Penland, North Carolina PAST JOURNAL EDITORS Brandi P. Clark, 2018-2019 Kristin Solomon, 2017 Kim Harty, 2014-2016 Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox, 2008-2012

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Susanne K. Frantz, 2002-2007 Tina Oldknow, 1996-2001 Ron Glowen, 1992-1995 Caryl Hansen, 1989-1991 Christiane Robbins, 1984-1988 Robert Kehlmann, 1981-1983 Marvin Lipofsky, 1976-1980 Jan Williams, 1975 PAST GAS NEWS EDITORS Michael Hernandez, 2016-2022 Kim Harty, 2013-2016 Geoff Isles, 2009-2013 Kate Dávila, Managing Editor, 2007-2009 Dana Martin, 2006-2007 Shannon Borg, 2005-2006 Tamara Childress, 2003-2005 Peter VanderLaan, 2002-2003 Scott Benefield, 1998-2002 Robert Carlson, 1994-1998 Nelly Bly Cogan, 1993 Marvin Lipofsky, 1976-1989 PAST BOARD MEMBERS Past Presidents Natali Rodrigues 2017-2021 Cassandra Straubing 2015-2017 Roger MacPherson 2014-2015 Jutta-Annette Page 2012-2014 Jeremy Lepisto, 2010-2012 Shane Fero, 2006-2010 Anna Boothe, 2004-2006 Michael Rogers, 2002-2004 Scott Benefield, 2001-2002 Bonnie Biggs, 1996-1998 Robert Carlson, 1994-1996 Josh Simpson, 1992-1994 Stephen Dee Edwards, 19911992 Ginny Rufner, 1990-1991 Susanne K. Frantz, 1988-1990 Richard Harned 1987-1988 William Carlson, 1986-1987 Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, 1984-1986 Fritz Dreisbach, 1982-1984 Dan Dailey, 1980-1982 Marvin Lipofsky, 1978-1980 Fritz Dreisbach, 1976-1978 Joel Philip Myers, 1975 Henry Halem, 1972-1974

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Past Board Members Robert Adamson Rik Allen Pat Bako Paula Bartron Lucy Bergamini Eddie Bernard Alex Bernstein William Bernstein Robert Carlson William Carlson Robin Cass Jon Clark Chris Clarke Nelly Bly Cogan Kelly Conway Daniel Crichton David Donaldson Laura Donefer Paulo DuFour Richard Eckerd Stephen Dee Edwards Shirley Elford Kate Elliott Lance Friedman Beth Ann Gerstein Suzanne Greening Rudy Gritsch Bill Gudenrath Audrey Handler Caryl Hansen Richard Harned Susan Holland-Reed Dinah Hulet Geoffrey Isles Robert Kehlmann Ki-Ra Kim Ruth King Tracey Kirchmann Ed Kirshner Alan Klein Kim Koga Thomas Kreager Barbara Landon Peter Layton JiYong Lee David Levi Robert Levin Beth Lipman Martha Drexler Lynn Jay Macdonell Kim Harty

Frederick Heath Henry Halem, Jr. Caroline Madden Andrew Magdanz Paul Marioni Steven Maslach David McFadden Robert Mickelsen R. Craig Miller Kathleen Mulcahy Nina Paladino Mark Peiser Marc Petrovic Tom Philabaum Charlotte Potter Kirstie Rea Ché Rhodes Chris Rifkin Christine Robbins Linda Ross Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox Tommie Rush Masahiro “Nick” Sasaki Jack Schmidt Michael Schunke Daniel Schwoerer Maura Shenker Josh Simpson Jan Smith Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend Raquel Stolarski-Assael Wayne Strattman Joanne Stuhr Ruth Summers Elizabeth Swinburne Michael Taylor Ana Thiel Cappy Thompson Pamina Traylor Durk Valkema Peter VanderLaan Kate Vogel William Warmus Jack Wax Richard Whiteley Mary B. White Acquaetta Williams David Willis Tina Yelle Harumi Yukutake Josh Simpson

Past Student Representatives Caitlin Vitalo 2017-2018 Ian Messenger Schmidt, 2016-2017 Emily Kuchenbecker, 2015-2016 Amanda Wilcox, 2014-2015 John Rees, 2013-2014 Shannon Piette, 2012-2013 Jessi Moore, 2011-2012 Karen Donnellan, 2010-2011 Tracy Kirchman, 2009-2010 Drew Smith, 2007-2009 Andrew Erdos, 2006-2007 Shara Burrows, 2005-2006 Susan Clark, 2004-2005 Laura Luttrell, 2003-2004 Benjamin Wright, 2002-2003 Megan Metz, 2001-2002 Eric Dahlberg, 2001 Catherine Hibbits, 2000 Chad Holliday, 1999 Nicole Chesney and Brent Sommerhauser, 1998 Johnathon Schmuck, 1997 Maura Shenker, 1996 Boyd Sugiki, 1995 Robert Gardner, 1994

THE CONFERENCE IN PHOTOS

GAS Board Member Heather McElwee poses for photos with friends at the Tacoma 2022 Conference Kick-Off.

Steve Wortley demonstrates inside the Museum of Glass cold shop.

A close-up of Jeff Ballard’s hot demonstration at the Museum of Glass.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

GAS Board President Jessica Jane Julius and [TBD NAME] celebrate at the 2022 Closing Night Party.

The hot shop team gathers with Einar Dela Torre and Jamex De La Torre after finishing their kick-off demonstration.

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THE CONFERENCE IN PHOTOS

Close-up of Preston Singletary's creation during his hot glass demonstration inside the Museum of Glass Hot Shop.

Celia Garland displays her talents on the torch during her flameworking demonstration.

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Amira Rogers admires her selections at the annual Silent Auction and Goblet Grab.

Conference-goers, friends, and family gather to celebrate at the Closing Night Party at 7 Seas Brewing in Tacoma, Washington, USA.

THE GLASS ART SOCIETY • 2022 JOURNAL

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2000 Riverside Drive, Suite 19 Asheville NC 28804 828-254-2559 • support@hisglassworks.com

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass announces our second annual GLASS Arts Festival, August 12th, 2023 Centered on the museum’s mission to provide extraordinary glass experiences to spark fun, kindle creativity, and illuminate learning for all, we will feature artists, art, and experiences on the shores of beautiful Lake Winnebago in Neenah, Wisconsin. This admission-free event will support artists and provide all with with brand new experiences celebrating everything glass. The museum galleries will also be open and admission free as always!

The Best in Glass Art for Sale • Glass Blowing Demonstrations • Live Music • Artisan Food and Beverages

Call to Glass Artists! Artists working in glass may now answer a call for entries on ZAPPlication.org. Cash Prizes will be awarded with First Place including an exhibition at the museum.

bmmglass.com/glass-arts-festival

For Visitor and Artist information, scan the code with your mobile camera