World Art Glass Quarterly Volume 4 by World Art Glass Quarterly

DALE CHIHULY

PAUL STANKARD

KIMIAKE HIGUCHI

MURANO Volume 4

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20 38 28 6 Dale Chihuly by: Jeremy Walton 20 John Lewis by: Jill Culora 28 Scott Riggs by: Robert Kendrick 38 Kimiake Higuchi by: Cathy Balach

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

features Volume 4

66 86 74 64 50 Randy Strong by: Nathan Grover 64 Habatat Gallery by: Alex Maynes 66 Roberto Dono Tools by: Shelly Monfort 74 Paul Stankard by: Jill Culora 86 Bogenrief Studios by: Alex Maynes World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

Volume 4 Publisher Editor-In-Chief Managing Editor Creative Director Staff Photographer Software Consultant Copy Editors

Advertising / Sales Foreign Correspondent Accounting Manager Office Administrator Web Manager Web Consultant Staff Writers

Contributing Writers

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Mark Walton Curt Walton Robert Cullen Leann Sirkin Brittany Walton Jared Frisby Kathryn Knudsen Jamie Robinson Susan Walton Emily Walton Alexandra Hagerty Tom Stanton Bob Lim Jennifer Hummel Masud Akram Patrick Thompson (Entrabase) Nathan Grover Jeremy Walton Jill Culora Alex Maynes Susan Bowen Cathy Balach Shelly Monfort Art Vandalay Lloyd Braun June Lim Michelle Walton Anita Schiller Gigi Erickson Larry Selman Peter Layton Eric Hilton

Cover Photography Dale Chihuly by Terry Rishel | Cover Photography Paul Stankard by Schaible Photography Cover Photography Randy Strong by Keay Edwards

World Art Glass Quarterly is published by Global Arts Publishing, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent is prohibited. Advertisers assume all liabilities for printed advertisements in World Art Glass Quarterly. Opinions in World Art Glass Quarterly are those of the writers, and may not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Quarterly, its management, or its advertisers. Please address unsolicited material to 1650 The Alameda, San Jose, CA 95126. Phone 408.834.8945. It will be handled with care, but the quarterly assumes no responsibility for the material. ISSN # 1934-8665

ALE Chihuly The

by Jeremy Walton

The broad influence and scope of Dale Chihuly’s work is difficult to determine. Perhaps to him it is like small ripples across the surface of a pond, influential but not commandeering. To others in the world of art the same work could be seen as ocean waves both powerful and awesome. Upon reviewing artists of the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries, Dale Chihuly is among the elite. Chihuly is a first generation glass artist. As a young man he was fascinated with architecture and design, and received a baccalaureate degree from the University of Washington in Interior Design. He also gained important experience through less conventional routes. Between the ages of 20 and 25, he traveled and studied throughout Europe and the Middle East and even worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska.

Image by Terry Rishel

Perhaps one of the most significant moments in his development as an artist happened one night in 1965. “I had a little kiln no bigger than a couple of feet square,” remembers Chihuly. “I had it so I could fuse glass and wire … because I was weaving glass in tapestries. Then one night out of the blue I just decided to melt some stained glass between four bricks. I put a pipe in the molten glass when it finally melted. [It was] not a blowpipe, just a regular piece of pipe and [I] gathered up World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

some glass, took it out and blew real hard and caught a bubble.” Any glassblower would be impressed, because it’s hard enough for a first-time blower to get a bubble into the glass using a normal blowpipe. “I was real lucky,” continues Chihuly, “because first of all you’re supposed to preheat the blowpipe before you gather and secondly, somebody should really be telling you how to do it because it doesn’t come naturally. But I got the bubble, and as soon as I got the bubble I wanted to be a glassblower.” A year later Chihuly was studying under Harvey Littleton at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the first glassblowing program in the United States. It was there that Chihuly worked as a teaching assistant and was free to explore this new medium.

Image by Terry Rishel

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, England

“I lost interest in making functional work right away and started making sculptural pieces small and large,” he remembers. 10

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“I lost interest in making functional work right away and started making sculptural pieces small and large,” he remembers. Chihuly went on to complete most of his formal education, receiving master’s degrees in sculpture and ceramics from the University of Wisconsin and the Rhode Island School of Design. He received a Fulbright Fellowship and worked at Venini Fabrica, a glass blowing factory in Murano, the island where all Venetian glassblowers were relocated in 1291 because of fire danger to the city of Venice. For centuries, the island set the standard for the rest of the world for quality and elegance in glass-making. “I was the first American glass blower to go there,” says Chihuly, referring to the Venini Fabrica. “I got along real well with the owner, Ludovico de Santillana and he allowed me to do all kinds of experimentation.” He was able to work closely with glass blowers who used skills and techniques that

Image by Terry Rishel

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida

Image by Terry Rishel

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Image byTerry Rishel

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

had been passed down and refined for hundreds of years. “I had access to all the glass blowers,” recalls Chihuly. Venetian glass-blowing, is generally carried out with several master glass blowers and numerous assistants working together as one unit. “It was after I was there that I truly understood the magic of how the team really worked,” Chihuly explained. He would later become known for using teams of glass blowers or gaffers and many assistants to create his most famous pieces. Chihuly designs his pieces and then works closely with gaffers and assistants (many of whom he taught to blow glass) in the production process. The process of one artist employing others to help produce his work is not unique to Chihuly or to glass blowing. After all, Frank Lloyd Wright did not lay every brick of the Guggenheim. Nor did Bernini personally hand-carve every statue in the colonnade at St. Peter’s Square. Like these artists, Chihuly uses teams of craftspeople to help bring his vision to material reality. “As far as I’m concerned, your ability to run a team is every bit as important as your ability to blow glass,” explains Chihuly. “If you can’t get along with

Image by T

Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

people, if you can’t inspire them, you’re not going to do very well.” Chihuly’s studio has produced thousands of pieces from the brilliantly colored “Seaform” series to “Venetians”, a series of large-scale vases which combines old world precision and symmetry with west coast flair. Chihuly has also created dozens of large-scale installations for museum shows and other public forums throughout the world, including exhibitions at the Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. From glass spires stabbed into the snow plains of Iceland to ice sculptures melting in the deserts of Israel, Chihuly’s boundless imagination has carried him from one venue to the next. “Another highlight in my career was doing the ceiling at the Bellagio Hotel,” remarks Chihuly. “That’s probably the biggest piece I’ve ever done.” Crowds gather every day to snap photos and gaze up at the 2,100 square-foot “Fiori di Como” that spans the lobby of the hotel. The ceiling, completed Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida

Image by Teresa Rishel

Image by Terry Rishel

Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Image by Russel Johnson

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

in 1998, is comprised of over 2,000 individual hand-blown pieces that resemble flowers from a sub-oceanic garden. Some of Chihuly’s later exhibitions would give new meaning to the idea of gardens. “In 2001, I got an exhibition at Garfield Conservatory in Chicago,” says Chihuly. “I had always wanted to do a show in a green house.” Scattered throughout the park’s grounds were gardens, lily pads, forests and towers of vibrant blown-glass vessels that accented and electrified the landscape. The show, which was a huge success, quadrupled the conservatory’s normal attendance, and was extended for six months. “Then all the other conservatories heard about it,” continues Chihuly, “and now we’ve done about nine shows in botanical gardens and conservatories.” These exhibitions include the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England in 2005 and most recently the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh in 2007. Having shown his work at most of the major venues in North America, Chihuly is continually scouting out new locations for exhibits in Europe and Asia. Significant in his upcoming projects is a large exhibit for the de Young Museum in San Francisco set to open in June of 2008. The museum has given Chihuly full rein on the project and should be one of the studio’s most exciting shows to date. Image by Shaun Chappell

Image by Claire Garoutte

Image by Terry Rishel

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Image by Scott Leen

“The origins of this exhibition,” says John Buchanan, Director of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, “are derived from the great collection of George and Dorothy Saxe that was gifted to the museum several years ago.” The Saxe collection features pieces by Dale Chihuly and many other international artists and is one of the greatest collections of contemporary art glass to date. The exhibition is meant to showcase Chihuly and complement the museum’s already teeming glass collection.

Image by Teresa Rishel

“We’re really excited about it,” continues Buchanan. “To the best of my knowledge this is really the first museum exhibition that Dale has had in San Francisco.” The exhibition will feature Chihuly pieces of all shapes and sizes World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

installed in both the deYoung Museum and its sister location, the San Francisco Legion of Honor. Buchanan explained that the goal of the exhibit is to examine and understand Chihuly’s thought process behind the creation and its evolution, adding “we all know it as luscious and beautiful and aesthetically exciting … where we’re trying to go with this is to look at the intellect behind Dale’s work.” “That’s the project that I’m most looking forward to at the moment,” says Chihuly, “But I’ve got four other projects that I’m excited about because they’re so far away. One of them is in Dubai, one is in Abu Dhabi, and one is in Cancun.” Chihuly is currently bidding on work in the Burj Dubai, which, when completed, will be the tallest building in the world. “It’s exciting to go to these cities that you haven’t been to that are changing the pace of the world.” The world of Dale Chihuly is constantly evolving. “I’ve been doing quite a few paintings and drawings; they’ve been changing a bit,” he explains. “The last year or so I’ve been doing a series of black pieces. I did a lot of my old series over, but I did them in black, which I never had before. They have color

Image by Scott Leen

Image by John Marshall

Sleeping Lady Conference Retreat, Leavenworth, Washington

Image by Scott Leen

Team work with Dale Chihuly

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

on them in certain places. In fact that’s one of the main reasons I did it, because you put color on black and it looks really good. We like to fluctuate and try different things; you never know what’s going to look good until you do it.” Even with his many projects and busy schedule, Chihuly also finds time to spend with his wife, Leslie and son, Jackson. Having a family has expanded his work into other avenues for the future. “You know, now that I’m married and have a son I’ve been thinking more about a foundation or a Chihuly study center.” A native of Tacoma, Washington Chihuly has spent his life enriching the Puget Sound area and helping to develop the region into a veritable Mecca for glass artists. He has personally helped teach the art of glass blowing to hundreds and has been instrumental in setting up schools, programs and workshops throughout the United States.

Image by Terry Rishel

New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York

We like to ﬂuctuate and try different things; you never know what’s going to look good until you do it.” World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Union Station, Tacoma, Washington

Missouri Botanical Garden, St.Louis, Missouri Image by Russel Johnson

Image by Terry Rishel

Image by Russel Johnson

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

Missouri Botanical Garden, St.Louis, Missouri

Dale Chihuly Image by Theresa Rishel

Image by Scott Leen

Image by Ken Clark

The University of Washington [in Seattle] recently named a chair for glass blowing after Chihuly. He explained, “They needed to have a glass program seeing how there [are] more glass blowers in Seattle than any place else in the world. It would be a convenient place to have a program.” One of his greatest contributions to the art glass industry was the co-founding of the Pilchuck Glass School in 1971. Over the years Pilchuck has allowed artists to collaborate, to learn and to share techniques that have helped countless students develop into master artisans. Chihuly has received his own inspiration from artists like Italo Scanga, Stanislav Libensky, Harvey Littleton and many others. In turn he has inspired innumerable artists and has helped millions of spectators throughout the world to appreciate art glass. The waves generated by his work in the sea of art glass are immeasurable. Though the variable tides of the industry are always changing, the influential ripples of Dale Chihuly’s work will ever be present. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

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World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

john

LEWIS

by : Jill Culora

John Lewis is constantly thinking about forms, and considering how he can execute a shape within the prescribed limitations of glass casting. It is an obsession he has felt since first experimenting with casting in 1981. Even before that, Lewis was well known for his blown glass vessels, having opened his first studio in 1969. “I switched over from blowing to casting because I saw the potential to create work that had never been seen before,” he says. “Glass as a material had not been fully explored in a cast form. My blown stuff was pretty decorative, but I didn’t want to be mistaken for trying to emulate Galle or Tiffany.” Lewis ventured into unknown territory, fascinated by exploring the possibilities of form, and what the glass was capable of doing in the casting process. That work has taken him down a path that he would trade for none other. Highlights include designing and building cast glass chairs for the Oklahoma City Memorial, and a 3,000 square foot glass waterfall in the lobby of the state-of-the-art Hearst Building in New York City. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Hearst Building, New York City

“We evolved and developed with our own methodology.”

Oklahoma City Memorial “It’s been a process of evolution for me,” he says. “Once I do something I lose interest in doing it again, but I use it as a departure point to execute another idea using different variables.” In the absence of a casting mentor, Lewis developed his own innovative ways to shape glass into cast forms using hydraulic presses. The mechanics of these presses resemble those of a trash compactor: they use an insert to displace liquid glass, creating hollow forms that have different textures on all sides. Perhaps one of his most successful innovations has been his work in centrifuging glass to produce radially symmetrical cast forms. “It was empirically trial and error,” says Lewis. “We were just playing around, I think on a potter’s wheel.” Encouraged by the results, Lewis and his east Oakland, California-based team designed a more sophisticated machine, capable of handling up to 400 pounds of glass on a 36-inch diameter surface. “We needed to control the speed and balance so that it wasn’t thrown off center in the spinning process. We evolved and developed with our own methodology.” Lewis says that the most basic form of casting is called a gravity pour. This is done by heating glass and pouring

the liquid into a mold made out of graphite, steel, or iron. When using a spinning technique, Lewis pours the liquid into a mold, which is mounted on a centrifuge. The mold is then set to spin, and the centrifugal force makes the glass climb the walls of the mold. Lewis’s business has had enormous success in using this method to create custom glass sinks. Once a student of architecture, Lewis has taken on many projects in an architectural context; much of his work involves building site-specific works for private and corporate clients. For this reason, Lewis explains, the ultimate design evolves as a function of both the parameters in which he works, and the requests of his clients. “With site-specific architectural projects, functionality plays a primary role in the design. I also have to consider the scale and the environment that the work will be viewed in.” World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

But, he says, it is really all about aesthetics, and a massive behind-the-scenes exercise in problem solving and engineering. “Architects want to design something, but they don’t understand the parameters of working in glass,” says Lewis. “It’s problem solving every step of the way, and sometimes that dictates design parameters.” His cast vessels are particularly interesting, with a contrasting internal and external shape. “There’s an internal bowl that looks as though it’s been pushed into the glass,” he remarks. While his work exudes a certain artistry, he says: “I really consider myself a craftsman, because I am building an object.” Lewis says he will start with an idea in his head, which he will sketch out before he makes a scale model. “I build models so I can see how the individual components relate to each other,” he explains.

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Lewis then uses CAD Design software to refine the design and produce his molds. The glass is poured into the various shapes before it is annealed. In the cold working stage, the shapes are cut, ground, and polished, and then integrated, sometimes using epoxy. This stage can be more laborious than the hot glass phase, and is one reason roughly half of Lewis’s 12,000 square foot studio is dedicated to cold working processes. He achieves color and patinaed surfaces by lining his molds with copper foil, which fuses with the glass in the molten state. Lewis says that he is driven to continue to discover new possibilities in working with glass—particularly large-scale projects—because of the inherent challenges and constant problem solving it offers.

“The process of glass casting lends itself to a different scale than blown glass, and hence becomes more of an environmental material,” Lewis explains, “For example, putting glass into the architecture or the environment while keeping in mind its restrictions and limitations. From my experience in casting glass

I’ve developed a sense of scale and proportion which becomes paramount in designing in this medium.” Lewis earned a Master of Arts in Design from the University of California, Berkeley, and was trained in blown glass under Marvin Lipofsky. His work can be found in galleries throughout the world, including the Leo Kaplan Modern in New York, the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto, and the Pismo Gallery in Aspen Colorado.

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

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World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

ONE THE

MAN SHOW by Robert Kendrick

ometime in the early 1980’s a man sits on the floor of his garage trying to put together two sections of a lampshade. His hands are desperately preoccupied with the task of soldering the pieces, while he tries to hold the two sections together with nothing more than his feet. The man is Scott Riggs. The shade: Scott’s first Tiffany reproduction lamp. “I felt like a little monkey,” remembers Riggs with a chuckle. After several unsuccessful attempts at getting the piece together properly—and several burns to his feet—Riggs ended the night by throwing the soldering iron across the room at the garage door. Little did he know that Tiffany reproduction lamps would eventually become his life’s work and greatest passion. Like most lamp makers, Riggs began by creating stained glass windows. Though self-taught, he was introduced to the art by a friend. “I had a friend that knew I could draw,” remembers Riggs of his first encounter with stained glass windows. “He asked me to draw him a sailboat in such a way that he could use it as a pattern for a stained glass window. Then I watched him cut out the glass, and next thing I knew I was picking up the scrap glass off his floor so I could go home and make my own stuff, and I kind of just went on from there.”

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“I started making little windows, then big windows, and pretty soon people saw what I was doing and I started getting orders for windows,” Riggs recalls. This eventually led him to experiment with making lampshades. “I found that it was a lot easier to make shades and sell them than make windows and sell them.” “I started looking at all kinds of books that had any kind of Tiffany work in [them] and I started doing Tiffany reproductions, but I’d do it my own way with my own colors and style.” One of the first pattern books Riggs used was published over twenty five years ago by World Art Glass Quarterly’s own publisher Mark Walton. “I learned how to make my first roses from that book,” says Riggs. Walton has since become an ardent admirer of Scott Rigg’s work. “The thing that makes him so unique,” explains Walton, “is not that he makes accurate Tiffany Lamps, but his color choice is amazing—he’s got a really great eye for color.” “I don’t necessarily try to follow Tiffany’s color schemes,” says Riggs, “I like to experiment with the background and border glass, but you’ve got to have 32

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

a flow to it all.” This mentality is very apparent in his work. While Riggs often uses bold colors that are very striking, they are always used in context to p the “flow” of the overall piece. As most glass artists will agree, no two sheets of glass are the same. Colors have a unique way of swirling and blending differently when the glass is fabricated. Riggs spends a good deal of his time looking through countless sheets of glass in order to find what is most perfect for each individual shade. “There’s some great glass out there, but you’ve got to know how to use it,” Riggs explains. “Sometimes I tear up a whole sheet of glass just to get to a small part of it where the color’s just right.” “I’m very picky,” says Riggs, “Everything has to be perfect.” His perfectionism has brought him all sorts of customers from around the world. “I remember one time this little 80 year-old man came walking in,” remembers Riggs. “He looked at this 16-inch geranium shade I’d just finished soldering and started getting really excited.” World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“I wake up every morning and love going into work,” he says, “I get to go in and make these lamps and I literally have to force myself to stop at night, because otherwise I’d just work all night. I love what I do.”

The lamp had not gone through the final patina application and was still without a base, but the old man had owned Tiffany pieces in his day and was able to instantly recognize the piece. “Oh my,” said the old man upon seeing the piece, “I just feel Tiffany in my belly.” “Most of my clients have owned Tiffany lamps at some point in their lives and then found out they could make a profit by selling them,” explains Riggs. “Now they’re kicking themselves for having ever sold their shades in the first place and want to reproduce the pieces they used to own. People will come in wishing they had never sold their Daffodil [shade] and I’ll tell them, ‘Okay, well let’s make you a new Daffodil.’” “Once they buy that first shade,” continues Riggs, “They’ll usually buy more. I have a lot of repeat customers.” Customers then refer friends who then refer friends, so that most of Scott Riggs’ advertising is done by word-of-mouth. “I’m working with a woman in Michigan right now who just ordered her fourteenth shade,” explains Riggs. This customer came by way of referral. “They usually approach me with an idea,” says Riggs. “Some will want me to match certain colors, but some—like this lady in 34

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World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

Michigan—will let me have free reign and trust my judgment.” Riggs can make about eighty different lamp patterns, each taking anywhere from 30 to 250 hours. No matter how many orders come in, he still makes them one shade at a time, and alone. “I’ve taught a few people and helped some make their own lamps, but I’ve never had assistants—I’m a one man show!” says Riggs. His reasoning for working alone is two-fold. He believes that in order to make his shades right—the way he envisions the end product, he must be the artist from start to finish. There are many factories throughout the world churning out mass-produced Tiffany-style lamps, and then there are a few small studios like that of Scott Riggs: meticulously recreating every detail Tiffany intended on a lamp-by-lamp basis. While there is no great evil with the former, it should never be confused with the latter. “There’s only a handful of us

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

out there making these lamps the right way… taping each piece perfectly and then reinforcing correctly,” explains Riggs. The other reasoning for the way he works is that Riggs has a passion and energy for lamp making that shines through in every conversation. “I wake up every morning and love going into work,” he says, “I get to go in and make these lamps and I literally have to force myself to stop at night, because otherwise I’d just work all night. I love what I do.” Whatever frustration he may have felt that night making his first lamp has long since been crushed by the love he’s acquired for these lampshades. He’s been recreating Tiffany shades for nearly thirty years and harbors no doubt that he will be making these shades for another thirty. “There’s always a kind of mystery about the future,” says Riggs. “You never know if customers will keep buying these things or what, however, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to keep making these things till the day I die.”

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

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World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

Kimiake Higuchi:

Continuity is

STRENGTH by Jill Culora

“Yes, it is really glass.”

While researching Kimiake Higuchi’s work for this article, I came across this note below Cabbage Leaves, one of Higuchi’s most renowned pieces. The comment highlights how closely her work comes to imitating nature (apparently the editor was tired of answering inquiries from people who doubted that the piece was actually made of glass). Once you see Higuchi’s work, this editorial note is no surprise. Higuchi refers to her art as a sort of “fossilization,” whereby she works with living flowers and vegetables as the basis of her glasswork. Says Higuchi, “I start the process of [artistic] creation by raising the flowers and vegetables that will become the motifs of my work.” Then, using these living models, she essentially sculpts botanicals in glass. She strives to capture the ephemeral aspect of nature, such as seasonal changes and the realistic color and growth in botanicals. Yet, says Higuchi, “I’ll never do better than [nature]. The natural world is amazing.”

Higuchi recalls â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted some of the characteristics of glass such as clarity and brightness resulting from light passing through the colored glass.â&#x20AC;?

This emphasis on nature is a profound element of Higuchi’s work. As she talks about her craft, it becomes clear that nature is the source of passion that drives her work and aesthetic sense. “Grass, trees, insects and animals all battle day by day within nature’s harsh reality,” she explains. “It is precisely because of this battle that they are able to survive. To know this fact is one thing, to understand it is another entirely.” Higuchi is a master of pâte de verre, the glassworking process through which she creates her remarkable pieces. She initially became interested in the process precisely because of the qualities it allows her to achieve. With her background in music and ceramics, Higuchi first discovered the methodology during a visit to the Kitazawa Museum of Art in Japan with her husband, artist Shinichi Higuchi. She had a goal in mind—a glassworking process that could be used to create art that captures and replicates nature. Of her beginning interest in pâte de verre, Higuchi recalls, “I wanted some of the characteristics of glass, such as clarity and brightness resulting from light passing through the colored glass.” Using another descriptor not typically associated with glass, she wanted colors that would create a soft, moist impression. The pâte de verre process is one that allows for rich colors and unrestricted design—a perfect fit for Higuchi. Together with her husband, Higuchi explored and researched the technical aspects of pâte de verre. At Kitazawa Museum, they encountered the works of Almeric Walter, Émile Gallé, Louis and Antonin Daum, Louis Damnous, and other glass artists of the nineteenth century’s Art Nouveau era who had worked with the art medium. However, Higuchi’s foray into working with pâte de verre was full of many roadblocks. Though she understood the general idea through written documentation and books, these provided little more than an idea of the technique, and her initial work was full of trial-and-error. One great obstacle was the lack of opportunity to observe pâte de verre techniques. Higuchi specifies that her “initial contact [with pâte de verre art works] was limited because of museum display cases,” meaning that there was always a barrier that prevented her from observing the existing work in detail. Walter’s work was significant in advancing Higuchi’s understanding the techniques involved in pâte de verre, because she had her first opportunity to acquire a piece, touch it, and examine it in depth. “[Walter’s] piece gave us hints that flowered into solutions to some of our most difficult, longstanding problems.”

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Still, success would take much time. Even when she held her first joint show with her husband in 1988, they sold none of their works. Higuchi’s craft grew gradually from that time. From her initial work with glass, she eventually learned how to work with pâte de verre to make eggshell-thin, delicate works—now characteristic of her glasswork style. The precision and mastery of color also became a foremost trait within her pieces. She has achieved a result that is, if not lifelike, at least the essence of life. “I have overcome the missing links of knowledge to create the quality of glass art I have always wanted to achieve,” Higuchi says of her craft. “It has required great patience, not only to learn and figure out the techniques, but also to create the art. I continuously make a great number of pieces which look similar, but each piece is different from the others.” This is her artistic strength, she believes: her continuity—her ability to work with a motif, to capture it in its many forms with pâte de verre. Pâte de verre—which translates literally to paste of glass—is actually a process that is hard to pin down. The term is used to describe a variety of molded glass. However, as Higuchi describes it, it is a method of kiln firing using powdered glass. Kimiake Higuchi

The pâte de verre process begins with crushing solidified glass into small particles of glass, or frit. The finer ground the frit, the better the glass paste, and the more opaque the casting. To make the paste, the frit is combined with binders, typically a form of glue. Once the glass mixture, or paste, is prepared, it is applied to a mold in layers using a brush or palette knife. Then it is fired in a kiln. After the piece cools, it is taken out of the kiln, removed from the mold, and given a final polish finish. Though the process sounds relatively simple, pâte de verre work is extremely delicate and requires great lengths of time to produce. One key difficulty is the use of molds, which are time-consuming to create, and make it difficult to work with anything other than smaller pieces. Then there is the attention to detail—to getting the color application just right. In Higuchi’s case, this means getting the colors true to life. The application technique allows for precise placement of color—a promi44

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

nent characteristic that Higuchi uses with mastery—but it also requires incredible time and patience. Higuchi takes two to three months to create one of her works, and that is “without counting the time to grow [her] motifs.” Beyond the pâte de verre process itself, she sees her work of raising real flowers and vegetable “models” as essential to her art—and the plants can take anywhere from six months to several years to grow. But by working in such proximity with nature, Higuchi explores her motifs with a rare intimacy: “I can feel the changes of the season in the eternal flow of the nature.” Much of her work is functional: bowls and other containers. But Higuchi says she simply makes what she likes. “It’s not important [whether the piece is] functional or decorative or conceptual, but I hope the work I create will move the hearts of others. Each work is a document created by my own aesthetic sense.”

Even in such functional pieces, the theme of nature is clear. Her “Raspberry Vase” includes detailed leaves, and berries that she created from real botanical ‘models’ she grew herself. The exquisite detail continues into the leaves, complete with a spider and web. Her “Torso” builds botanicals and insects into an arborist’s vision of a female torso, as though her garden sprouted a human figure—the Greek Goddess Ceres taking human form. Though her husband Shinichi is also a renowned pâte de verre artist, as a couple they maintain their artistic identities and pursue individual artistic goals. To Higuchi, this is an advantage innate to the pâte de verre method; “I can manage the entire process of making [my own artwork]. It is very comfortable to work without help.” However by working with her husband, she has enjoyed the advantages of joint exploration and study of pâte de verre, and thrived on their shared journey. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Now that she has developed a level of mastery in pâte de verre, Higuchi says that the most critical requirement for her work is maintaining a passion and connection with the pieces she creates. Passion is important for developing new work and exploring different aspects of her motifs. “It is an endless escalation of the desire to create.” When reflecting on the financial failure of her 1988 first show, Higuchi finds a blessing in that difficult time. As a result of that exhibit, she learned to use her internal interests and passions to determine her path and became free from external information and expectations. Says Higuchi, “We were surrounded by freedom.” In her future work, Higuchi aims to seek new forms of expression in her motifs. She is always conscious of improving her skills and sensitive to achieving new levels of richness in her work. As far as specific pieces, her key goal is to create a large-scale sculpture. In the past, her work has remained small, due to the heavy time demands of the pâte de verre process. By working in collaboration with her husband Shinichi, she hopes to start a project in 2008—a series of architectural installations. To achieve such a work will not only be a landmark for Higuchi, but for the glass art form as a whole. Higuchi’s artwork can be seen at the Kitazawa Art Museum in Japan, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Habitat Gallery in Michigan. Her upcoming exhibits include a solo exhibition in June 2008 at Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi Art Gallery, and a joint show with her husband, April through June 2008 in New York.

“It is an endless escalation of the desire to create.” 48

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

All images ÂŠ 2007 Kimiake Higuchi

isgb_w_artglassjune.qsd

6/8/2007

11:58 AM

Page 1

PERSONAL SCALE, GLOBAL REACH

From conferences, to museums and trade shows, the ISGB connects member to member, collector to artist, and artist to opportunity; celebrating glass of a more intimate scale. Diverse programming and benefits continually fuel awareness of this intricate art form. And most importantly, it helps support our member’s endeavors. For more information visit, www.isgb.org.

Shown from the Metamporphosis Exhibit: Laurie Salopek - Detail of Pod People

Guild

The images on page 84 & 85 of Volume 3 were incorrectly attributed to Richard Whilely. Charles Butcher. is the artist.

Charles

(Chick)

Butcher

Charles Butcher is one of Australia’s finest glass artists – his exacting standards combined with his technique of glass casting with complex pattern-making means Charles’ works are exceptional one-offs. Charles was recently selected into the prestigious Tom Malone Prize (Art Gallery of Western Australia). Charles is a graduate of the Sydney College of the Arts and The Glass Workshop at The Australian National University (ANU). He is a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award at the Ausglass National Conference and has exhibited a number of times in the Ranamok Glass Prize

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World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

randy

STRONG Movement& by Nathan Grover

COLOR CONTEXT

It was 1969 and Randy Strong was studying ceramics at the California College of Arts and Crafts. The school was piecing together a curious new facility on campus out beneath a corrugated tin roof. It was going to be a glass furnace. Strong had never been the kind of guy to stand around and watch, so he began helping with the bricklaying and welding. Then came the night when, wandering across campus, Strong discovered they had finally finished the furnace. He hurried in to take a closer look and that’s when he saw it for the first time - hot glass. Rain clattered against the tin roof. The furnace glowed as the evening dimmed. The glassworker danced, shaman-like with his pipe—moving, shaping, and layering a bright globe of molten glass. “I just sat there,” Strong remembers, “like a lot of people do—sat there in awe, watching. Glass is that way. It is a very WOW experience. Right then I fell in love. You could say it was love at first sight.” Randy Strong went on to become one World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

of the handful of artists who revitalized glass blowing in the 1970’s. Over the last forty years, he has developed a distinct, passionate voice in the medium and has advanced both the technique and art of glass. His colorful, whirling, waving, energetic pieces are sure to bowl you over. But before Strong bowled anyone over with his artwork, he did it the old fashioned way, that is, he bowled people over physically, on a football field. Today at the age of sixty, he has retained his imposing football stature. He falls easily to talking about those high school glory days: “Being dyslexic, I couldn’t read very well. I didn’t do well in school. But I sure made up for it on the football field. I mean, that’s where it was all about visual…. Our two tight ends were 6’6” and 6’7”—the biggest ends in the whole state of Arizona. We had the biggest team and we beat everybody.” During a scrimmage, those two infamous ends sandwiched Strong and left him paralyzed and in traction for six months, but that didn’t scare him away. The minute he recovered he ran right back onto the field. Football was life. He stopped only after he had destroyed his knee and was unable to walk.

Randy Strong

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“So I gave up football,” Strong says, “the only thing that meant anything to me at the time. I guess I went looking around for another sport.” It was a long search, and the breadth of pursuits the young Strong engaged in is astounding, from computers to law enforcement. He got into photography and took pictures for the Oakland Tribune, featuring rock concerts and the budding hippie culture. For a brief period he was even privileged to work with Ansel Adams. But Strong soon grew disenchanted with the red monotony of the darkroom. Ultimately he realized art was sufficiently visual, but photography just wasn’t physical enough. Later in college he discovered clay. He was getting warmer. “I loved clay. Making something—to actually make something that had a value. I walked into the classroom and here was a teacher that didn’t speak to people. He just sat down at a wheel and made beautiful pieces. When you went into most classrooms they’d talk and talk. But here nobody said a word. Everybody just sat and stared. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

I see myself as a painter and sculptor in glass. I bend the glass, I move it, and I try to create a movement… I see myself as an expressionist in glass.”

That was communication.” It was that same communication that spoke to Strong under the corrugated tin roof and led him ultimately to the medium of glass. Randy Strong and glass were—and are to this day—a match made in heaven. Glass had the visual expressiveness he craved. And if Strong was looking for another sport to replace football, he certainly found it. “At a certain point in your career,” he says, “people like to call you artist or genius or whatever, but truthfully what we do is just really hard work. It’s like digging ditches one day and loading bricks the next.” When Strong started out, he didn’t consider himself an artist. “To be an artist,” he says, “was a very high thing. But, I thought, if I could be a good craftsman, if I could make vases and things and sell them and provide a living, I’d really be happy with that.” And he was happy with that, for a while. It was a humble beginning. He pulled his first materials out of dumpsters and soon demonstrated a consummate 56

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

proficiency for the craft. He melted broken soda bottles into the best wine goblets a person could buy. As one of the few artists creating a new outlook for glass during the seventies, his name began to grow. At craft shows, eager patrons formed epic lines around his booth. However, unless paralyzed, Strong never could sit still. Goblets grew boring and the athlete in him ordered him headlong into new challenges. “I had one hundred and fifty thousand goblets tied to each ankle and it was taking me under. I said, ‘I can’t make anymore goblets. I can’t emotionally support this. I’m going crazy.’” In 1997 he gave them up forever. Since then Strong has employed innovative techniques to create one-of-a-kind designs. A common, definitive feature found in his newer work is the curling tendrils, or “leaves” as he calls them. The leaves twist and writhe as though caught in a torrent, or curl languidly as though suspended in a body of water. “Under water everything moves together as one,” Strong says. “It’s kind of a universal harmony. You feel part of a universe in World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

the whole movement of everything. When the wind blows across the tall grass and you see everything moving together on a spiritual level, not to be confused with a religious level, you can imagine a God. You can see the hand of God waving over the earth. I’m not saying there is or there isn’t a God. I’m just saying, if you imagine it, it’s like the breath of God blowing down. That has such emotional power. It really does something internally. So that’s what I try to do. I feel that I’m a translator. I attempt to translate the feeling of nature into glass.” Each piece is assembled from a number of leaves, which together make an energetic gesture. The gesture is accentuated by the use of brilliant color achieved by carefully compositing many layers of clear and colored glass. The result is not subtle, but immediately dazzling. The artwork is as colorful and energetic as Strong himself. When asked to speculate about what his best work might be, Strong references his cast sculptures from the eighties and also his newer work, but eventually narrows in on his Blue Wind pieces. “Probably because they’re so challenging,” he says, “They take up to two months to make. I can really only appreciate the piece for a very short time, then I have to go on to two or three others I’m working on simultaneously. If I dwell too long on any piece I World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

start seeing what I could have done better and it just makes me want to improve it.” Like his mentor and friend from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Peter Voulkos, who pushed ceramics in the fifties away from a functional craft into an art form, Strong has sought to remove glasswork from the confines of functionality. Blue Wind is a vase, but it is more than a vase. Buried beneath the leaves of Strong’s abstract expression there is an actual vessel in there, but the vessel is like a vestigial organ, no longer handy for putting liquids or flowers into. Blue Wind is a vase like you have never seen, or, to be more precise, Blue Wind redefines the vase. It’s not a vessel designed to hold something else. It is an object which stands to be admired on its own. Strong explains, “The reason I use a vase form on the inside is that so many people are reluctant to buy work unless it has some function. People will ask me, ‘Does it hold water?’” “I say, ‘Do you own a painting? Did you buy the painting to cover a hole in the wall?’”

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Randy Strong

As one of the vanguard of the movement, Strong has become a fixture in the world of art glass. The mark he has left is indelible and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not nearly done yet. Strong has proven that he will continue to take chances and is incapable of letting his artwork stagnate. His trajectory suggests we can look forward with a sense of adventure to his work to come.

All images by Keay Edwards

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

ProSeries use what the pros use

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ARTIST:

Johnathon Schmuck

Johnathon Schmuck recently demonstrated “Glass Roll Ups” with help from fellow glass artists Avery Anderson and Sharon Gilbert, at the Eugene Glass School in Eugene, Oregon. He learned this amazing technique while studying glass in Canberra, Australia and currently operates his studio out of Santa Cruz, CA. You can see more of Johnathon’s work at www.schmuckglass.com. TECHNIQUE:

Glass Roll Ups

A Roll Up is a technique that allows you to take a fused tile and make it into a vessel. This gives you a lot more control over placing color and shapes into a vessel which is traditionally blown. To see a step by step demonstration of the process go to www.glasskilns.com/proseries/rollup.php.

SKUTT KILN:

“The Clamshell”

The GM22CS commonly refered to as “The Clamshell” was particularly well suited for Roll Ups due to its easy-access design and the fact that a tilt switch cuts the power to the elements whenever the lid is opened. For more information on the GM22CS visit our website at www.glasskilns.com.

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Artist, Clifford Rainey

h abatat it galleries

didn’t start out as the largest gallery in the United States dedicated to art glass. In fact, initially, art glass was only one facet of its offerings. After a trip to California to see an art exhibit, Ferdinand Hampson, co-founder and president of Habatat Galleries, saw an opportunity and ran with it.

It was 1972, and the exhibit Ferdinand attended was a “carry your own art” exhibit. The invitational exhibit had only a few rules, one of which was, “if you could bring the work you wanted to display and if you were willing to pick it up after the exhibit was over, then you were invited.” Of that exhibit, Hampson notes, “Obviously the criterion for quality wasn’t high, but it was a real eye opener, because I saw all the things that were going on [with art glass] out there on the west coast.” It was a year after Pilchuk Glass School was founded just north of Seattle, Washington and things were starting to heat up in the art glass scene. But there was a problem. “Artists working in glass had limited outlets to promote and sell their work,” recalls Hampson, “they were showing their pieces primarily in art fairs or craft shops.” At the time, there were no fine art galleries that had a real interest in featuring art glass. There was also some resistance in fine art circles; some skepticism about whether art glass really belonged. But Habatat Galleries saw the potential, and by 1980, when they moved to Lathrup Village from their initial space in Dearborn Michigan, they were featuring artists who worked in the medium of glass exclusively. Throughout his tenure at Habatat Galleries, Hampson has taken an active interest in promoting not just the gallery, but art glass as an industry. Working both locally and worldwide, he has encouraged the public to experience the art, approaching the task through many avenues and angles to bring the art to people and people to the art. He realized that promoting art glass in general would yield benefits for the artists showing in the gallery as well as to art patrons gaining deeper appreciation for the beauty found in the many forms of art glass. Hampson was instrumental in lobbying for the establishment of Michigan Glass Month, which promotes awareness of the many uses and benefits of glass in industry, residential, and art applications. This month-long celebration of glass highlights not only local applications and talent, but also artists throughout the world who display in the galleries that call Michigan home. The event has evolved and grown since its inception with many exhibits and opportunities to see the myriad of applications for glass. And the opportunities to experience the art during Michigan Glass Month are not all passive. In addition to museums, art exhibits, lectures, and gallery exhibits, many studios are open for hands-on demonstrations and classes.

by Alex Maynes

It is in the midst of the Michigan Glass Month activities that Habatat Galleries sponsors the International Glass Invitational. Now in its 35th year, it has grown from another idea that Hampson brought back from the California trip in 1972: If they could have an invitational on the west coast, why couldn’t he have one in Michigan? That first glass invitational featured six artists from the west coast and six artists from the mid-west. In the next invitational, the number of artists exhibiting jumped to 67. Fast forward to 2007, and over 90 artists representing 16 countries have participated. Each artist submitted two sculptures to be judged, competing for prizes and the opportunity for their work to be featured in a future museum exhibit. Hampson asserts that not all their activities are mainstream. “We operate in an unusual fashion,” he says, but for those who appreciate the art, the approach is welcome. One of these unusual activities is publishing. Each year, the gallery publishes a catalog or exhibit review. These publications serve as a historical barometer of the evolution of art glass, recording the current trends and documenting emerging and established artists as they build and expand on concepts, structure, and design in their art. Looking back through past issues, the evolution of designs, forms, and processes from past to present can be seen—and that knowledge provides an inkling into what’s next in the evolutionary process of working glass and creating art. Another event sponsored by Habatat Galleries is the Glass Lover’s Tour. This yearly trip features visits to artist’s studios around the world. Past tours have included visits to glass studios of artists in Czechlaslovakia, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Japan, and the United States. In addition to access to artists and studios, the tours provide lectures on specific art forms and techniques. There are also visits to galleries and museums, guided tours of scenic areas, and points of interest on the trip.

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“We operate in an UNUSUAL fashion,” he says, but for those who appreciate the art, the approach is welcome.”

Habatat Galleries also works with other institutions, where they serve as curators for exhibits throughout the world. A few of these exhibits, like the 1998 exhibition of Jon Kuhn’s art at Museo del Vitro in Monterrey, Mexico, feature a single artist. However, most of the exhibits are largescale multi-national surveys of art glass, designed to expose patrons to a wide range of forms and styles. For many, this is a first exposure to the art form, and the first step in the adventure and discovery of the beauty, emotion, and depth that can be found in the art. In working with institutions throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Habatat Galleries and Hampson serve as ambassadors to the art, a strategy that benefits the art community as a whole: the galleries, the artists who create, and the patrons. From small beginnings in 1971, Habatat Galleries has grown with the art glass movement, moving six times in the past 36 years to keep up with the ever-increasing need for room. Today, the gallery has 12,000 square feet of exhibit space available to feature the increasing volume of fine art glass. They have grown not only in size, but also in the services they offer. From the Glass Lover’s tours to the curated exhibits, from the Annual Glass Invitational to the yearly catalog, Habatat Galleries provides opportunities to not only experience the art today, but also to broaden that experience by looking at the past, learning from the artists, and perhaps catching a glimpse and feeling of where the passion and emotion of the art will take us tomorrow. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

The Glass Tools

Master

of an Italian

An Interview with Roberto Donà of

Carlo Donà Tools by Shelly Monfort

With an easy, engaging smile and enormous hands that give the clenching handshake grip of a lifelong artisan, it is obvious that Roberto Donà enjoys his role in the city with the greatest glass history in the world. Roberto is the fourth generation of workers in the Muranese glass industry, and a third generation glass toolmaker. Donà sometimes feels more like the bartender to the glass artists of Venice. “I hear all the stories, the successes, and the disputes,” he says. “An important part of my job is being a diplomat.” The tiny glass factory island of Murano (part of an archipelago, which comprises Venice) where Roberto Donà lives and works is a closely-knit community where news travels fast, and there are very few shops that make nothing but hand tools for glass working. All the local glass artists of Murano know where to find Roberto’s tool shop, but for the uninitiated it can be a daunting task. It is almost impossible to find a map that shows more than a few street names here, perhaps because there isn’t a single car or motorcycle on this small island. The only access to Murano is by boat, via water taxi or vaporetto (the local “water bus” service), and the few main thoroughfares are canals that slash the island into pieces. Space is scarce in Murano; many front doors open onto narrow alleys barely wide enough for two people to pass, and a patch of garden is a rare luxury. The entrance to Roberto Donà’s business, Carlo Donà Tools, consists of an almost completely unmarked wooden door set along an indistinct back street of the city, within view of the opaque turquoise water of one of Murano’s main canals. Inside, a modest but efficient machine shop nestles behind a tiny narrow “showroom,” smaller than a tract-home galley kitchen and packed with a dazzling variety of finished glass hand tools. In 1923, Donà’s grandfather, Carlo Donà, opened a glass tool shop along with his brother Angelo. At that time, the Italian glass industry was booming, and home to some 9,000 residents, twice the population of today. The brothers were busy making all of the equipment needed in the glass factories–furnaces, gaffer benches, annealing ovens, and grinding and polishing equipment. Roberto Donà’s grandfather’s love was making high-quality hand tools, the glassblower’s most direct connection with his high-temperature artistic

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Favorite glass tools are like a comfortable old pair of shoes,â&#x20AC;?Roberto explains.

material. Carlo Donà made hand tools for all the great glass maestros of Murano, for famous names like Archemide Seguso and Alfredo Barbini. He and four assistants hand-forged all of their metal tools. Carlo searched for the materials and manufacturing techniques to create the best tools, discovering that metal train tracks provided the optimum type of steel for jack blades. “And also,” his grandson says with a laugh, “Materials were expensive and assistants were cheap.” Roberto’s father, Carletto—now eighty years old with a full head of wavy, steel-colored hair—joined the family business during the time when the first electric motors became available. Carletto loved all kinds of motors—those for glass equipment and also motors for boats—and eventually developed a love for racing motorboats. The Carlo Donà tool company grew, with a large shop and many employees. However as the years passed, production of much of the large equipment of the glass industry, such as enormous grinding and polishing wheels, moved to other parts of Italy, where it was less expensive and manufacturing could be specialized and automated more easily. After World War II, Carlo Donà Tools found the need to downsize with the rest of the Muranese glass community. When Roberto eventually joined the family operation, he sometimes disputed with his father as to which direction to go with the business. Carletto didn’t want to give up making big machines, but Roberto’s deep passion was like his grandfather’s—a dedication to the subtleties and fine craftsmanship of hand tools. Roberto eventually prevailed, and Carlo Donà Tools began to create hand tools exclusively, making both production and custom jacks, scissors, tweezers, and diamond shears, along with an immense variety of crimps, prunts, and cast bronze optic molds–tools used to make the sparkling textures traditional to Venetian goblets and chandeliers. Times continued to change for the glass industry in Murano. Glass maestros began to own their shops instead of working for large or small factories, and glass workers began to have a personal stake in the quality and success of their work. Carlo Donà Tools evolved as well, adopting more World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Roberto, his father Carletto and two assistants

Roberto Dona’s workshop

sophisticated manufacturing techniques such as the use of a “trip hammer” to forge a very hard and sharp metal blade so that artists could cut perfectly straight murrini. The company also kept pace by producing unique custom tools for modern glass masters such as Pino Signoretto and Lino Tagliopietra, and Donà has repaired the tools that his father and grandfather had made for them. “Favorite glass tools are like a comfortable old pair of shoes,” he explains. Roberto Donà continues to make custom tools. For many artists he makes small modifications, such as adjusting a scissors’ tips for an individual’s particular techniques, or cutting and bending a looped handle to fit a smaller hand. Donà has also added a lampworking line of tools, including tiny stainless steel blowpipes and bronze optic molds, and a little double rolling yoke set that mimics a gaffer’s bench. “Today the influx of cheap [Chinese] glass products is continuing to change Murano,” he says. “The focus today is on individual work and quality.” American studio art glass has influenced Donà’s business as well. “The duck bill [scissors] design is from America,” he explains. “The Italians ask me, ‘Are they good?’” Roberto has also begun to put a high sheen polish on his tools, a feature dictated by American tastes and a technique that elicits some chiding from his father. Donà says, “Some Muranese come in and they ask, ‘Can you grind this for me? It’s too slippery.” When asked for in-house examples of Carlo Donà’s antique tools, his Roberto Donà is at a loss. He doesn’t have any of the company’s old tools, nor does he have any photos of their shop from years’ past, or even a single photograph of his grandfather. “That I wish I had,” he says. Perhaps Donà’s family, the humble and dedicated toolmakers to Murano’s royal glass dynasties, didn’t ever think that their operation would be worthy of such provenance. However, it is obvious with one look at the simple artistic beauty of a pair of Carlo Donà tweezers, the subtle, sleek Italian curves and the perfectly aligned tips, with just the right touch of spring tension when squeezed, that it is a shame that such historical documentation does not exist. Luckily, Donà adds, he does get an opportunity to see a few of the tools made by his father and grandfather, when the senior maestros bring them in for repair. It appears that Carlo Donà’s past–and future–literally resides in the hands of the masters. 72

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

2007 PILCHUCK GLASS SCHOOL SUMMER PROGRAM

Where Learning and Risk-Taking Intersect

For more information visit www.pilchuck.com or call 360-445-3111, extension 29

2007 INSTRUCTORS AND ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE INCLUDE: Joe Cariati Deborah Czeresko Greg Dietrich Roberta Eichenberg Suzanne Frantz Mel George Deborah Horrell Ken Ikushima Carl Ittig Marian Karel Claire Kelly Jeremy Lepisto Jay Macdonnell Patrick Martin John Miller Etsuko Nishi Felice Nittolo Stephen Rolfe Powell Jill Reynolds Ken Rinaldo Michael Rogers Davide Salvadore Anthony Schafermeyer Paula Stokes Fred Tschida Ann Wรฅhlstrรถm Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS . STEUBEN GLASS . GLASS BLOWING . ART GALLERIES

Summer 2007 | Volume 3

Paul

Stankard by Jill Culora

Paul Stankard looks around the studio and marvels at how fast forty-five years have passed. He has spent much of that time deeply absorbed in creating his glass flowers, which in the early days caused him stress and poor health. “The creative process can be uncomfortable, and there are times that I don’t want to be in the studio,” says Stankard, sitting at his bench. “But it’s a creative need—a need to pursue and share a personal vision.” Stankard’s vision is to articulate the spiritual dimension in nature through his floral interpretation, while striving for organic credibility. He is also mindful of how his work fits into art history in general, and that has been a strong motivating factor in recent years. “Ultimately, it will be the art historians who place my work somewhere on the art landscape,” he says. “My task in the studio has to do with originality—true to the material, and skilled virtuosity, and how it’s viewed by art critics and enthusiasts is beyond my control.” Stankard is a glass artist who has mastered and advanced the paperweight tradition. He was in the World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

vanguard of the American Studio Glass Movement, and is credited for promoting the flameworking process by breaking new paperweight ground in the late 1960s and ‘70s. Since then, he has taken the art to a much higher level. Today, his work—especially his orb series—is considered to be among the finest glasswork produced in the 20th Century. After thirty years of mastering his craft, Stankard no longer feels the need to be better at the process. Instead, he says his challenge is to bring other processes into the studio, and to mature as an artist beyond the lampworking process, while expanding the tradition of more than a century past. About 60 percent of Stankard’s work involves flameworking. The remaining 40 percent includes alternative processes, such as kiln casting, cold working, enameling, and fusing. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

“I’m trying to suggest sex,

death and God as symbols in the floral design –

because this is the sum total of all things living.”

In the flame, he twists and shapes fine strands of melted glass into narrow flower petals and delicate bee wings. He assembles his tiny, life-like floral bouquets and encases them in glass crystal, which benefits from a magnifying effect. The result is a breathtaking arrangement that has left many believing the flowers are real. While flattered by the misidentification, Stankard says that creating botanical realism is not his ultimate goal. “Basically, I’m exploring ways to express emotion through my glass art,” he says. “What I hope to do is visually interact with the viewer on an emotional level.”

“While engaging the viewer into a visual dialogue may at times cause tension, especially with the tiny glass figures and word canes as symbols—in the end it’s about beauty and sharing the mysteries of the plant kingdom.” “It’s a way to camouflage personal information in the work. On one level, the viewer might look at the orb and feel that it’s nice, but when they live with the piece and look further, they can see different attitudes in the glass.” “I’m trying to suggest sex, death, and God as symbols in the floral design–because this is the sum total of all things living.” World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

The human forms in his works, resembling roots, are intentionally ambiguous. The word canes are a more recent addition and are made by bundling small glass rods into a mosaic form. First melting and pulling the glass into small diameter rods, he then slices the rods into small sections to be camouflaged into the floral arrangement. “People are responding to the human forms with their own set of values. Some view them as erotic,” he says. “The word canes come as a source of delight for those who find them. When people respond to the work it’s very satisfying for me as an artist.” Stankard says the idea of using human forms and word canes came in the 1980s and followed inspiration he felt from Walt Whitman’s poetry Leaves of Grass, in which each edition is organically evolved. “Whitman’s words energized me with mysticism,” he says. “A line from the poem: Song to Myself, was the turning point. It said: ‘And the narrowest hinge of my hand puts to scorn all machinery.’ “ “Today, through my work, I reference the continuum of nature, by portraying and exploring the mysteries of seeds, fertility, and decay. The work celebrates the primal beauty of nature on an intimate level.” Stankard, whose studio fronts a 2.5 acre wooded paradise in Mantua, New Jersey, has enjoyed a long intimate connection with the beauty of nature. As a young boy, he found a fascination and love of all things natural while playing in the Massachusetts wood and dairy lands— camping, hiking, and picking blueberries and flowers for his mother. “I would follow animal tracks, all with the idea that we would find an animal, but of course that never happened,” the 64-year-old laughs. “We would pick water lilies and climb rocks–that’s how we entertained ourselves.” Some years later, Stankard’s family moved to New Jersey. He studied glassmaking at Salem Community College. He graduated at age twenty in 1963, and spent the next ten years working as a scientific glassblower, producing laboratory glass equipment. In his spare time, he created miniature glass animals using self-taught lampworking techniques. Before long that work evolved into creating paperweights–influenced by the work of Francis Whittemore, a colleague who shared his art but not his technique. Enthralled by the concept of encasing the beauty of nature in glass, Stankard decided to devote all his spare time to experimenting with the process. Before long, he was producing collector quality weights, and in 1972, with the blessing of his wife Pat, Stankard decided to 82

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“The creative process can be uncomfortable, and there are times I would rather be walking in the woods than working in the studio,” says Stankard, sitting at his bench. “But my creative need is STRONG – it’s a need to make things and pursue a personal vision.”

leave his commercial job and devote his life to being a glass artist full-time. “Something feels right about focusing all your attention within a narrow presentation.” Since then, Stankard has become a much-celebrated glass artist, teacher, and author. His work is in permanent collections found in museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris. He teaches glass art at the Salem Community College and is a board member, fellow, or advisor for countless glass art programs and institutions. In May 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. He has recently authored an autobiography entitled, No Green Berries or Leaves: The creative journey of an artist in glass, published by McDonald Woodward Publishing Co., Grandville, Ohio. It will be in bookstores later this summer. World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

David Graeber, Katherine Stankard Campbell, Christine Stankard Kressley, Pauline Stankard Lacovino.

Pat and Paul Stankard

Stankard says the book was a four year project, in which he discusses leaving industry and developing a career on the creative side. He writes of overcoming challenges associated with being dyslexic and educating himself. Over the years Stankard’s work has evolved from creating classical domed paperweights containing incredibly realistic botanicals, to introducing roots, human forms, and word canes. In the process, he has also changed the overall physical shape of his work to include rectangular upright blocks and orbs. He attributes his artistic growth to his study of art history, botanical science, and poetry. With the help of his assistants, who include his three daughters, Pauline, Christine, and Katherine, along with David Graeber, Stankard says he is currently producing the best work of his career. “I feel blessed. I found something that I really care about. I’ve dedicated my life to working and using glass to communicate the message.”

All images by Schaible Photography

World Art Glass Quarterly – Volume 4

Bogenrief Studios

by Alex Maynes

ith the wealth of experience garnered over the past thirty years through studying, repairing, and emulating antique forms and styles - traditional designs come easy for Bogenrief studios. From the beginning, they wanted to be like Tiffany, creating beautiful works of art with expert craftsmanship. They have made repairs to antique pieces and delivered commissioned works in the Tiffany style in addition to their work in contemporary and abstract designs. They have been successful in that endeavor, so much so that they are slowly phasing out the repair portion of the business as the demand increases for commissioned work. It is a welcome direction, relates Jeanne Bogenrief, co-founder of Bogenrief Studios, as it allows them to concentrate more on the creative aspects of studio work to which they are drawn. With a production studio in Sutherland, Iowa, and a gallery and hot glass studio in Spencer, Iowa, Bogenrief Studios has the capacity to meet the increasing demand.

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“We draw inspiration from nature around us,” explains Jeanne, “and strive to capture the essence of that beauty in the glass.” Jeanne identifies three key areas of concentration when they imagine, prepare, and create each piece. These are design, craftsmanship and materials. All three are required to remain competitive in the industry and to deliver quality products. “We have been fortunate,” says Jeanne, “to have talented designers around us that have the skill and vision to help us achieve our goals in developing designs.” And the passion that Jeanne and her sons, Jesse and Seth, have for art glass is contagious. It shows in the quality and artistry of the glass and in the excitement and dedication of their staff. As clichéd as it may seem, they work for the love of the creative enterprise, taking pride in knowing that they are producing art pieces that will be admired, valued, and enjoyed for generations to come. Recently the studio has acquired a rolling table for the hot glass studio. They look forward to manufacturing their own color, creating specialty and dimensional glass, and rolling their own flat glass with color-phase transitions. This will enable them to take the creative process a step further and gain more control over the third key area, materials, as they continue to deliver quality and innovative art glass designs. The dedication of the staff and resulting quality of work is abundantly evident in one of their most recent speculative pieces; a jungle-themed stained glass creation measuring close to 10’x 12’. It is hard to miss the elephant among the detailed greens, blues, pinks and reds of the flora and fauna that dominate the piece. A closer examination reveals the less evident forms of a monkey, several parrots and a cockatoo hidden among the palm trees and lush vegetation represented in the panel. The culmination of a threeyear effort containing 20,000 pieces of glass, the piece also exemplifies one source of their design ideas. “We draw

World Art Glass Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volume 4

inspiration from nature around us,” explains Jeanne, “and strive to capture the essence of that beauty in the glass.” These speculative pieces tend to be the more innovative work, pushing the envelope with designs, colors, and techniques that challenge the designers and artisans and produce stunning effects. The skill and technique developed and honed in these works keep the artists sharp and demonstrate the studio’s quality and design potential. The range of offerings spans everything from stained, beveled and jeweled windows to scenic windows and domes, Tiffany-style lamps and blown glass. The “lady windows”, inspired by the late 19th and early 20th century art nouveau style of Alphonse Mucha, are a hallmark of Bogenrief Studios. They are vibrant, alive and captivatingly beautiful. Following themes like seasons and flowers, the lady windows show passion and emotion in their expressive eyes, poses, and intricately designed surroundings. With a watchful eye on the design, craftsmanship, and materials, Bogenrief Studios has evolved over the past thirty years from a small venture to a multistudio innovative enterprise producing beautiful detailed art glass creations.

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