Akron Art Museum

This exhibition is organized by the Ohio Arts Council and the Akron Art Museum with generous support from the Ohio Building Authority, The Mirapaul Foundationl!Jnd Sara Jane Kasperzak; additional support from Joseph M. Erdelac. • f I� � In 1962. the history of was changed are non-traditional in their final expression. forever - and it happened right here in Ohio. Many push the boundaries of the material to Until that year. blown glass in all forms was new and previously unexplored limits: goblets produced in foundries. usually from molds. too large to drink from. bowls too porous to Then Harvey Littleton. a professor at the hold anything, bowls that are , University of Wisconsin. and Dominick Labino. marbles or spheres that duplicate animal hides a chemist and inventor from Grand Rapids, and other objects that defy description. Ohio. put into practice Littleton's concept of a small glass studio. At a workshop on the back lot of The Toledo Museum of Art. Littleton and focuses on independent glass artists working Ohio Perspectives: Reflections in Glass Labino demonstrated the revolutionary idea in private studios throughout Ohio. It takes that an artist working alone in a small private seriously those who take glass seriously. The studio could make . They could not ,, exhibition, although open to all who practice have anticipated the enormous impact their the glassmakers· art professionally, was work would have on the direction of glass art competitive. Work was juried using criteria around the world. At that moment the glass that encompassed aesthetic content and blower was elevated from craftsman to craftsmanship. Some of the exhibiting artists artist/craftsman and the contemporary glass are able to support themselves totally fru111 the movement began. production of glass; others maintain a day job hoping someday to become full-time artists. gives Creative glassmaking takes time. effort. skill us an opportunity to assess the effects of that and costly equipment. Often the artists build Ohio Perspectives: Reflections in Glass historic shift on this state's glass artists. The and maintain gas-fired furnaces or expensive model of glass art that changed more than electric annealing ovens for their studios - three decades ago is still evolving in the work a full-time job in itself. presented in this exhibition. which is part of the 3,000-year history of glass. While some of Ohio is home to many fine glass artists for a the objects are inspired by and incorporate number of reasons including natural resources. traditional glassmaking techniques. the works market location. low-cost industrial space and the availability of glass education. Ohio This exhibition is meant to inspire viewers to schools offer many opportunities for see glass as a material that can be decorative undergraduate and graduate study in glass. and evocative, austere or humorous, elegant There are programs at Bowling Green State or provocative. Techniques that once were University, Cleveland Institute of Art. reserved for forming fine functional vessels Columbus College of Art and Design, Kent now are used to produce sculptural objects. State University, The Ohio State University, Some of the pieces will stretch viewers' The Toledo Museum of Art and other places. imaginations about this ubiquitous material, causing them to rethink their definitions of Beyond opportunities for study, artists are form and function. The work in encouraged by a supportive climate. The Ohio is not about Ohio Arts Council provides funding for individual a material, but about art. Perspectives. Reflections in Glass artists and organizations. Artists also need a knowledgeable audience. The audience for Henry Halem contemporary glass in Ohio is being educated Professor Emeritus, Kent State University as museums add new glass to their permanent Guest Curator, Ohio Perspectives: collections and galleries show the work of Reflections in Glass contemporary artists.

By showcasing the talent of Ohio's glass artists, this exhibition attempts to continue that nurturing atmosphere. The show represents a healthy cross-section of Ohio's best artists working in traditional and non­ traditional techniques, including glass­ blowing, sand casting, pate de verre, glass laminations, glass marble technique, , glass and .

Tom McGlauchlin. The Skeptic. 1994, blown glass with soft pastels on fired glass enamels. 16" x 12" x 4" Geoffrey D. Beetem, born in 1951. was beauty and the awareness of mortality are introduced to glass at Ohio University but the frequent and important themes." major influences on his work seem to come from workshops at New York Experimental Robert Dauel, Jr., born in 1967. studied Glass with Venetian glass masters Giani Toso glass at Bowling Green State University where and Lino Ta gliapietra. Beetem. who lives in he won the Medici Circle Purchase Award in Athens, started his first glass studio after 1989. He lives in Toledo and blows glass at being hot shop technician at Washington's The Toledo Museum of Art The interior color famed Pilchuck Glass School in 1987. Working of his pieces is achieved by mixing frit (colored with Tagliapietra proved to be invaluable glass ground into powder) of more than 50 because he learned that "anything can be colors. The title of his work in this exhibition. Tim Jerman, WindScorpion, 1997, flame worked glass. 12" long, collection of Terry J Guinn fixed, if you relax and stay focused." Beetem Stir Fry Window, came from a friend who Steve Finke, born in 1957. earned a BFA at New York, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in says his sculptural work explores the dynamics referred to the color technique as stir fry - glass mosaic evolve through alteration of the surface and because of the unsophisticated quality of the Margot J. Gotoff, born in 1941. earned a Ellen Grevey, born in 1969. earned a BFA kiln working to achieve a history of medium," she says. BA and an MA at the University of Michigan in glass art at The Ohio State University. She transformation," she says. "The limits may be and an MFA at the University of Cincinnati. has studied at Haystack Mountain School and pushed to the point of decay. Transience of She also studied at the Art Students League in in Venice. Italy, and Helsinki. Finland. She has been a staff member at Pilchuck Glass School Marianne Hite, born in 1962, earned a assistant professor of art and co-coordinator with hot glass has started to wear since 1994, and operates a studio in BFA at Kent State University where she of the glass program at The Ohio State architectural patterns,such as stripes, lattice Columbus, where she lives. Using antique studied stained glass and other glass University, she lives in Columbus. King has work and grids," King says. "Unlike clothing, mirrors and irons as the building blocks of her techniques. She lives in Uniontown and presented workshops throughout the United these patterns are tight, like snake skin or a sculptures, she says those historic tools still operates a studio in Green. Hite gives an States and in Japan and Australia and has wet T-shirt, naked but dressed, immodest." represent a stereotypic image of womanhood. insight into her thinking when she says "I love taught at Rhode Island School of Design, "These objects are altered and combined with working with glass because I feel as though California College of Arts and Crafts and at Brent Marshall, born in 1957, earned a others I have made or assembled to both I'm painting with light as well as with color. major summer programs. "The figuration I do BFA in glass at Cleveland Institute of Art and condemn and glorify the work of women," Currently I'm working on figurative pieces an MFA in at the University of G revey says. ranging from small maquettes to life- Illinois. Marshall lives in Cleveland Heights size figures." and teaches in the evening program at the Richard Harned, born in 1951, is a Cleveland Institute of Art. He says he may professor of art at The Ohio State University Tim Jerman, born in 1957, studied glass­ have intuitively identified with forms based on where he co-coordinates the glass program. blowing at Kent State University and started architectural structures because of his He earned a BFA and an MFA at Rhode Island his professional career in Southern Ohio. An boyhood interest in Erector sets. "Recently I School of Design and has received many accident cut short his ability to blow glass, but have used forms from antiquity or structures awards. including Individual Artist Fellowships grit and irrepressible spirit kept him true to his that soon will be obsolete to model the from the NEA, the Ohio Arts Council and the desire to make glass. Jerman, who lives in passing of time, changing values and functions Greater Columbus Arts Council. Harned, who Logan, mastered the fine art of lampworking in society," he says. lives in Upper Arlington, helped establish (sitting at a bench, manipulating glass with a Glass Axis, a not-for-profit workshop and torch), which is as challenging as glass­ Leonard Marty, born in 1961, is a glass artists organization in Central Ohio. He often blowing. His pieces are in great demand instructor and studio coordinator at The Toledo combines diverse elements that use the throughout the United States. Jerman's work Museum of Art He earneda BFA at Bowling properties of glass and technology. "My work in this exhibition shows how deft he is. The Green State University and has studied at explores human perception through the visual delicacy of his Scorpions belies the fact that Penland School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass language of glass," he says. "My work in this they are formed from glass. School. His work has been exhibited show, Talking, is a collection of blown glass extensively in the United States. Marty, who forms that speak to the structure of glass, the Ruth King, born in 1958, earned an MFA in

Earth and other important matters." glass at Rhode Island School of Design. An Leonard Marty, Into the Darkness, 1997, blown and sandcast glass. gold leaf. 21" x 1 O" x 5" lives in Toledo, produces work that is abstract BFA at Kent State University and an MFA at He is the only glass artist still working who Midwest Individual Fellowship, an NEA/Arts and assembled by design. "The starting point Ohio University. He began working full time in took part in the historic 1962 workshop at The Midwest Artworks Fund Grant and a Louise may be a broad concept, a single color or glass, concentrating on spheres, in 1985. Toledo Museum of Art. McGlauchlin, who lives Bourgeois Endowed Residency at Yaddo in structure," he says. "Cubes, rectangular forms Matthews, who lives in Archbold, uses in Toledo. studied at the University of New York. Her work, primarily installations, and cylinders give the feeling of mass, weight modern and ancient techniques to create Wisconsin-Madison and the University of examines sexuality and sensuality, death. and permanence." everything from traditional swirls and lutzes to Iowa. McGlauchlin's pieces are found in many romance and loss. Palay, who lives in Upper realistic interpretations of animal pelts. "The international public and private collections. In Arlington, works with glass. neon and other Mark Matthews, born in 1954, is an marble is a device that unifies my radically his current work. the glass surface, highly sculptural media. Graffiti of the Spirit World. independent glass artist and an artist in diverse explorations in glass," he says. textured and opaque. becomes a canvas for in this show. is about perception of emotion residence at Sauder Village in Archbold. He cubist-style paintings. and boundaries between life and death. It has become internationally recognized for his Tom McGlauchlin, born in 1934, is one employs reflective glass bead paint to make a mastery of the marble. Matthews earned a of the pioneers of the movement. Shawn E. Messenger, bornin 1954. focused, glowing, reflective light that seems earned a BFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art almost ethereal. Mark Matthews, 1997. glass, 4" x 7 1/2" diameter and studied at Pilchuck Glass School. Her Blue and Orangefor Now, work. rooted in the best traditions of glass. Cathy Richardson, born in 1949. earned can be found in prestigious galleries around a BA. MA and Ph.D. in geology, but says she the country, including del Mano in Pasadena. always had a deep love for art. She lives in California. and the Nantucket Glassworks. Rudolph and has been a full-time artist since Messenger. who lives in Toledo, says her work 1987. Achilles and Friends, which is presented is greatly influenced by her love of nature and in this show. "celebrates the power of the the wonders it has to offer. "My intention is to ancient gods by making them appear regal and evoke a feeling of serenity and solitude, an formal on a classically shaped vessel," homage to nature." she says. Richardson says. The figures are sandblast­ carved into a blown piece. Xan Palay, bornin 1970. graduated from The Ohio State University and works full time Jack A. Schmidt, born in 1945. earned a as an artist. Her achievements include an Ohio BS at Bowling Green State University and an Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, a MS at Illinois State University. Before doing National Endowment for the Arts/ Arts post-graduate work at Alfred University, he studied glass with Fritz Dreisbach at The I love the material," Sudduth says. "For me, "Mike adapted his jewelry creations, using a Toledo Museum of Art in 1969. Schmidt. who glass is like no other substance. Blowing, stick and twig motif, to become a carriage tor lives in Toledo, helped found the Glass Art casting, cutting, grinding, polishing, working this ritual-type vessel." Society in the early 1970s. He has been a hot. working cold, combining materials, it all visiting instructor at the Cleveland Institute of still fascinates me. The choices I must make Shirley Thrope, born in 1935. attended Art, University of Wisconsin, The Toledo still invigo'rate me." the High School of Performing Arts and the Museum of Art, Ohio University and California Sculpture Center in New York City. She settled State University-Chico. Schmidt has received William Teschner, born in 1961. has in Cincinnati in 1972 and still lives there. fellowships from the National Endowment for held many jobs from food service to being a Thrope's vessels are reminiscent of Italian the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council. He shares groom and a potter, eventually settling on glass but the color leans toward color field a studio with his wife, Shawn Messenger, a being an artist. He lives in Columbus and says painting. She says her clear, cool glass, tired glass blower. Schmidt says he has been "attempting" to make art for the with colors, patterns and designs, makes a his work in this exhibition, is past 12 years. "To not lose the viewer � statement of its own. Precious Stone about quiet moments, times of peaceful completely, I try as much as I am able to Series #8, contemplation. include sensuous design and what-exactly-is­ Kimberly S. White, born in 1953, lives on that material in my work," he says. a 1 OD-acre farm near Canton, where she Mary Kay Simoni, born in 1955, earned a maintains a studio. She studied glass at Kent BFA at Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA Marvin Thorp, born in 1950, earned a BS State University, Pilchuck Glass School, at Kent State University. She has taught at in art education at Bowling Green State Haystack Mountain School and Penland School Haystack Mountain School, Penland School of University. He has taught in the Defiance of Crafts. She believes her objects are Geoffrey D. Beetern. Mezzo Stampo, 1998, Venetian Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School and was an technique, 28" x 11" x 11" County schools tor 21 years and in 1994 was distillations of her response to farm living. artist in residence at Artpark in New York. named Art Teacher of Northwest Ohio by the "The view from my studio sweeps down a Mark Sudduth, bornin 1960, earned a Simoni, who lives in Chesterland, believes that Ohio Art Education Association. Thorp, who tree-lined meadow to a lake with a small BFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art and in glass less often is more. Her work in this lives in Fayette, has received an Ohio Arts island supporting a huge white oak tree," she studied at Penland School of Crafts. He lives show is neither complex nor technically Council Individual Artist Fellowship. His says. "The lake freezes, changes color and the in Cleveland Heights and has operated a intricate. "My current work consists of stacked collaboration in this show with Mike leaves tall and are trapped in the ice. The studio in Cleveland since 1983. Sudduth strips of laminated and painted glass," she Kozumplik is elegant and timeless. "Through inverted shape of the tree echoes the shape produces award-winning work and retains an says. "I treat the glass much like a blank discussions of design and materials, Mike and of my piece." excitement and passion about working with canvas by reverse painting images on I decided to combine our talents," Thorp says. glass. "One thing that remains constant is that the back." All work owned by the artist unless otherwise indicated. Brent Kee Young, born in 1946. is the effects of TV in his sculpture in this show. "I Margot J. Gotoff Dimensions are given with height preceeding width chair of the glass department at the Cleveland am able to work representationally, using the preceeding depth. Chloe, 1997. cast glass. 26" x 13" x 10" Institute of Art and one of Ohio's premier glass action, and non-representationally, using just Red Toga, 1997, cast glass. 27" x 15" x 7", lent by artists. Young holds an MFA degree from color," he says. "That keeps the series of Geoffrey D. Beetem Miller Gallery, New York

Alfred University. His work is in some of the pieces fresh and fun." Giant Goblet 1. 1998. Venetian technique. Ellen Grevey most prestigious collections in the United 17" X 10" X 10" Blue for Boy, States, Spain and Japan. He lives in Cleveland Giant Goblet 2, 1998. Venetian technique. 1997, antique iron. fused glass Heights. has taught in Taiwan and Japan and 23"x 8" X 8" mosaic, wood and fabricated steel. 16" x 6" x 3" Cup. at one time was the head of glass studies at Illumination Series, 1998, Venetian technique, 1997. blown glass. 3" x 3" x 3" Shawn E. Messenger. Of Course They're Different, Aichi University in Kariya, Japan. "My work 1998, blown glass, color powder and frit application. 18" X 10" X 10" 1997. blown glass. 131/2" X 7" X 7" Landscape Series: Garden of Love, speaks of many things: of a respect and Mezzo Stampo, 1998. Venetian technique. velvet and wood frame. 8" x 6" x 2" reverence for things natural. of ambiguity in 28" X 11'' X 11" space. form. volume. time and images that are Richard Harned there and not there," Young says "It speaks of Rene Culler Talking, 1998. blown glass, neon and steel, the concept of evidence. man's marks. nature's Grail Variation-Six of Cups, 1998. glass blown. dimensions variable marks, their relation, together and apart. It kiln-transformed. pate de verre/copper, metallic Marianne Hite speaks of a respect for tradition. form and leaf. 21" x 18" x 18" craft and the history of object making." Fighting for Space, 1987, laminated glass and Robert Dauel, Jr. enamel, 79" x 52" x 27" Lovers, Michael Dale Zelenka, born in 1957. Stir Fry Window. 1998, glass. 6" x 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" 1997. fused glass. 18" x 13" x 7" earned a BA at the University of Toledo and has studied at the Haystack and Pilchuck Libby Duncan Tim Jerman Water Scorpion, Schools. He has been a designer and glass Chickens. Go Lie Some Eggs, 1996. stained glass. 1997, flame worked glass, blower at Maxwell Crystal in Tiffin and an wood and grout. 18 1 /2" x 19 1 /2" x 1" 13" long, collection of Terry J. Quinn instructor at Glass Unica Workshop in the Wind Scorpion, 1997. flame worked glass, 12" long. Netherlands. An active studio artist, he lives in Steve Finke collection of Terry J. Quinn

Cleveland and has worked as a 19th century Seed Pod. 1995-97. glass and metals. 2" x 2" x 9" reproduction glassmaker at Hale Farm and Ruth King Village since 1993. Zelenka focuses on the The Calm Before, 1996. blown glass. assembled. 14" x 11" diameter • Crushing Beauty, 1996, glass and steel. Shawn E. Messenger Line Series Bowl, 1998, blown glass, 1 0" x7" x7" 21"x15"x5" Flora Bowl, 1998, blown glass. color powder and frit Line Series Cut Platter, 1998, blown glass. cut and Wings, 1996. glass. 28" x20" x1 0" application, 5"x 23" x23" polished, 3 1/2" x 10"x 21" Landscape Series: Garden of Love, 1998, blown Pursuit of Happiness, 1998, blown glass and mixe d

Brent Marshall glass, color powder and frit application, media. 12 1/2" x10 1/2" x 10 1/2" Aqueduct, 1994, glass and copper plated steel, 13 1/2" 7" 7" X X 13" X 28" X 10" William Teschner The Crossing, 1994, cast glass and nickel plated Xan Palay Fishbone Breakfast, 1997, glass, steel, hash steel, 15" x25" x11" Graffiti of the Spirit World, 1998, reflective glass browns, thread, 22" x13" x 8" The Harvest, 1997, glass. nickel and nickel plated bead paint, dimensions variable steel. halogen lighting, 26" x1 0"x 10" Marvin Thorp and Mike Kozumplik

Cathy Richardson The Attributes Without Mirror the Powers Within,

Leonard Marty Achilles and Friends, 1993, sandblast, carved blown 1997, sterling silver and glass, 5 5/8"x 4" x4", Golden Verve, 1996, hot worked and sandcast glass. glass, 13 1/4"x 6" x 6" collaboration, glass by Thorp, metal work by 30" T' T'

X X Iota the Darkness. 1997, blown and sandcast glass. Jack A. Schmidt Ruth King, 1996, glass, 28" x 20" x 10" gold leaf, 21" x 1 O" x 5" Precious Stone Series #8, 1997, steel, stainless Wings, steel, blown glass and stacked .

Mark Matthews 54" X 29" X 18" Blue & Orange for Now, 1997. glass, Jack Schmiclt, 1997, steel, 4"x 7 1/2" diameter stainless steel, blown glass and stacked plate glass. Mary Kay Simoni Precious Stone Series# 8, Equus Grant (Grant'szebra), AcinonyxJubatus 54" X 29" X 18" The Apple of Eve's Eye, 1998, stacked laminated (cheetah) and Giraffa Camelopardalis Reticu/ata Tom McGlauchlin glass. 15" x 5"x 3" (reticulated giraffe). 1997. glass. about 3 1 /2" each Homage to Kandinsky JV,1997. blown glass with Sign/Symbol, triptych, 1997. stacked laminated Panthera Onca (jaguar), 1997, glass, 2 5/8" soft pastels on fired glass enamels. 14" x1 0" x4" glass. 5"x 16" x2" Fe/is Wredi (ocelot), 1997, glass. 1 7 /16" Kandinsky and Me, 1996, blown glass with soft Population Portrait IX, 1990-96, glass, pastels on fired glass enamels, 16"x 10" x 4", Mark Sudduth 37" X 15" X 15" collection of Mr. and Mrs. R. Scott Trumbull. Toledo Form Follows Function, 1997, slumped glass, The Skeptic, 1994, blown glass with soft pastels on 13" 19" 18" fired glass enamels. 16" x12" x 4" X X • Kozumplik, collection of Patricia Pancake Kester and Stephen Kester Brent Marshall, 1994, glass and copper plated steel, 13" x 28" x 10" Aqueduct, Shirley Thrope Cobalt & Gold, Vase, 1997, glass and paint,

10 1/8" X 3 3/4" X 3 3/4" Gold & Wine Wisp, Vase, 1998, glass and paint

10 1/8" X 3 3/4" X 3 3/4"

Kimberly S, White

Ice Storms & Oak Leaves, 1998, cast glass and steel, 36" x 21" x 21"

Brent Kee Young

Box Form: Hako, 1992, cast glass Oil slate, 14" X 18" X 14" Dialogue Series: Shimpai Nai ... Don't Worry,1996, Libby Duncan, 1996, stained glass, wood and grout, 181/2" x19 1/2" x1" cast glass Oil slate, 24" x 14" x 16" Chickens, Go Lie Some Eggs, Dialogue Series. Untitled, 1998, cast glass Oil slate, 24" X 18" X 16" Fossil Series: Tight Loop Comin . . , 1998, blown glass, 11" x 6" x 6"

Michael Dale Zelenka rv, 1998, cast glass, 50" x 19" x 12"

Steve Finke, 1995-97, glass and metals, 2" X 2" X 9" Seed Pod, We're Building Ohio Through the Arts The Ohio Arts Council. a state agency established in 1965, builds the state through the arts - economically, educationally and culturally - preserving the past. enhancing the present and enriching the future for all Ohioans. The Council believes the arts should Akron be shared by the people of Ohio. The arts arise Art from public, individual and organizational Museum efforts. The OAC supports and encourages 70 East Market Street those efforts. Akron. OH 44308-2084 330/376-9185 George V. Voinovich, Governor Visit us on the Internet Barbara S. Robinson, OAC Board Chair www.akronartmuseum.org Wayne P Lawson, Executive Director Fred Bidwell, President, Board of Trustees Ohio Arts Council Mitchell D. Kahan, Director 727 East Main Street Columbus, OH 43205-1796 Providing visitors an intimate setting for 614/466-2613 learning and discovery, the Akron Art Museum For TTY/TDD use Ohio Relay Service is a world-class institution that showcases 1-800-750-0750 regional, national and international art created since 1850. Located in the heart of downtown Visit us on the Internet Akron, the museum is open every day 11 a.m. www.oac.ohio.gov to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

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