Judith Toman Presented April 12, 2010 Mint Museum Docents Danny

Judith Toman Presented April 12, 2010 Mint Museum Docents Danny Lane is a glass artist, born in 1955 in Urbana, Illinois. According to his website he has been working in London since the 1980’s. He trained as a painter and notes that drawing is fundamental to his art, which he describes as exploring line in two and three dimensions. In 1975 he went to Britain to study with Patrick Reyntiens. In 1983 he had his first show in Italy and in 1988-89 had one-man shows in London, Paris and Milan. He designed tables for manufacture by Fiam Italia. His early work was primarily in series manufactured objects. Early successes included his “Etruscan chair” (1986), some of which were acquired by Madonna in 2007. 1 He has created chairs, tables, benches and other furniture pieces from float glass. The chairs are formed of float glass seat and back with stainless steel studding, legs and other structural parts. Float glass is more commonly used for large windows and multistory buildings. Lane uses this material in his constructions for furniture, walls, railings, fountains and his other large-scale sculptures. He often smashes the edges and then polishes them smooth. He uses this technique to create large pieces as well as smaller objects such as bowls and glasses. As large pieces containing stacked float glass are extremely heavy “The metal parts are a mixture of high tech and romantic or emotional. Metal finishes are rusty or rugged.”2 Lane has been commissioned to create a glasswork that will serve as an entry to the Craft and Design galleries of the new Mint Museum Uptown. This work will reflect his current work using narrow, vertically stacked float glass glued into an undulating screen. “Klein points out that “Float glass does not usually bend and curve: it is flat and thick and straight. Yet Danny Lane cuts curves into it, almost as if it were wood, and they become emphasized and dramatic when the glass it stacked.”3 Lane’s work is in many private and public collections, including the: Corning Museum of Glass, Denver Museum of Art. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Kunstsgewerbemuseum Dresden, Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Musée des Arts Décoratifs, (Paris) and the National Museum (Stockholm) among others. 4 1 Stephen Lacey, ”An Exhibition of 20th century iconic objects is design for cashed-up collectors.” Sydney Sun-Herald October 7, 2007. 2 Dan Klein, Artists in Glass: late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2001), 110. 3 Klein. 111 4 Danny Lane website, http://www.dannylane.co.uk (accessed February 9, 2010). Much of his recent work is large-scale glass sculpture both within buildings such as “Borealis” at the entrance to the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit and “Balustrade” at the Victoria and Albert as well as walls and lighting in the British Embassy in Helsinki. He has had outdoor-sited sculpture commissioned for: Jesus College, Cambridge, England; Bangkok, Thailand; Goteborg, Sweden; Southampton, and London, England; Tokyo, Japan; and Cardiff, Wales.5 Borealis is believed to be the largest glass sculpture in existence. It consists of 2300 plates of 12 mm glass each 6.5 meters in length. The entire work weighs 60 metric tons (132,000 pounds). Austrian processor, Eckelt, specially floated the plates of glass used to create this work. Each piece weighs about 20 kilograms (44 pounds). Each piece was cut, polished, annealed and an anti-shatter film was applied.6 Because long thin pieces of glass generally bow when quenched 1:10 is the typical width to length ratio. But the proportions for the pieces of glass in Borealis average 1:65. The work, which opened in 2006, was created from glass pieces shipped to Detroit and then arranged within the space and fitted to the mezzanine with specially crafted metalwork.7 Lane describes his own creative path as follows: “Since the beginning of my working life I have sought the route of least resistance. Glass breaks, break it first: it scratches, scratch it first. Metal rusts, rust it first. Decay is inherent in these materials, and this is a quality I don’t neglect.”8 Lane’s work has traditionally been the greenish color of float glass, but he has recently begun to explore using more color in his work. “Threshold” promised for the Mint Museum Uptown opening in October will incorporate both greenish float glass and colored pieces. This sculpture should prove a significant addition to the glasswork that forms part of the Craft and Design collection by internationally known artists. Contemporary British Glass 2006. (London: Adrian Sassoon, 2006). Danny Lane website, http://www.dannylane.co.uk (accessed February 9, 2010). Klein, Dan. Artists in Glass: late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass (London: Mitchell Beazley, 2001). “Glass Designs: Challenges of artist’s vision,” Glass Age (May 15, 2006): 16 Lacey, Stephen. “An Exhibition of 20th century iconic objects is design for cashed up collectors.” The Sydney Sun-Herald, October 7, 2007, via on-line database http://mintwiki.pbworks.com/Danny-Lane 5 Danny Lane website 6 “Glass Designs: Challenges of artist’s vision,” Glass Age (May 15, 2006): 16 7 “Glass Designs” 16 8 Klein. 111 .

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