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<p><font size="+1">Google News Alert for: <b>glassblowing</b></font></p>
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<a style="color: blue;"
href="http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2007-04-12/living/17214">Kitao
showcases generations of artists</a><br>
<font size="-1"><font color="#666666">Swarthmore College The Phoenix
Online - Swarthmore,PA,USA</font><br>
But she was intrigued by the story of sophomore Fletcher Coleman’s
<b>glassblowing</b>, which he learned from his father. Smith has a
grandmother who is a painter, <b>...</b><br>
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<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2007-04-12/living/17214">http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2007-04-12/living/17214</a><br>
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<h2>Kitao showcases generations of artists</h2>
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<div class="byline">BY ELI EPSTEIN-DEUTSCH</div>
<div class="article">
<p>The Kitao Gallery, Swarthmore’s only venue for
student art, has problems with themed exhibitions. They don’t get
enough submissions, Co-Director Elena Smith ’09 said. Around Halloween,
they put out a call for “spooky, deadly or macabre” art, and got back
only dead silence. So Smith was somewhat apprehensive when she put an
ad in Reserved Students Digest seeking artists whose family members
also produced art. But she was intrigued by the story of sophomore
Fletcher Coleman’s <b>glassblowing</b>, which he learned from his
father.
Smith has a grandmother who is a painter, but the artistry did not make
it down to her: “I asked my grandmother to teach me how to paint, and
she said ‘no.’” Smith became interested in exploring the ways in which
families transmit artistic skills and influences over generations, and
got the idea to put together a show for Family and Friends Weekend that
would present student artwork along with that of their relatives. To
her surprise, she received seven replies almost immediately.
</p>
<p>The respondents included potters, sculpture, photographers,
painters, cartoonists and of course <b>glassblowers</b> — all “totally
amazing
artists,” she said. Rather than limiting the exhibition to a specific
number of pieces, the Kitao Gallery chose a format in order to give
contributors more freedom — each has a certain amount of space to
design any way they see fit. The only constraint is that at least one
work must be made by a family member.
</p>
<p>Most of the contributors are submitting parents’ art, but there
are also some siblings,’ and one artist, Nicole Singer ’10, is
including a painting by her great-grandmother, who was among the first
women to be registered in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in
Washington, D.C.
</p>
<p>Smith said that although several of the artists wondered if
they should include just those of their works that show the direct
influence of their relatives, any kind of art is acceptable. She asked
each contributor to write a paragraph describing how they were inspired
and shaped as artists by the art in their family. Coleman writes,
“Although I have worked for my father in his <b>glass</b> shop for
over 10
years, it has only been this past year that I got personally involved
in <b>glassblowing</b>. Prior to that, I primarily mixed chemicals for
the
coloration of the <b>glass </b>and refilled the <b>glass</b>
furnaces through a
process called ‘charging’ …my father began teaching me the basics at
the beginning of last summer. Since then, I have learned a great deal,
especially how difficult the <b>glassblowing </b>process is.”
</p>
<p>Coleman uses his father’s designs for his <b>glass</b> pieces, but
not
all of the artists claim such a close connection to their relatives’
creativity. Singer said her family members’ approaches to art are very
different. “We all inspired each other to do art, and we all talk to
each other about it, instead of our styles directly influencing each
other,” Singer said. Singer’s extensive art pedigree includes not only
her acclaimed great-grandmother, but an artist uncle, a father who is
an abstract landscape painter and a mother with a degree in art, who
has recently started a company making six – panel comic strips that
demonstrate the functioning of newly – invented or pending products.
Some of these comics are top – secret, in order to prevent industrial
espionage, but others will be featured in exhibit, along with excerpts
from a “totally adorable” children’s book in progress coauthored by
Singer’s mother, and some of Singer’s own illustrations.
</p>
<p>Cartooning is a medium in which Singer’s mother did greatly
influence her. Their illustrations look very similar, she said. This is
because her mother would teach her tricks to portray particular objects
and gestures — “Look, here is how you draw this.” But Singer’s other
featured genre — pottery — is “totally different” from her parents’
work. Her understanding of the medium is also different, she said, from
their understanding of art. “My dad will focus a lot on the colors of
the glazes, because his paintings are very much about the way different
colors interact with one another,” Singer said. Singer’s pottery
production owes more to the utilitarian aspects of design. In a way,
she said, the idea is similar to, but different from, cartooning — both
must strongly consider “what works.”
</p>
<p>Whatever their differences in method, Singer’s parents have
always strongly encouraged her in any art she has pursued. She
remembers that her very first art experience came from her mother. She
was around 4 years old when she and a friend both had chicken pox. Her
mother brought them calamine lotion on an palette, and handed them
brushes. They sat in their underwear on a bed and had a blast painting
flowers and other shapes on each other.
</p>
<p>There will be an opening reception for the Family and Friends
Weekend exhibit on Friday, April 13, from 5 – 7 p.m. The exhibit will
also be available Saturday April 14, from 2 – 5 p.m. and Sunday, April
15, from 1– 3 p.m. at the Kitao Gallery.
</p>
<p><i>Disclosure note: Claudia Seixas is a reporter for The Phoenix but
had no role in the production of this article.</i></p>
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