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I recently visited the Jamestown Glasshouse in Williamsburg, Virginia<br>
<a
href="http://www.glassblower.info/jamestown-glasshouse/jamestown-glasshouse.html">http://www.glassblower.info/jamestown-glasshouse/jamestown-glasshouse.html</a><br>
so this Google Alert resonated with me.<br>
And in terms of Philadelphia perhaps hosting a GAS Conference at some
future date,<br>
the article accurately describes the many constituencies which ideally
exist to promote the Glass Arts in a region.<br>
<br>
Tony Patti<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.glassblower.info">www.glassblower.info</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gaffer@glassblower.info">gaffer@glassblower.info</a><br>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif;">
<p><font size="+1">Google News Alert for: <b>glassblowing</b></font></p>
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<td style="padding-bottom: 1em;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
style="color: blue;"
href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/hampton-roads-could-be-next-center-glass-arts&ct=ga&cd=jvQUSqcM5BE&usg=AFQjCNGSqImSphg8mlAOBCrBlQzubDWfbg">
Hampton Roads could be next center for glass arts</a><br>
<font size="-1"><font color="#666666">The Virginian-Pilot -
Norfolk,VA,USA</font><br>
Observers of the Seattle movement can all recount how it grew: After
visiting Pilchuck, artists settled in the area and continued to study <b>glassblowing</b>.
<b>...</b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/hampton-roads-could-be-next-center-glass-arts"><font
color="green">
See all stories on this topic</font></a>
</font></td>
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</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<a
href="http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/hampton-roads-could-be-next-center-glass-arts">http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/hampton-roads-could-be-next-center-glass-arts</a><br>
<br>
<img src="cid:part1.01010903.05080409@comcast.net" alt=""><br>
<br>
<span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Detail
of ''Endeavor,'' a glass art installation of 35 handblown glass
''boats'' by Lino Tagliapietra at the Chrysler Museum of Art. (Courtesy
photo)</span><br>
<br>
<span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 22px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Hampton
Roads (Virginia) could be next center for glass arts</span><br>
<br>
<span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.8em;">By<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="/2007/10/teresa-annas"
style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 114, 172); text-decoration: underline;">Teresa
Annas</a><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
The Virginian-Pilot<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
© April 5, 2009</div>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Glass
is chemistry. It's the mixing of sand and soda ash and lime.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Likewise,
glass art relies on chemistry. Those eye-popping explosions of color
frozen in glass sculptures are made possible by a personal chemistry,
based on trust and camaraderie, among teams of glassworkers.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">To
make glass art thrive in a region, another kind of chemistry is
required - a synergy among artists and art schools and dealers and
collectors and critics and just plain fans. All of those people,
excited together.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">That's
what it took to turn Seattle into the world's center for contemporary
glass art. And all that chemistry, on all those levels, is precisely
what it would take to transform Hampton Roads into the Seattle of the
East Coast.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">With
that aspiration, "Art of Glass 2" kicks off this week, bringing some of
the world's finest glass art to the region with shows at nearly two
dozen venues. The event builds on a similar festival, also spread among
numerous galleries and museums, held in 1999.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">The
headlining show, opening Wednesday at the Chrysler Museum of Art in
Norfolk, features work by Italian glass master Lino Tagliapietra,
widely revered as the world's greatest glassblower.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"World"
comes up a lot in conversations about glass art, because what is
happening in American glass gets noticed in international art circles.
Many of the world's best glass artists live in the United States, and
most of them are in Seattle.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Still,
during "Art of Glass 2," which continues into July, Hampton Roads will
be the top place in the world to see glass art, said Maurine Littleton,
owner of a Washington, D.C., glass gallery that bears her name.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"And
that is an exceptional achievement," she said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;"><strong
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Patrons and art experts</strong>,
more than artists, are behind the push to turn the region into a haven
for glass art.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">This
area hasn't garnered much national attention for visual arts. Glass
could change that.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Glass
resonates here, all the way back to Jamestown, and more recently in the
internationally known glass collection at the Chrysler Museum of Art.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">It's
still relatively affordable to collect, and the magic of the medium -
how'd they do that?! - draws art novices and scholars alike. If it
really took off, a glass scene also might lure more tourists.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"We
aren't there yet, but we sure are moving fast in the right direction,"
said Bill Hennessey, director of the Chrysler Museum.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"There's
a lot of enthusiasm already in place, and a comprehension of what could
be," said Andrew Fine of Virginia Beach, co-chairman of "Art of Glass
2" with Suzanne Mastracco of Norfolk. Both spearheaded the area's first
"Art of Glass" festival in 1999, and each has served on the boards of
local visual arts institutions.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">But
what is Seattle like in terms of the glass scene, and how do we compare?</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">When
glass fans mention Seattle, they often mean the entire Pacific
Northwest, where thousands of glass artists have set up studios in the
past three decades or so. The phenomenon dates to 1971, when Dale
Chihuly founded Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash., north of
Seattle. He was among the first students of Harvey Littleton, Maurine
Littleton's father, who started the American studio glass movement in
1962 by staging workshops in Toledo, Ohio, on small-scale glassblowing.
Littleton showed artists how they could set up a furnace in their
studios and make glass on their own, emphasizing sculptural expression.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Observers
of the Seattle movement can all recount how it grew: After visiting
Pilchuck, artists settled in the area and continued to study
glassblowing. Galleries started up, patrons got enthused, more artists
came to the area, more studios arose.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">The
artists are vital to building a scene, said William Traver, who owns
the top glass gallery in Seattle.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"The
artists themselves must be present," he said, as well as studios to
work in and suppliers of glass and equipment.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"One
thing feeds on another," Maurine Littleton said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">As
a result, Seattle boasts the largest concentration of glass artists
anywhere.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">To
top it off, the Museum of Glass, which opened in nearby Tacoma in 2002,
presents shows and programs that add even more weight and substance to
the scene. Tagliapietra's touring exhibition was organized by that
museum.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;"><strong
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hampton Roads' glass<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong>connection began in
1608, when a few glassblowers came over with some colonists and settled
at Jamestown. Because of the profusion of lumber in the new world,
glass was chosen as the first attempt at industry here, though the
effort only lasted about a year.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">In
1957, for the 350th Jamestown anniversary, a glassblowing studio was
set up near the original site, and it still operates as a Historic
Jamestowne attraction.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"One
of my students works at Jamestowne," said Ed Francis, who runs the
6-year-old glass program at Tidewater Community College's Visual Arts
Center at Olde Towne in Portsmouth.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">All
of the visionaries point to TCC's glass curriculum as the top result of
the original "Art of Glass." Francis said his former student, Nate
Windley, is the only one so far to find a way to make a living blowing
glass. Two other students went on to study glass at Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond, which offers undergraduate and
graduate degrees. TCC's is a two-year program and has 71 students.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">When
the Chrysler Museum opened in 1971, it boasted one of the top glass
collections in the nation, and still does. Since 1999, the museum has
built up its contemporary collection and now owns 150 objects, said
Kelly Conway, curator of glass. That's still a small percentage of the
overall, 10,000-piece collection, but large by any general museum's
standards. Also, its 135-member Glass Associates club is shifting its
emphasis to include contemporary.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Ten
years ago, the area had six to eight serious glass collectors, Fine
said. "Now there are 50 to 60."</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">In
1999, 10 affiliate groups provided glass shows and programs. This time,
21 affiliates came up with offerings.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Several
dozen regional artists have embraced glass, and most of those are or
have been members of the 22-year-old Peninsula Glass Guild. Only a few
of its 35 or so members use a furnace, however. Most do casting and
other nonfurnace methods, said Ali Rogan, who has exhibited glass
through that group and on her own since 1989. She's been studying
glassblowing at TCC and plans to set up a small furnace soon.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Rogan
and fellow artist Heather Hartle operated one of the few Hampton Roads
galleries to feature glass. Cristallo Art and Glass Studio opened in
1999 in Williamsburg. Sales were up and down, but eventually did not
warrant all the effort. They closed in 2005.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"We
decided to cut our losses and shift our energy into creating bodies of
work."</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Other
galleries that carried contemporary glass and have since closed include
Kane Marie Galleries in Virginia Beach and the Electric Glass Co. in
Hampton.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">If
Hampton Roads wants to become a glass art center, it must be able to
support a high-quality gallery that champions major as well as local
glass artists, said Linda Boone, owner of Habatat Galleries in
Michigan, who has carried Seattle glass since 1971.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Attitudes
must change for that to happen, Rogan said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"The
potential is here, but all the big collectors are buying the big
names." Once patrons begin acquiring work by local artists, "you'll see
things flourish."</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Matthew
Fine of Virginia Beach, son of Andrew Fine, has made progress toward a
national reputation for his work, which is a blend of cast glass and
stone. He has shown in a top gallery, and has sold locally, too.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">While
there are more area collectors, there's still not the mass of gifted
artists. Francis' program could remedy that, but he needs more
opportunities for his students, he said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Andrew
Fine has a solution in mind. So does Hennessey.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"What
I'm hoping is we'll be able to generate funding for a studio where
world-renowned people can come and work," Fine said. He believes the
studio could foster a movement, the way Pilchuck did.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"We
could be turning out students and artists who would then find an
audience, and the market would follow," Fine said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">Hennessey
said he would love it if a state-of-the-art glassblowing facility could
operate right next to the Chrysler Museum.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"It's
a dream we've had forever. All we need is the resources," Hennessey
said.</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;">"I
have to believe it's going to happen."</p>
<p
style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.87em; line-height: 1.3em;"><em
style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:teresa.annas@pilotonline.com">teresa.annas@pilotonline.com</a></em></p>
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