Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Janis Miltenberger

Glass artist Janis Miltenberger draws on the roles of mythology and storytelling as attempts to explain our experience of the world to build complex glass sculptures.Her work often takes the shape of recognizable objects, like human figures and chairs, which are then filled with incredible detail. The artist uses borosilicate glass, and enhanced with glass colors, gold luster, sandblasting, and oil paint.

Each glas sculpture is built, first the internal structure and then one by one elements are fashioned and added to the framework.Miltenberger was originally drawn to ceramics, and discovered glassblowing in college, where she apprenticed with Richard Marquis.Many years later, she was introduced to lampworking, which is her preferred technique today.After so many years working with glass, Miltenberger now finds it quite natural to imagine her work in all three dimensions.

“I start building the work, it can deviate from my original drawing,” Miltenberger shares.“Sometimes as I work on a piece, I am surprised and see a different design emerge, something that better reflects my story.” 

More of Janis Miltenberger’s intricate glass work can be found at http://www.janismiltenberger.com/.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Mark Eliott

Australian artist Mark Eliott worked as a novelty and scientific glassblower before making sculptural glass art.

Initially, Eliott worked as a novelty and scientific glassblower to supplement his music studies at the Conservatorium of Music, becoming an accomplished saxophonist..He completed a Master of Visual Arts and Master of Studio Arts at Sydney College of the Arts as well as associate diploma in Jazz Studies (saxophone) at Sydney Conservatorium of Music.His whimsical sculptures reveal a strong ecological message behind the work.What sets Eliott apart from many other makers is the breadth of ways he works the hot glass flame to channel his ideas.He uses the flame like a scribe as he creates 3D illustrations and installations incorporating various media such as music, stop-motion animation and wood carving.

A characteristic of Mark’s work is that at first glance the viewer is drawn like a magnet to his objects because of their lively, colorful, and whimsical appearance.However, as he speaks in layers, what is revealed is the strong ecological message behind the work.This is best explained by describing some of the works which underpins the wide range of highly skilled applications to support his ideas when using the flame with glass. More of Mark Eliott’s wonderfully imaginative art can be found at https://www.markeliottglass.com/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Vita

Vita of the Vitraaze Glass Shop is a glass painter from Kyiv, Ukraine who decorates teapots, mugs, plates, and various other glassware in striking hues to look like stained glass. Each vibrant piece is hand-painted with non-toxic paint and then heat-set so the designs don’t come off when washed.From floral designs to seasonal motifs, each colorful piece is a functional piece of art.Vita uses non-toxic enamels approved for use with food, then fires the pieces so their designs last as long as possible. They may not be dishwasher safe, but Vita says they’ll hold up to everyday use. I’ve been fond of painting since childhood,” Vita explained.“When I was a student, I read an article about glass painting and decided to try it out. I took a glass bottle and bought special paint for glass in the nearest shop. I then created a very simple design on the bottle, it wasn’t nice at all.”However, Vita didn’t let it discourage her. On the contrary.“I decided to try and perfect it,” she said. “I am crazy about doing everything as well as possible and fell in love with glass painting as I was doing my best to improve. Now, I’ve been at it for 6 years and still love it very much.”The artist usually finds inspiration in nature. “I adore how motifs of the natural world look on tableware and other pieces of décor. It’s a classic.”

More of Vita‘s amazing painted glass can be found at https://www.etsy.com/market/vitraaze_vita and https://mymodernmet.com/hand-painted-glass-mugs-vitraaze/.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Davide Salvadore

Dating back to the 1700’s, Murano glassworker Davide Salvadore is the 11th generation on his mother’s side credited with creating glass pieces.Cocoe Series, Colando

At a young age, Salvadore began following his grandfather, Antonio Mantoan, into the furnaces of Murano, first learning how to build the kilns and later working in the studios of Alfredo Barbini, who is often recognized as the ultimate glassmaker of Murano.Chitamarra Series, Romin

Later, he worked as a glassblower in multiple well-known glass studios, learning from each and improving his abilities.Chitamuro Series, Zuali

In 1998, Salvadore made a conscious decision to turn away from traditional functional glass work. At approximately the same time, he began demonstrating his unique murrine technique.Spingarpa Series, Siego

Salvadore’s love of music influenced him to produce a popular series of full sized glass stringed instruments. Each series is named a unique name he created.Tiraboson Series, Steso

Salvadore’s process takes longer than most would imagine and has many separate steps.Bechino Series, Bascila

Salvadore thinks about the piece he wants to create, settles in his mind on the idea, the colors and shape and then over the following week collects the glass canes and makes the murrines  specifically for that piece.Chitamarra Series, Leca

Murrines are created by stretching a compact mass of hot glass into a long, narrow, multicolored cane. Using his unique process, Salvadore cuts these canes into thin slices which are incorporated into his work in a variety of different shapes and sizes.Chitamuro Series, Ingaua

Then they go into the annealing oven to prepare them to be added to the form being blown. When the glass sculpture is fully cooled, it goes to the cold shop for further detailed work, which makes every piece a one-of-a-kind piece.Cocoe Series, Lupula

 

More of Davide Salvadore’s amazing creations can be found at https://www.davidesalvadore.com/.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Wilfried Grootens

Glass artist Wilfried Grootens was born in Uedem, a small town in the German countryside near the Dutch border.At the age of 15, Grootens first apprenticed as a glass painter at the Derix Company in Germany where he learned to restore antique stained glass windows.Four years later he left on a near decade-long adventure to travel the world, play music, and experience the cultures of Asia and South America before eventually returning to his work with glass.In 1988, he received a Master Craftsman’s Diploma in Munich and by the following year had opened his own studio in Kleve.By the 1980s, he had mastered the optical float technique where he paints, stacks, laminates and polishes layers of glass to create his sculptures.The cubes are cut and polished to perfection. His painted patterns seem to float within the cube, creating a magical display of optical illusionThousands of very fine brush strokes of varying tones on each layer recede or expand in size gradually and, when seen together, form a miraculous three dimensional globe which seems to be suspended in the cube.“With my glass painting I fill transparent, geometric spaces whose visual explorations produce surprising variations in forms,” Grootens explains. “Different perspectives on apparent spherical floating built-up forms of linear brush strokes reveal to the viewer new perspectives within the object‘s space.

More of Wilfred Grootens‘  amazing glass work can be found at https://wilfriedgrootens.de/en/wilfried-grootens-glas-artist/ and https://contempglass.org/artists/entry/wilfried-grootens.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Věra Lišková

Czech artist and designer Věra Lišková (1924–1985) was a Czech artist and designer known for her use of clear glass and her intricate final products.Lišková studied at the State Graphic School in Prague from 1939 until it was closed during World War II; she graduated from the School of Applied Arts in 1949.She began her career as a designer of functional glassware, working for such glass companies as the Vienna-based J. & L. Lobmeyr and Moser.Lišková started to make her borosilicate glass sculptures in the late 1960s.The artist pioneered the technique of working borosilicate glass over an oxygen flame, which enabled her to make the large, abstract sculptures for which she is best known.Both strong and delicate, Lišková’s work reflects the nature of the material used to create these detailed art pieces.Many of her pieces include spiny, sharp designs and clean lines, all bringing into focus her fine glass work.More of Věra Lišková’s glasswork can be found at http://www.artnet.com/artists/vera-liskova/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Dino Rosin

 

Dino Rosin was born in Venice, Italy on May 30, 1948.

At the age of twelve, he left school and began work as an apprentice at the Barovier and Toso glassworks where he remained until he joined his brothers, Loredano and Mirko, at their factory, Artvet, in 1963.

Rosin continued at Artvet until 1975 when he moved to Loredano’s newly established studio as his assistant. There he collaborated with his brother for almost 20 years.

He was Loredano’s right hand in the “piazza” and a master in his own right in cold work.

In 1988, Dino Rosin was invited to Pilchuck Glass School in the state of Washington to teach solid freehand glass sculpture with Loredano and the American glass artist, William Morris.

In 1992,. Dino assumed the role of “maestro” and began single-handedly to produce his brother’s old designs and ultimately his own.,

His skillful use of Calcedonia glass (glass made with silver and other elements  developed in Murano during the mid fifteenth century) is unique and makes his pieces recognizable and highly collectible.

Dino rediscovered the formula for this unique, striated glass and has continued to improve the coloration.

Today he is able to achieve brilliant cobalt blues, deep rose and even a fiery red, varying on the metals used, temperature and duration the glass is in the furnace.

Each piece is different; the exact flow of lines and color of calcedonia cannot be duplicated.

More of Dino Rosin‘s beautiful glasswork can be found at https://www.paragonfineart.com/artists/dino-rosin.html and https://www.rosinartestudio.com/en/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Shayna Leib

 

Shayna Leib is a modern multimedia artist with an amazing sense of material.Leib was educated at the Polytechnic University of California in San Luis Obispo, where she studied philosophy, literature, visual arts and music.She was supposed to defend her doctorate in philosophy, but instead went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she began to study sculpture with glass and metal.Working mostly with glass, Leib paid maximum attention to the study of the properties of this unique-beautiful material.Her sculptural studies reflect an attention to detail indicative of the two major influences on her life — music and philosophy.She prefers to use glass not for its mimetic qualities to capture the look of other materials, but for it’s ability to express flow, freeze a moment in time, and manipulate optics.Lieb, like anyone, is deeply attracted to the seductive pull of decadent desserts.“This body of work started as a therapeutic exercise in deconstruction and a re-training of the mind to look at dessert as form rather than food,” says Leib in an artist statement about her series Patisserie.“It soon became a technical riddle, and I became a food taxidermist of french pastries.”

More of Shayna Leib’s remarkable glass works can be found at https://shaynaleib.com/patisserie/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Martin Blank

Martin Blank is one of North America’s premiere figurative glass sculptors with a style quintessentially his own.

Creating tension between sculptural forms that evoke compelling landscapes revealed by the juxtaposition of sculptural elements, Blank’s work is about carving space.Martin Blank was born August 29, 1962 and received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1984.

That same year, Blank moved west to begin his professional career in Seattle, working at the center for studio glass and learning from the driving force behind it, Dale Chihuly.Blank worked on the Chihuly team, bringing his infectious enthusiasm and courageous desire to push the material for several years, all the while establishing his own contributions to the glass movement.Whether it is a collection of flower blossoms, a monumental abstract installation, or a figurative sculpture, Martin Blank’s hot sculpted glass is made with a combination of technical exactitude and creative exuberance.

His working relationship with glass is an intimate one, as he wears heat protective clothing, gets very close, and employs his entire body while molding the molten material. 

Intuitive and deliberate, he is nonetheless open to enhancing his visual vocabulary with the happy accidents of glasswork.

More of Martin Blank‘s amazing glasswork can be found at https://www.martinblankstudios.com/

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery (midweek) — Naoko Ito

 

Naoko Ito is a Japanese artist based in New York.Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Ito received a BA in Science of Design with a concentration in museum studies from Musashino Art University.Her project “Urban Nature” was inspired by the relationship between man and nature.Ito cuts the branches of trees into several pieces and places them in glass jars.Her choice of material originally stems from a desire to replicate the luminosity and fragility of ice, a natural material that shares the quality of preservation with jars.Stacked precariously on the concrete, the works are evidence of an unfaltering hand.Her offerings are unique, fragile, and symbolic.More of Naoko Ito’s exhibition can be found on her website, https://naokoito.com. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Niyoko Ikuta

A sculpture made of glass that appears as if flowing effortlessly like water, exuding a dancing rhythm – such is the beauty created by Japanese artist Niyoko Ikuta.

The artist started making these sculptures in 1980, as she was fascinated by and explored the capacity of light to reflect and refract while passing through broken sections of plate glass.Thus she laminated together sheets of glass, exposing their cross sections to create these sculptures.Breaking boundaries of imagination, in these sculptures the artist gives form to feelings of “gentleness and harshness, fear, limitless expansion experienced through contact with nature, images from music, ethnic conflict, the heart affected by joy and anger, and prayer.”The one thing that makes this art form so engaging and accessible is that these are not arbitrary forms created for aesthetic appeal.Rather, they stimulate and bring forth these feelings in the viewer, breathing life into their surroundings.More of Niyoko Ikuta‘s delicate work can be found at https://lighthouse-kanata.com/artists/niyoko-ikuta and http://www.artnet.com/artists/niyoko-ikuta/.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Paul Stankard

Paul Stankard is an internationally acclaimed artist and pioneer in the studio glass movement..During his ten year scientific glassblowing career, he became a master of fabricating complex instruments.In 1972, Paul left industry to pursue his dream of being creative in glass full time.His translucent orbs bursting with activity and life are made entirely from glass.When Stankard suddenly directed a decade of industrial glass working techniques into the interpretation of flowers, bees, vines, and leaves encased in glass, it wasn’t long before art dealers discovered his work and he began to create art full-time.According to Stankard, ““By blending mysticism with magical realism, I work to express organic credibility through my botanical interpretations.”“Crafted in glass, I reference the continuum of nature and celebrate on an intimate level her primal beauty.”

More of Paul Stankard’s amazing glasswork can be found at http://www.paulstankard.com/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery (flashback) — Luke Jerram

Way back in October of 2014, I asked the question:

Glass is exquisite in its delicate beauty. A crystal vase, a hand-blown wine glass, a stained-glass window, all stir the pot of reactions that make the word “sparkle” sparkle. Working with glass is an incredible art. It is so delicate, so refined, a true art of mind over matter. So what if glass represents a disease? Is it still “sparkling” and “refined”?

In the midst of today’s pandemic, Luke Jerram seems to have found a way.

 

Covid19-Coronavirus

 

 

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

 

 

Avian flu

 

 

salmonella

 

 

Zika virus

 

 

Ebola

 

 

HIV

 

These, and other microscopic cells and diseases made of sparkling glass, can be found at my Sunday Evening Art Gallery and at https://www.lukejerram.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery (midweek) — Tiffany Lamps

A Tiffany Lamp is a type of lamp with a glass shade made with glass designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his design studio.Famously associated with the Art Nouveau movement, the extravagantly decorative Tiffany lamps are rare and highly-sought collectors’ items.Hand crafted, the iconic stained glass lamps, lamp shades, lights and window panels were created by soldering together small pieces of colored glass to produce enchanting and individual objects.Genuine Tiffany lamps were made between 1890 and 1930.Tiffany studios used confetti glass which changes color when the lamp is lit. They have a bronze base; however, there were no zinc, wood or plastic versions.Over twenty years of time, Tiffany designed many specific styles of his lamps.Most of his luminaries can be grouped into one of seven specific categories, defining their detailed characteristics: the Irregular Upper and Lower Border, Favrile, Geometric, Transition to Flowers, Flowered Cone, and Flowered Globe Lamps.Genuine Tiffany lamps can be found at reputable dealers and websites across the Internet.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Ramon Todo

Born in Tokyo, Dusseldorf-based artist Ramon Todo creates beautiful textural juxtapositions using layers of glass in unexpected places.Starting with various stones, volcanic rock, fragments of the Berlin wall, and even books, Todo inserts perfectly cut glass fragments that seem to slice through the objects.This results in segments of translucence where you would least expect it.His small sculptures of rocks and books embedded with polished layers of glass, seamlessly introduce disparate materials into a single object.This creates an unusual intention, as if these objects have always existed this way.

The random pieces of obsidian, fossils, volcanic basalt, and old books are suddenly redefined.Todo’s stay in Dusseldorf over ten years brought him Western culture, and generated an original yet universal aesthetic which appeal to broad range of people.

More of Ramon Todo‘s remarkable artwork can be found at http://www.thephotophore.com/ramon-todo/ and http://artfrontgallery.com/en/artists/Todo.html.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Melissa Schmidt

Lamp worker and designer Melissa Schmidt works out of her 120 year+ studio  in St.Louis, Missouri.

Inspired by her antique blown glass buttons, her work is whimsical and unexpected as the buttons she found two decades ago.

Her glass mastery is mostly self taught, having experimented with years of refining techniques.

Schmidt’s work is at once tactile, visual and auditory as movement creates delight for the wearer and observer.

She uses borosilicate glass material with frit, glass powder, grinding, sewing, and 35 mm slide film, as well as foils and precious metals.

Schmidt’s creativity is a delight to the eye, a unique sparkle in the world of jewelry.

More of Melissa Schmidt‘s amazing glass work can be found at http://www.melissaschmidtstudio.com/.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery (on Saturday) — Carol Milne

Carol Milne is known worldwide for her unique knitted glass work, for which she won the Silver Award at the 2010 International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa, Japan.

Milne received a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph, Canada in 1985, but realized in her senior year that she was more interested in sculpture than landscape.  She has been working as a sculptor ever since.  Carol is the lone pioneer in the field of knitted glass.  Determined to combine her passion for knitting with her love for cast glass sculpture, she developed a variation of the lost wax casting process to cast knitted work in glass.“I see my knitted work as metaphor for social structure.  Individual strands are weak and brittle on their own, but deceptively strong when bound together.”“You can crack or break single threads without the whole structure falling apart.  And even when the structure is broken, pieces remain bound together.  The connections are what bring strength and integrity to the whole and what keep it intact.”Her glasswork is wonderfully unique and creative, reflecting a mind and ability that pushes the limits of the material through persistent and relentless experimentation.

More of Carol Milne‘s unique glasswork can be found at https://www.carolmilne.com.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Ronnie Hughes

Ronnie Hughes was born in 1954 and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

He learned glassblowing with the help of a friend after graduating from Wake Forest University in 1976..In 1980, after hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Hughes came upon a field of hundreds of breathtaking Pink Lady Slipper orchids, which inspired him to change his subject matter completely.Using both clear and colored glasses, Hughes create his wildflowers and then integrates them with his free-formed, solid glass bases. His sculptures stand entirely on their own in continuous glass, a more challenging and time-consuming process.Hughes believe that the purity of clear glass lends a mystical feel to the flowers, emphasizing the delicacy and fragility of our natural world.The colored blossoms provide a vibrant focal point while the clear glass challenges the observer to look more closely and to use their imagination to complete his vision.More of Ronnie Hughes‘ delicate, beautiful work can be found at https://hughesglass.net/

Sunday/Monday Evening Art Gallery — Ercole Barovier

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Ercole Barovier (1889-1972) was the son of Benvenuto Barovier and a member of a centuries-long lineage in the family company, Vetreria Artistica Barovier & C. founded in 1295.

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 He was named the artistic director of the company in 1926, and quickly rose up the ranks of the family business.

After becoming sole proprietor in 1936, he merged his family’s company with the Toso family to become Barovier & Toso in 1939.

barovier-incrocci-iridati-1-jpg

Over the course of his 50-year activity, he invented numerous decorative techniques which contributed significantly to the renovation of art glass.
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From the beginning of the Thirties, he dedicated himself entirely to experimenting with new multi-colored effects, in particular he perfected the colorazione a caldo senza fusione technique (staining heat without fusion) which he first used in 1935-36.

 He was active for fifty years in the company, and amassed a portfolio of no fewer than 25,000 designs.

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Barovier’s work is part of many major museums’ collections around the world. 

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More of Ercole Barovier’s work can be found Ercole Barovier.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — Wine Glasses

In hand-blown crystal glass I see

Reflections of how it used to be

The finest wines in heaven poured

In vessels fit for any Lord

Chalice of Abbe Suger from the Abbey of SaintDenis

 Finely crafted of wood and glass

A stem created from materials past

To hold God’s work in one’s small hand

Is to drink His brew throughout the land

Creations from His thoughts to man’s delight

Turned into a display of shadow and light

Wine glass, engraved, twisted enamel threads in stem. George Bacchus

So fill your glass with revelry bought

Whether water or wine it matters naught

unusual wine glass 1

Drink to love both present and past

And friendships made that ever last

Medieval wine goblet

Poetry by Claudia Anderson ©2015

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Luke Jerram

Glass is exquisite in its delicate beauty. A crystal vase, a hand-blown wine glass, a stained-glass window, all stir the pot of reactions that make the word “sparkle” sparkle. Working with glass is an incredible art. It is so delicate, so refined, a true art of mind over matter.

So what if glass represents a disease? Is it still “sparkling” and “refined”?

 

ecoli

 E. coli

There is beauty in the micro world as well. Artist  Luke Jerram has created a number of extraordinary art projects which have excited and inspired people around the globe.

salmonella_lukejerram

Salmonella

One of his highlights, Glass Microbiology, is a body of glass work that puts a crystal spin on some of the most deadly viruses.

Swineflu (oval)

 Swine Flu

According to his website, ” By extracting the colour from the imagery and creating jewel-like beautiful sculptures in glass, a complex tension has arisen between the artworks’ beauty and what they represent.”

Hand, foot and mouth disease

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

Find time and wander over to Luke’s website:  www.lukejerram.com/glass . You will find it hard to believe that such horrible diseases could look so lovely.

ebola

Ebola