GASnews Winter 2020

GASnews

WINTER 2020 VOLUME 31 ISSUE 1

INSIDE

3 Letter from the Director 3 Letter from the Editor 4 (In) Coherence – Glass Process and Experimental Practice

as Language Systems of Making

7 FagSigns: GASnews Interview with Matthew Day Perez 9 Who We EAIR: Language and Self-Identification 13 One Subject, Many Languages 13 The Place Between Life and Death – The Magic of Glass 17 GAS Opportunities Cover: Bri Chesler, detail of Fun, Flirty and Festering, 2018. Bri Chesler is a Seattle-based multi-disciplinary artist with a background in metals and sculpture. Her exuberantly otherworldly work primarily features glass and mixed media. Photo: Bri Chesler

GAS news

GASnews is published four times per year as a benefit to members.

Glass Art Society Board of Directors 2019-2020

Contributing Writers: Peter Bambo-Kocze, Jennifer Detlefsen, Matthew Day Perez, David Schnuckel, Maia Stern

President: Natali Rodrigues Vice President: Nadania Idriss Vice President: Jessica Jane Julius Treasurer: Heather McElwee Secretary: Caitlin Vitalo

Editor: Michael Hernandez Graphic Design: Ted Cotrotsos Staff Brandi Clark, Executive Director Lauren Bayer, Communications Manager Kristen W. Ferguson, Development & Membership Manager Jenna Green, Operations & Program Manager Mae Quach, Administrative Assistant Cathy Noble-Jackson, Part-time Bookkeeper

Ben Cobb Kelly Conway Matt Durran Glen Hardymon Mike Hernandez Nadania Idriss Karen Mahardy Lynn Read Debra Ruzinsky Mike Saroka Masahiro Nick Sasaki Demetra Theofanous Lisa Zerkowitz Paige Morris (Student Representative)

2208 NW Market St., #200, Seattle, WA 98107 USA Phone: 206.382.1305 Fax: 206.382.2630 E-mail: info@glassart.org

Web: www.glassart.org

©2018 The Glass Art Society, a non-profit organization. All rights reserved. Publication of articles in this newsletter prohibited without permission from the Glass Art Society Inc. The Glass Art Society reserves the right to deny applications for Tech Display, advertising participation, GAS membership or conference participation to anyone for any reason.

2

GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

DIRECTOR’S LETTER

EDITOR’S LETTER

Dear GAS Members,

Fellow Members,

As I write this letter, I am in Växjö, Sweden, working on the 49th annual Glass Art Society Conference. In preparing for a conference outside of the United States, language automatically becomes part of every conversation – from negotiations of the hotels and venues to discussions about power and tools. As I work more closely with our Swedish partners, it is quickly becoming obvious that language is made up of so much more than just words and translations (even though most people in Sweden speak English and have from a young age). Words, their context, and the unique colloquialisms created by a culture are as important to language as the words themselves. So, when someone speaks the same language as us, it is very easy to assume we assign the same meanings to words and situations. Yet, communication is never quite so simple.

Language is something we talk about a lot at the Glass Art Society. As an organization that has made representing the international glass community a priority, we can’t ignore the diverse multitude of languages our members use to communicate, share, and express themselves. It seems trite to say we use the shared language of glass… but it’s true. It gives us all a commonplace from which to start. We understand the shared love and fascination with the material, and from that deep foundation, we build. Those working in glass are extremely well equipped to look beyond the surface of cultural differences, such as language, and instead, embrace what is shared. This has always been an important skill to have, but during the current state of our global society, we now find it invaluable. By focusing on the language of glass, we can create international and cultural bridges, and that’s exactly what we aim to do at GAS. We see the upcoming conference in Sweden as a starting point for us to overcome the barriers of language and build an even stronger GAS family. We are excited to be on this journey with all of you, and we look forward to connecting with you all around the world and throughout the year.

In an attempt to understand language as it might pertain to glass art practices, I was thinking about how a specific tool could represent a language system. I thought to a basic tool, a conical optic mold, that is structured by a volume, angle, and ridge pattern of cast aluminum. It could be said that this tool has a single purpose; to produce thicker and thinner areas in a volume of glass. But, the language of the optic mold has many nuances. The skilled optic mold ‘linguist’ is efficient, calculated, possibly even scientific…a rigid user of the mold language with perfect registration. The resulting volume can be manipulated to a mechanical or organic aesthetic. Others, let’s call them the poets, rappers, or even Dadaists, might approach this mold as a stamp, a cane holder, or even a megaphone (try it out). These ‘others’ are creating unconventional systems of speech with the same language (mold) as the ‘linguist’, but yielding very different results in, around, or beyond glass.

In this issue GASnews, writers mine various understandings of language in practice, evaluation, cataloging, and self-identity within the glass art field. David Schnuckel examines the rules that govern our techniques and processes and earmarks a host of artists whose unconventional approaches have developed new rules, redefining “rightness” within glass art practice.

Jennifer Detlefsen questions the recent, motley stable of Pilchuck EAiRs to gain cross-section understanding of how emerging artists working with glass identify themselves within the field and beyond. And, the GASnews Interview questions Matthew Perez on the FagSigns project that is a catalyst in co-opting and redistributing control of identity-based language within the LGBTQ community through neon signage. Also in this issue, GAS Student Representative, Paige Morris describes how the expectations, structure, and language of critique can present particular challenges to understanding and growth.

I hope that this issue illuminates and challenges some of your understandings of how languages spoken and literary, of artistic approach and identity, are represented in our community.

I hope to #seeyouinsweden!

Enjoy!

Brandi P. Clark Executive Director

GASNEWS

WINTER 20 0 1240

VVO OLLUUM MEE 2351 ,, II SS SS U U EE 41

Michael Hernandez GASnews Editor

3

(IN)COHERENCE

GLASS PROCESS AND EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE AS LANGUAGE SYSTEMS OF MAKING

by David Schnuckel

Maria Bang Espersen, Things Change, 2015, glass, brick, rock, window glass. Photo: Dorte Krogh.

Imagery provided courtesy of Maria Bang Espersen

Maria Bang Espersen, Things Change, 2015, detail.

Photo: Dorte Krogh

I’ve gotten in the unfortunate habit of radically changing my artist talk about once a year. Unfortunate only in that it demands a lot of extra work to an already overwhelming schedule. However, it’s been extraordinarily useful; a time-intensive exercise with really big pay offs in its ability to reveal unknown nooks and crannies to a career and practice I thought I somewhat had pegged down. It works best as long as I follow one singular rule: of approaching aspects of my work, my ideas, and their questions within a chosen theme that I wouldn’t normally use as the lens to examine them through. And, from time to time, this ridiculously tedious side project culminates in extraordinary discoveries…

I bring this up for a round-about reason.

The experience of thinking on and building a case for my practice as it relates to the theme of language has been one of the most revealing efforts of this weirdo research practice of mine in recent years.

So revealing, in fact, that it not only helped

means or methods in which we choose (or not choose) to handle glass in our glass making; how we choose to work it (or not work it) as it relates to our making objectives at any given making moment.

Let’s think about the systems, rules, and/ or protocol we adhere to when we work with glass in a way that feels, looks, and sounds in line with being “right.” What sort of instances can we identify in how “rightness” rules live within our various making relationships to glass?

Perhaps it’s scientifically-oriented “rightness” rules we’ve come to follow.

Ones that enable our glass work to anneal stress-free. Maybe ones about heat that allow our glass to stay intact during its making, or compatibility ones that allow it to stay intact afterwards. Maybe rules we follow to keep our glass free from devitrification. Perhaps there are others we adhere to…

Perhaps it’s aesthetically-based “rightness” rules we’ve come to follow.

4

me better understand what’s going on in the periphery of my studio efforts, but significantly rechanneled, redirected, and reshaped them. However, the exercise only works when one avoids considering the theme in literal terms and to, instead, think of it in broader, obscurer ones. And these dots I connected between language and glass practice not only produced revelations about my own practice, but of ones that emanate across our field.

It’s important to not think about language within glass practice as a noun as you read on. (Not yet, at least.) Let’s put aside our immediate connections to language within glass as a kind of thing; let’s not dwell on language as a text-based genre of visual art. Let’s instead step towards the rabbit hole that thinks of language as a verb…

Let’s think about language within glass practice as in action; and now let’s think of action as in activating process; and now let’s dwell on process as the GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

Ones that command our glass work to stand perfectly straight and symmetrical when done. Maybe rules we follow to keep our glass free of visible surface blemishes or unwanted bubbles. Maybe rules put in place by our training that obligate us to polish the unfinished surface because “it’s the right thing” to do. And, if we choose to obey it, rules that obligate that polish to be “perfect.” Perhaps there are others we adhere to….

Perhaps it’s commercially-driven “rightness” rules we’ve come to follow.

Ones that strategically place our glass working within an ideal price point for an item’s cost of production. Maybe logistical ones that influence our design, rules that designate the size and weight of our glass vision within an efficient shipping circumstance for it. Maybe rules that ask us to coordinate the color scheme of our work as it relates to official style guides published from season to season. Perhaps there are others we adhere to….

These are just a few examples of probably millions of rules at play in the back of our mind as we’re at work. But it’s in cases like these – whatever rules of “rightness” that we feel obligated to adhere to in our making relationship with glass from time to time – that the role of our glass working procedures are actually quite linguistic. There is a system and a structure within our making decisions in studio that allow our creative objectives to (hopefully) do what we want the work to do, no matter how commercial, ambiguous, traditional, abstract, or whatever we identify our practice as being. In turn, decisions about process and material sensibility – big and small – become the grammatical factors in what the work is speaking to and the nature in how it speaks those things.

But what about the other side of that coin? What about purposeful engagements of “wrongness” in glass working procedure? … and how does that play into this parallel between glass process and language?

A big part of my research as an artist is interested in abstracted language phenomena. I think of interesting deviations from what’s considered “normal” structures GASNEWS

WINTER 20 0 1240

Nickolaus Fruin, Water Soluble Glass Test #1 and #2, 2018, Formulated and Blown Glass.

Photo: Nickolaus Fruin.

Imagery provided courtesy of Nickolaus Fruin

Nathalie Houghton, Eons Erosion, Installation, 2015 Hot sculpted glass, grit, projection, pedestal, Photo: Nathalie Houghton.

Imagery provided courtesy of Nathalie Houghton

VVO OLLUUM MEE 2351 ,, II SS SS U U EE 41

5

Nathalie Houghton, Eons Erosion, Installation, 2015, Hot sculpted glass, grit, projection, pedestal. Photo: Nathalie Houghton. Imagery provided courtesy of Nathalie Houghton

of writing and the written word; fascinating visual circumstances such as the palimpsest, asemic writing, or aleatoricism (do give these a Google…). I also think of interesting deviations from what’s considered “normal” structures of speaking and the spoken word; equally fascinating audible circumstances such as echolalia, Dadaist sound poetry, or the phenomenon of speaking in tongues (do give these a Google, too…). These are only a few instances of dismantled language systems of many, but they pare up quite appropriately with a pocket of experimental, process-driven practitioners of purposeful “wrongness” within contemporary glass right now. Practitioners who illustrate how the mishandling of words and the various deviations in writing/speaking them could inform the competent mishandling of glass and the various deviations to “properly” working with it.

I think of a few circumstances of what happens when glass goes traditionally “wrong” for us…the things we try to avoid in our processes. Things like stress. Incompatibility. Cracks. Breakage. Devitrification.

Tool marks. Seeds. Contamination. Scratches.

I then think of how there’s an interesting category of glass worker that intentionally goes to those places; practitioners who dwell in studio practices that both honor and aggravate the language of “proper glass working procedure.” So I spend time surveying the field, taking note of artists that are turning the language of process upside down in work that is as thoughtfully and skillfully executed as is the glass in our field that is being worked “right”…

6

For instance, there’s the purposeful integration of problematic inclusions into the surface of large blown shapes in Maria Bang Espersen’s “Things Change.” Each sizable vessel is its own grammatical study in various forms of incompatibility as intrusive rocks are embedded in one form, brick morsels embedded in another, manufactured float glass shards in another.

Each object a specimen of eventual ruin, speaking in its own dialect of material conflict and incompatibility based on whichever foreign body it hosts within the wall of its vessel body. Each shape, therefore, composing its own unique testimony of structural compromise as it falls apart in real time.

The language of purposeful “wrongness” also lies at the intersection where glass art and glass science converge. Especially in the resurrected interest in batch formulation among young glass practitioners; conceptually driven ambitions to cook up experimental glass bodies that place the objects made from them in chance-based circumstances. I think of the syntax error put in place chemically by Nickolaus Fruin in his “Water Soluble Glass Tests #1 and #2.” Two humble tumbler forms made of a melted sodium silicate recipe; exquisitely crafted objects made of a glass body that’s been designed to break itself down when exposed to water. A scientifically-based gesture of cancellation, omission poetry in the form of two failing glass objects revealing themselves anew as they optically and structurally break down.

Beyond ephemerally-based objects made of experimental process, I now think GASNEWS

of the parallel between dismantled systems of spoken language and artwork that lives as documentation of experimental process.

In fact, I think of moments in standard glass working procedure that almost emulate endurance-based performance art. I think of the obsessive, redundant actions required of the body as seen in one of the most underwhelming experiences in glass making that grit wheel grinding is. I think of Nathalie Houghton’s “Eons Erosion” as a cold-shop based palilalia; an artwork that seeks to document the repetitive and monotonous act of grinding a glass thing to oblivion. For however long that lasts. An exquisite performative spectacle that lives ironically in the dull, tedious, and unvarying act of wheel grinding.

Neither end of the procedural spectrum is better than the other. Some of us are inclined to build a relationship with glass that dwells in technical methods of “rightness.” Some of us feed off of “wrongness.”

And some of us dip from both. Regardless of our various approaches to glass, our convictions to process – whether conventional or not – is a shared language system of making. A matter of speaking not in service of conveying what we want the content of our work to say, but of what we’re trying to have it do.

David Schnuckel is an artist and educator, currently Assistant Professor within the Glass Program of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

FAGSIGNS:

GASNEWS INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW DAY PEREZ Far left: Jasmine holding a Fagsign for Kickstarter promotion.

Photo: Martyna Szczesna Left: Natalia holding Palante (You must keep moving) sign for Kickstarter promotion Photo: Martyna Szczesna

GASnews: Please describe the FagSigns project, its goals, and how it was developed.

Matthew Perez: FagSigns is a neon signage outlet that aims to serve the LGBTQ community. We do this by collaborating, taking on challenging projects, maintaining a presence in the creative sector, and one day creating an apprenticeship program to bring more diversity to the glass silo but also the creative sector full stop.

One of the main goals of FagSigns is to create an inclusive environment that tries to generate more diversity in the creative sector. This goal has been the guiding tenant of this creative endeavor.

In our first year of formation, we launched and executed an incredibly successful Kickstarter, mounted a collaborative exhibition at Heller Gallery of 10 queer individuals all along the creative spectrum, toured this exhibition to SOFA, spoke at numerous engagements, and landed in the hallowed covers of Cosmopolitan.

When you set up a company or a socially forward-facing brand, you have one idea of what it will be or become and

GASNEWS

WINTER 20 0 1240

then let things shift as you realize what is required of you. My background is in the art glass ecosystem. I have been working in the industry for 20 years, starting out as a young person repairing tiffany knock offs in a local stained glass shop. Throughout my whole education and academic engagement, I felt like I didn’t see enough folks that sounded, acted or looked like me. FagSigns is my answer to that, rather than point and call out a problem I thought I would get some skin in the game.

GN: How does this project address language in the context of art and culture through the medium of signage?

MP: FagSigns began with the idea of reclamation of language; taking words that can be seen as inflammatory or problematic and using these words, to then describe a business or a practice has caught many folks off guard. And, in doing so, we have encouraged other folks to reclaim their words. We offer products direct to the consumer, primarily custom neon words, that allow folks the ability to

VVO OLLUUM MEE 2351 ,, II SS SS U U EE 41

mitigate a neon shop and select a word they would like to reclaim.

Language is so crucial at the moment, how we relate to language and how we use language. We are happy to be offering a practice/platform that is tangential to the urgency of this climate.

Neon is this bygone marketing material that is bombastic and explosive; it is also marginalized and kind of the red-headed stepchild of glass. Being Queer is tough, it is hard living on the periphery. Smashing these two entities feels right and correct; taking two marginalized ecosystems and smashing them together feels good...

Simultaneously, when you are young and othered...You dream of your name in lights.

FagSigns wants to carve out this safe space in the greater whole of the creative sector. There have been difficult moments where language was used against me in seemingly safe art spaces. Art spaces are not always safe spaces. This is a key thing to remember; we are not as diverse as we think we are. And, my hope is in reclaiming some of these spaces is to create a more inclusive ecosystem.

5 7

Brita Filter image from Kickstarter.

Photo: Kyle Mickleson

midwestern America, in a very conservative household, where it wasn’t safe to be me.

I know what it means to find something weird, queer, left-of-center, something truly me. I want to press against the boundaries of our ecosystem and offer something that others can latch onto and bring those folks closer to a medium I love, glass.

GN: How does someone interested in participating or contributing to the FagSigns project become involved?

GN: Do you believe participating artists in FagSigns, or even its audiences, are finding a unique platform for expression through this project?

MP: Yes. I mean, it is different. FagSigns sits at a fascinating nexus. Existing between social change agent and craft.

I think when you can offer someone the ability to make and learn through a dynamic medium while changing minds, it creates a beautiful synergy.

I fully understand that I live, and FS exists in this New York bubble. That is why

social media is so crucial for us. We hope to reach everybody and anybody and let them know that there is room for you in the creative space. Our core audience is, of course, the LGBTQ ecosystem, but also more broadly folks that feel they don’t necessarily fit into any one category.

I live in this space that is supposed to accept me and be comfortable with me and FS. But that is not always the case. We want to reach as many folks across this country, and world, as possible and support our immediate community. I grew up in

MP: Please email me! We have done several exciting projects from working with queer musicians, making signage for a porn site, promoting drag queens, sponsoring drag shows, and acting as the connective tissue to several unique and dynamic folks.

I have a hard time saying no.

Matthew Day Perez is the founder of FagSigns (info@fagsigns.com), an inclusive neon outlet based in Brooklyn, NY, that strives to erode barriers to the creative sector.

View from Queer Voices, including works by Thomas Page Mcbee, Gabriella Grimes, and Patrick Church at Heller Gallery. Photo courtesy of Heller Gallery

8

GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

WHO WE EAIR: LANGUAGE AND SELF-IDENTIFICATION

by Jennifer Detlefsen Language is the most powerful tool in the human arsenal. It can be used to forge connections or to escalate conflict; as a weapon of war or seduction. Even visual artists, the rare breed of humans who communicate with images rather than words, must use language to advocate for their work and reach an audience. The agony of crafting the perfect artist statement or a sage and pithy piece of label copy leave us in thrall to the thesaurus, anxiously selecting just the right words to express our meaning within the allotted word count.

Perhaps the most important phrase we employ is the one we use as shorthand for our existence. Every artist is familiar with the ubiquitous query of, “So, what do you do?” Short of assaulting the unsuspecting inquirer with the exhaustive list of roles, titles, and duties that make up the life of a creative, the required response is a clear, concise label. But can any one word sum up the way we see ourselves?

In the world of glass art, the possible labels for self-identification are myriad.

There’s artist, visual artist, glass artist, and the increasingly popular “creative.”

Maker, glassblower, gaffer, craftsperson, curator, researcher, and enthusiast round out the list – and countless more crowd the margins. The nuances between labels can be subtle or extreme; the terms conceptual artist and craftsperson might conjure wildly different mental images.

A similarly wide range separates the aesthetics of the most recent group of Pilchuck Emerging Artists-in-Residence.

The six women who completed the 8-week immersive residency have backgrounds which range from painting and art history to architecture. Their work reflects the breadth of their experiences, with each pushing the medium in wildly different directions. In hopes of obtaining a cross section of the glass community at large, they were recently interviewed to discuss the labels they use to self-identify, their importance, and the way those designa-

GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

Left: Kate Clements, Shadowlands, 2019 Photo: Will Preman

Below: The 2019 Pilchuck EAIRs, (L-R): Heather Sutherland, Patricia Sichmanova, Gracia Nash, Kate Clements, Bri Chesler, and Karlyn Sutherland.

Photo: Pollyanna Yokokawa

tions have changed throughout their careers. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

If asked to choose a label, which term or terms would you use to describe yourself?

Bri Chesler: I usually refer to myself as an artist first and then add things like designer, maker, or creative onto that.

Above anything else I consider myself an artist in general, which speaks more to how I choose to digest and recreate the world around me than to my technical

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

capabilities. The other label I tend to use when describing myself as an artist is a creative problem solver. I especially like to use this description when I’m trying to communicate or teach people that may not be familiar with creative thinking. It’s a good way to take the idea of “natural talent” out of the artist identity and look at it from more of a scientific angle.

Heather Sutherland: Glass artist. My work does not always involve glass, but it is central to the way I think about materiality.

Glass as a medium encourages a special

9

Catherine Rahn, Diver and installation of glass Sea Stars (1998), blown glass near Wakaya Island, Fiji. Photo: Cat Holloway, courtesy of William Warmus

Heather Sutherland, Marie, 2018. Photo: Heather Sutherland

thought process that other materials lack.

It has a diverse set of properties such as fragility and solidity, and it unquestionably demands the gaze with its unique optical and hierarchical qualities of opacity, transparence, performativity, preciousness, luxury, and faux luxury.

Karlyn Sutherland: I would lean towards maker, and also add in designer and researcher ...maybe even craftsperson.

Do you feel strongly about that designation, or is it somewhat arbitrary for you? Has it changed over the course of your career?

BC: Personally, I find the labels arbitrary and it doesn’t so much matter how someone decides to describe me or my work, but professionally, I definitely think the designations carry more weight. Whenever applying to open calls, residencies or grants, I carefully consider the labels I use to describe myself and my artistic practice.

For me, this is a strategy to curate my work in a way that specifically fits my audience.

10

Bri Chesler, Succulents, 2018. Photo: Bri Chesler

Gracia Nash: I think it has definitely changed over the course of my artistic career. When I first found glass, I took the class almost by chance. After that I began to think of myself as an artist who works with glass; that slowly turned into thinking of myself as a glass artist as I became more invested in the material. Right now, those designations feel accurate – but I know and accept that they will likely evolve as the work does.

KS: I don’t really think about it these days. I used to really struggle with the label. I didn’t (and still don’t always) feel comfortable with calling myself an artist.

I trained in another discipline and didn’t really feel like I had the right to call myself that! There are so many professional artists who I admire(d), and I didn’t feel that I was anywhere near the same level, or that I had earned my stripes, I guess. It’s become easier over the last few years, as I’ve become a little bit more established, but imposter syndrome never really feels like it’s too far away.

GASNEWS

What do you think are the defining characteristics for your label?

Is there a label you reject? What are the connotations or context associated with your preferred label?

BC: I think the foundation of being an artist is creative problem-solving. Another strong attribute is language. Art is a language.

Artists choose their own vernacular whether that be visual, song, text, or performance, etc.; that is the way we choose to communicate to the world over any other form of language. Artists are diverse and we all approach creativity differently. For me it's consuming, it's my identity, my lifestyle, it literally seeps into every aspect of my being. I like how general ‘artist’ can be. It differentiates me from being a specific kind of craftsman while alluding to a conceptual foundation for creating.

Kate Clements: I tended not to call myself a 'glass artist' because I haven’t had any formal training in glass. In many ways, I have had to create labels for myself and

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

then explain them. My background is a BFA in Painting and Art History, but I am not a painter nor an historian. However, that training strongly influences how I work with glass – I would definitely describe my work as painterly. For the past few years glass has become my main medium. It would be silly to reject the label ‘glass artist’ which so clearly defines my focus now.

GN: When defining my work, I think about where my research and process is most heavily placed. My work utilizes glass and body as main materials - I think of glass through the body and the body through glass.

Patricia Sichmanova: I am, first of all, an artist, a creative person, who chooses most often to work with glass. Material, as such, should not be a defining point. But for me personally, it has never stopped me from exploring other creative processes.

HS: To me, the label of glassblower implies the single-minded pursuit of glass object making, whereas a visual artist uses symbology and objects to create visual essays. A conceptual artist places concept over aesthetic. A sculptor works with 3-dimentional, tangible objects but the term maker to me comes with the connotation of compulsivity, as I am a compulsive maker. And a creative is someone who can’t breathe without imagination – I can definitely relate to that.

Do you label yourself differently in different situations?

BC: I always forward with artist. When there is a situation where I’m representing my product line, many times I’ll add designer or maker. I don’t usually tie anything more than that to my labels other than maybe a brief description of my artistic practice, for example “multidisciplinary.” If I’m in some kind of casual social situation where someone asks me what kind of artist I am I usually respond with sculptor or glassblower for the sake of familiarity. I think sometimes overcomplicating labels can spook people off, and as an artist, you’re always looking for a broader audience.

GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

Karlyn Sutherland, Light Study, Toyama, 2019.

Photo: Karlyn Sutherland

Patricia Sichmanova, Untitled.

Photo: Patricia Sichmanova

GN: I label myself as a teacher, or more accurately, a co-learner, because I love sharing my passion of glass with students and helping them find their own voice through material. In my main practice, I label myself as a glass artist and artist who works with the body. I think that everyone has a more ambiguous underlying practice that bubbles beneath the surface of their work and doesn't always make it into definitive labels.

Can you think of an artist from the ‘glassosphere’ you admire who you think belongs in a category different from yours?

BC: There are so many people I admire in the glass world it's hard for me to list just one. There were a few pivotal realizations VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

I had about glass as a material and the artistry behind it. One of them was when I first moved out to Seattle to try and be a part of the glass scene. I saw Jen Elek and Nancy Callan working in the hot shop.

I had come from a background of one male-dominated industry (metal fab.) and jumped into another one. So, seeing two women handle glass on the scale that these two work in was amazing. From that point on, I never doubted the possibilities of myself in the industry. I would absolutely describe these two women as amazing artists, but I would also describe them as glass artists, or glass blowers, because of how focused they are on the material and the tradition of technique within their own practice.

11

KC: I so admire Beth Lipman’s work. She manages to utilize the ‘glassiness’ of glass in such a fantastic and intriguing way. I am normally attracted to work that has transformed the material in some way – when it isn’t an obvious read. In Lipman’s work, she doesn’t shy away from the material or hide it, but instead fully embraces the fragility of it in a way that always has me craving more.

Gracia Nash, Lay Me Down to Rest, 2018. Photo: Jacob Polcyn-Evans

KS: Nadege Desgenetez. Obviously, she’s a glass blower (and I’m not), glass artist, because she’s so prolific within the one discipline; sculptor, because she’s physically, hands-on sculpting the material as part of her process, as the work takes form, whereas my current work takes the form of fused panels.

GN: Most recently, Anna Mlasowsky and some of Anjali Srinivasan's glass and silicone work from about a decade ago.

I find that both of these artists are interested in the material and its limitations and connotations, and they are interested in the body. However, they both make work that is sometimes very different than mine.

Srinivasan has an obvious strength in her glass blowing practice and sometimes creates objects and installation in her body of work. Mlasowsky creates installations and uses video in a way that is different than my own. I think they are examples of artists that are utilizing glass as a way to think about making and process; and thinking not just about glass but about themes and materials through glass, or “glass-adjacent thinking.”

PS: As a sculptor and artist who is never limited only by glass, I admire Emma Woffenden. I was lucky to see her working and preparing an exhibition which changed my view on the label glass artist.

HS: Asa Jungnelius! She is who I wanna be one day. Her practice has such diversity, such a rich material language, and she is an artist, designer, and glass artist.

Swoon!

12

Are there other labels you use to self-identify?

KC: Many other things make up who I am.

Partner, friend, dog mom, plant lover, cook.

Most things don’t enter my elevator pitch because they don’t directly influence my work/process. I’ve been surprised how my work, initially not intentionally, has been edging towards a conversation of class systems and the growing divide between them. Both my parents are involved with labor history and organized labor. Growing up they’d take me out of school to picket with workers when my dad was the head of the Labor Department at the University of Iowa. I look forward to how my unique experience influence how I digest and process this topic and where it is going to take my work.

KS: I would also include Scot/Highlander, in that my work is very heavily influenced by sense of place and my own relationship to it. Where I’m from and the landscape and culture I grew up in (and where I am based

GASNEWS

at the moment) all continue to be a big influence. That said, I wouldn’t often think to include either of those labels when I’m describing myself professionally, though I suppose it depends on the context. It’s usually of more interest/relevance when I’m overseas/travelling.

Whether one chooses to identify as a maker, a creative, a glass artist, or a lava jockey, language is an agile ally in the art world’s race for relevance. The ability to define and promote our practice is just as vital as hot shop prowess or mastery of technical casting. Especially as glasscentric artists struggle to compete for equal footing with the traditionally more “respected” forms of fine art, wielding language to its fullest capabilities will be increasingly important in the years to come.

Jen Detlefsen is a maker, mother, writer, and veteran based in Norfolk, Virginia. She self-identifies as a visual artist and glass nerd, but uses the label “maker” to keep things simple.

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

ONE SUBJECT, MANY LANGUAGES

by Peter Bambo-Kocze Far left: L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui.

This journal, published in France, focuses on 20th century architecture. Photo: Armand Margueritte (publisher of ‘A’A’) Left: Antik et Auktion is a Swedish journal, covering the world of collecting. Photo: Aller Specialtidningar AB (publisher of Antik et Auktion)

The Rakow Research Library of The Corning Museum of Glass is the world’s foremost library on the art, history and science of glass and glassmaking. Our library’s collecting policy is to acquire as widely as possible on the subject of glass, regardless of language or format.

As a result of this expansive collecting, our library houses materials in over three dozen languages and subscribes to over 100 foreign language journals. Catalogers must process and describe all of these materials for entry into the library’s online catalog and Article Index. The online catalog contains records of the vast holdings of the library, while the Article Index is a unique index to the glass journals the library subscribes to and the only index of its kind in the world. The Article Index originated at the Rakow Library and provides researchers a way to search for articles about glass and glassmaking by keyword.

As one can imagine, it is challenging to describe materials in so many different languages, particularly when every item relates to glass. So how does this all work?

As the library’s bibliographer it is my job GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

to identify, select, and describe foreign language articles for the Article Index, an important resource for the glass community.

Of the foreign language publications our library receives, about 50 are likely to publish articles on contemporary glass.

These publications range from architectural magazines like Revista del Vidrio Plano to contemporary glass journals such as Neues Glass and Fjoezzz. [For additional titles please see list at the end of the article.]

Having a solid grasp, or at least a modest working knowledge, of multiple foreign languages definitely helps process the variety of journals we include in our index. Constantly looking up words in a dictionary or translation app can become tedious. Translating blocks of text using a phone camera in case of total unfamiliarity with a language can be used as a last resort, but chances are the results will be more entertaining than accurate!

Over the years I have been a bibliographer, one of the most interesting aspects of reading about glass in multiple languages is seeing how glass terminology has crosspollinated across languages. One of the VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

best-known examples is the French term “pâte de verre,” meaning glass paste. Even though glass paste is a perfectly good literal translation in English, the original French term is much more commonly used in the glass literature. Similarly, “Façon de Venise” is the preferred term to describe Venetian-style glassware rather than its corresponding term in English.

Another example of a borrowed term that found a comfortable home in the English language is the decorating technique known as “millefiori,” which literally means a thousand flowers; while no one would probably use this word-by-word translation, “mosaic glass” is sometimes used in English for the original Italian term.

There are plenty of other examples of glassmaking terms borrowed from foreign languages that are commonly used in the English-speaking world: Graal glass (decorative glass developed in Sweden), Pokal (a covered goblet popular in Germany in the 17th to 19th centuries), Roemer (German or Dutch drinking glass decorated with prunts), ungueantarium (a type of ancient Roman perfume bottle),

13

Far left: Art Aurea is published in Ulm, Germany in both English and German and covers the decorative arts, including jewelry and design. Photo: Ludwig (publisher of ArtAurea) Left: Der Glasfreund, published in Wuppertal, Germany by Kolme k-Verlag-Werner Kieselbach

Waldglas (“forest glass” in German), and Zwischengoldglas (a type of decoration developed in Bohemia and Austria during the 18th century).

It is not surprising that all these terms originate from countries with old and rich glassmaking traditions. An actual count of entries with foreign origins in the online Glass Dictionary of The Corning Museum of Glass yields the following results: of the over 110 terms identified as such, more than half were borrowed from German, Italian, and French. Somewhat surprisingly, the next largest group is Latin and Greek with a total of 26 entries. Interestingly, there is a total lack of terms borrowed from Czech and other Slavic and Eastern European languages in spite of active glassmaking centers in these regions, especially historic Bohemia (present day Czech Republic).

In many ways, this shared lexicon of glass terms helps me classify the subject of the articles I’m indexing, although there are many articles, of course, that do not include crosspollinated language. A large part of my task as bibliographer is to make foreign language

14

articles discoverable by adding keywords and summaries in English for each entry.

Just as the Rakow Research Library is a unique resource in the truest sense of the word, so is its Article Index, one of our locally created and maintained databases. This continuously expanding resource provides intellectual access to some of the most exciting foreign journals and magazines in the world covering contemporary glass, art, crafts, design, architecture, interior decoration and lighting, technology, and many other topics.

Our hope is that our library users are truly able to discover the world of glass. Note: These can be included or sampled or excluded! Whatever there is room for.

Foreign language journals and magazines in the Rakow Library’s collection that are likely to contain articles on contemporary glass: Abitare Antik et auktion Antiquariato Art Aurea Art (das Kunstmagazin) Ateliér GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

Ateliers d'Art Bulletin van de Vereniging van Vrienden van Modern Glas Cahiers Métiers d'Art/Craft Journal Casa Vogue Connaissance des Arts Das Münster Dekorativnoe Iskusstvo Der Glasfreund Die Schaulade Domus Dossier de l'Art Fjoezzz GFF: Zeitschrift für Glas Fenster Fassade Glas + Rahmen Glas och Porslin Glashaus/Glasshouse Glasnyt Glass (Garasu) Glastechnische Berichte Glasteknisk Tidskrift Glaswelt Honoho Geijutsu ID Verre Infos Illuminotecnica Keramika a Sklo

Kunst + Handwerk Kunst und Kirche Kunsthandwerk & Design Kwintessens La Revue de la Céramique et du Verre L'Atelier des Métiers d'Art L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art L'Oeil Neues Glas/New Glass Offrir International Ottagono Parkett Porzellan + Glas Pressglas-Korrespondenz Revista del Vidrio Plano Sammler Journal Sklář a Keramik Sköna Hem Steklo i Keramika Table et Cadeau Új Művészet Umění a Řemesla Verre & Création Vormen uit Vuur Weltkunst Peter Bambo-Kocze is the bibliographer at the Rakow Research Library.

GLASHAUS The International Magazine of Studio Glass

German/ English, 4 issues p.a. 50 Euros Dr. Wolfgang Schmölders Glashaus-Verlag, Stadtgarten 4 D-47798 Krefeld (Germany) Email: glashaus-verlag @ t-online.de Web: http://studioglas.jimdo.com GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

15

THE PLACE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH - THE MAGIC OF GLASS

by Maia Stern

Vladimir Lenin resting preserved and displayed in his glass coffin. Photo: The Sun

In the fantasy novel Eragon, a dragon uses their innate power to transform an initially modest pile of rock into a stunning crystal glass tomb. This fictitious funerary ritual employs glass to shift the paradigm of death from something that is hidden to something that is displayed. As an artist working with literature, myth, and narrative, I often consider my work’s relationship to language. As I meditate on my medium I consider its constitution – translucent, fragile, inert, shiny, precious. These words sound to me so much like glass feels – they are crisp, sharp, clear, and self-possessed.

But glass is also mysterious and magical – it’s a paradox of transmutation and crystalline form, of ephemerality and timeless beauty. These strange and serpentine words capture the feeling and power of glass while its context illuminate its importance and place in society. I am captivated by stories like Eragon’s dragon’s using glass as a means of magical preservation, a symbol of honor and preciousness, and eternal display. The mystery and magic of glass extends past the boundaries of fantasy and into our reality. Reaching into the ancient past, we can see examples of glass used as a medium to gap the space between life and death and can follow this use all the way into the present.

Through their language, the Ancient Greeks reveal their sense of mystery and wonder surrounding glass. Amid the epic

16

Relics of St. Felix. Photo: Maia Stern

tales of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer takes precious time to describe glass – adorning shields of hero warriors1 and decorating the walls of glorious kingdoms.2 Inlaid in paste form the glass here holds an alchemical magic as it imitates rich and rare lapis lazuli.3 Ancient Greeks became exposed to further forms and colors of glass as trade with Egypt expanded. This type of glass was newly named “molten stone” 4 emphasizing its wondrous shape shifting, transmutable qualities. With additional value added through labor, expertise, and transport, “molten stone” not only rivaled the preciousness of the stones it imitated but surpassed it. This value is evidenced by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus who describes the ornamentation of sacred crocodiles with jewelry made of glass and precious metal.5 Here we see an early description of the use of glass in a situation of religious and cultural importance, highlighting the wondrous quality of the material.

In Mary Luella Trowbridge’s paper “Philological Studies in Ancient Glass,” she sites a Herodotus’ description of Ethiopian coffins made of “hyalos”, one of the Greek words for glass. In this description, a block of transparent glass is put around a preserved, painted body both displaying it and stopping any smell or visible decomposition.6 Although, it is likely that this description is talking about a soft stone GASNEWS

as opposed to a true glass, it is the visual, material qualities which echo glass that are of importance. The stone would have been translucent, “the corpse… [could] be [seen] through it” 7, it would have been shiny or at least glossy. Compared to the common material of marble, the glass would have appeared slight giving it the visual qualities of fragility and wonder. Unlike the Greek custom of burying the dead promptly on the outskirts of town, Herodotus explains that these glass coffins would sit in the center of the home to receive sacrifices, food, respect, and attention. The translucent glassy nature of the “hyalos” comforted families offering them the image of preservation and the semblance of eternal peaceful sleep.

Concurrent with Ancient Ethiopian and Greek culture, Egyptian death ritual also used glass coffins, this time in miniature.

These ritual objects were inscribed with the deceased’s name and title and filled with a miniature of the deceased or tools to aid in the afterlife. Once prepared, these coffins were enclosed in tombs alongside the deceased as a resting place for the ba, the mobile aspect of the soul.8 Here again glass is chosen for a religiously significant object emphasizing its value and wondrous or magical qualities.

Glass coffins are not limited to the ancient world or even necessarily to the dead. Literary giants of another era, The

WINTER 2020

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

5. Trowbridge, Mary L. Philological Studies in Ancient Glass. The University of Iliinois Press, 1930, p. 20.

6. Trowbridge, Mary L. Philological Studies in Ancient Glass. The University of Iliinois Press, 1930, p. 23-24.

7. Trowbridge, Mary L. “Herodotus.” Philological Studies in Ancient Glass. The University of Iliinois Press, 1930, pp. 23-24.

8. Bimson, Mavis, and A. F. Shore.” An Egyptian Model Coffin in Glass.” The British Museum Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3/4, 1966, p. 107.

JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/4422936.

9. Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “‘The Glass Coffin’ 163.” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes, Bantam Books, 2003, pp. 482-485

Maia Stern is an MFA candidate at SIU Carbondale, expecting to graduate in May of 2020. Her sculptural works span a variety of media with an emphasis on cast glass.

Snow White in her Coffin by Theodor Hosemann 1852

Brothers Grimm, focus on the imagery and symbolism of the glass coffin. Famously, Snow White lies in a glass coffin drifting in suspended animation between life and death. Here again, it is the glass that displays her body. It is young, virginal, and eternal, satisfying current cultural ideals of maidenhood. It also acts as an altar, a device for magical preservation, and a wondrously alluring object. They take this trope further in their tale the “The Glass Coffin”. In this story, a tailor finds a beautiful naked woman, only covered by her long hair, trapped in a glass chest. The woman’s body as still as a corpse reveals its life only through a slight rosiness of face and movement of breath.9 Like a trophy case, the glass coffin holds her body as an idealized form. Centuries after Herodotus, the qualities of glass itself allow fairytales to break the normal rules of the life cycle.

How strange and exciting then that glass coffins continue to be used in today’s world! Although full glass coffins are not common, we see them used in culturally significant funerary practice. Two prominent contemporary figures entombed in glass are Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin. Both have been preserved in a healthy, idealized style, achieved through science but perceived as magic. In the spirit of the Ancients, this entombment style provides a means of eternal remembrance GASNEWS

WINTER 2020

and glory. Today, most coffins are made of wood. Occasionally, a glass viewing window is inserted into a coffin cover, in order to provide the family with a window in which to see the deceased. Here, too, glass acts as the lens through which to see the preservation, peace, and beauty of the deceased.

It is through the record of written language that we understand this history of glass and its position of cultural importance. From ancient Greek writings to contemporary fantasy, precious words are given to its description. Beginning as a man-made material that seemed to be something unknowable and mysterious glass has transcended time and culture.

While knowledge and familiarity of the material has deepened, its mystery and wonder have never faded. Though we may not commonly peer through a glass coffins’ pane, we are still entranced by church windows, wedding goblets, chandeliers, all reminding us that place between life and death.

Notes: 1. Homer, Iliad 18.478-608.

2. Homer, Odyssey 7.97-103.

3. Trowbridge, Mary L. Philological Studies in Ancient Glass. The University of Iliinois Press, 1930, p. ?.

4. Trowbridge, Mary L. Philological Studies in Ancient Glass. The University of Iliinois Press, 1930, p. 19.

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1

GAS OPPORTUNITIES To access the Glass Art Society’s up-to-date opportunities, just click on the links below.

CALLS FOR ENTRY JOB POSTINGS CLASSES + WORKSHOPS EVENTS EXHIBITIONS AWARDS + NOMINATIONS 17