B10 Features
Glass Act
The Chronicle
Feb. 13, 2013
The school has commissioned glass sculptor John Luebtow, who is retiring in June after 42 years of teaching at the Upper School, to create a 10-foot-high, 12-foot-wide memorial.
By Julia Aizuss
lic artworks, and I thought how great it would be to have It’s 6:42 in the evening and a permanent artwork by him 3D Art teacher John Luebtow on campus,” Gaulke said. is on his cellphone, anxious to Huybrechts and Gaulke begin working. were as interested “Where are in the process of the ya?” Luebtow asks. sculpture as in the One member of his product, so they defour-man crew is 12 cided to document the minutes late. The process and present it date to change the as an educational opglass in the kiln was portunity for art stualready postponed dents. from yesterday, Feb. Photography teach4. er Kevin O’Malley, who nathanson ’s Luebtow decides previously filmed docuJohn Luebtow to start without mentaries of Luebtow’s him. other commissions, is “He’s at Topanga. He’ll get documenting this latest project. here,” Luebtow tells the rest Luebtow’s projects take thouof the crew, and they prepare sands of hours’ worth of work. to move a 600-pound piece of In the past eight months, glass from the kiln where it Luebtow created scaled paper, was fired for four days. glass, and foam-core templates The nearly 10-foot high, of the four pieces in his sculp12-foot wide sculpture Luebt- ture along with a miniature ow was working on that eve- granite base and experimentning was commissioned by the ed with their placement onschool, and will sit on the emp- site. For his one-inch miniaty concrete foundation next ture glass model he put just as to Munger Science Center as much work into it as if it were Luebtow’s farewell gift to the the final product. He used difschool. He will retire this June ferent equipment to cut and after his 42nd year teaching polish it, marked placement at Harvard School, where he for supportive stanchions, and founded the Art Department bent the glass at 1200 to 1400 with the late Carl Wilson, and degrees Fahrenheit, to applyHarvard-Westlake. ing a reflective stainless steel Luebtow had planned to surface to the base and sandretire three years ago, but his blasting the glass pieces in orgood friend, President Thomas der to give the model 13 differHudnut, told him, “You can’t ent lined patterns in all. go till I go.” It was a tongueOnly then, once he had in-cheek order, Luebtow said, reached his final design in but he took it to heart. When miniature, could Luebtow beHudnut announced last year gin his full-scale sculpture. that he would retire after this The sculpture, which Luebtow school year, Luebtow chose to plans to finish in mid-May, retire at the same time. plumbs the themes that he has Visual Arts Department explored for the past 45 years: Head Cheri Gaulke first pro- line, form, space and light. posed the commission to Head The fruits of the path of School Jeanne Huybrechts he has followed are evident last April, thinking one of Lu- throughout his studio, a highebtow’s characteristic glass walled, two-story space. No sculptures would be a fitting wall is unadorned, whether way to celebrate both his and with posters, equipment or his Hudnut’s time at the school. own artwork. One wall bears “He’s a very accomplished photo collages of sculptures sculptor with works in major he has been commissioned to museums, collections and pub- make that have found homes,
Scholastic Art Award Winners Art Portfolio Gold Key
JULIA AIZUSS/CHRONICLE
COMMISSION: Top, John Luebtow polishes the glass for his sculpture. Luebtow and his crew work on the sculpture in the furnace, bottom left. The scale model of the glass sculpture he is building to celebrate his and Tom Hudnut’s careers, right. all over, from Century City to San Francisco to Melbourne, Australia. One room in his studio is devoted solely to many of his smaller glass and ceramic pieces. Classical music blasts as Luebtow and his crew carry the piece of glass that will be put in the kiln today from the sandblasting booth, whose doors each bear a spray-painted blue smiley face. The kiln contains a furnace where the glass will be bent according to Luebtow’s design. To achieve the desired shape, Luebtow and his crew must move pipes into the furnace in the right position, as the glass will mold to the pipes’ wavy contours. They will place the foam-core model marked with the glass’s intended design onto the pipes and then place the glass itself to line up with the model on
Gold Key Bea Dybuncio ’13 Mazelle Etessami ’14
Anne Liu ’13 Chelsea Pan ’14
Silver Key Darby Caso (2) ’14 Wendy Chen ’13 Leslie Dinkin ’13 Bea Dybuncio ’13 Mazelle Etessami ’14 Ben Gaylord ’13 Alyse Gellis ’13
Diana Kim ’15 Matt Leichenger ’14 Anne Liu ’13 Michael Rothberg ’13 Xenia Viragh ’15 Liza Woythaler ’14
Honorable Mention Darby Caso ’14 Wendy Chen ’13 Hugo De Castro-Abeger ’13 Savannah De Montesquiou ’13 Mazelle Etessami (2) ’14 Alyse Gellis (2) ’13 Maya Landau ’13 Matt Leichenger ’14 Emma Lesher-Liao ‘14 Anne Liu ’13 Merissa Mann ’13
Dara Moghavem ’13 Matthew Moses ’13 Amanda Reiter ’14 Gabriela Romano ’14 Michael Rothberg (2) ‘13 Sam Schlesinger ’15 Jamie Skaggs ’15 J.J. Spitz ’15 Alisa Tsenter ’14 Xenia Viragh (3) ’15 SOURCE: ARTANDWRITING.ORG INFOGRAPHIC BY MORGANNE RAMSEY
certain temperature into the computer program for the igniter system, a nonsensical symbol shows up instead. By 7:41, though, there’s no more cause for worry. “We got it,” Luebtow says, kneeling in front of the furnace, his son Matt crouched by him. “Overcome,” he adds a few moments later, and then, more decisively, “Got it. Fixed it. Fixed it.” As the glass in the furnace begins annealing, a cooling process in which the glass structurally realigns itself to prevent cracking, everyone prepares to go home. (But not before O’Malley insists on taking a group shot, or before Luebtow offers limes from a tree in his backyard.) “I love you guys, thanks a lot, see you next week,” Luebtow says.
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Wendy Chen ’13
the pipes. All this requires the help of a cart, crane and forklift customized for Luebtow’s work. The affair is punctuated by banter among the crewmembers and Luebtow’s various orders and adjustments— “Move this a little bit, I want this one as close as possible,” “We’ll just let up the tubes and lay out the glass,” “As long as I got good movement on top and enough on the bottom…” Luebtow strides around, clad in a “fix-it-Grandpa” sweatshirt and Harvard-Westlake sweatpants, smoothly dispatching orders and carrying out his work. By 7:25 p.m., the furnace is ready to be set. It closes at 7:33 but by 7:37 nothing else has happened: technical difficulties have arisen. Whenever Luebtow tries to input a
At a chance encounter with Hallie Brookman ’12 at a coffee shop off campus, Mia Ray ’14 excitedly approached her and effusively praised choreography she recently taught to her in her Advanced Dance I class. After falling ill with viral encephalitis at the end of her senior year, Brookman decided to take a gap year before attending the University of Pennsylvania next fall. Along with interning for a personal manager in the entertainment industry, beginning French classes, and playing tennis, Brookman returned to school to assist the Advanced Dance I class with their showcase in December. She also visited as a guest teacher Feb. 5, and is assisting with the Advanced Dance II concert as well. The Advanced Dance I
showcase is an outreach per- choreography she wanted to formance done each teach and watch them year for ARC, the perform it in groups. largest national “I just loved takcommunity of people ing a step back and with intellectual and watching them dance developmental disthe piece and really abilities. Brookman make it their own,” participated in this Brookman said. performance when Since she began she was a sophodancing dance when more. she was two years nathanson ’s “I wanted the old, Brookman knows Hallie dancers to have the what it’s like to be Brookman’ 12 same emotional exon the stage and can perience that I had relate to the dancers when I was performing for now. ARC,” Brookman said. “I just want to be there After helping out with the to help and be a second eye,” showcase, Brookman returned Brookman said. last Tuesday to choreograph Brookman plans to audia contemporary piece, which tion for the student dance the students said they adored. companies at Penn, and also It was her first time teaching plans continue to dance at a a class. studio in Philadelphia. Although the time Brook“I really plan on continuing man had with the Advanced dance throughout my whole Dance I students was short, life, it’s always been a passion she managed to squeeze in the of mine,” Brookman said.