CREATIVE JOURNEYS | Baldwin Guggisberg at Schantz Galleries, 2020

BA L DW I N G U G G I S B E R G C R E AT I V E J O U R N E YS

SCHANTZ GALLERIES

BA L DW I N G U G G I S B E R G

It's a special privilege to hold an exhibition against apparently considerable odds in such a wonderful and magical location. Thanks to Jim and Kim both for sticking with our shared plan (laid out over a year ago) and remaining so enthusiastic in spite of the vicissitudes.

Jim advised us, please think Summer! People need cheering up! Indeed they —we all—do. It was with this in mind that we have composed this exhibition, drawing on our long history of exuberant use of color, as well as, increasingly, a somewhat expanded and more extravagant sense of form. The Novae Species series begun a few years ago intend to embrace whimsy as well as foible, a kind of mirror of humanity and our environment embracing both dignity and caricature all at once. Not mocking, rather honoring all these things, while seeking to expand on our own sense of the joy of life.

The work in this exhibition celebrates two particular techniques we have used for a very long time: incalmo, the joining together of two blown pieces while hot, and cold-worked batutto cutting, which has been our signature for more than 25 years. For the first time, for this exhibition, we have incorporated the Swedish overlay technique in the Novae Species, cutting through multiple layers of color in the body of the pieces.

Working under lockdown in preparing for this show, we invited our two French assistants, Philomène and Léon to live with us on our old farm, thus allowing us to continue working normally. We have been very privileged to do so, and we are most grateful for the opportunity to share some of the results with Jim and Kim, and you.

Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg Hares Green, Wales, August, 2020

A M U LT I C U LT U R A L C E L E B R AT I O N blown glass, incalmo, carved with steel hull 22 x 60 x 19.5 inches 1

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The tools and techniques that Philip and Monica use to make their deceptively simple glass objects have scarcely changed since Roman times. Philip was born in New York and Monica in Switzerland. They began working together in 1979 as students at the Orrefors Glass School in Sweden followed by two years in Småland, the Swedish forest “Kingdom of Glass”, as assistants to Ann Wolff and Wilke Adolfsson.

In 1981, they moved to Switzerland where they opened what they describe as “as a two-person hotshop making clean, functional designs for everyday use.” Their studio glassware—wine and water glasses, bowls, pitchers, and decanters—was distinguished by its dazzling and dramatic colors and sophisticated lines. As Monica says, “simplicity lasts for a long time; too much can be invasive.”

Philip and Monica remained in Switzerland until 2001, when they moved to Paris. During those first 20 years they began to collaborate seriously with the glass industry: with Steuben in the US, Rosenthal in Germany, and Venini on Murano in Italy. After 15 years in Paris, they moved to Wales where they now live and work at Hares Green, their farm deep in the Welsh countryside with magnificent views over rolling farmland.

As artists they have always chosen to push their limits—to explore increasingly complex and elaborate forms. “Having started with a sober and classical attitude toward form and shape,” says Philip, “we have gradually yielded to an expanded exuberance in both shape and dimension using layers of colors and complex textures.” As a result, over the years their work has evolved from craft to art. “We learned our métier in Sweden where layering color through blown overlays was a famed 20th-century process, developed by Simon Gate and Edvard

EGALITÉ blown and carved glass, 2020 27 x 7 inches | 28.75 x 7.25 inches 3

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Hald at Orrefors. We discovered that if we used that same technique and applied Italian cutting known as battuto—a cold-working process that uses a grinding wheel to mark the surface of the glass thus creating a hammered textured effect—we were able to vastly expand the possibilities open to us. And for the last twenty-five years, that is what we have been doing.”

More recently, Philip and Monica’s concern about humanity's impact on the planet has become increasingly apparent in their work.

In 2018, they installed ten major works at Canterbury Cathedral for their exhibition Under an Equal Sky in part to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Upon entering the cathedral, visitors were greeted by the centerpiece of the exhibition, a magnificent assemblage in glass and steel in the shape of a boat that spanned 65 feet of the nave. Commissioned by the cathedral, this extraordinary installation consisted of 100 clear glass amphorae, suspended like beads on a string, each one commemorating a single year since the end of the First World War. The piece called to mind the refugee crises of the past century while addressing themes of displacement, pilgrimage, and the ongoing consequences of war.

Monica and Philip's current museum exhibition Walking in the Void at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark focuses on “the fundamental issues of our time—the place of humanity, and indeed our planet, in the universe, and in geological history”. Its theme reveals the extent to which their artistic practice has shifted toward a concern with the global political and environmental challenges of the 21st century.

TURQUOISE HARMONICS blown and carved glass, 2020 28.7 x 6.3 inches 5

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The artists say: “The fragility of our civilization has never been more apparent. We find ourselves between a rock and a hard place, and the need to find an alternative way forward feels increasingly urgent. For all our scientific understanding, we can't help asking if we are missing what the ancients took for granted—a sense of meaning in the universe a way of thinking that they wove into their everyday existence? Might such an overview help us through our current existential angst and locate a path out of this darkness?”

The pieces in this exhibition at the Schantz Galleries are chosen from two principal groups of their freestanding pieces. The Novae Specie are brightly colored like the pieces in the Canterbury boat, and are indeed riffs on human personalities in all their colorful quirky attributes. The Monolithi—pairs of abstract crimson and black sculptures that stand proudly at attention on wooden pedestals—are more serious, yet also quixotic, much as more serious humans often are. They all form part of our human drama, in both its extravagance as well as its sobriety.

Philip and Monica say “The exhibition with Schantz Galleries is a chance for us to return to the intimate expression within our oeuvre and life's work, individual blown and cut objects, deeply respectful of a long and magnificent tradition in craftsmanship and beauty, which we have always tried to respect and honor, even as our larger body of work is increasingly socially motivated in the context of our times.”

Essay: Carola Lott

Photos: Alex Ramsay

Design: Jeanne Koles

E A R LY D AW N blown and carved glass, 2020 23.6 x 6.3 inches 7

C A N TATA V E R D E blown glass mounted with brass frame, 2020 47.2 x 35.5 x 6 inches 8

V I B R AT O I N O R A N G E blown glass mounted with brass frame, 2020 35..5 x 23.7 x 6 inches 9

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NOVEMBER HARVEST blown and carved glass, 2020 29.5 x 5.1 inches 12

THANKSGIVING blown and carved glass, 2020 12.6 x 8.2 inches 13

A G I D DY H E A D blown and carved glass, 2020 26.5 x 5.5 inches 14

WINTER SOLSTICE blown and carved glass, 2020 63 x 17 inches 15

WINTER LIGHT blown and carved glass , 2020 18.1 x 5.5 inches 16

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THE LITTLE PRINCE blown and carved glass, 2020 14.1 x 6.8 inches 18

A WINTER’S LIGHT blown and carved glass, 2020 14.9 x 9.8 inches 19

B LU E H A R MON IC S blown and carved glass, 2020 24.4 x 7.8 inches 20

R O O M AT T H E T O P blown and carved glass, 2019 23 x 6 inches 21

S TA N D I N G P R O U D blown and carved glass, 2019 26 x 6 inches 22

T H E B LU E S PI N DL E blown and carved glass, 2019 25.5 x 7.5 inches 23

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SPRING RISING blown and carved glass, 2020 14.5 x 7.2 inches 25

FA L L E Q U I N O X blown and carved glass, 2020 28.7 x 5.5 inches 26

SUMMER SOLSTICE blown and carved glass, 2020 22.4 x 5.7 inches 27

PEAK SUMMER blown and carved glass, 2020 24.4 x 5.3 inches 28

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HEADING FOR SUNSET blown and carved glass, 2020 28.7 x 5,5 inches 31

M O N O L I T I A E N I G M AT I C A blown and carved glass, 2019 34.2 x 12.4 inches 32

M O N O L I T I A E N I G M AT I C A blown and carved glass, 2019 45.6 x 10.8 inches 33

M O N O L I T I A E N I G M AT I C A blown and carved glass, 2019 36.2 x 10.6 inches 34

BA L DW I N G U G G I S B E R G

Philip Baldwin (1947) and Monica Guggisberg (1955), have been a collaborative team for over forty years.

They share an instinctive appreciation for the subtle blending of art and design, functionality and abstract expression, combined with a love of material – especially glass.

Over time their work has developed its own distinctive signature, based in Italian cold -working ÂŤ battuto Âť combined with the Swedish overlay process for layering colors. They have been pioneers in adapting these techniques and in creating a distinct expression of their own. Color, light, texture, pattern, and shape together reveal an undercurrent of meaning and value, adhering to the simplest of forms and clear lines.

Over the years they have become more sculptural in focus, while seeking to imbue their work with a deep connection to archetypal forms and shapes, and striving for the highest level of craftsmanship. They address eternal symbols of human culture and history, while embracing contemporary evolution in form and meaning.

In recent years large installations and major exhibitions in public spaces, such as Canterbury Cathedral in 2018, and more recently The Glasmuseum Ebeltoft in Denmark 2020-2021) increasingly reflect their concerns for the shared world of our times, highlighting some of the challenges while continuing to express their love for beauty in form and object.

They now live and work in rural Wales.

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THE UNIDENTICAL T WINS free blown, incalmo, carved glass, 2018 26.25 x 7.5 inches 38.5 x 7.5 inches 36

We want to acknowledge Monica and Philip for their amazing work and energy, as well as for their collaboration for over 40 years. It is evident that their creative and loving bond extends into their work.

As a married couple who work together, we know from experience, this can be a blessing and a challenge!

We are grateful for the opportunity to mount our first exhibition of their work, and our gallery is alive with their positive spirit, which is so crucial at this time.

We are pleased to share this exhibition with you... as the “Multicultural Celebration� represents, we are truly all on this journey together.

Jim Schantz and Kim Saul

Schantz Galleries c o n t e m p o r a r y g l a s s 37

BA L DW I N G U G G I S B E R G C R E AT I V E J O U R N E YS August 6–August 30, 2020

Schantz Galleries c o n t e m p o r a r y g l a s s 3 Elm Street Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com 38