Rare Frank Lloyd Wright glass window to be auctioned

One of the original glass skylight windows of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House is being auctioned on August 3rd after being stored away by a private owner for half a century. courtesy: schultz auctioneers.

On Saturday, August 3rd, a glass skylight window designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright will be sold by Schultz Auctioneers in Clarence, New York. The window, which has a pre-auction estimate of $50,000 to $100,000, originates from the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, one Wright’s best known examples of his the Prairie Style. Two Martin House windows have sold at Christie’s for $62,500 and $104,500 each in 2011.

In Memoriam: Jiri Harcuba (1928 – 2013)

“Every genuine creation is poetry. We do not create what we see, rather what we know and what we think and feel.”—Jiri Harcuba

Jiri Harcuba, the world-renowned and highly respected artist and master engraver also recognized in the field of coin and medal design, passed away from complications with pneumonia on the morning of July 26, 2013. Born on December 6, 1928 in the glassmaking village of Harrachov (in what is now the Czech Republic), Harcuba dedicated much of his life to teaching the world over and inspired countless people to find their own creative voices. I was introduced to engraving through a course I took with Harcuba at Pilchuck in 2003, and, as this became my primary technique of working with glass, he would go on to be my mentor. We co-taught a number of classes in engraving, the last one at The Corning Museum of Glass in 2012.

Connie Parriott memorial service to take place this Sunday

A self-portrait by Connie Parriott.

A memorial service for the late Connie Parriott (1954 – 2013) will be held on Sunday, July 28, 2013, at the family’s Whidbey Island property. The 2 PM event taking place in Coupeville, Washington, has a black-and-white dress code, and those who knew Connie and the family are encouraged to attend. During the service, her ashes mixed with wildflower seeds will be spread along paths and in gardens. 

Canadian college to host one-day gathering for students, alumni, and wider public

Students in the Sheridan College glass studio. courtesy: sheridan college.

On September 7, 2013, the Glass Studio at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario will host an open-studio event. Titled “Glass Gathering 2013,” the event means to connect current students with alumni and other glass enthusiasts  in order to promote greater interaction between them. Occurring at the start of the academic year, the event intends to spark excitement within the studio and start a new annual tradition.

IN MEMORIAM: Alice Chappell (1942 – 2013)

The late Alice Chappell supported the advancement of studio glass artists on an international scope. photo: chapman cole & gleason funeral homes.

On July 7, 2013, after a two-year battle against cancer, Alice Chappell, owner of the former Chappell Gallery in Boston and Chelsea, died surrounded by family at her home in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She operated a gallery in Boston from 1997 – 2004, and opened a New York City location in 2000, eventually focusing more on private selling. With her gallery exhibitions, appearances at art fairs, and carefully produced catalogs, Chappell worked to raise the profile of glass artists, especially from Asia and Australia.

In Memoriam: Jonathan Christie (1968 – 2013)

Jonathan Christie, pictured in front of the largest work of his career, a public art collaborative piece entitled Lyrical Light (2006) at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jonathan Christie, one of the most skilled hot-glass sculptors in the United States, died on Sunday, July 7, 2013, days after being hospitalized in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was 44 years old. In March 2013, Christie had returned to a city he had known from an earlier stint at New Orleans Glassworks in the early 1990s. Christie often changed location, and since graduating from college in 1992, had lived in Cincinnati; New York City; Seattle; Jacksonville, Florida; and the British Virgin Islands. Born in Scotland in 1968, he was 12 when he moved to the U.S. with his parents, and attended schools in New Canaan, Connecticut, and Londonderry, New Hampshire. It was at the Massachusetts College of Art where he discovered glass, and forged a life-long friendship with James Mongrain, a fellow glass major.

At Toledo residency, April Surgent comments on the present using centuries-old engraving techniques

One of her most recent works. April Surgent, What We’re Looking For, Is What We’re Looking With, 2013. Glass engraving. H 36 1/4, W 25 3/4, D 1 3/4 in. courtesy: the artist.

UPDATED 7/23/13

On June 27th, 2013, glass artist April Surgent completed a one-week visiting artist residency at the Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art. Surgent, who was the seventh artist-in-residence of the  Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP), offered a different perspective to the program as a traditional engraver in technique with a contemporary approach to subject matter.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: UrbanGlass annual MFA juried exhibition seeks applicants

Beccy Feather’s 2010 work entitled Ultra Shiny Laser Crystal was featured in the 2012 UrbanGlass MFA exhibition. The glass pictured above was one element of the project that included a fake “exclusive event” complete with cocktails,  and VIP passes—elements in a conceptual work that engaged New York cultural life.

The annual MFA Competition Exhibition at Brooklyn’s UrbanGlass nonprofit art center seeks proposals from recent graduates of North American masters programs. The 2014 MFA show will be an important part of UrbanGlass’ inaugural year in its newly renovated facility in Downtown Brooklyn opening on October 2nd, 2013, and the deadline to apply is in early August 2013. (Disclosure: UrbanGlass publishes GLASS magazine and the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet.)

OPENING: True-to-life glass exhibition inspired by Blaschka flowers debuts at Pittsburgh Glass Center, prize winners announced

Carolyn Baum, Eternal Bloom, 2013. Flameworked soft glass, wire, fieldstone. H 12, W 12, D 10.

The exhibition “Lifeforms” was originally conceived of as part of the 2013 Glass Art Society Conference in Boston. After the event was cancelled, this homage to the The Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka Glass Flowers at Harvard University was moved to the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where it opens this evening. Over 100 artists from the U.S., Scotland, Italy, Japan, Australia, England and Canada answered the call from Robert Mickelsen to create work that aspires to the Blaschkas’ level of accuracy, and the top 50 will be on display through November 17, 2013 in Pittsburgh.

Museum of Glass announces new board president Gail Weyerhaeuser

Dr. Gail Weyerhaeuser., the new President of the Museum of Glass. courtesy: Hillary Ryan.

The Museum of Glass announced that Gail Weyerhaeuser, a local clinical psychologist in Tacoma, Washington, will take over as the new president of the board of trustees. “We are thrilled to have Dr. Weyerhaeuser at the helm of the Museum’s Board,” said Susan Warner, Executive Director of Museum of Glass, in a prepared statement. The new board president is also the cousin of the late George Weyerhaueuser, who served for 14 years on the board of the museum before his untimely death earlier this year.

Chihuly counterfeit case a cautionary tale for buying art online

Possibly a student work made while Chihuly was making the “Navajo Blanket Cylinder” series, this work was quickly discredited as an authentic Chihuly by Kate Elliott, who was one of the artists involved in the authentic groundbreaking series.

On June 19th, a 35-year-old Renton, Washington, resident named Michael Little plead guilty in federal court to wire fraud in connection with “his scheme to advertise and sell fake Chihuly artwork,” according to U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan in an F.B.I. announcement. Little admitted he bought “generic glasswork and artwork over the Internet” and resold it, claiming that it was authentic Dale Chihuly, and making “at least $40,000” for counterfeit sales between 2011 and 2013, according to the release. Citing the October 4, 2013 sentencing date, investigators in the case declined to comment on details until after the legal proceedings were complete, but the appraiser who helped identify the works as fakes has shared some of the story with The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet to help alert others to the market in counterfeit glass artwork.

William Morris works fetch record prices at recent auction

William Morris, Canopic Jar:
Sable Antelope, 1995. Hand blown glass. H 48, W 12 in. courtesy: bonhams

A work by William Morris entitled Sable Antelope from the “Canopic Jar” series set a new record for the artist’s work when the bidding ended at $290,500 (the price includes the buyer’s premium). The setting was the 20th Century Decorative Arts auction at Bonhams in New York City on June 14, 2013. The jar, created by Morris in 1995, sold for more than triple its pre-auction estimate, and was the standout work of the event, which also saw successful sales of Studio Glass work by Harvey Littleton ($18,750), Michael Glancy ($15,000), Paul Stankard ($22,500), Toots Zynsky ($9,375), and Stephen Rolfe Powell ($8,125) alongside decorative glass works by Gallé, Daum Nancy, Lalique, and Tiffany.