September 2010

By Diana Fox

For Canadians, the allure of Australia is completely understandable.  We perceive it to be warm waters, sandy beaches, friendly people and long beautiful summers.  For Canadian glass artists, you can add to that appeal highly respected Graduate programs and artist residencies, as well as opportunities to work with some of the best glass artists in the world.  Truly, it’s a wonder then that Canadian glass artists aren’t shipping themselves off to Australia in droves.  Indeed, there are those who go and come back, and those who go and stay, but both will tell you that their experience there is one that greatly affected their practice and the results of it.  It is this hypothesis that was the idea behind “Round Trip”, an exhibition that took place in Eau Claire Market in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in September, 2010.  The five artists involved in this exhibition all had ties within their glass work both to Canada and Australia.

Chris Boha was a Calgary resident for ten years, and graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2003.  Prior to relocating to Adelaide to complete his PhD at the University of South Australia, Chris travelled extensively working and studying with numerous glass artists around the world.  His piece in “Round Trip”, entitled Three Small Bags … Thirty Years of Stuff reflects the universality of the feelings that come with relocating and being limited on what can go with you.  Suspended from the ceiling, it is a copper and wooden boat, with glass buildings on top.  Inside each is a cloudy figurine, the forms of which are broken down by the glass that houses them.

While Boha’s piece deals with the emotional aspects of home and what home means when you relocate somewhere, Melanie Long’s work conversely takes a more whimsical approach to her time in both countries.  Melanie was first in Australia on a student exchange in 2008, and after graduating from ACAD the following year, she returned there to work as a studio assistant.  Her piece, entitled Canadian Cod Cabaret of Canberra, is a culmination of her experiences in both Calgary and Canberra.  Her hot sculpted fish, with big red lips and tall boots, have a burlesque feel to them particularly as they are displayed on small, glittery stages.  These works are particularly tongue-in-cheek as both Calgary and Canberra are landlocked cities, with neither being particularly laden with sea life.

Jaan Poldaas; Rare Fruit; 25 cm, 10 cm; hot sculpted glass, 2010; photo: Jillian Logee

Jaan Poldaas has had a different experience in Australia.  His time spent as a resident at the Jam Factory in Adelaide has given him a keen sense of design, and this is evident in the works he displayed here.  Using coiled clear glass he focuses on the exterior shape of the glass and the distortion evident through the clear.  In other pieces, rings of red that are just off centre offset the clear glass. In placing them slightly off centre, he defines both the forms and the space they inhabit. The placement of the pieces is essential.  In some cases they are almost touching; in others, they need small amounts of space for the shapes of the pieces to be able to be really considered.  They communicate with one another and while each would be a beautiful object on its own, there is so much more to contemplate when they come together.

Natali Rodrigues; photo: Jillian Logee

Natali Rodrigues is currently the Head of the Glass Program at ACAD, but her path through Australia took place when she did her Masters degree at the Australian National University.  Her pieces in this exhibition deal with notions of scale.  Small solid pieces of transparent coloured glass are dwarfed by larger, densely coloured textured pieces which share a similarity of form. 

The relationship between things is also something that Katherine Lys deals with in her work.  Like Boha and Poldaas, Lys continues to call Australia home.  The impact of the Australian climate has had a profound impact on Katherine’s work.  The slow, meditative qualities are evident in pieces that are wood turned.  This quality is then translated to her glass pieces, the forms of which are complimented by the wood pieces.  Each of her pieces form a relationship to the one next to it.  In some cases this is quite literal, with a string of beads connecting one piece to another, and in other cases this is implied, with forms that mimic or compliment one another.

What is most evident from the work in this show is that an experience abroad remains personal to the individual involved.  From the emotional aspects of departure and arrival, to the nuts and bolts of what is learned somewhere new, each artist involved in “Round Trip” has managed to show us that no two trips from Canada to Australia are the same.

An international conference addressing expanded practice in studio glass

Andrew Lavery

Director, Bachelor of Visual Arts, Subject Chair, Glass Studio, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney and the Ausglass Conference Chair

  Aim

Peripheral Vision engages questions crucial to the future of artists, educators, writers, galleries and institutions working with the glass medium. This conference aims to stimulate and provoke fresh critical thinking by broadening the possibilities of studio glass in Australia. Peripheral Vision aims to review the diversity of contemporary local and international approaches to making that challenge the palatable aesthetic, subject matter and contextual boundaries of studio glass.

In 1995 writer/curator William Warmus proposed the end of the first wave of the American studio glass movement. In the 1980s and 1990s, the efforts of key Australian craftspeople, educators and historians to establish a distinctive local studio glass style is well documented, but little reflection has followed. This conference presents a new opportunity for some long due critical analysis. ⁱ

Marina Hyasat, Burden from the Blue Soul series, 2010, glass, sterling silver, 360 x 110 x 100 mm, photo: Matt Hoggett

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Reigniting the discussion – observations

For over a decade, critics and scholars have questioned the legitimacy of medium-specific protectionism and whether championing of a popular style or aesthetic is healthy for the progression of the medium. In a paper delivered at the Ausglass Conference in 1993, titled the Australian Glass Community, scholar Sue Rowley observed the following, “The Australian glass community is likely to protect privilege and resist incursions from other art forms and intellectual practices,” and that “Experience from other disciplines and art forms suggests that new leaders tend to emerge from previously marginalised areas of thought and practice.” ⁱⁱ Around the same time, writer Nola Anderson argued that the commercial success of boutique glass was effectively marginalising the work of practitioners from contexts such as design and production. ⁱⁱⁱ Recently critic Suzanne Frantz expressed similar concerns in her chapter of the book titled Australian Glass Today. Her chapter, titled Notes from a Distant Observer, discussed the reliance on the Australian landscape and environment to support a claim of uniqueness and its use to carve out a niche for Australian glass as a whole. She argued that specific protectionism and championing of elements of Australian glass is no longer necessary and that work should either stand or fail on its own, whatever the context. ^iv

Robert Stewart, One, H 1300 x W 800 x D 250 mm, 2010, Photo: Greg Piper

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Current issues

Within current international debates about the future of studio glass are issues of stagnation, commercial imperatives, the fetishisation of technique, connoisseurship and a lack of critical discourse amongst makers. In a keynote address at a recent conference, titled Shaping the Future of Craft, artist Martin Puryear describes craft as taking on a form of “semantic indeterminacy”, in that it wants to be art, can be design and no longer wants to be called craft. A similar argument was presented by scholar Bruce Metcalf, in a recent lecture at the 2009 GAS conference. His lecture titled, The Glass Art Conundrum, presented the argument that craft and art are not the same. ^vvi He asserted that craftspeople have been claiming that they are artists for decades without engaging in the discourse of contemporary art or understanding its complex history and current practices. He argued that glass artists have to be prepared to not use glass if they want to be accepted in the temple of contemporary art. His conclusion was that the majority of studio glass falls within the contexts of craft, design and decorative arts, not contemporary art. ^vii

Much of the criticism levelled against the Australian Studio Glass Movement is similar to that of the American movement and the points raised in Metcalf’s lecture. The modernist legacy of material-specific studio-based practices driven by aesthetics and the fetishizing of skills can be traced back to burgeoning Australian movement of the 1970’s, when European educators were employed by the various university programs. At the same time contemporary art was acquainting itself with conceptual, inter-disciplinary and post-studio practice. The now mature Australian Studio Glass Movement is facing a similar set of changes to contemporary art in the 1970’s, with the emergence of a new generation of artists producing work that operates within different parameters.

Detail of Robert Stewart's One

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Hybrid practice

These practitioners are often highly skilled in glass techniques and regularly exit the craft and design sphere to work and exhibit in a diversity of contexts. Some of these practitioners are creating what has been termed the hybridised object. Hybrid objects blur the traditional boundaries between artistic media such as sculpture, film, performance, craft, design and architecture in the form of a cross-disciplinary or multidisciplinary practice. Hybrid art forms expand the possibilities for experimentation and innovation in craft, design and contemporary art by making interventions and investigations in other disciplines, such as natural and physical science, industry, technology, literature, popular culture, or philosophy. ^viii Recently, new movements coined post-glass or guerrilla glass have gathered momentum, particularly in America. These artists openly reject the well- respected traditions of studio glass by making use of ubiquitous new media. ^ix

Marina Hyasat, Ego, 2010, glass, 200 x 220 x 450 mm , photo: Matt Hoggett

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New paradigms

Internationally, craft and design institutions are removing or lowering the emphasis of craft in their names in a response to changing practices and contexts outlined above. One example is the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, formerly the American Craft Museum. This allows them to be sympathetic to a greater diversity of approaches, enabling them to expand their audiences. ^x

With development and support, these new paradigms will provide opportunity and scope for practitioners, writers, galleries and institutions to venture outside the traditional constructs of studio glass and reach broader audiences. Peripheral Vision seeks to challenge the conservative image of studio glass and expand the focus of people who work with glass, by investigating innovative and diverse approaches in the use of glass in a range of contexts.

Robert Stewart, One Two, 200 x 450 x 250 mm, 2010, Photo: Greg Piper

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Peripheral Vision will address these issues under the following categories:

i)       Institutions and Galleries

Are the strategies of our institutions and galleries aligned with new international currents in glass and do they support a range of contexts? Looking to the future, how can galleries and institutions support and enhance contemporary practice using the glass medium? Are museums, galleries and glass prizes meeting the changing needs of artists and audiences? Are they capturing and educating audiences and collectors by exhibiting glass work that is progressive and challenging of traditional constructs of studio glass? How can commercial galleries work with the artist run spaces and public galleries in the presentation and promotion of emerging artists and art forms?

ii)      Contemporary Practice

What differentiates one form of practice in the glass medium from the other? What sort of art is glass art? How can artists form a critical expanded practice that doesn’t destroy their income? Is there a happy medium between decorum and concept? Is there a framework for establishing a critical practice? Do studio glass practitioners need to pay greater attention to theory surrounding the material and its relevance to a concept? How have practitioners entered these contexts and how successful have they been? Are these contexts overlooked and what are the opportunities for expanding these areas into the future? Where do skills, virtuosity and connoisseurship fit within these contexts and how do we value and support these areas? Who are the innovators in this context?

Marina Hyasat , Metamorphosis II from In the State of Becoming series, 2008, glass, cotton, 550 x 330 x 300 mm, photo: Greg Piper

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iii)     Design and Production

What is the history of design and production in studio glass and how has it informed studio glass in Australia? Are these contexts overlooked and what are the opportunities for expanding these areas into the future? Who are the innovators in this context and how are they positioning themselves within this context?

iv)     Critical Discourse

With the scarce amount of critical discourse surrounding Australian studio glass, are there debates that need to be initiated or reignited to expand and develop the movement? What is the theory surrounding the medium and how can this be applied in the development of concepts? Has the strength of the master narrative of Australian Studio glass overlooked some pertinent contexts and practices on the periphery? Should we be recognising the styles and idioms that we reference more readily before calling them our own? Should we be looking at the way we write about studio glass? How can we change the way we write about glass to give it more currency across contexts? Is there an amount of backslapping and self-congratulatory writing that is hindering the progress of the material in critical terms? How can writers constructively add to discourse in a way that will take the medium forward?

Marina Hyasat, Threshold from In the State of Becoming series, 2009, glass, nylon, 500 x 300 x 280 mm, photo: Greg Piper

vi)     Education

Is the Bauhaus methodology still relevant and is the brain to pedestal paradigm moving with the times? Can the skills-based elements of the Bauhaus style approach be adopted in the development of a hybridised or interdisciplinary approach that embraces experimentation? What is the ideal balance between skills, theory and concept? What sorts of practice should we be encouraging into the future? What areas of theory are well suited to the glass and how can these be integrated into our educational programs?

vii) Technique and Virtuosity

How do we maintain the heritage of the practical skills and knowledge the movement has developed over nearly four decades? How do we develop and support practitioners who wish to work within this context? What are the pitfalls of this focus and how does one avoid them? Who are the practitioners who are reinterpreting the skills heritage in an innovative and forward thinking fashion? Does collaboration with contemporary art, design and architecture lead to innovation and does this filter into the studio glass movement in Australia?

Andrew Lavery’s website is www.andrewlavery.com and more info on the Ausglass Conference can be found at www.ausglass.org.au.

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Robert Stewart, One Two Three, 900 x 800 x 100 mm, 2010, photo: Greg Piper

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i           William Warmus, The End, Glass Magazine, autumn, 1995

ii          Susanne Frantz, Notes from a Distant Observer in Australian Glass Now Today, Wakefield Press, South Australia, 2005, p.38

iii         Noris Ioannau, Australian Studio Glass – The Movement its Makers and Their Art, Craftsmen House, New South Wales, 1995, p. 48

iv         Sue Rowley, Australian Glass Community, In a paper delivered at the Ausglass Conference, 1993

v          Martin Puryear, Shaping the Future of Craft, Keynote Address: Shaping the Future of Craft, American Crafts Council, New York, p. 25

vi         Bruce Metcalf, The Glass Art Conundrum, The 2009 Strattman Lecture, Glass Art Society (America) Conference, Corning New York.

vii        Ibid. Metcalf viii Susan Rotilie, Hybrid Art Forms, http://schools.walkerart.org/arttoday/index.wac?id=2355, accessed Sunday 6 September, 2009

ix         A post-glass artist or glass guerilla is what happens when people who either are bewilderingly unable or desire not to cope with obvious, well-established, perfectly reasonable techniques and methods laid out for them by time and history and tradition, come together in a post-modern world; a post-modern world of which ubiquitous new media is an integral part. http://howisthisglass.blogspot.com/ Yukanjali, Post Glass Artists: Who are they? (accessed August 19, 2009

x          Carmine Branagan, Shaping the Future of Craft, American Crafts Council, New York, p. 23

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Vision périphérique: 15e Conférence Australienne Biennale du Verre Ausglass, Sydney

20-23 Janvier 2011

Une conférence internationale se penchant sur l’élargissement des pratiques verrières

Andrew Lavery

Directeur de la Conférence Ausglass

Objectif

Vision Périphérique se penche sur la question cruciale de l’avenir réservé aux artistes, enseignants, auteurs, galeries et institutions travaillant avec le verre. Cette conférence a pour but de stimuler et de provoquer une nouvelle réflexion critique en élargissant les possibilités alternatives des ateliers verriers d’Australie. L’objectif est de répertorier les diverses approches contemporaines régionales et internationales afin de challenger l’esthétique usuel plaisant qui thématise et limite les contextes de la verrerie.

En 1995, l’auteur/conservateur William Warmus sous-entendit la fin de la première vague du mouvement artistique verrier américain. Dans les années 1980 et 1990, les efforts fournis par les principaux artisans, enseignants, et historiens australiens pour établir un style verrier distinctif local sont incontestables, mais peu de réflexion s’en est suivie. Cette conférence donne une nouvelle chance à cette occasion d’en faire l’analyse critique si attendue.ⁱ

Relancer la discussion – observations

Depuis plus d’une décennie, les critiques et les spécialistes se sont questionnés sur l’intérêt du protectionnisme envers un matériau spécifique et si le fait d’entretenir un certain esthétique ou style populaire était sain pour l’évolution du support en question. Lors de la conférence Ausglass de 1993, Sue Rowley constate dans son écrit intitulé La communauté Verrière Australienne que “La communauté australienne du verre a tendance à protéger ses privilèges et résiste aux incursions d’autres formes d’arts et de pratiques intellectuelles”, et que “Les compétences provenant d’autres formes de disciplines et d’arts sous-entendent l’émergence potentielle de nouveaux leaders issus de ces domaines de pensées et de pratiques autrefois marginalisés.”ⁱⁱ Au même moment, l’auteur Nola Anderson soutient que le succès commercial des boutiques verrières marginalise effectivement le travail de ceux pratiquants dans les contextes du design et de la production.ⁱⁱⁱ Récemment devenue critique d’art, Suzanne Frantz exprime les mêmes inquiétudes dans un chapitre de son livre Le Verre Australien De Nos Jours. Son chapitre Remarques d’un Observateur à Distance se demande jusqu’à quel point il est possible de se reposer sur le paysage australien ainsi que sur son environnement pour revendiquer son originalité et l’utiliser dans le but de fournir un secteur niche au verre australien en général. Elle prétend qu’un protectionnisme spécifique n’est plus nécessaire et que le l’oeuvre devrait alors soit réussir par elle-même soit échouer, indépendamment du contexte.^iv

Questions actuelles

On retrouve au cœur des débats internationaux actuels sur l’avenir des verreries, des inquiétudes concernant la stagnation, les impératifs commerciaux, la fétichisation de certaines techniques, l’expertise et sur le manque de discours critique parmi les créateurs. Lors d’une conférence récente, l’artiste Martin Puryear définit l’artisanat dans son discours introductif  Définir l’Avenir de l’Artisanat comme étant en phase “d’indétermination sémantique”, sous-entendant qu’il se veut art et même parfois design et ne souhaite plus s’appeler artisanat. Un argument similaire a été présenté récemment au cours de la conférence GAS de 2009 par le spécialiste Bruce Metcalf. Sa présentation s’intitulant Le Mystère de l’Art Verrier défend la théorie qu’artisanat et art sont différents.^vi Il y mentionne que les artisans se proclament artistes depuis des décennies sans jamais avoir été réellement en lien avec le discours de l’art contemporain ni cherché à comprendre son histoire complexe et ses pratiques actuelles. Selon lui, les artistes verriers doivent s’attendre à travailler avec d’autres matériaux s’ils souhaitent obtenir leur droit d’entrée au palais de l’art contemporain. Il conclue suite à cela que la plupart des ateliers verriers relèvent en fait du contexte de l’artisanat, du design et des arts décoratifs et non de l’art contemporain. ^vii

Les critiques envers le mouvement des verreries en Australie sont relativement similaires à celles soulevées par Metcalf dans son discours sur le mouvement américain. La contribution moderne des pratiques verrières qui se basent sur un matériau unique et sont motivées par l’esthétique et le fétichisme de certaines compétences remonte à l’essor du mouvement australien dans les années 1970, quand on employa des enseignants européens au sein des établissements d’enseignement.  Au même moment, l’art contemporain faisait se joignait à de nouvelles pratiques conceptuelles, interdisciplinaires et post-verrières. Avec l’émergence d’une nouvelle génération d’artistes qui incluent divers autres médias dans leurs œuvres, le mouvement verrier australien devenu désormais mature est lui aussi confronté à ces mêmes changements comme le fut l’art contemporain dans les années 1970.

Pratique hybride

Ces personnes pratiquant le verre sont souvent hautement talentueuses en matière de techniques verrières et sortent fréquemment de la sphère de l’artisanat et du design pour œuvrer et exposer dans des contextes très variés. Certaines d’entre elles créent ce que l’on qualifie à présent d’objet hybride. Ces objets hybrides biaisent les frontières traditionnelles existantes entre les différents moyens artistiques tels que la sculpture, le cinéma, le spectacle, l’artisanat, le design et l’architecture sous forme de pratiques multidisciplinaires et interdisciplinaires. Ces formes d’art hybrides élargissent les possibilités d’innover et d’expérimenter avec d’autres disciplines comme les sciences naturelles ou la physique, l’industrie, la technologie, la littérature, la culture populaire ou même la philosophie.^viii Récemment et plus particulièrement en Amérique, de nouveaux mouvements étiquetés post-verriers ou urbains se sont regroupés. Ces artistes rejètent ouvertement les traditions très respectées de la verrerie en employant de nouveaux médias. ^ix

Les nouveaux paradigmes

Conséquence de cette évolution des pratiques et des contextes mentionnée précédemment, les institutions verrières partout dans le monde ont choisi de diminuer voire de supprimer l’emploi du terme artisanat dans leurs noms. Le Musée des Arts et du Design de New York dénommé autrefois Musée Américain de l’Artisanat en est un bon exemple. Cette démarche permet de s’ouvrir à une plus grande mixité d’approches variées, et de toucher le public plus largement.^x

Avec appui et développement, ces nouveaux paradigmes fourniront des opportunités qui encourageront verriers, auteurs, galeries et institutions à s’aventurer au delà des concepts traditionnels du verre et leurs permettront d’atteindre un plus vaste auditoire. Vision périphérique vise à mettre à l’épreuve cette image conservative du verre et à élargir la vision des personnes concernées, en étudiant les approches multiples et innovantes de l’utilisation du verre dans des contextes variés.

Vision Périphérique a regroupé ces questions sous les catégories suivantes:

i)       Institutions et Galeries

Les stratégies de nos institutions et galeries sont-elles en phase avec les nouveaux courants internationaux du verre et soutiennent-elles une variété de contextes? Au regard de l’avenir, de quelle façon les galeries et les institutions peuvent-elles soutenir et encourager les pratiques contemporaines par l’utilisation du verre? Est-ce que les musées, les galeries et les prix verriers s’adaptent suffisamment à l’évolution des besoins des artistes et de leur public? Parviendront-ils à captiver et éduquer public et collectionneurs en leurs exposant des œuvres progressistes qui défient les concepts traditionnels de l’art verrier? Comment les galeries commerciales peuvent-elles collaborer avec les espaces gérés par les artistes et par les galeries publiques pour représenter et promouvoir au mieux les artistes et les formes d’art émergents?

ii)      Pratique Contemporaine

Comment différencier les pratiques verrières les unes des autres? Quelle sorte d’art est l’art du verre? De quelle façon les artistes peuvent-ils élargir de manière critique leurs pratiques sans mettre en danger leurs revenus? Y a-t-il une structure préétablie pour définir une pratique critique? Les verriers doivent-ils se concentrer d’avantage sur la théorie englobant le matériau ainsi que sur l’appartenance à un concept? Comment les verriers ont-ils découvert ces contextes et quel a été leur succès? Ces contextes sont-ils négligés et quelles sont les possibilités d’agrandir ces domaines dans le futur? Où situer le rôle des compétences, de la virtuosité et de l’expertise dans ces contextes et comment juger et soutenir ces variables? Qui sont les innovateurs dans ce contexte?

iii)     Design et Production

Quelle est l’histoire du design et de la production du verre et de quelle façon a-t-elle été retransmise au verre en Australie? Ces contextes sont-ils négligés et quelles sont les opportunités d’élargir ces domaines dans le futur? Qui sont les innovateurs dans ce contexte et comment se positionnent-il au sein du contexte?

iv)     Discours Critique

Suite à la faible quantité de discours critiques concernant le verre australien, certains débats devraient-ils être initiés ou relancés afin de pouvoir accroître et développer le mouvement? Quelle est la théorie qui englobe le matériau et comment pourrait-elle être appliquée dans le développement des concepts? La trame d’évolution globale du verre en Australie a-t-elle négligé dans son élan certains contextes et pratiques pertinents qui se situaient en bordure? Devrions-nous reconnaître plus spontanément les styles et les idiomes que nous citons avant de les considérer nôtres? Faut-il se pencher sur notre façon d’écrire à propos des ateliers verriers? Comment changer notre manière d’écrire à propos du verre pour lui apporter plus de crédibilité dans les contextes? Certains écrits amicaux et s’auto-félicitants entravent-ils au progrès du matériau en terme de critiques? De quelle façon constructive les auteurs peuvent-il enchérir au discours de manière à faire progresser le matériau?

vi)     Education

La méthodologie du Bauhaus est-elle toujours aussi pertinente de nos jours et la force élisant les paradigmes évolue-t-elle avec le temps? Est-ce que les éléments du style Bauhaus basé sur les compétences peuvent être réemployés dans le développement d’une approche hybride ou interdisciplinaire qui inclut l’expérimentation? Quel serait l’équilibre idéal entre les compétences, la théorie et le concept? Quelles sortes de pratiques devrait-on encourager à l’avenir? Quelles parties de la théorie conviennent bien au verre et comment les intégrer dans nos programmes d’enseignement?

vii)    Technique et Virtuosité

Comment conserver l’héritage des compétences pratiques et des connaissances développées par le mouvement depuis près de 40 ans? Comment développer et soutenir les verriers qui souhaitent travailler dans ce contexte? Quels sont les pièges de cette focalisation et comment les éviter? Qui sont ceux qui réinterprètent cet héritage de compétences de façon innovante et audacieuse? Est-ce que collaborer avec l’art contemporain, le design et l’architecture mène à l’innovation et cela s’imprègne-t-il dans le mouvement verrier australien?

Le site internet d’Andrew Lavery est www.andrewlavery.com et vous pouvez trouver plus d’informations sur la Conférence Ausglass en allant sur www.ausglass.org.au

ⁱ           William Warmus, The End (La Fin), Glass Magazine (Magazine du Verre), Automne, 1995

ⁱⁱ          Susanne Frantz, Notes from a Distant Observer (Remarques d’un Observateur à Distance), dans Australian Glass Now Today (Le Verre Australien de nos Jours), Wakefield Press, Australie Méridionale, 2005, p38.

ⁱⁱⁱ         Noris Ioannau, Australian Studio Glass – The Movement its Markers and Their Art (Verrerie Australienne – Le Mouvement, ses Fondateurs et Leur Art), Craftsmen House (Maison de l’Artisanat, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, 1995, p.48

^iv         Sue Rowley, Australian Glass Community (Communauté Australienne du Verre), dans un rapport édité lors de la Conférence Ausglass, 1993.

^v          Martin Puryear, Shaping the Future of Craft (Définir l’Avenir de l’Artisanat), Discours d’Introduction: Shaping the Future of Craft, (Définir le Futur de l’Artisanat) Conseil Américain de l’Artisanat, New York, p.25

^vi         Bruce Metcalf, The Glass Art Conundrum (Le Mystère de l’Art Verrier), Cours Strattman de 2009, Conférence de la Société des Arts du Verre (Amérique), Corning New York.

^vii        Ibid. Metcalf

^viii       Susan Rotilie, Hybrid Art Forms (Formes d’Arts Hybrides), http://schools.walkerart.org/arttoday/index.wac?id=2355, extrait le dimanche 6 septembre 2009.

^ix         On considère les artistes post-verriers ou urbains, ceux qui ont été soit déconcertés, soit incapables, ou qui ne souhaite pas utiliser les méthodes et les techniques évidentes et parfaitement raisonnables établies pour eux à travers le temps, l’histoire et la tradition, et qui se regroupent dans un univers post-moderne ou les médias omniprésents deviennent partie intégrante de leur art. http://howisthisglass.blogspot.com/ Yukanjali, Post Glass Artists: Who are they? (Les Artistes Post-verriers: Qui sont-ils? (Extrait le 19 Août 2009)

^x          Carmine Branagan, Shaping the Future of Craft (Définir l’Avenir de l’Artisanat), Conseil Américain de l’Artisanat, New York, p.23

By: Emma Gerard

Drawing on my experience in art shows over the past few years, I have compiled the following guide to compare the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE), and the One of a Kind Show (OOAK) in Toronto.

When you first start participating in art shows, there is a lot of stress of the unknown.  Things like booth design, what to expect on setup day, and even the application process, can be overwhelming.  My hope is that this guide will serve as a reference for emerging artists as they familiarize themselves with the professional art world.

Lots of heat and sunshine at Toronto Outdoor, July 2010, photo: Emma Gerard

Application Process/Notification

TOAE: Applications open mid December and close March 1.  The date you apply has no bearing on the success of your application, but it will dictate your preference when selecting a booth location.  TOAE does not have a waiting list and they do not accept late applications.

Notification of acceptance arrives end of April/early May, which leaves roughly two months to prepare for the show. This lack of preparation time, I would say, is the most frustrating part of the show.

OOAK: The deadline for the Christmas show is around the end of March (this year it’s March 25 for the first round of jurying). However, unlike TOAE, they continue to accept applications past the deadline.

OOAK gives exhibitors a re-sign form at the show, which allows you to sign another contract to come back again the next year, without needing to submit an application year after year.  This guarantees your size of booth as well. Tip: five foot depths are highly coveted, as are corner booths.

Notification for OOAK depends on which deadline you apply for (they have many; check their website for more details, but they generally give you a lot of time to prepare for the show. When I applied for the Christmas show (March deadline) I was notified at the beginning of June, which gave me five months of preparation time.

Again, unlike TOAE, OOAK has a priority waiting list, which means that even if you are not accepted, there is still a chance to participate.

Something to consider: the exclusivity clause.  This clause in the contract means that for 30 days before and 30 days after the show, you cannot exhibit your work in any other show within a 50 km radius.  A few exceptions apply (ie. one day shows with fewer than 40 vendors), but they are pretty strict about it.

Visual Art section at the One of a Kind Show, Christmas 2010, photo: Kelly Grace

Setting Up

TOAE: The best word to describe setup at TOAE is: chaos. There are 400 artists converging on Nathan Phillips Square at the same time.  You are given 4.5 hours to setup, regardless of weather conditions.  Since you may not be able to park to unload your display near your booth location, bring a dolly and someone to help you.  Keep in mind that cube vans are not allowed in the underground parking garage, so plan accordingly.  If you plan to park underground during setup, don’t rely on the elevators working; you may end up taking the stairs.

OOAK: Even though there are 800 vendors participating in the show, there is enough space and enough time that it is never chaotic. There are two days for setup rather than a only few hours, and there are several options when it comes to bringing your work into the Direct Energy Centre.

Booth/Display

TOAE: The most important thing about your display for TOAE is that it needs to be easy to transport and set up since you have to do it quickly – and sometimes in the pouring rain.  Almost all of the booth spaces are 10’ x 10’  and most people just buy or rent a 10’ x 10’ tent.  My advice:  if you plan on doing more than two outdoor shows, invest in your own tent.  For the cost of renting a tent two or three times you could have your own.

OOAK:  Lighting is the most important part of your booth at One of a Kind. You want your booth to be bright to draw visitors in.   Signage is also important; you want people to know who you are — especially so they can find you again in the sea of 800 vendors.

It’s important that your booth look full, but not cluttered.  This is why storage is also important to consider when designing a booth.

Theft/Security

Theft is the sad reality of any art show, especially if you have small work. Make sure you can see what is happening in your booth at all times.

Both shows have security, but in different capacities.  Since TOAE is outside, they have security guards who monitor the grounds.  It is strongly recommended — and in your best interest — to take your work with you each night.

At OOAK, they lock up the hall and have security monitoring it.  Some jewellery makers still bring all of their work home with them, but security in the hall is quite good.  However, you should stick around for a few minutes after closing to allow any customers to depart who may still be in the hall.

Cost

TOAE: Even though the cost of participating has gone up by $50 this year,  it still pales in comparison to OOAK.   All things considered, it is still a fantastic price — especially when you factor in the price-to-attendance ratio at many other outdoor shows.  The show is well-attended and well-advertised and worth every penny. Go to the TOAE website for pricing details.

OOAK: There are many different pricing options for booths at this show. Most people have a full booth for the full (11 days) duration of the show.  I found the full booth to be really beneficial.  It was great to have the added space that I didn’t have in Rising Stars section.  More area to display work means more exposure, which ultimately leads to more sales.  You can also choose to participate in half of the duration of the show, which does save you a bit of money. A new initiative this Christmas is the Share a Booth program where two artists can share a 10 x 10 space.

Rising Stars is an open-concept, emerging-artist section that allows you to rent space by the square foot.  You can only be a Rising Star once at Christmas, and once at Spring, then you must commit to a full booth and it is highly competitive to get into, but a great way to test the market.

A new option for this year’s Spring show is the Craft Community of Canada Section, where art organizations sponsor the booth of an emerging artist, The Glass Art Association of Canada is one of the sponsoring organizations.  Applications are closed for this year, but  next Spring’s application information should be available over the summer.

Some of the additional costs, above and beyond just the booth price, include: electricity, phone line, internet, carpet rental, lighting rental, and parking passes.

OOAK has a New Artisan Scholarship Fund, as well as a New Artisan Travel fund to help offset the costs.

For residents of Ontario, the Ontario Arts Council has a fantastic Exhibition Assistance program that has helped me a lot for the OOAK show.

At the Show

TOAE: No admission charge means lots of visitors to TOAE.  People who visit, generally have a great appreciation for art and all things handmade and are very enthusiastic. Gallery owners visit TOAE to find new work and to network with artists they represent.

Tip: bring a notebook for a mailing list and bring lots of business cards! It’s easy to go through 1,000 cards at this show.

Conversely, no admission price also means that you can meet quite the cast of characters at the show.   The likelihood that you will run into the woman predicting the apocalypse or the man in the petticoat is pretty high.

OOAK: They charge admission to come to the show, but there are still thousands of visitors each year.  The crowds at the show can be overwhelming, especially on the weekends.

Eleven days is a long time, especially when those days are eleven hours long.  The day opens at 10 am, which means fighting rush hour traffic in the mornings.

It’s critical to have people help work your both during the show, to prevent burnout. You will be there for lunch and dinner, so plan your meals ahead of time to make sure you are eating well during the show.  Make a pot of chilli, or soup beforehand and bring it with you.  There are fridges and microwaves in the exhibitor’s lounge.  Bringing food comes with the added bonus of saving some money, as food options at the show are rather expensive especially for the portions you receive.

Credit Cards

TOAE: Optional, but not necessary depending on your price-point.  Most visitors bring cash to outdoor shows and there are ATMs closeby; but, there is the potential to miss out on a few sales if you don’t have a credit card machine.   Patrons are more forgiving with students, but once you are a full time artist people expect you will accept credit cards.

OOAK: You will lose a lot of sales if you don’t accept credit cards at this show. Fortunately, one of the services offered by the Direct Energy Centre is the rental of a debit machine, where you can sign up to use it for the length of the show or opt for a longer term vendor’s agreement

Weather

TOAE: Weather seems to make or break this show, but the weather can affect more than just attendance.  Wind is your biggest enemy on the Square.  You must make sure you have weights for your tent, since you are not allowed to use spikes on city property.  Ideas for weights include: sandbags, concrete blocks, PVC piping or old paint cans filled with cement, or large water jugs.   If you are concerned about your artwork moving in the wind, use museum gel or a similar product to keep your work firmly in place.

Sun and extreme heat can also be a problem; make sure you stay hydrated.  Bring a cooler filled with cold drinking water.  Wear a hat and sunscreen and try and stay in the shade as much as possible.

OOAK: Weather affects this indoor show more than you might think.  At the past Christmas show, we had surprisingly low attendance on the first day because the weather was rainy and miserable.  Likewise, the weather on the weekend of the Spring show was beautiful, and people spent that time outside in the sunshine rather than at the show.

Tearing Down

TOAE: Teardown for TOAE is as chaotic as setup.  Furthermore, this is when exhibitors seem to stop being considerate to one another.   They park on the street before teardown even begins, often leaving others around them miffed.  There is not much you can do except relax, take your time, and know this process will take longer than expected.

OOAK: You can use a loading dock, or drive into the adjacent hall, but first you need to have your entire booth packed up and someone from the show must verify this and give you a pass to what they call the Marshalling Yard. Getting to the Yard can take a very long time. Once you get there, you will be given another pass, allowing you to use to the loading docks or to drive into the building.  This system may seem chaotic, but it provides a great system that avoids people from pulling their vehicle forward before they are ready to load (unlike the TOAE).

Helpful Links

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition:

http://www.torontooutdoorart.org/

In the fall of 2010, a number of GAAC members who exhibited at TOAE sent us their tips. Read the article Outdoor Art Shows: Advice from Artists.

{http://mag.glassartcanada.ca/whatshappeningandreviews/outdoor-art-shows-advice-from-artists/}

GREG HOLMAN

Exhibition Coordinator

Phone (416) 408 – 2754

Email  greg@torontooutdoorart.org

One of a Kind:

http://www.oneofakindshow.com

CATIA VARRICCHIO

Manager of Exhibitor Relations & Recruitment
Telephone: 416 960 4511
Email: catia@oneofakindshow.com

VALÉRIE ROY

Manager-Bilingual Exhibitor Relations & Recruitment
Telephone: 416 960 4514
Email: valerie@oneofakindshow.com

By Brad Copping

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It feels as though I have been caught up in a rush to get this year started.  For the first time in a very long time we have had the glass furnace running through the holiday season.  And while the commitments I have made continue to keep the pressure on and my focus dialed in, it is the recent death of Clark Guettel that has me pausing and once again reflecting on our community.

Clark was one of the very early graduates of the recently developed glass program at the original Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design in Mississauga, Ontario.  Having blown glass for 38 years, Clark has been a mentor and source of inspiration for many younger and older people wanting to find their own way with glass.  Whether through one of the three private studios he has built, or at Fleming College’s Haliburton School of the Arts, where he towed his portable studio for many summers, his passion for glass and, more often than not, his love of music, made him much beloved.  Always an opinionated storyteller, Clark could talk your ear off given the chance.  He will be missed.

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Clark Guettel demonstrating glassblowing on Bloor Street East in Toronto

Nancy Schnarr also reflects on our community in this issue of Contemporary Canadian Glass, looking at the history of glass education in the country.  Her essay originally appeared as part of the recent Glass Factor exhibition catalogue, as was Christian Singer’s curatorial essay.  We thank the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery for permission to share these pieces with you.

While these days are staying light a little longer, the temperature keeps reminding me we have a long way to go yet.  And so it seems appropriate to spread a little warmth from south of the equator with Marcela Rosemberg sharing her warm glass experiences in Buenos Aires.  For more on the warmth down under, the 15^th biennial Ausglass Conference, Peripheral Vision, has just finished in Sydney, Australia.  Andrew Lavery has shared his conference paper with us, in which he succinctly outlines the issues being considered during the conference; issues which are also familiar concerns to the glass community here in Canada.

And while I have you thinking about community, I’d like to remind you to please participate in this conversation.  If you have something to say about the articles you read please use the comment section below the article to post your thoughts.  Or if you think you have something you would like to share in an article I would suggest you read Kate Tippin’s article on how to write well for the web, also in this issue.  Submission guidelines for Contemporary Canadian Glass can be found here.

Analytics for the GAAC website are revealing thousands of visits a month, with a large majority of those visits going to the artist’s directory.  I encourage you once again to get some images up on your profile page if you have not already and to add a link from it to your own website if you have one.  If you do have your own site, consider providing a link back to the GAAC site.  All this stuff works better when you participate, just like community.

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Début d’année mouvementé

Par Brad Copping

J’ai la sensation d’avoir débuté cette nouvelle année sur les chapeaux de roues. Pour la première fois depuis longtemps, nous avons du faire tourner le four pendant la période des fêtes. Et bien que mes divers engagements veillent à me garder le nez dans le guidon et sous pression, le décès récent de Clark me fait relever la tête et prendre un moment pour réfléchir à nouveau à ce que signifie notre communauté.

Clark fut l’un des premiers diplômés du programme d’arts verriers développé il y a peu au sein de l’Ecole des Arts et du Design du Collège Sheridan à Mississauga, en Ontario. Souffleur de verre pendant 38 ans, il était devenu un mentor et une source d’inspiration pour bon nombre de jeunes et de moins jeunes à la recherche de leur propre voie. Que ce soit dans l’un de ses trois ateliers privés ou à l’Ecole des Arts d’Haliburton du Collège Flemming où il avait pour habitude d’installer son atelier portatif durant plusieurs étés, sa passion pour le verre ainsi que souvent pour la musique ont fait de lui un homme très apprécié. Grand parleur obstiné, il ne manquait pas de nous parler de ses idées à la moindre occasion. Il va bien sûr nous manquer.

Nancy Schnarr réagis elle aussi sur le thème  de notre communauté dans cette édition du Contemporary Canadian Glass (Verre Contemporain Canadien) en se penchant sur l’histoire de l’enseignement du verre dans notre pays. Son texte fut édité dans le catalogue de la récente exposition Glass Factor (Le Facteur Verre), tout comme l’essai rédigé par le conservateur Christian Singer. Nous remercions la Galerie Canadienne de la Poterie et du Verre pour nous avoir autorisés à vous présenter ces articles.

Alors que les jours commencent à se rallonger, la température est là pour me rappeler que l’hiver est bien loin d’être terminé. Le moment semble donc bien choisi pour répandre un peu de chaleur en mentionnant Marcela Rosemberg qui nous fait part de sa chaleureuse expérience du verre à Buenos Aires. Toujours dans l’hémisphère sud, la 15^e conférence biennale Aussglass (Verre Australien) intitulée Peripheral Vision (Vision Périphérique) vient juste de s’achever à Sydney en Australie. Andrew Lavery nous a prêté ses notes de conférence dans lesquelles il souligne brièvement les questions qui y furent traitées et qui sont bien souvent similaires à celles que nous rencontrons ici au sein de notre communauté verrière canadienne.

A propos de la communauté, j’en profite pour vous rappeler à ne pas hésiter à participer à cet échange. Si vous souhaitez nous faire part de votre avis sur les articles que vous lisez, déposez un commentaire à l’endroit prévu sous cet article pour écrire vos pensées. Si vous avez envie de rédiger un article et de nous en faire profiter, je vous suggère de lire l’écrit de Kate Tippin sur comment bien écrire pour internet. Les instructions pour proposer des articles à Contemporary Canadian Glass peuvent être lues ici.

Les études nous montrent que vous êtes des milliers à visiter notre site web chaque mois, la plupart afin d’y consulter l’annuaire des artistes. Je vous encourage donc une fois de plus à ajouter des photos à votre profil si ce n’est déjà fait et à y mettre le lien pour accéder à votre site personnel lorsque vous en possédez un. Dans le cas où vous n’en auriez pas, vous pouvez par exemple le remplacer par un lien menant au site internet du GAAC. Tout cela fonctionne bien mieux lorsque l’on s’y met tous en tant que communauté.

By Sally McCubbin

Here Today Gone Tomorrow, 2010 by artist Sally McCubbin installed at Earlscourt and St. Clair Ave., Toronto –for more on the project visit www.sallymccubbin.com

In 2008, the City of Toronto in partnership with the Toronto Transit Commission invited artists to apply for the St. Clair Avenue West Transit Improvements Public Art Program. The initiative was to provide visual art for the then almost-completed light rail transit line along St. Clair Avenue West in Toronto. The streetcar stops to be adorned with art panels would extend from Yonge St. to Keele St., making up a 6.2 km stretch of public art.

When I was approached about applying for the project, I was a resident in the glass studio at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre and my career was focused on that. The idea of making large public works wasn’t on the radar, but the conditions seemed right:

• I grapple with making art that is affordable and available to so few.
• I am a wholehearted supporter of the transit initiatives in my city.
• My work surrounds social commentary and I liked that it could live in the context it reflects.

Although I didn’t know how I would produce glasswork large enough (or safe enough) to meet the 3 foot by 40 foot criteria, I applied.

* * *

Corridor, 2010 by artists Jane and Kathryn Irwin installed at Glenholme and St. Clair Ave., Toronto

On a blustery winter day, about a half an hour late for the meeting, I burst into a North Toronto conference room snowy and out of breath … I had had car trouble. I was there for the project briefing, to understand better the scope of the project so that I could propose a design to be considered for inclusion into the transit line installation. This was stage two. All those that attended were very calm and collected. Many artists had brought an associate and the slideshow had already begun. About a minute after my inelegant arrival my cell phone rang, shredding the silence again. I spent the rest of the meeting acting invisible.

This memory, from over two years ago, is so vivid to me because of the inferiority I felt. To say I was nervous would be putting it mildly. Regardless of who was sitting around that table, arts-cultural-folklore had taught me that they were advanced in their artistic practices, had more experience and therefore more artistic merit and vocabulary than I.

Was I too unqualified to be there? If not, why did I feel that way?

Flatspace, 2010 by artist Sara Graham installed at Winona and St. Clair Ave., Toronto

I’ll skip to the end of the story, both to save you from the details of the next couple years and also to make my point. As it turned out, I was qualified to be there. I was awarded one commission on my own and a second commission for a collaborative design with Aaron Oussoren. We have since completed the projects, the pieces are installed along St. Clair Avenue and all twenty-five works by the city’s photographers, multi-media artists, metal and glass artists, painters and sculptors look great.

My question remains, why was I so intimidated? Why does the realm of public art reek of hierarchical greatness?

Meeting, 2010 by artist Panya Clark Espinal installed at Dunvegan and St. Clair Ave., Toronto

The GAAC conference in Montreal this past May was filled with artist lecturers who make their careers as public installation artists or have received periodic public commissions. Among their assortment of project types, scales, locations and varying degrees of success, I noticed some thematic congruencies from lecture to lecture:

• All the presenters are established artists and, having had long careers of making their work by way of personal mandate, each showed distaste for the commissioning criteria and selection process.
• As a common rule, it was agreed by most that an aspiring public artist must have previous large-scale/public experience to be selected for a subsequent project, which is a discouraging double-edged sword.
• And, finally, I noticed signs of disinterest for second, third or mid-career projects that may have been less stimulating for the artist. This apathy is sometimes evident in the work’s overall success.

It seems to me, in the greater context of public art, that in many cases mature artists are simply ‘graduating’ into the realm of large public art projects.  Are juries looking for visual artists with a long history and a reputation, or are they looking for qualities that fit the criteria presented for the project? Probably a combination of the three, but does that make sense? Could Canada’s art in public spaces be more engaging and treasured if new and unusual talent was a criteria? Where does the artistic integrity end and the addiction to a large, reliable, paycheque begin?

Scenic Route, 2010 by artist Carlo Cesta installed at Avenue and St. Clair Ave., Toronto

I ask these questions in the spirit of discourse.

In my own story, concerning my selection I’ve considered the following possibilities. Perhaps the TTC and the city did have the initiative to hire new and emerging talent, as I was not the only “newcomer” among the artists commissioned. Perhaps it was difficult to find glass artists who could make work to fit the safety and structural limitations of their project. Or, perhaps it was simply the quality of my work.

One Among Many, 2010 by artists Sally McCubbin and Aaron Oussoren installed at Arlington and St. Clair Ave., Toronto –for more on the project visit www.sallymccubbin.com

I poured my heart (and brain) into the design and I have to believe that that is why they selected my proposal. So for anyone interested in making art for a public forum, if you feel your work suits such an audience and surroundings you don’t need a foot in the door, previous experience, or a reputation … you need to be passionate about the work you dream up and the reasons you need to make it.  As always.

Sally McCubbin is Managing Editor of Contemporary Canadian Glass and  is also an instructor at Sheridan College. She recently opened a studio of 12 artists in Toronto, called Elevator Art Lab. Sally is passionate about thoughtful design and created a company entitled Timid Glass Toronto with partner Aaron Oussoren that reflects this enthusiasm as well as their shared interest in environmentalism and conservationism.

By: Kate Tippin

Having a website in this day and age is critical. If you don’t have one, stop reading this article and go get one. If you do have one, chances are you are spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to put on it.

Since most artists are not trained writers, even if you do have a great looking website, you may be losing web traffic, potential buyers, or gallery gigs because you are not effectively writing for the web.

Writing for the web and web magazines is very different from writing an essay for school, a proposal for funding, or a marketing brochure. To help ensure readers will actually read what you’re putting on your website, or your GAAC web magazine article, here are 10 tips to better web writing:

1. 1.      Know your audience

One of the first rules of good communications is to know your audience and to write specifically for them.

Before you created your website, you probably thought about the type of audience with which you were trying to engage (e.g. people with an interest in glass art, people with an interest in stained glass art, wholesale buyers, etc). Keep this in mind when you write a news item, bio, artist statement, etc. for your website.

Regardless of who you created your website for, you should also know who is frequenting your site. If you haven’t signed up for Google Analytics yet, do it now. This handy website tells you who is visiting your site, in which country and city they live, and so much more. Best of all, it’s free.

1. 2.      Write a catchy headline
   This is your first opportunity to: (1) interrupt,  (2) engage, (3) educate, and (4) provide an opportunity for the reader to discover more information. 

You need to interrupt the reader for a split second – just long enough to notice your headline. Your headline then needs to engage readers long enough that they read the entire headline. Next, your headline should provide new information to the reader, or educate the reader. Lastly, it needs to provide an opportunity to get more information (e.g. URL to the gallery opening, URL to an article with more information).

Consider writing a sub-headline as well. This gives you the opportunity to be more creative with your headline and provide more information in your sub-headline. Here’s an example from Macleans magazine:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/01/12/grandma-uncle-frank-peter-mansbridge/ 

            The main headline is:

Grandma, Uncle Frank and Peter Mansbridge

                                And, the sub-headline is:

CBC tackles the big questions of 2011 with an exclusive panel made up of my relatives

This headline employs all four of the basic elements of good marketing, mentioned earlier: (1) it interrupted me long enough to (2) engage me and make me want to read more. (3) The sub-headline educated me, letting me know what the main headline was talking about and (4) the Macleans magazine website gave me a link to the article, allowing me to discover more.

1. 3.      Use bullets, numbered lists, italics, bold, or subheadings to break up text.

If you are writing an article, bio, or artist statement that is longer than 500 words, it is critical to break up the text into smaller chunks; this will make longer pieces of text much more readable.

Using bullets, numbered lists, italics and bold helps break up your text and make it seem like fewer words.

Including subheadings in your longer articles will help readers see that you were thoughtful of their time and of their tired eyes and will encourage them to keep reading.

1. Use the inverted pyramid for your news items

Have you ever noticed that when you read a newspaper article, you can often read the first two paragraphs and know what the article is all about? This is because journalists use a style called the inverted pyramid.

The inverted pyramid style places the most important information in the first paragraphs of the story. This includes the: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

This simple writing convention allows your readers – some of whom may not have a lot of time to spend reading your entire article – to quickly understand what you are trying to tell them.

1. Include links to other sources.

The Google search engine likes when websites link to other websites. It seems to tell Google that your website is more relevant in the world and increases your rank in Google when people search for you (for the next magazine, I’ll write an article about how to increase your Google ranking – and why you should care about this).

The best way to do this is to embed the link directly on the “keyword” to which you are linking.  See the hyperlink used in this tip and in tip #4 for an example.

Never use “click here for more information”. This clutters your site, insults savvy web users, and can count against you in Google rankings.

1. Write like you talk (and start talking like a writer!).

The benefit of web writing is that it tends to be less formal. A common rule of thumb for web writing is to write like you talk. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use accurate grammar and spelling.

Furthermore, you should always use best practices in writing, such as using the active voice. However, you can have more fun with web writing and web magazine articles. Add your personality and have fun.

Examples:

Passive
This newest line of artwork was made by a Vancouver-based glass artist who attended Sheridan.

Active

A Vancouver-based glass artist and graduate of Sheridan made this new line of artwork.

Passive

The 2010 RBC Award for Glass was awarded to Rachael Wong.

Active

Rachael Wong receives the 2010 RBC Award for Glass.

Tip: Active writing follows the following formula: subject of sentence acts upon something (whereas in the passive voice the subject is being acted upon). Typically, the active voice also uses fewer words.

1. Keep it short.

How long is your attention span when reading something on your computer screen? While computers are getting better, computer screens cause eyestrain and fatigue in a similar way to reading a small-print book in low light. Not to mention, most computer users have a fairly short attention span. We want small chunks of information and we want it to be easy to read. So, why would you put something on your website, or write an article in any other way?

For web writing, aim for 500 words or less. Use short paragraphs with one idea per paragraph, one or two sentences long. If your article is longer, please read tips #3 and #4 to help make your longer article more readable.

If you copy and paste this article into Word and go to Tools > Word Count, you’ll notice it certainly exceeds my own suggested word count. However, using subheadings, bold, italics, and a numbered list, it doesn’t feel like 1,392 words, does it? That is four full pages in Microsoft Word.

1. Double-check everything.

Sure, the web can be changed immediately; but, this doesn’t mean you should make mistakes. There’s a website called the Wayback Machine that keeps a snapshot of your website (try it! Enter www.glassartcanada.ca and have a look at the past GAAC websites).

The more mistakes you have on your website – spelling, grammar, factual errors – the less credibility you will have overall.

1. 9.      Websites are not a one-way communication tool.
   If your website doesn’t invite your readers to engage with you in some way, you are making a mistake. Website visitors want to interact and engage with you in some way.  Here are a few examples: link to your professional Facebook page or Twitter page, enable a comments feature on photo albums of your artwork or on videos that you post.

10. If you have relevant images and videos, include them!

There’s no excuse these days for not including a relevant image, video, sound clip, photo album, or something that helps make your article less flat. No one wants to read a 500-word article without relevant images on an artist’s website.

Including relevant images, videos, sound clips, etc. might take a few minutes of thought, but it will be worth it. You’ll provide a much more rich and engaging experience for your readers.

Seminars in the Studio of Rita Neumann

December 3-5, 2010

By Marcela Rosemberg 

I would like to share with you my feelings and thoughts about bringing my first international seminars on glass to the city where I was born and lived all my life until the day I emigrated to Canada 7 years ago.  As they were conducted in the studio of my mentor, Rita Neumann, I’d also like to talk about her influence on my career in kilnforming.

The two seminars, with a total of seventeen artists, were sponsored by Spectrum Glass Co.  In these, I talked about the technical, aesthetic characteristics and  possibilities System 96 (Uroboros Glass and Spectrum Glass Company) has to offer.  I explained the story that led me to start discovering the fluidity of this glass giving a special effect with suggestive movements.

Seminar Participants, photo: Marcela Rosemberg

The interaction was the key. Technical discussions and power point presentations about the characteristics of the glasses encouraged participants to expand their ideas. I also talked about surfaces, designs, coefficients of expansion, compatibility, deformation, motion and its variants. Temperatures for different types of firings were a major subject of consultation.  Both 3mm clear and colored glass were used to develop unique designs.  Once projects were completed and the kiln was opened, we saw the magical transformation of this glass which allows itself to go very deep one into the other.

As a second activity, I taught extrapolation from one language to another.  A piece of fabric with a design brought by the participants was chosen to transport its language visually to glass.

On the last day we analyzed the experience as a whole. One touching moment was when each participant introduced him/herself to the group accompanied by a power point presentation expressing their feelings and what they felt was accomplished for them in that seminar.  Everyone felt the seminar was full of personal discoveries.

I wanted to conduct this seminar with the artist who many years ago first gave me the tools to develop my art. She was more than a hostess. I felt that no time at all had passed by; that our bond is still the same, based on mutual respect and admiration.

It was the year 2000 when I met Rita. I remember the old studio and a triptych piece of clear bas relief glass that, lying on a shelf, caught my attention.  Because of that single, influential piece, I now focus on working with clear glass.

Box casting by Rita Neumann, photo: Marcela Rosemberg

At the seminar, Rita mentioned to me that her fond memory went back to the two long years, a decade ago, when I came regularly to study in her studio. She says that today she sees me and remembers the freshness, the predisposition and desire to know, together with my ceaseless smile.  She knows that I have found in Prince Edward Island the place to flourish and develop my daily work, further my education and continue to create with the same pleasure and thoroughness that characterizes me.  Having me with her again in Argentina showed her that there is no change in my identity, but that I’ve grown and continue to grow.  That gives both of us great satisfaction.

Rita is not only a great artist but a great teacher because she transmits her skills and knowledge to her students with a special language and human quality. I always point out that she gave me, and is still giving me, the best of her … in those days she gave me a soft kick to help me to fly. And here I am flying and trying, as Jonathan Livingston Seagull, to maintain a steady flight. Of course there were and still are ups and downs.

Her choice of glass as a material was probably due to her curiosity about the process that leads to making a product.  Coming from painting where you see an immediate result, in glass at first everything is a surprise and then, over time, the alchemy of the material takes you to further research including running more and more technical risks to achieve an image. Rita believes that its inherent beauty, light and transparency, and its fragility makes us learn to treat it gently.

It was at this time that Rita went through different techniques, constantly changing according to what she wanted to express.  She began with modeling clay and proceeded to learn the long process of mold-making for glass casting.  When she wanted to make “absent” male and female bodies she cast glass in the shape of clothes with no body.  It was the missing shape that suggested the human body.  She then used clothes as sculpture in relief technique, which she believed transferred the idea better.  These appeared as shirts with flying ties and petticoats.

Rita believes that the work of an artist is never completed without the other’s gaze.  Allowing the creator’s feelings and emotions to touch another person’s sensitivity is the most important and fascinating thing about this language.

Glass has been the key for me to start living in beautiful Prince Edward Island but I always look back to my beautiful Argentina and my great friend and mentor there, Rita Neumann.  Together, Rita and I plan to bring to Canada a seminar to teach a unique technique in sculptural pieces sometime in July-August 2011.

Marcela Rosemberg immigrated to Prince Edward Island from Argentina in 2003, where she now lives and works.  Color, beauty, simplicity, elegance and functionality are key components of her designs. In her studio she is always looking for that mix of colors and textures that leads to each carefully designed piece. Nature, the sea, and her Jewish faith are all avenues of expression for her work.  You can check out her work at www.marcelarosemberg.com.  Rita Neumann’s work can be seen at www.ritaneumann.com.ar.

Marcela recalls that the temperature was 35C the day she left Argentina; Canada was at –24C on the day she landed.  Despite this and other challenges, she says that little by little she is settling in, as Canada is a country where she feels she can reach her goals.

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By Dave Lazzarino

It is often easy to take for granted what goes into making a work of art. Sure, the raw talent and fine basic ingredients to create something unique and artful are sometimes assumed. But any successful artisan will tell you, one of the most important elements to creation is far less exciting: patience. And a pair of glass workers in Windermere have got that virtue down to a science.

Julie Gibb and Gordon Webster of Sandpiper Studio began their careers in different places; Gord in Calgary and Julie in Toronto, both in the late ’90s. They met in Toronto and after living in the city for three years decided to come back to the Columbia Valley to share a slower kind of existence. And if things couldn’t get much slower, that’s when the waiting began.

The two decided to build their shop just off Kootenay Rd. #3 in Windermere. The building construction itself took about a year followed by the equipment, both prefabricated and specially-made, which took up the next year. Of course, any new shop, particularly one that specializes in the delicate art of glass-blowing, has its finer details to work out.

Now, after all of that, the two seem relatively relaxed in their shop. Perhaps because earlier this month, they held an open house with some of their pieces on display, offering a finished product for their hard work.

“The opening was great for that,” said Julie.  “Often the shop’s kind of a mess and there’s so much that actually goes into the work.”

Gord agreed. “It’s pretty easy to lose sight of whether you’re accomplishing something at all,” he said, adding that it could get frustrating when the planning stages began to take so long that he questioned whether he remembered how to make the works at all.

Julie Gibb's whimsical enameled functional ware

The two work together to produce a lot of their pieces. Gord’s include larger bowls and vases. They incorporate swirling patterns and space-age shapes with natural forms fused to them and sandblasted to expose underlying surprises of colour. They balance the delicate nature of any piece of translucent glass with a very bright and fun presence, giving a finished look like candied soap bubbles.

Julie has incorporated silkscreening to create decals that are later fired onto the glass to add fun and interesting designs to smaller pieces like cups and glasses.

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“I’m interested in more functional work,” she said, “more production oriented.”  Between the two, they offer a range of pieces for those interested in everything from a showpiece to a functional drinking glass. They do have a showroom in the front of their shop in Windermere. However, Julie and Gord prefer to have their work in galleries as sales can be a difficult thing to deal with when handling molten glass that can get as hot as 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. From the furnace, objects have more and more added to them slowly. They move back and forth between furnace and workstations to work the objects into different shapes. Finished pieces are added to another storage area where the temperature is brought down slowly to avoid cracking and warping.  “It’s got to be not so hot that it will slump on you in the kiln and not so cold that it will crack,” explained Gord of the delicate balance when working with the material. The process can take many days just to produce one piece.  All this time-consuming effort and patience seems to be working for the couple, who admit that they must be gluttons for it. And with two young kids to take care of along with their work they are certainly pushing their abilities.  “Some days I think we’ve totally lost our minds,” said Julie with a laugh. Of course the proof that they are handling it well is in the exquisite pieces of art they have to show for their work.  Anyone interested in seeing both Gord’s and Julie’s work can find some of it at Artym Gallery in Invermere or contact Darryl Crane at reporter2@invermerevalleyecho.com or 250.342.9216.

By Christian Bernard Singer, Curator, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

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Fire and flame – heat, combustion, and sweat. Like one possessed, the artist’s muse, fury, and obsession merge to commune with the scowling rays of intense heat – not a place for the timid. Into the belly of the tank – a cradle of the beginning and end of time – the artist dips the blowpipe to gather the honey-like substance with its colour of white gold. Shaping the translucent liquid into an egg, a human breath awakens life in the form of a bubble. Whether the glass blower works alone or enlists the help of others in a choreographed ballet of master, aides, and apprentices, the creative possibilities are just beginning. Either way, the making is an act of exploration, curiosity, courage, love, and a testament to the artist’s responsive oneness with the material.

Most glass artists first experience the medium by learning how to centre the glass on a blowpipe and blowing that first bubble. It is akin to learning how to centre a ball of clay on the wheel and pulling that first successful vessel. Not only do both require a mastering of skills that date back thousands of years but they must eventually find ways to make the medium their own.

The creation and manufacture of glass objects throughout history has required invention, discovery, and development of numerous techniques and processes dictated by desire, intent, or necessity. These include blowing, casting, slumping, cutting, grinding, polishing, and engraving. There are many more we know about and yet many more we have yet to discover. However, it is important to note that the material itself comes out of the technological appropriation from the worlds of ceramics and metals – unabashed pilfering in fact – it is like ceramics without the clay where the glaze is its own supporting body.

This exhibition shares in a part of this continuous creative journey by some of Canada’s best and most interesting pioneering glass artists working today. The works in this exhibition represent a stunning array of technical and aesthetic approaches to working with glass from such hot processes as blowing, hot-forming, slumping, and various casting methods to cold-working processes such as cutting, grinding, tumbling, etching, and assemblage. Many of the works also incorporate other materials and practices such as metals, bronze and aluminium casting, stone, multimedia, digital media, and installation.

The physical essence of glass being composed of quartz silica sand, the medium has a built-in connection to geological time and to the natural world. Therefore, many of the artists in this exhibition instinctively and consciously reference time, place, science, and nature. Although an enduring material, glass is also fragile, precious, and luminous, leading others to explore notions psychological and emotional factors related to the human experience.

GLASS FACTOR: Luminaries in the Canadian Art Glass Scene presents works by Brad Copping, Laura Donefer, Susan Edgerley, Alfred Engerer, Irene Frolic, Catherine Hibbits, David James, Michèle Lapointe, Lou Lynn, Francis Muscat, Susan Rankin, Donald Robertson, John Paul Robinson, Tyler Rock, Karl Schantz, Orest Tataryn, Ione Thorkelsson, and Koen Vanderstukken. Additional works by Daniel Crichton, Lisette Lemieux, Kevin Lockau, Peter Powning, Tim Whiten, and others are also presented thanks to the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery’s growing Permanent Collection.

An avid gardener who tends several gardens, Susan Rankin celebrates the beauty of gardens and flowers in her functional blown glass vases draped with leaves, vines, and flowers. Like a living organism at the end of a blowpipe, it is as if she empowers and tends to a sort of organic growth while hot working. Often incorporating coiled rims and feet that frame and ground the action throughout the body of the vase, the finished work is so luscious and jewel-like that its purpose as a functional object can seem redundant as living flowers are not required to complete it. Rankin also cautions about the garden’s propensity for overabundance, which can overpower the senses and dull our ability to mine the details. In fact, sometimes a garden or even wild nature requires an element to ground the eye so that human perception can rise to increased awareness. Her outdoor solid-worked glass and pipe Garden Columns resemble totems that take on different characteristics as they harness the varying qualities of natural seasonal light. As land art sculptures that react to the wind by swaying gently like a small grove of bamboo trees, they also act like markers and provide human scale to a site in a way that quietly grants an entry point for deeper cognizance.

Laura Donefer is fabulously wild – she is like a witch doctor who goes into the forest to sensually and lustfully commune with nature with her very core and emerges with potions and talismans to encourage reconnections with our inner wildness. She says: “working with molten glass is like dancing the magma right out of the earth. It is hot and dangerous, and it feels like I am making love with the very essence of creation.”[i] Donefer’s early sculptural works should be read as a series of self-portraits that encompass surprising combinations of colour, form, and a wide array of materials. In her own oral representations of her works, the links between her life experience and the final sculptural works are unmistakable. The subsequent Witch Pot series continued her unique combination and are as self-revealing as one may have come to expect of the artist. For her colleagues, students, and friends, the works and the artist are virtually identical when considering Laura’s sense of style and colour, boundless energy, and the countless connections and possibilities that she has created within, and for, her chosen community since the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, the integration of nature takes a different course as John Paul Robinson creates his own mythologies to understand the world around him as well as his own place in that world. Looking for personal resonance by creating metaphorical symbols from scientific explanations of the natural world (such as waves, time, and flight), Robinson tries to make sense of explanations, which remain elusive in his own personal experience. For instance, in the time it has taken you to read this paragraph, the planet has sped unfathomable distances through space yet our gravitational pull to the planet makes this imperceptible. In other words, the artist says: “While the idea that the earth is the still centre of our universe may no longer be believable to the mind, it still holds sway in the stomach.”[ii]

Brad Copping also looks for ways to “reaffirm his ties to the natural world”[iii] and his connection to, and place in, a world “where change is the only constant.”[iv] His blown glass and multi-media works are like meditative pathways toward the stilled alertness that is required in order to fully access the present. While spending time with and comparing various works within his larger oeuvre, one begins to notice that between the physical inception and the possible or intended final physical form of his works, he recognizes and isolates possible moments where expectation can be thwarted. This interplay of intent and accident recalls the quote made famous by John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” and Copping seems to consciously invite these ‘happenings’ during his creative process. His work is like an observation on ephemeral impermanence where everything is in constant state of change and that these changes are natural and necessary. As in life, the work is about finding balance and acceptance, while flowing along and through change.

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Alfred Enger, Neon

Alfred Engerer’s idea of nature includes both natural and urban landscapes. He makes relationships between the body and the natural landscape as well as the body living in human constructed communities and cities. After being amazed at the sheer exquisiteness of nature, a building, or a human-made found object, it is the very architecture of the form that intrigues him – the way that the thing was made, designed, or how it occupies or might exist in a given space. Were it not for the lure of glass, it is possible that Engerer might have been an architect. His sculptural forms are like buildings, temples, or shrines – there is always a sense of balance, space, ‘intentionalism,’ and something sacred in their timelessness. One of the principal founders of the now defunct guerrilla arts collective “Skunkworks / Outlaw Neon,” Engerer’s interests also translate well into his hand-blown neon installations but he integrates what feels like a fourth dimension. Mixing in various colours while blowing and pulling his tubes, he achieves brilliant results rarely associated with neon work. As his tubes undulate and spread like acrobats through a given site-specific space, you get the sense of being witness to a dazzling sequence of events. These installations call to mind images of light dancers, or perhaps stars and spirits travelling through a night sky. Lately, he has been re-using some of his tubes and slumping and fusing them onto ceramic tiles in what could be best described as glass paintings. However, there is nothing static about these wall works in which numerous dimensions seem compressed down to a two-dimensional image. When spending time with these ‘paintings,’ a fleeting moment of vertigo sets in as new dimensions come alive and one is drawn into and through a universe of lines, blobs, textures, and colours.

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Francis Muscat’s organic architectural mixed-media sculptures reflect the artist’s love of beauty and design while conveying a sense of geological or archaeological narrative. Speaking of the innate harmonious connection between glass and stone, Muscat sees “a relationship there that is metaphysical; one comes to and goes from the other.”[v] Whether working with kiln-casting, fusing, cold-working or a combination of several techniques, Muscat prefers to preserve an element of mystery and surprise for the viewer by subduing “its polished quality to take advantage of its translucent qualities”[vi] while employing an openness to using a variety of media in his work. For example, his Small House sculptures that rise like obelisks, feature cast glass houses resting atop striated layers of glass, stone, and other materials denoting time-passing, whether within the house as its occupants alter its interior, or through exposing the archaeological layers of our forbearers who once lived at yet undiscovered depths beneath the house.

Lou Lynn creates sculptural works that are inspired by the design and use of implements and objects that are inspired by architecture, archaeology, and industry throughout the history of humankind. During an archaeological dig, anthropologists can tell us more about how an ancient society lived by trying to make sense of the tools they used. However, it is the structural form and shape of a given tool that determines its use which most intrigues her. Bringing these ideas into glass and metal sculptures, her contemporary forms provide a sort of conundrum for the viewer. As tools, they seem impractical no matter what their mysterious purpose. Rather, they evoke the possibility of ancient and undiscovered architecture, sacred devices, and even perhaps non-earthly contraptions.

Additional interpretations of these ideas are found in the ‘pate de verre’ cast glass forms by Donald Robertson. He describes his interests as “revealing the links between ideas and their visible manifestations, transitional moments of balance in energy and matter, thought and action. They are expressed using the visual power of material and form, often making reference to mythology, history, and natural science.[vii]”  An inventive artist with an alchemical predisposition, he celebrates the mysterious properties of glass that allow both the interior and exterior shapes of his sculptures to co-exist, inform, and reflect each other when light dances through its facets and thicknesses. Robertson brings his full presence in his observation of the natural world while exploring symbolic transcendence, which adds multiple layers of meaning to his work. For instance, in Ripple (2009) he suggests the movement and lapping of water, and in Moon Shadow (2010), he interprets the phases of the moon and its perceived cyclical effects on the planet and its inhabitants.

Donald Robertson, Ripple

The celebration of pureness and simplicity of form is also found in the luminous cast glass sculptures by David James. Working with optical glass or lead crystal, James plays with our perceptions of mass and solidity. Where the exterior form of Portal invites the eye to pass through, when activated by light, the piece becomes translucent and another doorway is revealed. James also masterfully populates some of the interiors of his sculptures with veiling and bubbles with which he conjures up effervescent wisps of new dimensions – worlds full of energy and movement where one might perceive astrological bodies or celestial beings dancing through time and space.

Ione Thorkelsson’s recent work, a series of cast glass skeletal busts resembling unfamiliar hybrid species speaks to alternate kinds of self-awareness, of loss, mortality, and possibility. With the onslaught of global warming, would it not be plausible that numerous species would eventually need to adapt to new environments? Might other species evolve into consciously self-aware beings? Might unwelcome environmental change later be seen as the dawning of a lost paradise to those far into the future? Gathering bones, skulls, and other natural elements near her home on an ancient escarpment in Manitoba, Thorkelsson moves back and forth through geological and evolutionary time to present her version of what could be or might have been. Taking inspiration from nature and its inhabitants, yet considering the potential for mutability and change, her forms are “poetic investigations into the science of evolution and the spirituality of existence,”[viii] and through her direction, the viewer might contemplate the same.

For Catherine Hibbits the notion of landscape spreads across many different worlds but she is most especially interested in the intersection of landscapes between nature, humanity, and their discovery. Wild nature and its grand design exists regardless of human existence and cognizance but it is the conscious presence that humanity brings to observation, recognition, and appreciation that makes nature beautiful because humans have the ability to understand their own part within a larger whole. Whereas the bee is attracted to the flower for its colour and shape and its promise of nectar, humans are drawn to the flower because of its precious, delicate, arresting colour, and ethereal scent – the flower powerfully awakens meaning and yet it is through the senses that we first appreciate it. We cross-project both the beauty and form of the body onto the landscape and back again. From the land, we gain our sustenance and after the Great Return, we are consigned to it. As long as post-modern societies continue to deny this connection, we will continue to pillage and be strangers to our birthright – the land. Hibbits’s blown glass forms, that conjure images of water flowing over rocks and stones or her hot-formed iconic silhouettes, take us back to that moment of contemplative and experiential appreciation that speaks to the beauty, preciousness, fragility, and balance in all that is living..

Moving to more existential questions are Susan Edgerley’s flame-worked glass and multi-media sculptures and installations that explore ideas about the complexity of living, being, and feeling. The works acknowledge human fragility yet searches for ways to transcend limitations without judgement – recalling the state of molten glass the shines and glows through the light while still in the fire.  She compares glass with the human condition and elaborates by saying: “with its enticing transparency yet solid impregnability, it remains a seductive and elusive medium full of contradictions.”[ix] In its hot form, it is fluid and malleable. When cool, it is resilient yet fragile – opaque, colourful, translucent, or completely transparent yet full of depth. Glass can act like a lens or reflect multiple views, speaking of the one or the group, of the individual or the community, and of the potential mirroring of each other thereby underlying “the complexity of human existence.”[x]

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Meanwhile, Michèle Lapointe and Irene Frolic boldly explore the darker parts of human experience where haunting memories tell stories of the Sacrificial Innocents to evil. Lapointe interprets the fluctuating and fleeting memories of little girls subjected to sexual abuse and rape. In one of the works from her installation entitled Contes muets (Silent Tales),[xi] she references the horrors of priests abusing children. The sculpture is composed of a glass pillow that rests atop a box filled with found objects and photographs of broken dolls, walls, garbage, and graffiti representing lost innocence, place, devaluation, disregard, and filth. The glass pillow distorts the composition below and one must look through the pillow at varying angles in order to get the full picture. Likewise, Irene Frolic’s earlier work speaks of her own childhood experience as a Holocaust survivor during which her and her mother narrowly escaped being murdered at the hands of the Nazis. These opaque, highly textured, and scarred kiln cast sculptures of a downcast face resting on a solid neck seem caught in a moment of expressionless contemplation, fear, and terror, yet they remain powerfully present by Frolic’s surface treatments that suggest the weathered traces of life experience. Frolic says that “somehow this whole idea of glass and fires of annihilation and the fires in the kiln and everything – it just took hold of me and held me gently and fiercely for almost ten years while I worked through certain things in my work.”[xii] In these works, she was making associations between the psychology of the human face and the geological narrative of the Canadian landscape. However, in her more recent work she uses colour, light, and beauty to celebrate the inner force that prevails imperviously deep below the scars.

Tyler Rock and Karl Schantz explore the vessel from an architectural perspective while shunning functionality. Previously the Studio Master at Sheridan College’s glass studio, Karl Schantz developed and led a glass arts program at the Ontario College of Art (OCAD University) in 1981. This glass studio was noted for its open approach and acceptance, encouragement to artists, craftspeople, and designers from the college’s myriad disciplines and beyond (of which this writer benefited). This environment was credited with the nourishment and the career development, both initially and ongoing, of many glass practitioners, many of who are still in active glass practice. Schantz’s own practice was initially functionally based as he explored technical and aesthetic precedence in historic works. Given his inherent preferences and interests, it was inevitable that he would co-opt, adapt, and reinterpret the widespread contemporary movements of abstraction, Pop Art, and design as amply demonstrated in his multi-media asymmetrical colourful constructions. In contrast but bearing the artist’s stylistic hallmark, his other works made of blown and cut glass and assembled Vitrolite, reveal his fascination with ancient Egyptian and Aztec architecture where “the amalgamation of past, present, and future apparent in these structures creates a universal or timeless quality.”[xiii] Schantz’s works represented in this exhibition, although autonomous pieces, might also be interpreted or perceived as models or dioramas for full-scale live-in applications for the built environment.

Tyler Rock is perhaps the finest master glass blower that Canada has to offer. In his artist statement, he talks about the ‘edge’ as being a place where “ideas about limits and connections, boundaries and frontiers meet”[xiv] and goes on to explain that he has always been “drawn to the point where the forest meets meadow or where water meets land.”[xv] This is an important place because ideas and concepts arise from being observant with a stilled mind and this is so in Rock’s work where the edge becomes contemplative and revealing. Like a call to prayer, his vessel sculptures resemble turrets from an ancient Indian temple or a Buddhist monastery – mirrored by a calm body of water and acting like directional portals to worlds above and below.

Previously working as a Toronto fire fighter, Orest Tataryn’s passion for light was awakened during an experience while at the scene of a major fire. In the environment of heat and smoke-filled compartments with sagging glass windows in motion, he saw a neon sign that was still lit, swinging, and still readable through the smoky haze. Learning about neon in his spare time, he eventually co-founded the now disbanded guerrilla art collective “Skunkworks / Outlaw Neon. Since then, his explorations have included neon colour field assemblies, mixed media sculptures, and installations, all of which consciously incorporate the Fibonacci Sequence (also known as the golden ratio, divine proportion, golden mean).[xvi] This mathematical principle found in art, design, the natural world, and many other areas is based on the premise that humans are intuitively drawn to a certain proportional ratio that is considered most aesthetically pleasing. Ultimately, his Minimalist light sculptures and wall works incorporate ideas of balance, proportion, and spatial (or sensory) transformation through light. Tataryn says “with light, there is always a second factor and that factor is colour.”[xvii] Creating theatre, illusion, and magic with light, shadow, and colour for over twenty years, Tataryn has become an all-encompassing artist of light.

Koen Vanderstukken’s works oscillate between revelation and deception. For over twenty years, the artist made cast glass sculptures and wall works with highly textured surfaces where time, perception, and elusiveness were predominant themes in his work. For instance, his Earthborn (1991-2000) works resembled prehistoric statues of a long forgotten civilization while his Faces (2000-2002), a series of monoliths, discs, and seemingly eroded architectural-looking masks evoked the idea of sacred place markers. The Changes series (2002) alluded to time passing, and his Rip series (2003) of fossilized markers or traces. Those works imparted a feeling of stone or ceramic in their opacity but beyond this armour, there remained that seductive glow of glass that might perhaps reference a moment of clarity or truth. In his latest works, Vanderstukken continues to challenge our preconceptions about history, time, and place as turns our focus to the very question of what is reality in his series of interactive sculptures. Living in our own time, we are accustomed to such a barrage of moving images that we forget to question the validity – or reality – of the images in question. In these works, flat mirror-like and transparent monitors are conjoined with interior computer and video components that are neatly sandwiched between sheets of glass. The viewer either can see right through the monitor, have his or her image reflected through additional angled panes of glass, or is able to activate an additional image by viewing the sculpture through common Polaroid sunglasses. Vanderstukken sets up a brilliant scene where viewers become active participants in making distinctions between actual reality, virtual reality, or might question the reality of the image to begin with. As with his earlier works, each sculpture oscillates between futuristic architecture and sacred shrine, except that here glass becomes not only the media, but also the message.

The story of contemporary Canadian glass art is told by the artists who consciously brave the voices of the Sirens to enter a world of danger, seduction, romance, and ecstasy of the medium. Fire the Creator, the Destroyer, and The Purifier, is a fundamental requirement for working with glass but then so are Earth, Water and Air – all original elements of our planet. However, glass comes into being with a Fifth Element: Light. The final appearance or desired reading of the object depends on how the object holds and transmits this essential ingredient. This consideration is controlled through the manipulation of initial chemistry, massing or density, colour, and final surface treatment.

A material that encourages creative collaboration, Alfred Engerer speaks about working with glass as “being trapped in a short or long moment of creation because the medium affords that possibility.”[xviii] These moments are forever frozen in time and the resulting works are the evidence of their existence and passage.

[ii] Robin, Jon Paul. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[iii] Copping, Brad. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[iv] Copping, Brad. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[v] Muscat, Francis. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[vi] Copping, Brad. Francis Muscat: Men and Houses at Pentimento Fine Art. Contemporary Canadian Glass Magazine. Canada: Glass Art Association, March 22, 2010.

[vii] Robertson, Donald. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[viii] Delacretez, Helen. Ione Thorkelsson: Hypothetical Pasts, Constructed Futures. May 1, 2010.

[ix] Edgerley, Susan. From the artist’s statement about her work, 2010.

[x] Edgerley, Susan. From the artist’s statement about her work, 2010.

[xi] Contes muets was exhibited at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery from September 21, 2008 to January 25, 2009

[xii] Geyer, Robert. Interview with Irene Frolic. Transcript from an interview organized by Robert Geyer for his glass history course, Living Glass History at the Alberta College of Art & Design. Calgary: ACAD, November 5, 2009.

[xiii] Schantz, Karl. From the artist’s statement about his work in Voices of Contemporary Glass. Corning Museum of Glass, 2006.

[xiv] Rock, Tyler. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[xv] Rock, Tyler. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[xvi] The Fibonacci sequence, named after Leonardo of Pisa, is a series of numbers where, after two starting values, each number is the sum of the two numbers that came before it.

[xvii] Tataryn, Orest. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

[xviii] Engerer, Alfred. From the artist’s statement about his work, 2010.

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Le Facteur Verre: Les Lumières de l’Art du Verre Canadien

Par Christian Bernard Singer, Conservatur, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery

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Feu et flammes – chaleur, combustion et transpiration. Possédé par sa muse, l’artiste mêlant passion et obsession entre en communion avec les durs rayons d’une intense chaleur – ce n’est pas pour les timides. Dans le ventre du four de fusion – berceau du commencement et de la fin des temps – l’artiste y trempe sa canne pour récupérer la mielleuse substance aux couleurs d’or blanc. Donnant d’abord au liquide translucide l’apparence d’un œuf, un souffle humain l’éveille à la vie sous la forme d’une bulle. Que ce soit seul ou qu’il œuvre avec d’autres dans un ballet chorégraphié de maîtres, d’aides et d’apprentis, les possibilités de création du souffleur de verre ne font que commencer. Dans tous les cas, la réalisation est un acte d’exploration, de curiosité, de courage, d’amour et témoigne de la symbiose de l’artiste avec la matière.

La plupart des artistes verriers découvrent le matériau en apprenant d’abord à centrer le verre sur la canne et à souffler cette première bulle. C’est comme apprendre à centrer une boule d’argile sur la roue avant d’en sortir un premier vase réussi. Dans les deux cas cela nécessite non seulement la maîtrise de techniques datant de milliers d’années mais aussi d’y trouver sa propre façon de s’approprier le matériau.

La création et production d’objets de verre à travers l’histoire a nécessité l’invention, la découverte et le développement de nombreuses techniques et procédés qui furent dictés par le désir, l’intention ou le besoin. Cela comprend le soufflage, le moulage, le thermoformage, la découpe, l’émerisage, le polissage et la gravure. Nous en connaissons bien d’autres et il y en a plus encore que nous ignorons toujours. Toutefois, il est important de noter que le matériau en soi provient à la base d’une appropriation technologique – à vrai dire même, du vol sans scrupule – des mondes de la céramique et des métaux, une sorte de céramique sans argile ou l’émail en serait devenu le corps principal.

Cette exposition fait partie du voyage continu au coeur de la créativité avec certains des meilleurs et des plus intéressants et innovants artistes verriers en activité de nos jours au Canada. Les œuvres de cette exposition présentent une panoplie impressionnante d’approches techniques et esthétiques au travail du verre avec l’utilisation de process à chaud comme le soufflage, le façonnage, le thermoformage et diverses méthodes de moulages, ainsi que d’autres procédés à froid tels que la découpe, l’émerisage, le sablage, la gravure et l’assemblage. Beaucoup de ces oeuvres incorporent aussi d’autres matériaux et méthodes comme des métaux, des moulages en bronze ou aluminium, de la pierre, diverses matières, des supports digitaux et des installations.

Etant physiquement composé de sable de quartz et de silice, le verre est lié en cela même aux temps géologiques et à la nature. Ainsi, nombreux sont les artistes de cette exposition à faire référence de manière instinctive et consciente au temps, au lieu, à la science et à la nature. Bien qu’étant un matériau endurant, le verre est aussi fragile, précieux et lumineux, amenant certains à vouloir en explorer des notions psychologiques et des facteurs émotionnels liés à notre existence.

LE FACTEUR VERRE: Les Lumières de l’Art du Verre Canadien présente des oeuvres de Brad Copping, Laura Donefer, Susan Edgerley, Alfred Engerer, Irene Frolic, Catherine Hibbits, David James, Michèle Lapointe, Lou Lynn, Francis Muscat, Susan Rankin, Donald Robertson, John Paul Robinson, Tyler Rock, Karl Schantz, Orest Tataryn, Ione Thorkelsson et Koen Vanderstukken. Les oeuvres supplémentaires de Daniel Crichton, Lisette Lemieux, Kevin Lockau, Peter Powning, Tim Whiten ainsi que d’autres sont aussi présentées grâce à la Collection Permanente grandissante de la Galerie Canadienne de la Poterie et du Verre.

Jardinière passionnée, Susan Rankin entretient plusieurs jardins et célèbre leur beauté dans ses vases fonctionnels soufflés et drapés de feuilles de vignes et de fleurs. Durant le travail à chaud, elle semble avoir le pouvoir de donner vie, créant un quelque chose de vivant au bout de sa canne dans une sorte de croissance organique. Incorporant souvent des spirales de la base à la coupe qui encadrent et situent l’action le long du vase, l’oeuvre terminée est si délicate et précieuse que son utilisation en tant qu’objet fonctionnel pourrait sembler superflue et de vraies fleurs ne sont pas nécessaires pour la compléter. Rankin se méfie aussi de la tendance du jardin à la surabondance qui peut parfois troubler nos sens et rendre notre capacité à exploiter les détails moins précise. Il arrive qu’un jardin ou encore la nature sauvage aie besoin d’un élément qui attire notre œil afin d’accroître la réceptivité de notre perception. Son œuvre extérieure en verre et tuyaux Garden Columns (Colonnes de Jardin) ressemble à des totems au caractère changeant lorsqu’ils interceptent les multiples variations de la luminosité naturelle selon les saisons.  Réagissant au vent et ondulant doucement telles des bambous, ces sculptures d’art extérieur servent de points de repères et donnent une dimension humaine à un lieu qui en quelques sortes serait la porte de connaissances plus profondes.

Laura Donefer est incroyablement sauvage – un peu comme une shaman partie en forêt dans le but de communier pleinement et sensuellement avec la nature et d’en revenir avec potions et talismans pour nous aider à retrouver notre côté sauvage. Elle déclare : “le travail du verre en fusion est comme une danse avec le magma sorti droit de la terre. Il est chaud et dangereux et me donne l’impression de faire l’amour avec l’essence même de la création.”[i] Les premières œuvres de Donefer peuvent être vues comme une série d’autoportraits composés de surprenantes combinaisons de couleurs, de formes ainsi qu’une vaste sélection de matériaux. Il n’est pas difficile d’établir en lien entre son expérience personnelle et ses œuvres lorsqu’elle nous présente son travail. Les séries Witch Pot (Pot de Sorcière) qui suivirent reprennent cette unique combinaison et sont assez révélatrices comme l’on pouvait s’y attendre venant de cette artiste. Collègues, étudiants et amis s’accordent pour dire que l’œuvre et l’artiste sont quasiment identiques, au vu des préférences de Laura en matière de style et de couleur, de son admirable énergie et des innombrables liens et possibilités qu’elle a pu créer depuis le début des années 1980 pour le bénéfice de la communauté qu’elle s’est choisie.

Ce faisant, John Paul Robinson perçoit la nature tout autrement alors qu’il crée sa propre mythologie pour mieux comprendre le monde qui l’entoure et la place qu’il y occupe. Recherchant un écho personnel dans la création de symboles métaphoriques basés sur les explications scientifiques du monde naturel (tel que les vagues, le temps et l’envol), Robinson tente de donner un sens à des explications qui restent peu saisissables de par son vécu. Par exemple, durant le temps qu’il vous a fallu pour lire ce paragraphe, la terre aura parcouru une distance incroyable à travers l’espace et pourtant elle est imperceptible à cause de la force gravitationnelle de notre planète. En d’autres termes, l’artiste nous dit ”qu’alors que l’idée que la terre soit toujours au centre de l’univers n’est plus envisageable pour notre esprit, elle persiste encore au fond de notre ventre. ”[ii] .

Brad Copping recherche lui aussi des façons de “réaffirmer ses liens au monde de la nature”[iii], ainsi que son rapport et sa place dans un univers “où le changement est l’unique constante”. [iv]  Ses œuvres alliant verre soufflé et multimédia sont autant de sentiers de méditation qui nous invitent cette réflexion tranquille et nécessaire pour accéder pleinement au temps présent. En prenant le temps d’observer et de comparer ses divers œuvres et son travail plus globalement, on perçoit sa volonté d’isoler les moments de déception qui peuvent avoir lieu entre le début concret, la finalité possible ou visée de son travail et le résultat physique finalement obtenu. Ce jeu d’intentions et d’imprévus rappelle la fameuse citation de John Lennon :”La vie est ce qui arrive pendant que vous êtes occupés à faire d’autres plans” et Copping semble inviter consciemment ces instants inopinés durant son procédé créatif. Son travail peut se définir comme l’observation de l’éphémère inconstance où tout est changement permanent et où chacun de ces changements est naturel et nécessaire. Tout comme dans la vie réelle, travailler nécessite de trouver l’équilibre et d’accepter en se laissant doucement bercer par le courant du changement.

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Alfred Engerer, Neon

Afred Engerer possède une vision de la nature qui inclue autant les paysages naturels qu’urbains. Il établit des liens entre corps et paysages naturels ainsi que le corps vivant en communauté ou dans les villes créés par l’homme. Emerveillé tant par la beauté pure de la nature, que par un immeuble ou un objet conçu par l’homme, c’est en fait l’architecture même de la chose qui l’intrigue – la façon dont elle a été faite, conçue, ou sa manière d’exister et d’occuper un espace défini.  Sans son attrait pour le verre, Engerer serait probablement devenu architecte. La forme de ses sculptures rappelle les bâtiments, les temples et les autels – il y a toujours une sorte d’équilibre, d’espace, ‘d’intentionnel’ et de sacré dans leur intemporalité. Jadis principal fondateur du collectif d’arts urbains désormais dissolu  “Skunkworks / Outlaw Neon”, l’intérêt d’Engerer se retrouve aussi dans ses installations de néons soufflés main où il y a intégré un sorte de quatrième dimension. En mélangeant différentes couleurs quand il souffle et étire ses tubes, il parvient à de brillants résultats rarement associés au travail des néons. En voyant ses tubes onduler et s’étendre tels des acrobates dans un espace conditionné, on a l’impression d’être le témoin d’une éblouissante succession d’événements. Ces installations évoquent des images de danseurs aériens ou alors d’étoiles et d’esprits voyageant au travers de la nuit. Dernièrement, il a réemployé certains de ses tubes en thermoformage et fusing avec des carreaux de céramique pour créer ce qu’on pourrait qualifier de peinture de verre. Toutefois, ces travaux muraux n’ont rien de statique et de nombreuses dimensions semblent avoir été compressées pour obtenir une image en deux dimensions. Si l’on regarde ces ‘peintures’ assez longtemps, on ressent un bref vertige alors que de nouvelles dimensions semblent prendre vie et nous attirent au travers d’un univers de lignes, de taches, de textures et de couleurs.

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Utilisant divers moyens organiques, Francis Muscat démontre avec ses sculptures architecturales son amour pour la beauté et le design, tout en introduisant des notions de géologie et d’archéologie. C’est de nouveau cette harmonie naturelle entre le verre et la pierre dont il est question et Muscat le qualifie de “lien métaphysique; l’un provenant de l’autre et vice versa” [v] Que ce soit pâte de verre, fusing, travail à froid ou bien un mix de différentes techniques, Muscat aime réserver au spectateur un soupçon de mystère et de surprise en se débarrassant des “atouts du verre poli au profit de ses propriétés translucides » [vi] tout en restant ouvert quant à l’utilisation de multiples autres matériaux dans son travail. Par exemple, dressées comme des obélisques, ses sculptures Small House sont des moulages de maisons qui reposent en haut de couches striées de verre, de pierre et d’autres matériaux. Symbolisant le temps qui passe, les occupants sont en train d’en modifier l’intérieur et les couches archéologiques gisant sous les maisons sont autant de profondeurs encore inexplorées où nos aïeux ont autrefois pu vivre.

Les sculptures de Lou Lynn sont inspirées de la création et de l’utilisation d’outils et d’objets qui provenant de l’architecture, de l’archéologie et de l’industrie au travers des siècles. En donnant un sens aux outils trouvés au cours des fouilles, les anthropologistes sont capables de nous en dire plus sur les anciennes civilisations et leur mode de vie. Cependant, ce qui l’intrigue le plus est en fait la structure et la forme de l’outil en question qui détermine son utilisation. Ramenant ce principe au verre et à la sculpture métallique, elle obtient d’énigmatiques formes contemporaines, qui, quelle que soit leur utilité mystérieuse, semblent peu pratiques en tant qu’outils. Elles évoquent plutôt une éventuelle architecture ancienne et encore inconnue, des appareils sacrés ou peut être même -qui sait- des objets venus d’ailleurs.

On retrouve le même genre d’interprétations dans les moulages en pâte de verre de Donald Robertson. Il nous explique son intérêt à “révéler les liens entre les idées et leurs manifestations visibles, les moments où l’équilibre transite entre l’énergie et la matière, la pensée et l’action. Ils se manifestent grâce à la puissance visuelle des matériaux et des formes, faisant souvent référence à la mythologie, à l’histoire et aux sciences naturelles.”[vii]  Artiste ingénieux aux prédispositions d’alchimiste, il célèbre les propriétés mystérieuses du verre qui permettent aux formes intérieures et extérieures de ses sculptures de coexister, de s’influencer et de se refléter les unes aux autres lorsque la lumière danse au travers de leurs facettes et de leurs épaisseurs. Robertson se concentre pleinement sur l’observation du monde de la nature tout en employant une transcendance symbolique amenant différents niveaux de compréhension à son œuvre. Par exemple, dans Ripple (2009) (Ondulation), il suggère le mouvement et le clapotis de l’eau, et dans Moon Shadow (2010) (Ombre de la lune), il y interprète les phases de la lune et ses effets cycliques perçus sur la planète et ses habitants.

On retrouve cet hommage à la pureté et à la simplicité des formes dans les lumineuses sculptures en pâte de verre de David James. Travaillant avec du verre optique ou du cristal, James joue sur notre perception de la masse et de la solidité. La forme extérieure de Portal (Portail) invite l’œil à regarder au travers, puis quand activée par la lumière, elle devient alors translucide et nous révèle une ouverture secondaire. James peuple aussi l’intérieur de ses sculptures de voilages et de bulles par lesquels il permet d’entr’apercevoir de nouvelles dimensions – des mondes remplis d’énergie et de mouvement où l’on croit discerner des corps célestes et des êtres cosmiques dansant à travers l’espace et le temps.

Le travail récent d’Ione Thorkelsson est une série de bustes squelettiques en moulage ressemblant à des espèces hybrides inconnues et visant à exprimer tour à tour la conscience d’être, la perte, la mortalité et l’éventualité. Avec la menace du réchauffement climatique, ne serait ce pas plausible que de nombreuses espèces s’adaptent à de nouveaux environnements? Que certaines autres évoluent en êtres conscients? Est-ce qu’un changement environnemental inopportun ne pourrait se transformer en aube d’un paradis perdu pour ceux de notre lointain futur? Rassemblant des os, des crânes et d’autres éléments naturels venant d’une ancienne falaise proche de sa maison au Manitoba, Thorkelsson va et vient au travers du temps géologique et de l’évolution pour nous présenter sa version de ce qui pourrait être ou aurait pu être. En puisant son inspiration dans la nature et ses habitants, tout en prenant compte du potentiel de mutabilité et du changement, ses formes sont “une quête poétique au cœur de la science de l’évolution et de la spiritualité de l’existence,”[viii] elles invitent le spectateur à y contempler des choses similaires.

Pour Catherine Hibbits, la notion de paysage inclue bien des univers mais c’est la rencontre entre les entre paysages naturels et l’humanité ainsi que leur découverte qui l’intéresse tout particulièrement. La nature sauvage et ses motifs sublimes n’a pas besoin de l’existence humaine ni de son savoir pour exister, mais c’est cette présence consciente de l’homme associée à l’observation, la reconnaissance et l’appréciation qui la rend belle du fait de notre capacité à concevoir notre propre rôle au sein d’une plus vaste entité. Alors que l’abeille est attirée par la fleur pour sa forme, sa couleur et le nectar qu’elle contient, les humains sont attirés par elle pour sa précieuse, délicate et saisissante couleur, ainsi que son parfum vaporeux – la fleur possède une signification importante et pourtant c’est au travers de nos sens que nous l’apprécions avant tout. Nous projetons à la fois sa beauté et sa forme sur le paysage puis la ramenons à nous. Nous puisons notre nourriture de la terre et après le Grand Retour, nous y serons voués. Tant que les sociétés postmodernes continueront de renier l’existence de ce lien, nous ne cesserons de piller et d’être indifférents à ce qui permet notre existence – la terre. Les formes en verre soufflé de Hibbit évoquant des images d’eau coulant sur les rochers et les pierres, ou ses silhouettes iconiques façonnées à chaud, nous ramènent à ce moment de contemplation qui rend hommage à la  beauté, au précieux, à la fragilité et à l’équilibre de tout ce qui vit.

Passons à des questions d’un genre plus existentiel avec le travail au chalumeau de Susan Edgerley, ses sculptures et installations en matières diverses explorant l’idée d’une complexité d’exister, de vivre et de ressentir. Ses oeuvres admettent une certaine fragilité humaine tout en cherchant des moyens de dépasser ces limites sans les juger – qui rappelle l’état du verre en fusion étincelant et rougeoyant au travers de la flamme. Comparant le verre à la condition humaine, elle développe en nous expliquant que “grâce à son attrayante transparence et pourtant doté d’une solide inviolabilité, le verre est une matière séduisante, insaisissable et pleine de contradictions.”[ix]  Dans sa forme chaude, il est fluide et malléable. Lorsque froid, il est résistant mais fragile à la fois – opaque, coloré, translucide ou complètement transparent et pourtant si profond. Le verre peut agir tel une lentille ou refléter des points de vue multiples, évoquer l’être seul ou le groupe, l’individu ou la communauté, ainsi que l’effet potentiellement réfléchissant des uns face aux autres, soulignant ainsi “la complexité de l’existence humaine”.[x]

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D’un autre point de vue, Michèle Lapointe et Irene Frolic explorent audacieusement les parties d’une expérience humaine plus sombre dans lesquelles les souvenirs qui hantent nous parlent de sacrifice d’innocents. Lapointe interprète les souvenirs incertains et fuyants de petites filles ayant subi des abus sexuels et viols. Dans l’une des œuvres de son installation intitulée Contes muets, [xi] elle fait référence à l’horreur des prêtres abusant des enfants. La sculpture se compose d’un oreiller de verre posé sur une boite remplie d’objets trouvés et de photographies de poupées cassées, de murs, d’ordures et de graffitis sensés représenter l’innocence perdue, la place, la dévalorisation, le mépris et la saleté. L’oreiller en verre déforme la composition en dessous et il faut y regarder à travers différents angles pour voir pleinement la scène. De même, survivante de l’Holocauste, Irene Frolic aborde dans ses œuvre précédentes le thème de son enfance durant laquelle elle et sa mère ont échappé de peu aux mains des Nazis. Visages abattus, opaques, texturés et balafrés, ces sculptures en pâte de verre reposent sur des cous solides et semblent être prises dans un moment de contemplation indifférente, de crainte et de terreur. Leur présence reste pourtant très forte grâce au traitement de surface utilisé par Frolic, qui invoque les marques laissées par la vie. Frolic dit que ” je ne sais trop comment mais cette idée du verre, des feux destructeurs, des feux du four et tout le reste – tout cela s’est emparé de moi et m’a tenu doucement mais sans relâche pendant presque dix ans, et me fit comprendre bien des choses au cours de cet expérience.” [xii]  Dans ces œuvres, elle parvint à tirer des liens entre la psychologie de l’homme et le passé géologique du relief canadien. Cependant, ses œuvres plus récentes font preuve de couleur, de lumière et de beauté et célèbrent les forces intérieures qui persistent inlassablement, bien en deçà des cicatrices.

Ignorant leur côté fonctionnel, Tyler Rock et Karl Schantz explorent les vases d’un point de vue purement architectural. Jadis responsable de l’atelier de verre du collège Sheridan, Karl Schantz développa et mena un programme d’arts verriers au Collège des Arts d’Ontario (Université OCAD) en 1981. Connu pour son approche ouverte et sa tolérance, cet atelier de verre aura encouragé nombreux artistes, artisans et designers provenant des multiples disciplines offertes par le collège et même au delà (ce dont l’écrivain lui même bénéficia). Le lieu est reconnu pour être à l’origine de l’inspiration et de l’évolution de la carrière, qu’elle soit débutante ou déjà lancée, de bien des artistes verriers, la plupart desquels pratique encore le verre actuellement. La propre activité de Schantz se basait  à l’origine sur l’étude du fonctionnel, explorant les différents cotés techniques et esthétiques des œuvres précédemment faites au cours de l’histoire. Etant donné son attrait pour le mouvement contemporain abstrait très répandu du Pop Art, il était donc inévitable qu’il l’utilise, l’adapte et le réinterprète, comme largement démontré dans ses constructions asymétriques aux matériaux diverses et colorés. En revanche, et bien que conservant cette touche stylistique propre à l’artiste, ses autres œuvres composées de verre soufflé ou découpé ainsi que de Vitrolite assemblé, révèlent sa fascination pour l’architecture de l’Egypte ancienne et des Aztèques où “il ressort de ces structures un mélange de passé, de présent et de futur leur donnant un caractère universel et intemporel.”[xiii] Bien que les pièces de Schantz présentées dans cette exposition soient des oeuvres à part entière, elles peuvent aussi être interprétées ou perçues à plus grande échelle comme des modèles ou dioramas d’objets conçus pour l’habitat.

Tyler Rock est probablement le maître verrier souffleur le plus talentueux que le Canada puisse nous offrir. Dans sa démarche artistique, il évoque la notion de ‘bord’ comme le lieu où “les idées concernant les limites et ce qui les relie, où les confins et les frontières se rencontrent” [xiv]  et poursuit en expliquant qu’il a toujours été “attiré par l’endroit où la forêt rejoint la prairie, l’eau rejoint la terre.”[xv] C’est un lieu important car les idées et les concepts surviennent lorsqu’on se pose en observateur tranquille et il en est ainsi dans les œuvres de Rock où le bord devient synonyme de contemplatif et révélateur. Tel un appel à la prière, ses sculptures ressemblent aux tourelles d’un ancien temple indien ou d’un monastère bouddhiste – reflétées dans des eaux calmes, tels des portiques vers d’autres mondes.

Ancien pompier de Toronto, la passion d’Orest Tataryn pour les jeux de la lumière s’est révélée alors qu’il assistait un gros incendie. Dans cet environnement de chaleur, de fumée et de fenêtres déformées, il vit une enseigne lumineuse encore allumée qui se balançait, lisible malgré l’épais brouillard de fumée. S’instruisant sur les néons pendant son temps libre, il finit par co-fonder le collectif d’arts urbains à présent dissolu Skunkworks / Outlaw Neon. Depuis, ses explorations ont aussi porté sur l’assemblage de couleurs dans les néons, sur des sculptures utilisant plusieurs matériaux, ainsi que des installations auxquelles il a volontairement incorporé la suite de Fibonacci (aussi connue sous le nombre d’or, la divine proportion ou la moyenne d’or).[xvi]  Ce principe mathématique que l’on retrouve dans l’art, le design, la nature et bien d’autres domaines est basé sur la supposition que l’être humain serait instinctivement attiré par un certain ratio proportionnel considéré comme esthétiquement plus plaisant. En fin de compte, ses sculptures de lumière minimalistes et ses travaux muraux introduisent une idée d’équilibre, de proportion et de transformation spatiale (ou sensorielle) par la lumière. Tataryn dit “qu’avec la lumière, il y a toujours un second facteur qui est celui de la couleur.”[xvii] Créant depuis plus de vingt ans le théâtre, l’illusion et la magie grâce au jeu de la lumière, des ombres et des couleurs, Tataryn est devenu un grand artiste reconnu de lumière.

L’oeuvre de Koen Vanderstukken oscille entre la révélation et la déception. Pendant plus de vingt ans, l’artiste fit des sculptures en verre moulé et des œuvres murales à la surface très texturée dans lesquelles le temps, la perception et la brièveté étaient les thèmes prédominants. Par exemple, sa série d’oeuvres Earthborn (1991-2000) (Né de la terre) rappelle les statues préhistoriques d’une civilisation oubliée depuis longtemps tandis que ses Faces (2000-2002) (Visages) sont une série de monolithes, de disques et de masques semblant architecturalement érodés pour évoquer l’idée de lieux sacrés. La série Changes (2002) (Changements) fait allusion au temps qui passe, et sa série Rip (2003)  (Repose en paix) aux repères et traces fossilisées. Donnant une impression de pierre et de céramique dans leur opacité, ces travaux conservent au-delà de leur armure, cet éclat séduisant du verre faisant référence aux moments de clarté et de vérité. Dans ses derniers travaux, Vanderstukken continue de défier nos opinons préconçues sur l’histoire, le temps et les lieux en orientant notre regard sur la vraie question de ce qui est réel grâce à des sculptures interactives. A notre époque, nous sommes si bien habitués à de tels flots d’images animées que nous oublions d’en questionner le bien fondé -ou la réalité- de ces images en question. Dans ses œuvre, des écrans transparents et plats comme des miroirs sont reliés à des ordinateurs internes et des composants vidéo délicatement coincés entre des plaques de verre. Le spectateur  peut alors soit voir clairement à travers l’écran, soit avoir son image reflétée au travers de panneaux de verre fixés en biais, ou être capable d’activer une image supplémentaire en regardant la sculpture au travers de banales lunettes de soleil Polaroid. Vanderstukken a mis en place un brillant concept où les spectateurs deviennent acteurs en faisant la distinction entre la réalité à proprement parler et la réalité virtuelle, ou en se questionnant pour commencer sur la réalité de l’image. Comme ses œuvre précédentes, chaque sculpture oscille entre une architecture futuriste et un mausolée sacré, à l’exception du fait qu’ici, le verre ne devient pas seulement un moyen mais aussi un message.

L’histoire de l’art du verre canadien nous est racontée par des artistes qui ont sciemment bravé les chants des sirènes pour entrer dans un monde de danger, de séduction, de romance et d’extase des matières. Le feu, créateur, destructeur et purificateur est une des conditions fondamentales pour travailler avec le verre, mais il en va de même pour la terre, l’eau et l’air –  les éléments originels de notre planète. Toutefois, le verre a besoin d’un cinquième élément: la lumière. L’apparence finale ou l’interprétation désirée d’un l’objet dépend de la façon dont cet objet retient et transmet cet ingrédient essentiel. Cette considération est maîtrisée grâce à la manipulation de la chimie primaire, de la masse et de la densité, de la couleur et du traitement final de la surface.

Matériau encourageant une collaboration créative, Alfred Engerer considère que travailler le verre est comme “être piégé dans un court ou long instant de création car le matériau nous en offre les moyens.”[xviii] Ces moments sont à jamais figés dans le temps et les œuvres qui en découlent sont la preuve de leur existence et de leur passage.

- Christian Bernard Singer, Conservateur

[ii] Robin, Jon Paul. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[iii] Copping, Brad.  Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[iv] Copping, Brad. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[v] Muscat, Francis. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[vi] Copping Brad. Francis Muscat: Men and Houses (Des Hommes et des Maisons), Galerie Pentimento Fine Art. Magazine du verre contemporain canadien. Canada: Association des arts verriers, 22 mars 2010.

[vii] Robertson, Donald. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[viii] Delacretez, Helen. Ione Thorkelsson: Hypothetical Pasts, Constructed Futures (Passés hypothétiques, futures construits). 1er mai 2010.

[ix] Edgerley, Susan.  Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[x] Edgerley, Susan. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[xi] Contes Muets fut exposé à la galerie canadienne de la poterie et du verre du 21 septembre 2008 au 25 janvier 2009.

[xii] Geyer, Robert. Interview with Irene Frolic (Entretien avec Irene Frolic). Transcrit d’un entretien organisé par Robert Geyer pour son cours sur l’histoire du verre, Living Glass History au Collège d’Art et Design d’Alberta. Calgary: ACAD, 5 Novembre 2009.

[xiii] Schantz, Karl. Extrait de sa démarche artistique dans Voices of Contemporary Glass (Les voix du verre contemporain). Musée du verre de Corning, 2006.

[xiv] Rock, Tyler. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[xv] Rock, Tyler. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[xvi] La suite de Fibonacci qui doit son nom à Leonardo de Pise est une suite de nombres où, avec deux valeurs de départ initiales, chaque terme de cette suite est la somme des deux termes précédents.

[xvii] Tataryn, Orest. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

[xviii] Engerer, Alfred. Extrait de sa démarche artistique, 2010.

By Nancy Schnarr

The birth of the studio glass movement in North America began during the 1960s with glass blowing courses offered first by Harvey Littleton in 1962 in Toledo, Ohio.^[i] The movement moved quickly North, and during the 1970s studio glass became part of Canada’s artistic consciousness.^[ii] This development was marked by the establishment of glass programs across the country, which have trained or employed some of Canada’s most prominent glass artists, including many of those featured in Glass Factor: Luminaries in the Canadian Art Glass Scene, curated by Christian Bernard Singer. These programs, along with private galleries and arts organizations, encouraged artists and increased access to glass as an artistic medium, jump-starting glass sculpture in Canada.

The studio at Sheridan College in Mississauga, Ontario, the first educational glass studio in Canada, was founded by Robert Held, a Californian potter who headed Sheridan’s Ceramics Department.^[iii] Held began working at Sheridan in 1968 and, after studying at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina with Mark Peiser,^[iv] opened the hot glass studio at Sheridan in 1970.^[v] Sheridan’s glass department flourished and, after only one year, students had the option of choosing glass as a Major. In 1975, Karl Schantz joined the faculty after being invited by Held to participate in glass blowing demonstrations in Toronto.^[vi] Up to this point, the focus of the Department was on the basics of glass blowing and the manipulation of the material. Schantz infused his own interests into the program, establishing a cold-working studio and introducing glass blowing techniques that used traditional methods in modern ways.^[vii]

The end of the 1970s brought with them major changes in the Department at Sheridan. Robert Held left in 1977 to work in Calgary at Canadian Art Glass, eventually travelling to Vancouver where he established the Skookum Art Glass company, now known as Robert Held Art Glass Inc.^[viii] Karl Schantz became studio master and then left Sheridan in 1979 for the Ontario College of Art (OCA) to develop their glass department, which would provide training to Alfred Engerer, Irene Frolic, Kevin Lockau, and John Paul Robinson.^[ix] After Held and Schantz left Sheridan, the program was taken over by Daniel Crichton, an influential glass artist in his own right, who was the Head of the Department until his death in 2002. Crichton was responsible for designing the studio space that the program occupies today, under the direction of Koen Vanderstukken. The program has expanded to include instruction in a wide variety of glass art techniques, along with the courses originally initiated by Held and Schantz.^[x] Since its creation, Sheridan has been a very important educational facility; former students include Laura Donefer, Catherine Hibbits, François Houdé, Donald Robertson, and Susan Rankin.^[xi]

While it is widely acknowledged that the studio glass movement in Canada began with Held’s work at Sheridan, there were prominent artists working with glass in other areas of Canada around the same time. After seeing Czech glass art at the Expo in Montreal in 1967, Gilles Desaulniers was inspired to work with glass, and founded a second glass educational program in Canada. Desaulniers went to Europe and studied glass in Prague with Stanislav Libensky, a European glass artist, before returning to Quebec to open a cold-working studio at the Université du Quèbec à Trois-Rivières in 1971, followed by the establishment of a hot glass studio and glass blowing classes.^[xii] The studio is currently run by Jean-Paul Martel who took over as the Head of the program after Desaulniers retired, and offers a Fine Arts Degree with a glass focus, the only program of its kind in Eastern Canada.^[xiii]

The 1970s was a decade of major activity for studio glass schools in Canada. In 1971, the same year that glass became an available Major at Sheridan, Roman Bartkiw left the school to set up a program at Georgian College in Barrie, which was responsible for introducing Francis Muscat and John Paul Robinson to glass.^[xiv] Also during the 1970s, the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) was the first school in Western Canada to add glass art to its curriculum. The program was created in 1974 by Norman Faulkner, who was working as Sheridan’s ceramic technician when he attended a workshop given by Mark Peiser, and changed his artistic focus to glass.^[xv] ACAD is now considered one of the major Canadian glass art schools, offering students a BFA in glass. The program, currently headed by Natali Rodrigues,^[xvi] has had many prominent artists as instructors, including Marty Kaufmann who served as Head of the program from 2004-2006, and Tyler Rock who was Department Head from 2006-2009.^[xvii]

One of the prominent features of the Canadian glass art community is the exchange of talent and technique driven by the movement of artists across Canada and North America. Many glass artists have travelled between the major Canadian glass departments as students, artists, and teachers.^[xviii] It was perhaps the impulse to work amongst other artists that led to the establishment of schools like Espace Verre, which was started in 1987 by François Houdé and Ronald Labelle with the opening of the Centre des métiers du verre du Québec in Montreal. The aim of Espace Verre was to support glass artists by providing them with studio space as well as access to the latest in glass art technology.^[xix] The school encouraged the interaction between professionals and students, bridging the gap between educational space and functional studio, allowing artists the opportunity to learn, teach, and create.^[xx] The original mission is still relevant at the school today, which has facilities to develop a wide range of glass art techniques. There is no designated department head, allowing the program to adjust according to student interest and instructor expertise, which has included the talents of Susan Edgerley and Michele Lapointe.^[xxi]

Many students of Sheridan, OCA, ACAD, and Espace Verre went on to become some of Canada’s most prominent glass artists, often becoming teachers at the same institutions that they studied.^[xxii] One of the interesting things about the glass art education community is that it was very common for artists to go elsewhere to teach or continue their own education, after completing a formal program. Many of the initial founders of the major Canadian glass schools collaborated with each other, and taught at what could be considered “rival” schools at some point during their careers. François Houdé, for example, studied at Sheridan and taught at the Ontario College of Art before moving on to co-found Espace Verre.^[xxiii] The desire for collaboration and interaction amongst glass artists is demonstrated by the movement of artists between schools, as well as membership in associations like the Glass Art Association of Canada, or GAAC, which currently has Brad Copping as its president.[xxiv]

GAAC is another way for artists to interact with one another, as well as continue their glass education. Established in 1983, the main purpose of GAAC is to coordinate conferences, exhibitions, and seminars that provide artists with an opportunity to learn and teach, no matter the stage of their careers.^[xxv] GAAC has involved artists such as David James and Peter Powning as speakers, administrators, and article authors.^[xxvi] They also produce a quarterly magazine that keeps members informed about glass art in Canada and around the world.^[xxvii]

The establishment of formal training programs was undoubtedly an important part of the development of Canadian glass art, but there were also private galleries and studios that made their mark on the Canadian glass community, and many important artists received their training outside formal institutions, such as Ione Thorkelsson,^[xxviii] and Orest Tataryn, who took courses in neon at Robert Reichhardt’s neon studio in Toronto. Reichhardt was also responsible, along with Alfred Engerer, for starting an unofficial program to teach hand-blown neon tube production to OCA students working at both the OCA studio and Reichhardt’s studio.[xxix] Artists working in Canada can also learn at places like the Craft Studio at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, and the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, which offer workshops and classes for anyone interested in learning about glass.^[xxx] The Craft Studio supports glass artists by providing access to partially subsidized studio space for artists-in-residence, including space to work, exhibit, collaborate with visiting artists, and sell their work.^[xxxi] The studio space is unique because the studio is in full view of visitors and gives the public an opportunity to see how glass sculpture is made,^[xxxii] which ultimately increases the public’s understanding, and awareness of contemporary Canadian art as a whole. It can be considered an educational as well as commercial space, but exists outside a formal educational institution. Other places in Canada that offer glass courses include the Haliburton School of the Arts, as well as Red Deer College in Alberta, which has included Lou Lynn as an instructor,^[xxxiii] and the Red Barns Studio in Prince Edward County, Ontario.[xxxiv] These institutions offer courses and intensive programs in glass, allowing access to training outside the more formal programs.^[xxxv]

The use of glass as a creative medium in Canada is still relatively new, but since its introduction Canadian artists have made glass art their own, and the enthusiasm for the material has made the rapid growth of educational programs possible. Unfortunately some of the glass programs established during the early period of growth are no longer available. The program established at Georgian College in 1971 ran until the mid-1980s, and the glass program founded by Karl Schantz at OCA was shut down in 1996.^[xxxvi] The OCA studio was taken over by Alfred Engerer and others to found the Geisterblitz studio – Toronto’s only hot glass co-operative – which, thanks to new patronage, continues to support experimentation and collaboration among glass artists as it works toward moving into a larger space, projected to open soon. Many of the first glass programs have, however, not only survived but continue to develop their programs. Today glass artists can still train at Sheridan, ACAD, Espace Verre, and the Université du Quèbec à Trois-Rivières, as well as through apprenticeships, workshops, and courses.

^[i] Frantz, Susanne K. Contemporary Glass: A World Survey from the Corning Museum of Glass (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc:1989), 50. For more information about the American studio glass in the context of the movement’s international development, see the chapter “The 1960s: Studio Glass blowing as a Technique for Artists.”

^[ii] Layton, Peter. Glass Art (London: A&C Black, 1996), 68.

^[iii] Hickey, Gloria. “Gathering Momentum: The Studio Glass Movement in Canada,” in Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution (North York, ON: Koffler Gallery, 1988), 7.

^[iv] “A Short History of Penland School of Crafts” from Penland School of Crafts, http://penland.org/about/history.html retrieved 08/24/10. The Penland School was established during the 1920s, and added glass as a medium during the 1960s when the enthusiasm for glass in the United States was high, Mark Peiser was the first artist-in-residence at the glass studio there.

^[v] Hickey “Gathering,” 7.

^[vi] Morrison, Rosalyn J. “A Study of Canadian Glass” from Canadian Glassworks 1970-1990 (Toronto: Ontario Crafts Council, 1990), 5.

^[vii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass,” 6.

^[viii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass,” 6

^[ix] Layton, Glass Art, 68.

^[x] Julia and Yolande Krueger “A Brief History of Glass Education in Canada.” Contemporary Canadian Glass 5, no. 3, Winter 2006,  25.

^[xi] “Laura Donefer Bio” GAAC Artist Directory, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=83%20\%20bio retrieved 08/24/10.

“Catherine Hibbits Glass – About” http://catherinehibbitsglass.com/%20/%20/about/ retrieved 08/24/10

Koffler Gallery, Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution, North York, ON: Koffler Gallery, 1988. p. 76.

^[xii] Layton, Glass Art, 68

^[xiii] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 25.

^[xiv] Hickey “Gathering,” 6

“John Paul Robinson” XEXE Gallery, http://www.xexegallery.com/artist_individual.php?artist_id=69, retrieved 08/24/10.

“Francis Muscat – Glass Artist in Sunderland, Ontario” http://www.aisg.on.ca/gallery/67b7360107bebb29b1c38d0e0a82e204ddfc9ccb.html retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xv] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 26

^[xvi] “ACAD Glass” Alberta College of Art + Design, http://www.acad.ab.ca/glass.html Retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xvii] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 26

^[xviii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass,” 17 – The genealogy chart shows the movement of artists between schools during the early years.

^[xix] Layton, Glass Art, 68

^[xx] Morrison, “Canadian Glass,” 9

^[xxi] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 26

“Michele Lapointe Bio” GAAC Artist Directory, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=286%20\%20bio, retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xxii] Hickey “Gathering,” 11

^[xxiii] Hickey “Gathering,” 8

[xxiv] “Contact GAAC” Glass Art Association of Canada, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/contact.php, retrieved 09/13/10.

^[xxv] Layton, Glass Art, 68

^[xxvi] “Peter Powning Resume” http://www.powning.com/peter/resume.html%20/%20workshops, retrieved 08/24/10.

“David James Bio” GAAC Artist Directory, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=48%20\%20bio, retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xxvii] “Contemporary Canadian Glass: Magazine of the Glass Art Association of Canada” Glass Art Association of Canada, http://mag.glassartcanada.ca/ Retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xxviii] “Ione Thorkelsson Bio” GAAC Artist Directory, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=48%20\%20bio, retrieved 08/24/10.

[xxix] Engerer, Alfred. From an interview with Alfred Engerer on September 1, 2010.

^[xxx] “Harbourfront Centre – Visual Arts & Craft – Craft Studio” Harbourfront Centre, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm Retrieved 08/24/10.

“Living Arts Centre – Adult Courses”  Living Arts Centre Mississauga, http://www.livingartscentre.ca/courses_camps/community/adult_courses/index.php?id=25 Retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xxxi] Hickey “Gathering,” 15

^[xxxii] “Harbourfront Centre – Visual Arts & Craft – Craft Studio” Harbourfront Centre, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm Retrieved 08/24/10.

^[xxxiii] “Lou Lynn” Evergreen Cultural Centre, http://www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca/ART+GALLERY/Past+Exhibitions/Lou+Lynn.htm, retrieved 08/24/10.

[xxxiv] Engerer, Alfred. From an interview with Alfred Engerer on September 1, 2010.

^[xxxv] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 25-26 – This article also offers a brief outline of the available schools.

^[xxxvi] Krueger and Krueger, “Glass Education,” 26.

Bibliography

“ACAD Glass” Alberta College of Art + Design, http://www.acad.ab.ca/glass.html retrieved 08/24/10.

“Catherine Hibbits Glass – About” http://catherinehibbitsglass.com/#/about/ retrieved 08/24/10.

“Contact GAAC” Glass Art Association of Canada, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/contact.php, retrieved 09/13/10.

“Contemporary Canadian Glass: Magazine of the Glass Art Association of Canada” Glass Art Association of Canada, http://mag.glassartcanada.ca/ retrieved 08/24/10.

“Directory of Canadian Glass Artists,” Glass Art Association of Canada, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist_directory.php?type=pro%20\%20alphabetical, retrieved 08/24/10.

“Francis Muscat – Glass Artist in Sunderland, Ontario” http://www.aisg.on.ca/gallery/67b7360107bebb29b1c38d0e0a82e204ddfc9ccb.html retrieved 08/24/10.

Frantz, Susanne K.  Contemporary Glass: A World Survey from the Corning Museum of Glass, New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1989.

“Harbourfront Centre – Visual Arts & Craft – Craft Studio” Harbourfront Centre, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm Retrieved 08/24/10.

Hickey, Gloria. “Gathering Momentum: The Studio Glass Movement in Canada,” in Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution, North York, ON: Koffler Gallery, 1988. 6-16.

“John Paul Robinson,” XEXE Gallery, http://www.xexegallery.com/artist_individual.php?artist_id=69, retrieved 08/24/10.

Koffler Gallery, Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution, North York, ON: Koffler Gallery, 1988.

Krueger, Julia and Yolande. “A Brief History of Glass Education in Canada.” Contemporary Canadian Glass 5, no. 3, Winter 2006. 24-27.

Layton, Peter. Glass Art, London: A&C Black, 1996.

“Living Arts Centre – Adult Courses”  Living Arts Centre Mississauga, http://www.livingartscentre.ca/courses_camps/community/adult_courses/index.php?id=25 Retrieved 08/24/10.

“Lou Lynn,” Evergreen Cultural Centre, http://www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca/ART+GALLERY/Past+Exhibitions/Lou+Lynn.htm, retrieved 08/24/10.

Morrison, Rosalyn J., “A Study of Canadian Glass” from Canadian Glassworks 1970-1990, Toronto: Ontario Crafts Council, 1990, 3-10.

“Peter Powning – Resume” http://www.powning.com/peter/resume.html%20/%20workshops, retrieved 08/24/10.

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L’Enseignement du Verre au Canada – Une Histoire Fluide

Par Nancy Schnarr

Les ateliers verriers devinrent populaires en Amérique du Nord à partir des années 1960 lorsqu’ Harvey Littleton proposa les premiers cours de soufflage en 1962 à Toledo en Ohio.^[i] Le mouvement s’étendit alors rapidement vers le nord au cours des années 1970 et se fit une place dans la conscience artistique canadienne.^[ii] Cet essor fut marqué par le développement de programmes éducatifs verriers dans tout le pays, qui ont formé et employé certains des artistes actuels les plus en vue du Canada, dont beaucoup prennent aujourd’hui part à l’exposition Glass Factor: Luminaries in the Canadian Art Glass Scene (Le Facteur Verre: Les Lumières de l’Art du Verre Canadien) organisée par Christian Bernard Singer. Ces formations, ainsi que les multiples organisations d’arts et galeries privées, ont encouragé les artistes et ont accrut l’accès au verre en temps que moyen artistique, lançant la sculpture du verre au Canada.

Le premier atelier de verre éducatif au Canada fut fondé au Collège Sheridan à Mississauga en Ontario par le potier californien Robert Held qui y dirigeait à l’époque le département des céramiques.^[iii]  Après avoir étudié à l’école des Arts de Penland en Caroline du Nord avec Mark Peiser ^[iv], il  entra à Sheridan en 1968 et ouvrit un atelier de travail du verre à chaud en 1970.^[v] Le département Verre de Sheridan s’épanouit rapidement et au bout d’un an, les étudiants eurent la possibilité de choisir le verre en matière principale. Karl Schantz rejoignit le département en 1975 après que Held l’ait invité à venir faire des démonstrations de soufflage à Toronto.^[vi]  Jusque là, le but de l’atelier était d’enseigner les bases du soufflage ainsi que la manipulation du matériau. Schantz greffa ses propres intérêts au programme en y ajoutant un atelier de travail à froid et en introduisant des techniques de soufflage modernes basées sur des méthodes traditionnelles.^[vii]

La fin des années 1970 marqua un tournant pour le département verre de Sheridan. Robert Held parti en 1977 pour travailler au Canadian Art Glass (Art Verrier Canadien) de Calgary, puis finit par s’établir à Vancouver où il fonda la compagnie des Arts du Verre de Skookum, plus connue à présent sous le nom de Robert Held Art Glass Inc.^[viii] Karl Schantz devint maître de l’atelier puis quitta Sheridan à son tour en 1979 pour développer un département Verre au sein du Collège des Arts d’Ontario (OCA), où Alfred Engerer, Irene Frolic, Kevin Lockau et John Paul Robinson y ont par la suite fait leur apprentissage.^[ix] Ce fut Daniel Crichton, un artiste verrier très remarqué à juste titre, qui reprit le programme verre de Sheridan au départ de Held  et de Schantz et qui en tint la direction jusqu’à sa mort en 2002. Crichton fut à l’origine de l’espace atelier utilisé actuellement sous la direction de Koen Vanderstukken. Le programme s’est désormais élargit pour inclure l’enseignement d’une grande variétés de techniques d’art verrier en plus des cours initiaux prévus par Held et Schantz.^[x]  Depuis sa création, Sheridan a été un établissement scolaire important et compte parmi ses anciens élèves Laura Donefer, Catherine Hibbits, François Houdé, Donald Robertson, et Susan Rankin.^[xi]

Bien qu’il soit reconnu que la naissance des ateliers verriers au Canada débute avec l’initiative de Held à Sheridan, d’autres artistes influents évoluaient dans le verre au même moment de part et d’autre du Canada. Inspiré par sa visite de l’exposition des Arts Verriers Tchèques à Montréal en 1967, Gilles Desaulniers s’intéressa au verre et fut le fondateur du deuxième programme éducatif verrier au Canada. Il se rendit à Prague en Europe pour étudier le verre avec l’artiste européen Stanislav Libensky avant de retourner au Québec et d’ouvrir un atelier de travail du verre à froid à l’Université du Québec de Trois-Rivières en 1971, puis d’un atelier à chaud proposant des cours de soufflage. ^[xii] A son départ en retraite, ce fut Jean Paul Martel qui reprit la direction du programme et s’occupe à présent de l’atelier qui propose un Diplôme d’Arts Plastiques avec spécialité verre, le seul endroit de l’Est du Canada à offrir cette option.^[xiii]

Les ateliers verriers au Canada connurent une grande activité au cours des années 1970. Tandis que le verre devenait une matière principale au collège Sheridan, cette même année 1971 vit Roman Bartkiw quitter son école pour ouvrir un programme au Collège Georgian de Barrie, qui révéla plus tard Francis Muscat et John Paul Robinson.^[xiv] De même, le Collège des Arts et du Design d’Alberta (ACAD) fut le premier à ajouter l’art du verre à son programme dans l’Ouest du Canada. Le programme fut créé en 1974 par Norman Faulkner qui travaillait au Sheridan en tant qu’assistant en céramiques avant de participer à une formation pratique donnée par Mark Peiser qui orienta son profil artistique vers le verre. ^[xv] L’ACAD est maintenant un des établissements de l’enseignement du verre les plus reconnus au Canada, permettant à ses étudiants d’obtenir une Licence en Arts Plastiques. Beaucoup de grands artistes sont intervenus en tant que professeurs dans ce programme maintenant géré par Natali Rodrigues^[xvi], dont Marty Kaufmann et Tyler Rock qui furent respectivement directeurs du programme de 2004 à 2006 et de 2006 à 2009. ^[xvii]

L’une des particularités de la communauté canadienne du verre est son échange de talents et de techniques grâce au mouvement des artistes à travers le Canada et l’Amérique du Nord. Beaucoup d’artistes verriers ont voyagé entre les principaux départements verriers du Canada en tant qu’étudiants, puis qu’artistes et professeurs.^[xviii]  Cette envie de travailler avec d’autres artistes fut probablement à l’origine de la création d’écoles comme Espace Verre, qui fut créée par François Houdé et Ronald Labelle à l’ouverture du Centre des Métiers du Verre du Québec à Montréal, dans le but de soutenir les artistes verriers en leur fournissant  un espace de travail ainsi que l’accès aux dernières technologies en matière de verre. ^[xix]  L’école favorise l’interaction entre professionnels et étudiants, créant un pont entre l’espace éducationnel et l’atelier fonctionnel, et permettant aux artistes d’apprendre, d’enseigner et de créer. ^[xx]  Cette intention initiale a été conservée et l’école dispose des équipements nécessaires à la pratique d’une vaste gamme de techniques de l’art du verre. Comme aucune direction n’est attribuée, cela permet aux programmes de s’adapter en fonction de l’intérêt des étudiants et de l’expérience des enseignants qui comprend les talents de Susan Edgerley et de Michele Lapointe. ^[xxi]

Bien des étudiants du Sheridan, de l’OCA, de l’ACAD et de l’Espace Verre sont devenus des artistes verriers canadiens reconnus, enseignant souvent eux même dans les institutions où ils ont jadis étudié. ^[xxii] Point intéressant concernant la communauté de l’enseignement du verre; il n’est pas rare de voir un artiste partir enseigner ou poursuivre par lui-même ses études ailleurs à la fin de sa formation initiale. Beaucoup des fondateurs des principales écoles de verre canadiennes ont collaboré ensemble et ont enseigné dans des écoles “rivales” à un moment donné de leur carrière. Par exemple, François Houdé a étudié à Sheridan et enseigné au Collège des Arts d’Ontario avant de co-fonder l’Espace Verre.^[xxiii] Ce désir de collaborer et d’interagir entre artistes verriers se constate par le flux d’artistes allant entre les différentes écoles ainsi que leur appartenance à des associations telles que l’Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre  ou GAAC, présidée actuellement par Brad Copping.^[xxiv]

La GAAC est un autre moyen pour les artistes d’interagir les uns avec les autres ou de poursuivre leur apprentissage. Elle existe depuis 1983 dans le but de coordonner les conférences, les exposions et les séminaires qui sont autant d’occasions pour les artistes d’apprendre ou d’enseigner, peu importe le degré d’évolution de leur carrière. ^[xxv] Certains artistes comme David James et Peter Powning sont intervenus en tant que conférenciers, administrateurs ou auteurs.^[xxvi] La GAAC produit aussi la rédaction d’un magazine trimestriel dans le but d’informer ses membres de l’actualité artistique verrière au Canada et dans le monde entier. ^[xxvii]

La création de programmes d’enseignement scolaires joua sans aucun doute un rôle important dans le développement de l’art verrier au Canada. Cependant, d’autres galeries et ateliers privés eurent aussi leur impact sur la communauté du verre canadien et de nombreux artistes connus ont fait leur apprentissage en dehors de ces institutions scolaires, comme Ione Thorkelsson ^[xxviii] et Orest Tataryn, qui ont suivi des cours à l’atelier de néons de Robert Reichhardts à Toronto. Reichhardts eut avec Aflred Engerer l’idée de créer des programmes indépendants pour apprendre à souffler manuellement des tubes néons à ceux qui étudiaient parallèlement à l’OCA. ^[xxix] Les artistes pratiquant au Canada peuvent aussi apprendre dans des endroits tels que le Craft Studio (Atelier d’Artisanat) au Centre Harbourfront de Toronto et au Living Arts Centre (Centre des Arts Vivants) de Mississauga qui propose des ateliers et des cours pour qui souhaite découvrir l’art du verre. ^[xxx] Le Craft Studio apporte son soutien aux artistes en leur donnant accès à des espaces de travail au sein de l’atelier, ainsi que la possibilité d’exposer, de collaborer avec d’autres artistes intervenants et de vendre leurs œuvres. ^[xxxi] L’atelier est unique car il est ouvert aux visiteurs, ce qui donne au public l’occasion de voir de quelle façon on sculpte le verre, ^[xxxii] et accroît ainsi sa compréhension et sa connaissance du milieu du verre artistique canadien à plus grande échelle. Le Craft Studio peut donc être perçu comme un espace éducatif et commercial bien qu’indépendant aux formations scolaires. D’autres endroits au Canada proposent aussi des formations sur le verre, comme l’Ecole des Arts d’Haliburton, le Collège Red Deer en Alberta où Lou Lynn fut professeur^[xxxiii] et l’atelier Red Barn dans la province du Prince Edouard en Ontario.^[xxxiv] Ces institutions proposent des cours et des programmes verriers intensifs, permettant d’accéder à des formations en dehors des programmes scolaires. ^[xxxv]

L’utilisation du verre en tant que matériau créatif au Canada reste encore relativement nouveau, mais depuis son introduction, les artistes canadiens en ont pris possession et leur enthousiasme pour cette matière a permis d’augmenter rapidement le nombre de programmes d’enseignements. Malheureusement, certaines des formations établies au début de cette période n’existent plus aujourd’hui. Le programme créé au Collège Georgian en 1971 s’est terminé au milieu des années 1980 et celui fondé par Karl Schantz à l’OCA fut fermé en 1996. ^[xxxvi] L’atelier de l’OCA fut repris par Alfred Engerer et d’autres pour devenir l’atelier Geisterblitz – unique coopérative du travail du verre chaud à Toronto – qui grâce à un nouveau mécénat, continue de soutenir l’expérimentation et la collaboration au sein des artistes verriers, et emménage dans un plus grand espace dont l’ouverture est prévue pour bientôt. Beaucoup des premiers programmes éducationnels verriers ont cependant non seulement survécu mais continuent de se développer. De nos jours, les artistes verriers peuvent continuer d’apprendre à Sheridan, l’ACAD, l’Espace Verre, et à l’Université du Québec de Trois-Rivières, ainsi qu’avec des apprentissages, des formations et des cours.

^[ii] Layton Peter. L’Art du Verre (Londres: A&C Black, 1996), 68.

^[iii] Hickey, Gloria. “Gathering Momentum: The Studio Glass Movement in Canada,” (Rassembler l’Elan: Le Mouvement des Ateliers Verriers au Canada) dans Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution (Le Verre dans la Sculpture: Une Contribution Canadienne) (North York, ON: Galerie Koffler, 1988), 7.

^[iv] “A Short History of Penland School of Crafts” (Brève Histoire de l’Ecole des Arts de Penland) de Penland School of Crafts, (Ecole des Arts de Penland) http://penland.org/about/history.html  extrait le 08/24/10. L’école de Penland fut établie durant les années 1920 et ajouta le support verre au cours des années 1960 lorsque le verre devint populaire, Mark Peiser fut le premier artiste-résident de cet atelier verrier.

^[v] Hickey “Gathering,” (Rassembler) 7.

^[vi] Morrison, Rosalyn J. “A Study of Canadian Glass” (Etude sur le Verre Canadien) de Canadian Glassworks (Travaux de Verre Canadiens) (Toronto: Conseil des Artisans d’Ontario, 1990), 5.

^[vii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass” (Le Verre Canadien), 6.

^[viii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass” (Le Verre Canadien), 6.

^[ix] Layton, Glass Art (L’Art du Verre), 68.

^[x] Julia et Yolande Krueger “Brève Histoire de l’Enseignement du Verre au Canada”, Contemporary Canadian Glass 5 (Verre Canadien Contemporain 5), n° 3, Hiver 2006, 25.

^[xi]“Biographie de Laura Donefer”, Annuaire des Artistes de la GAAC, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=83#bio extrait le 08/24/10.

“Catherine Hibbits Glass – About” (Verre de Catherine Hibbits – A Propos) http://catherinehibbitsglass.com/%20/%20/about/ extrait le 08/24/10.

Galerie Koffler, Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution, (Le Verre dans la Sculpture: Une Contribution Canadienne) North York, ON: Galerie Koffler, 1988. p. 76.

^[xii] Layton, Glass Art (L’Art du Verre), 68.

^[xiii] Xiii Krueger et Krueger, “Glass Education” (L’Enseignement du Verre), 25.

^[xiv] Hickey, “Gathering” (Rassembler), 6.

“John Paul Robinson” Galerie XEXE, http://www.xexegallery.com/artist_individual.php?artist_id=69, extrait le 08/24/10.

“Francis Muscat – Glass Artist in Sunderland, Ontario”(Artiste Verrier à Sunderland, Ontario) http://www.aisg.on.ca/gallery/67b7360107bebb29b1c38d0e0a82e204ddfc9ccb.html extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xv] Krueger et Krueger, “Glass Education” (L’Enseignement du Verre), 26.

^[xvi] “ACAD Glass” (Verre à l’ACAD) Collège des Arts et du Design d’Alberta, http://www.acad.ab.ca/glass.html Extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xvii] Krueger et Krueger, “Glass Education” (L’Enseignement du Verre), 26.

^[xviii] Morrison, “Canadian Glass” (Le Verre Canadien), 17 – Le graphique généalogique montre le mouvement des artistes entre les écoles au cours des premières années.

^[xix] Layton, Glass Art (L’Art du Verre), 68.

^[xx] Morrison, “Canadian Glass” (Le Verre Canadien), 9.

^[xxi] Krueger et Krueger, “L’Enseignement du Verre”, 26.

“Biographie de Michele Lapointe“, Annuaire des Artistes de la GAAC, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=286#bio , extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxii] Hickey, “Gathering” (Rassembler), 11.

^[xxiii] Hickey, “Gathering” (Rassembler), 8.

^[xxiv] “Contact GAAC” Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/contact.php, extrait le 09/13/10.

^[xxv] Layton, Glass Art (L’Art du Verre), 68.

^[xxvi] “Curriculum de Peter Powning” http://www.powning.com/peter/resume.html#workshops, extrait le 08/24/10.       

“Biographie de David James”, Annuaire des Artistes de la GAAC, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=48%20\%20bio, extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxvii] “Contemporary Canadian Glass” (Verre Contemporain Canadien): Magazine de l’Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre), GAAC, http://mag.glassartcanada.ca/, extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxviii] “Biographie de Ione Thorkelsson” Annuaire des Artistes de la GAAC, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist.php?id=48%20\%20bio, extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxix] Engerer, Alfred, tiré d’un entretien avec Alfred Engerer le 1^er Septembre 2010.

^[xxx]“Centre Harbourfront – Visual Arts & Craft (Arts Visuels et Artisanat) – Craft Studio” Centre Harbourfront, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm extrait le 08/24/10.

“Centre des Arts Vivants – Cours pour Adultes” Centre des Arts Vivants de Mississauga, http://www.livingartscentre.ca/courses_camps/community/adult_courses/index.php?id=25 extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxxi] Hickey, “Gathering” (Rassembler), 15.

^[xxxii]“Centre Harbourfront – Visual Arts & Craft (Arts Visuels et Artisanat) – Craft Studio” Centre Harbourfront, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm, extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxxiii] “Lou Lynn” Centre Culturel Evergreen, http://www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca/ART+GALLERY/Past+Exhibitions/Lou+Lynn.htm, extrait le 08/24/10.

^[xxxiv] Engerer, Alfred. Tiré d’un entretien avec Alfred Engerer le 1er Septembre 2010.

^[xxxv] Krueger et Krueger, ” Glass Education” (L’Enseignement du Verre), 25-26 – Cet article donne aussi une brève description des différentes écoles existantes.

^[xxxvi] Krueger et Krueger, ” Glass Education” (L’Enseignement du Verre), 26.

Bibliographie

“ACAD Glass” (Verre ACAD) Collège des Arts et du Design d’Alberta, http://www.acad.ab.ca/glass.html, extrait le 08/24/10.

“Catherine Hibbits Glass – About” (Le Verre de Catherine Hibbits – A Propos) http://catherinehibbitsglass.com/%20/%20/about/ extrait le 08/24/10.

“Contact GAAC” Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/contact.php, extrait le 09/13/10.

“Contemporary Canadian Glass (Verre Canadien Contemporain): Magazine de l’Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre” Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre, http://mag.glassartcanada.ca/ extrait le 08/24/10.

“Annuaire des Artistes Verriers Canadiens”, Association Canadienne des Arts du Verre, http://www.glassartcanada.ca/artist_directory.php?type=pro%20\%20alphabetical, extrait le 08/24/10.

“Francis Muscat – Glass Artist in Sunderland, Ontario” (Artiste Verrier à Sunderland, Ontario) http://www.aisg.on.ca/gallery/67b7360107bebb29b1c38d0e0a82e204ddfc9ccb.html extrait le 08/24/10.

Frantz, Susanne K. Contemporary Glass: A World Survey from the Corning Museum of Glass (Verre Contemporain: Enquête internationale du Musée du Verre de Corning), New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1989.

“Centre Harbourfront – Visual Arts & Craft (Arts Visuels et Artisanat) – Craft Studio ” Centre Harbourfront, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/craftstudio.cfm, extrait le 08/24/10.

Hickey, Gloria. “Gathering Momentum: The Studio Glass Movement in Canada,” (Rassembler l’Elan: Le Mouvement des Ateliers Verriers au Canada) dans Glass in Sculpture: A Canadian Contribution (Le Verre dans la Sculpture: Une Contribution Canadienne), North York, ON: Galerie Koffler, 1988. 6-16.

“John Paul Robinson,” Galerie XEXE, http://www.xexegallery.com/artist_individual.php?artist_id=69, extrait le 08/24/10.

Galerie Koffler, Gathering Momentum: The Studio Glass Movement in Canada (Le Verre dans la Sculpture: Une Contribution Canadienne), North York, ON: Galerie Koffler, 1988.

Krueger, Julia et Yolande. “A Brief History of Glass Education in Canada.” (Brève Histoire de l’Enseignement du Verre au Canada) Contemporary Canadian Glass 5 (Verre Contemporain Canadien 5), n°3, Hiver 2006. 24-27.

Layton, Peter. Glass Art (L’Art du Verre), Londres: A&C Black, 1996.

“Centre des Arts Vivants – Cours pour Adultes” Centre des Arts Vivants de Mississauga, http://www.livingartscentre.ca/courses_camps/community/adult_courses/index.php?id=25 extrait le 08/24/10.

“Lou Lynn,” Centre Culturel Evergreen, http://www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca/ART+GALLERY/Past+Exhibitions/Lou+Lynn.htm, extrait le 08/24/10.

Morrison, Rosalyn J., “A Study of Canadian Glass” (Etude sur le Verre Canadien) de Canadian Glassworks (Travaux de Verre Canadiens) 1970-1990, Toronto: Conseil des Artisans de l’Ontario, 1990, 3-10.

“Peter Powning – Curriculum” http://www.powning.com/peter/resume.html%20/%20workshops, extrait le 08/24/10.