Museum of Glass

Bryn and I went to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma last week. I'd gotten free passes for volunteering this fall at Pilchuck Glass School's annual auction and figured I should go and check out the museum now that I actually knew a little something about art glass. We had a fun time, although not because we were particularly wowed by the museum. From what (little) I had heard about it, I was expecting to be wowed. Instead I was underwhelmed, and it was equal parts the art I saw and the museum itself.

Of the exhibits on view my favorite was the one featuring work by Dante Marioni. His pieces are so precise in their craftsmanship that one can't help but be taken in by them. I especially liked his cases of goblets that invoked collectorly feelings and the large patterned acorns. Also on display was Contrasts: A Glass Primer which had some really cool pieces. Too bad it featured cheesy words stenciled on most of the display cases that labeled objects with words like "translucent" or "vessel."

A collection of opaque white glass objects by Daniel Clayman was starkly contemporary. The better ones reminded me a little of Richard Serra's work, although smaller in scale and in a much more fragile media. The weaker ones just seemed like the results of a foundation design course--really cool and interesting, but not pushing the envelope. Of course there was a Chihuly piece on display for a limited time, The Laguna Murano Chandelier. It is a beautiful piece of work; but, like most of his work, there doesn't seem to be much of a deeper meaning.

I was glad I had free passes. The ten dollar admission seems kind of steep for the smallness of the museum. My limited experience with glass at Pilchuck this summer left me with the impression that making objects in glass can be very seductive. Unfortunately, viewing glass objects doesn't always elicit the same type of emotion. And don't get me started on the "Chihuly Bridge of Glass" that connects the waterfront with the rest of downtown Tacoma. *shudder*

To be honest, I was more impressed by what we saw in the Traver Gallery located next to the museum. They had a selection of Chihuly objects that were all hideous in varying degrees, a room of Preston Singletary's work--that I loved, and most of the largest display area was taken up with work by Catherine Grisez that was fascinating. Her works combined glass, metal, and gemstones in intriguing ways to achieve a complexity that was lacking from most of the glass objects we'd seen that day.

I guess I left with the feeling that there are a lot of skilled people working in glass. But in many cases, without a deep level of thoughtfulness and strong concepts to ground the work, there isn't really much there besides pretty things to look at. Chihuly helped bring a lot of attention to glass art in general, and in the Pacific Northwest in particular. That this museum celebrates that growth is great. Where the opportunity lies is in being more critical and serious about the field. I'd say the curators could really do a lot more work to help people understand why the objects being shown are museum-quality. I wasn't always convinced.

Pilchuck Auction Photos

Got an email that the photos taken by "Team Photogenic" had been posted online for folks to look at and purchase. I browsed through them (there are a LOT of photos) and it suddenly brought back a flood of memories. Of course, those memories were only about two weeks old, so it isn't surprising.

I threw a few images up so you can see that A) yes, Dale Chihuly was there; and B) no, my volunteer duties did not consist of hanging out near the buffet in the volunteer lounge. But that would have been nice.

Also I really liked the glass billiard ball set I got to carry--with wooden triangle carried by another art handler, of course. And that gigantic clown jar I am hugging desperately was valued at $23,000 so I'm really, really glad I didn't drop it.

Don't Drop the Art

Volunteered last night for the Pilchuck Glass School's annual auction held at the Westin downtown. I'd found out the day before that I had been switched from the packing room to being an art handler. They told me to wear dark clothing and no jewelry, so I figured I'd be in the background toting artwork here and there. Imagine my surprise when I was handed a packet and told that I would be carrying about seven pieces from the display area up to the stage during the live auction. Did I mention that it was a stage-in-the-round? In the middle of the packed grand ballroom? And if the piece couldn't be set on the pedestal that I had to stay up there, walking it around and around the stage until it sold?

I was absolutely frightened at first that I would end up tripping or dropping something. Some of them weren't too bad, but there was one huge clown-shaped vase that I worried about carrying. (Especially since it was valued at $23,000.) There was also the challenge of dodging waiters and guests while carrying pieces down the aisle as the night progressed. One piece did get broken, but luckily it wasn't by me. Overall though, I had a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. And it was good practice for getting over stage fright!

Spruce Street School

Our Studio class went on a construction site visit today (I swear to God, this year has been field trip after field trip--not that I'm complaining) and from the 10th floor of the building we were able to look down on kids playing on a playground built on a roof. The place is Spruce Street School and is only a block or two from my school (which is visible in the background to the right). Seems like a perfect example of the potential for adaptive urban re-use. I've walked by the building before and you can tell they have something up there, but it was fun to be able to look down on it and actually see it!

And the heights don't end there. A volunteer orientation meeting I attended tonight was held in the Presidential Suite at the Westin. I can tell you that the view of downtown and Elliot Bay and the sunset is spectacular from the 47th floor. I should have taken a picture, although I didn't think about it until after I'd left. Oh well. Tomorrow night I get to be an "Art Handler" and help carry pieces on and off the stage at the big Pilchuck auction/gala. Wheee!

Blurb to the fishes in the deep blue sea

After (finally) placing an order for and receiving my book last night, I can report that www.blurb.com offers an easy and convenient online self-publishing service. While at Pilchuck this summer, our instructor was busy extolling the virtues of Blurb in creating extremely polished portfolios and instructional manuals. I ended up starting to compile the photographs I was taking on campus with images of the work I was creating in order to play around with their publishing software. It turned out that I put together a cool little book!

I meant to order a copy earlier, but life intervened and I never got around to it until last week. The box was waiting in front of my door when I got home yesterday evening and a real, actual, professional-looking book was inside. You could even buy your own copy of my book if you were interested. (Not that I think you should. I didn't bother to set the price to a level that would kick any cash back to me.) There's a free preview section that allows you to view the first fifteen pages online too.

Definitely will be using Blurb again for projects like this. I love being able to archive a project or experience in this manner!

The Infamous Horse Hat Revisited

Although I've been meaning to write something on here for the past couple of days, it still hasn't happened. Maybe later today? In the meantime, I found a couple more pics (courtesty of Jane) of people at Pilchuck actually WEARING the strange horse hat/thing that was in a box in the costume storage area. It truly is quite fabulous.

My Best Purchase. Ever.

The post right after this one includes more amazing mustache pictures. I don't know what to say about this thing except that it is the coolest thing I brought home from Pilchuck with me. (Well, maybe it is tied with the sandblasted glass muffin I traded a print for.)



All it is, is a black glass mustache with a loop on one end that has a ribbon necklace threaded through it. It was made by Jessica Landau and was only (only?!?) $30 during our walk-through night. She made one for the student auction and it was so popular that she made more. I'm hoping that she comes out with a whole line of facial hair necklaces.



Perhaps it is silly. But I can't help loving this thing! It's like a monocle except better. Someday I'll wear a three-piece suit and have this mustache on a gold chain like a pocket watch!

Pilchuck Madness: The Aftermath

Yikes! So I guess I waited a little too long between posts. Anyhow, the last two pictures are from the bonfire party we had on our last night. As you can see, it was good times.

Friday morning, Bryn showed up at the crack of dawn to pick up me and Jane (I offered to let her hang out with us since her flight didn't leave til 9pm). On our way back to Seattle we stopped at the Tulalip Casino for our second breakfast of the day. I think that was the best mimosa of my life. It was strange stepping from rustic cabins in the forest into a glitzy, shimmering mini-Vegas. Jane was wearing her bedazzled cowboy hat from the auction party and amusingly enough, it fit right in there. We played some slots on our way out too as the above photos can attest to. (Oh, and if you take photos in a casino, you'd better do it surreptitiously.)

We spent the rest of the day on a whirlwind Seattle experience: Top Pot, vintage clothing store, bespoke men's clothing store, sculpture park, Pike Place Market, Traver Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, a shoe store that sells Jane's jewelry, and more. Then we ditched Jane at the airport and came home and passed out.

So, after a full weekend that involved working for three days I have a day to catch my breath and regroup.

Pilchuck Madness #11

The t-shirts showed up! You can see me with Jane up there, showing them off. They turned out really well and I kept seeing more and more people running around campus today wearing them.

Also found out today that the people who fund the scholarship I received will be on campus Wednesday evening and wanted to meet me. Not sure if I should be nervous or not, but at least I'll get to thank them in person.

Tonight one of the TA's for a class, New York artist Erica Rosenfeld, gave a demonstration where she was cooking with hot glass. She was also wearing cherry earrings, a red apron, and pink cat-eye glasses, but I think that happens to be part of her glass-blowing persona. We watched her and a team of people blow a big bowl and then place it on some fresh molten glass from the kiln. Then they poured water in the bowl, added a colander with greens, and slapped a lid on it until the bowl eventually broke. She tossed them with sauce in a different bowl and promptly served them. Fun to watch, and possibly to eat (I didn't partake).

Pilchuck Madness #10

Just throwing up some images from around campus. The view of the hot shop and other buildings every morning when I head down to the lodge from the dorms; a shot of our (Tom's and my) messy dorm room; a tree-house; "Founders" totem pole; and random forest view.

Pilchuck Madness #9

Bedazzled in Prison: The Musical occurred last night. Since it was the theme of the Student Auction/Party, everyone was trying to put together a costume. Jane and I wandered down to dig through the costume area in the metal shop early, and managed to find some things to throw together. She ended up being a gilded sheriff with a bedazzled hat and I bedazzled a leather vest and made a mug shot card to put around my neck.

Even though I had my camera with me, I didn't end up taking any pictures during the event though. :(

I'll have to steal some when people put them in the student folder. It was good times! The auction was really fun, and the party afterwards lasted until the wee hours of the morning, moving from the lodge to the hot shop, where everyone was dancing by the light of the gloryholes. (They have awesome speakers in there too.)

Pilchuck Madness #8

Last night was the Student Auction and Party. I had made some monoprints (see above) based on the chipmunk I did for the t-shirt contest, and together they sold for about $100. They managed to raise about $8,000 last night. Half goes toward scholarships and the other half toward supplies for the campus.

I did end up buying a couple things, one was a print in the silent auction for $10 and then I managed to snag a glass sculpture for $40 during the live auction too. Which was fortunate, because there were lots of good things, but most of them were $100 or more. There were definitely some steals though... If I come back, I'm going to have to make sure I have some cash available. As much as I hate to think of art as an investment most of the time, it would be a great place to start or add to a collection.

I've been having a TON of fun in the print shop. I was in there most of the day today working on some pieces inspired by basketry designs from my tribe. Good times!

Pilchuck Madness #6

Slept in this morning until 11:30, which was GREAT!!! Got up, took a shower, did some laundry, and it was suddenly time for lunch. After lunch I was in the print shop all afternoon and had a really fun time. Don't have any images of what I've been working on, but they are inspired by things I was doing a few years ago, such as the red/black acrylic painting at the top and the oil pastel drawing below it.

It seems like ever since I went back to school I've been so focused on design that I've really moved to working with grids and straight lines and don't very often do projects that aren't somewhat rigid. I was hoping that my time here would let me develop more fluidity and introduce some organic elements into my work. If I'm able to successfully combine my art and design, I think I'll be there.

Also, we had a slide show tonight by the de la Torre Brothers (Einar and Jamex) that was really cool. Their website is also super slick, although it has less work on it than we saw earlier. I'm so excited to be surrounded by such great artists, both teachers and students!

Pilchuck Madness #5

Every session here at Pilchuck they have a t-shirt contest. Inspired by the chipmunks that frequent the campus, I decided that I was going to draw a chipmunk for my entry. My desk is near Jane's and she suggested I add an eye patch (a la Dale Chihuly, founding artist) and then Gyun came by and said she thought he should be blowing glass. After a small pile of tracing paper, some scanning, and digital coloring, I was left with my lovely t-shirt design.

Tonight, anyone who wanted to enter posted their submission on the fireplace at the lodge before dinner. Voting was open while we ate, and the winner was announced before the regular evening slideshow. I got first place! This means that they will be printing them out and selling them in the school store. And I think I get a free shirt for winning.

Our instructor, Cork Marcheschi, told us he is "teaching [us] how to win" open calls for public art. I figure this is a good sign? I have to start somewhere!

Pilchuck Madness #4

So in the photo above (you really should click on it to see it in all its glory) this terrible hat that looks like a Barbie/My-Little-Pony horse combined into one mind-blowing object. And yes, you heard me right, it really is a hat.

I first met this hat on Friday when a group of us was digging in the costume pile for the party being thrown by the TAs. Jane modeled it for us, and someone, somewhere has photos of that. I forgot all about it until last night when I had wandered over to the hot shop to see if my cast glass pieces were out of the kiln yet. There it was, sitting in a lawn chair right outside the shop.

Immediately I scurried back to the studio to grab my camera.

I may not be very good at remembering to carry my camera with me, but I did know that it was important to document that hat. How did it get there? (The hot shop isn't particularly close to the metal/wood shop where the party was.) What tales can this hat tell? Who the hell made it?

Pilchuck Madness #3

Pictures of the studio in the Flat Shop where my class works (showing Katie, Jane, and Micah, respectively). As you can see, the wine and beer can be important ingredients for some. There was a wild costume party on Friday night that was really fun. I wore a weird curly wig and silver pleather jacket that was way too small for me. I felt like Howard Stern, but people told me the effect was more like the guitarist from Slash.

Didn't stay for the jell-o shots, but some folks had a REALLY good time! There were tales of people passing out and curling up for the night in the metal shop, library, etc.

I can't believe I've spent five nights here already. It feels like I just arrived. Got to do sand-casting and enamel painting yesterday, and today I slept in late and worked on drawing and photoshopping images for our project.

Weather has been great too, which helps a lot. Of course it does have some unintended side effects. Like the surprise when one of the gaffers stripped down to nothing and was spread out on a picnic table right outside our studio. It certainly feels like art camp...

Pilchuck Madness #2

Above is the view looking west from the top floor of the lodge. It's good stuff!

Spent the morning in the print shop playing around making monotypes. It was totally like art therapy. I loved it and will be signing up again and again and again while I'm here. This afternoon I was (surprisingly) motivated and productive. I managed to Photoshop some images for my public art proposal and start on drawing some chipmunks for our t-shirt contest. Almost everyone else spent the day watching a master glassblower who was on campus. I probably should have investigated it, but I know NOTHING about glass.

For that matter, I know nothing about fabrication in general. All of the people I'm surrounded by in class have created all sorts of amazing things and know how to build stuff. Glass, neon, metal, jewelry, painting, etc. So I'm going to try and catch up a little! Did the printing today and will be sandcasting hopefully tomorrow. And on Monday I had an offer to learn how to weld that I think I'm going to take up.

My iPod made it onto the stereo dock this afternoon when it was the only one nearby that was available. I was a little embarassed because I haven't listened to it in months and months. Probably since last summer. And I had no idea what was on it. The only really bad thing was that there was more Janet Jackson than I would have preferred.

Pilchuck Madness #1

Well, I'm out in the wilderness. We had chipmunks running around in our studio today, across the floor, under tables, on tables, in and out of open backpacks. I've noticed a few ants in my dorm room and I'm at the point where I don't care. They don't seem to be interested in biting me, so I'll let them wander around freely as long as they stay off of my bed. If they want to crawl on my blankets, they will do so at their own peril. Luckily, they are pretty tiny and only appear occasionally.

Today we got to trudge around in the rain between buildings. I know that June is usually not quite as great as I always seem to expect, but I can definitely tell it is colder than usual. My class is going to be more focused on the process of successfully submitting for public art proposals, so I don't know that I'll get a chance to work with glass. I probably could seek it out, but don't know if I'm going to or not. I will, however, be playing in the print studio for sure! Making monotypes looks fun, and there are is a slew of ink colors to play with!

The artist-in-residence that I was excited to meet and see working isn't here after all. Instead, he was replaced (for reasons unknown to me) with Marcus Amerman, another Native artist that I am familiar with. Both Amerman and the other artist (Rick Bartow) were included in my curatorial proposal I made as my final for my "Contemporary Art History" class, so I'm not really too disappointed. Just talked to Marcus at dinner too, and he seems really cool. He'll be showing slides of his work tonight after dinner, which ends in about 15 minutes.

Speaking of dinner, they do feed us really well here! Although I hear that the food is way better this year than in the past.

Heading out...

Today I'm leaving for two-and-a-half weeks for a session at Pilchuck Glass School. I'll be stuck up in the forest in Stanwood, WA the whole time. Forced to do nothing but work on art. I'm still a little unsure about what the class I'm taking is about exactly. The instructor's letter did little to clear things up for me, but I do know that it has to do with the public art process in one way or another.

I'm always struck by how I seek out things like this and then dread them when the time comes. Not that I think it will be bad, I'm sure this will be a great experience for me. Yet, I strongly dislike being thrust into a new and unknown environment all by myself. It's like starting a new job or the first day of school. I find it amusing because it isn't as if I'm resistant to change at all, in fact, I thrive on change! Probably it has to do with my worrying nature. Who will my dorm roommates be? What if I snore and keep them awake and they hate me? Will my art be good enough? Are the other students going to look down on me because I'm studying design? Too many worrisome questions that I need to just let go of.

And of course, I leave later today but I still haven't packed everything. Terrible, I know. I should get to it. Bryn got me a flashlight last night, so there's one thing to check off the list! I will get to meet Rick Bartow though, he's an artist in residence during this session and I truly admire his work. I'm sure I'll look back on this post at the end of the month and laugh at my nervousness.