COLD+HOT 2009 @ Micaela Gallery, S.F.

Here's a post from a San Francisco perspective that also touches on the academic side of glassblowing. Another recent show that requires rather than just touts its artists academic credentials is BIGG, at the OSU artspace in conjunction with Hawk Galleries.
2009 Micaela Gallery blog:

"It is very exciting to open COLD+HOT 2009, a comprehensive sculpture exhibition celebrating the use of glass as a fine art medium. In San Francisco, there is a particular excitement about opening an exhibition where the focus is glass. The San Francisco Bay Area is the birthplace of the West Coast glass movement, and home to many fine artists who work almost exclusively with glass as their medium of expression (as one artist emphasized in his statement, to say they are ‘glass artists’ is as much a misnomer as saying Leonardo da Vinci was a draftsman because he knew how to draw, or that Michelangelo was a mere marble artist, and Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel were bronze artists just because they might, arguably, be known only for their sculpture). Prior to San Francisco’s M.H. de Young Museum opening of its Saxe Collection, the idea of glass as a sculptural medium wasn’t seriously entertained. In fact, many contemporary art critics and collectors continue to relegate the use of glass exclusively as a craft medium today. And so, the dialogue of glass as a fine art medium continues, with growing awareness that it is a fickle and demanding tool, evolving as a lyrical and sophisticated medium of artistic expression....

...The focus of COLD+HOT 2009 is the material, glass. It is about glass as a medium of artistic expression, as sculpture. Most of the artists presented possess enviable academic credentials (BFA or MFA) with emphasis in glass, painting or sculpture. They studied form, light and space, and are masters of their medium whether it is blown, cast, engraved or laminated. Some of the artists focus on the form captured by the exterior planes of their sculpture, or the optics created by sculpting the exterior as well as uses of material to develop their artistic vision. Some of the artists are ‘outsider’ artists, who mastered their craft indirectly while working with the medium, and developed conceptual ideas iterated via glass. And, to mix it up, yes, we included two painters, who have no material relationship to the medium of glass. All the artists in this exhibition are fine artists...

...COLD+HOT 2009 celebrates the work of these artists with their presentations of cold worked (carved, engraved, polished) glass and hot worked (blown, cast, kiln fired) glass and painting (acrylic, mixed media, and oil). The premised material for this exhibition is glass presented within three basic ranges: borosilicate (the most heat resistant), soda glass (the most common), and lead glass (also known as crystal). The artworks employ all the classic and formal methods knows to sculpture, such as carving and lost wax casting, and in some cases, develop new methods to feature the lyrical and poetic qualities of light captured by glass. Many of the artists in COLD+HOT 2009 are prestigious academics and graduates, elite within their respective programs, some are gifted with continuous awards recognizing their work, while others enjoy the prestige of commissions at venues like the Waldorf Astoria and abroad. They are all, without question, fine artists with relevant ideas in step with today’s dialogue and social commentary, whose practice is presented with mastery and well-developed skill, and whose work is not only engaging, but beautiful and visually pleasurable."

Micaela Gallery blog. "COLD+HOT 2009". post July 5, 2009. website accessed July 5, 2009. http://micaela-gallery.blogspot.com/2009/07/it-is-very-exciting-to-open-coldhot.html

Artists in the show:

Peter Bremers, Eric Franklin, Grant Garmezy, Phillip Hua, Michelle Knox, Weston Lambert, Susan Longini, Greg Nangle, Nancy Otto, Lorraine Peltz, Stig Persson, Chantal Royant, Thomas Schoon, Carmen Spera, Jennifer Umphress, Kristiina Uslar, Sasha Zhitneva

Here are all the artists Micaela Gallery represents, half are included in the show:

BREMERS*	JONES*	PERSSON*
BUI	KIERNAN**	ROYANT*
CANNON**	KILDALL**	SCOON*
CLEMENCEAU	KNOX*	SPERA*
ESCHER	LAMBERT*	TOVERA
FOUCAULT**	LIPOFSKY*	TRIBBLE*
FRANKLIN*	LIPTON	USLAR*
FREED	LONGINI*	UMPHRESS*
GAMBINI	NANGLE*	WALKER*
GARMEZY*	NORTH	YUN**
GILHOOLY	OTTO*	ZHITNEVA*
HUA	PELTZ