2001 Art Business News:
"The fourth annual International Exposition of Sculpture & Functional Art: SOFA New York 2001 enjoyed its most successful run over the summer at the Seventh Regiment Armory, according to show organizers.
Newyorktoday.com from The New York Times called the exposition "a stunning array of art ... known for reflecting and setting cutting-edge design trends."
Among the buyers at the show were major collectors, museum curators, architects and designers. A record 14,000 persons attended SOFA during its five-day run, 1,000-plus guests attended the Opening Night Preview Gala, a benefit for the American Craft Museum, and 700 enjoyed the critically acclaimed SOFA New York Lecture Series, featuring internationally prominent artists, art professionals and collectors in 15 presentations. Of special note was a key talk by Arthur C. Danto, professor emeritus of philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation.
Fifty-two international art dealers presented SOFA visitors with the work of major artists and stylistic movements in the fine and decorative arts, from the second half of the 20th century up to the present. Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally renowned textile artist, author and collector, said, "SOFA is the dominant contemporary decorative arts event in the world."
Galleries and dealers at SOFA New York 2001 reported a remarkable response to contemporary ceramics. Russian-born ceramicist Sergei Isupov sold out his entire "Statuettes" series of 12 18-inch figures offered at $8,000 to $10,000 by Ferrin Gallery, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Leslie Ferrin said, "Our major pieces sold immediately. Sergei Isupov, Red Weldon Sandlin and Mara Superior all sold well and generated strong interest in their upcoming works to be featured at SOFA Chicago in October."
Galerie b15 of Munich, Germany sold three expressionistic figures and heads by Gertraud Mohwald, renowned for integrating shards of fired ceramics and porcelain, colored paper and gold into glazes, slips or clay, offered at between $20,000 and $30,000. Galerie b 15 also sold five porcelain celadon vessels by Masamichi Yoshikawa including "Architecture," offered at $6,000.
Contemporary Applied Arts, London, founded in 1948 as the official Crafts Centre of Great Britain, sold four Stephen Dixon ceramic pieces. Mary La Trobe-Bateman said she was impressed with the "serious collectors of ceramics and glass" at SOFA New York, noting that "larger, more expensive pieces" sold quickly.
In a repeat performance, sculptural glass again enjoyed top sales at SOFA. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the show was the sale of 10 pieces from Marvin Lipofsky's new "Kentucky Series 2000-2001," offered at $16,800 to $28,000 each. The top sale of Heller Gallery, New York, was "Alicante Verde" by Michael Pavlik and "Vladimira Kumpar, 2001," offered for $44,000. Also sold at Heller Gallery was "Furrow" by Daniel Clayman, offered for $27,000. And "Dress V" by Karen LaMonte from her most recent series, "Absent Impressions," offered at $20,000. Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, reported excellent sales of Yoichi Ohira, Laura De Santillana, Toots Zynsky and Giles Bettison. Other notable glass sales:
* Galerie Na Janskem Vrsku of Prague sold "Half Egg" by Vaclav Cigler, offered at $35,000; and "Levitation" by Stepan Pala, sold for $40,000.
* Leo Kaplan Modern, New York, sold "Tigre" by Jose Chardiet, offered for $13,500; and "Hershoff Boat" by Steven Weinberg, offered for $12,000.
* Riley Hawk Galleries, Kirkland, Wash., sold three glass sculptures from Lino Tagliapietra's 2000 "Bilbao Series" offered at between $36,000 and $39,000.
* Marx-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, sold KeKe Cribbs' "Frederico," a glass mosaic on hybridized concrete offered at $26,000; and a Paul Stankard lamp-worked glass piece, offered at $25,000.
* R. Duane Reed Gallery, Chicago, sold "Linear Shift in Green, 2000," made of glass, metal and concrete, offered for $27,000, as well as "Alternate Progressions #1, 2001," offered for $35,000, both by Julie Mihalisin & Philip Walling.
Sales of contemporary and historic textiles and fiber art at SOFA New York were also brisk. Gail Martin Gallery, New York, sold Peter Collingwood's "Macro Gauze 3D," made of linen with steel rods, offered at $5,000. Also selling at Gail Martin was "Allegria" by Polly Barton, made of silk warp and weft ikat with painted warp and rubbed dye pigment offered at $16,000. Other top fiber sales:
* Synderman/Works Galleries, Philadelphia, sold "Bird" by Soonran Youn, a cotton Plexiglass block, offered for $8,500; and "Pigment with Athena w/Golden Aegis," cotton and gold thread on linen by Marilyn Pappas, offered for $8,500.
* Lea Sneider Fine Arts, New York, sold Kazuko Saeki's "Tapestry Wave Relief," offered at $5,000.
* Tai Gallery / Textile Arts of Santa Fe, specializing in Japanese bamboo arts, sold "Sign of the Wind" by Nagakura Kenichi, offered at $16,000; and "Spring" by Honda Syoryu, offered at $12,000.
Once again, the high quality of secondary market pieces at SOFA New York proved to be the key factor in successful sales:
* Donna Schneier Fine Arts, New York sold two seminal Stanislav Libensky/Jaroslava Brychtova cast glass sculptures: "Table Laid for a Bride, 1989," offered at $55,000 (The sister piece, made from the same mold, resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.) and "Taking Off," 1994, offered for $85,000.
* Franklin Parrasch Gallery of New York sold "Huddie," a seminal 28 inch ceramic bust from 1973 by Robert Arneson, the father of California Funk Art, offered for $125,000. Also sold was a teapot by Beatrice Wood, 1970, for $4,500.
* Marx-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, sold "Red Lumina with Compound Disk 209" by Tom Patti, offered at $60,000, from the artist's personal collection.
* Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia, sold "Crescent Rocker" by Wendell Castle, a stack-laminated walnut suede, 1977, offered at $17,000.
Significant sales at SOFA New York in the media of metal and wood included:
* Wendell Castle, "Morning," gold leaf over wood, offered at $22,000 by Leo Kaplan Modern, New York.
* Chris Hill, "Murmur," steel acrylic, offered at $38,000 by Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago.
* Mariko Kusumato, "Daughter's Room," nickel silver, brass, copper, wood and bronze, offered at $20,000, and "Stages of Life II," also offered at $20,000. Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley, Calif., sold both Kusumato's sought-after music boxes on opening night."
"Fourth SOFA New York Garners Record Sales Attendance.(International Exposition of Sculpture & Functional Art: SOFA New York 2001)." Art Business News. 2001. Retrieved November 05, 2009 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6795754_ITM
2001 Esther Anderson:"
CHICAGO--With an attendance level of 30,000, SOFA (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art) Chicago, which took place in November, provided its visitors the opportunity to visit the booths of 91 galleries, view seven special exhibits and attend the lecture series featuring prominent artists, museum curators, arts professionals and collectors in 33 presentations.
"At SOFA Chicago 2000, galleries took larger booths than they have in the past, which shows the underlying feeling that galleries trusted that it would be a productive and useful event," said Show Founder Mark Lyman. "In every show there is some evolution, and I would say 80 percent of the dealers maintain the continuous core. This year we have a larger international group of galleries, representing nine countries outside of the United States."
Lyman Said the SOFA shows, which began in 1994, have led to the formation of an art community consisting of artists, galleries, collectors, nonprofit arts organizations and art professionals.
As one of the 70 speakers participating in the lecture series at the show, Jo Lauria, associate curator of decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), presented a survey of the major stylistic movements in the history of ceramics during the second half of the 20th century, using the LACMA organized traveling exhibition titled "Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000" as a source for discussion. She believes the SOFA expositions provide a terrific benefit to curators.
SOFA Chicago 2000 was a forum for the introduction of new artists, new works by established artists, new galleries and newly published books. The debut of the work of David Marks titled "Trilobite" exhibited by del Mano Gallery, led to a commission to create a similar piece for a Chicago couple. Marks, a fine artist working in wood and the president of the California Contemporary Craft Association, found SOFA Chicago to be "an enriching and inspiring experience."
Riley Hawk Galleries featured new works by Albert Paley in an exhibition titled "Integration and Dialogue," comprised of sculptures constructed of fabricated and forged stainless steel with glass components created under his direction by Martin Blank and Blank's team of glass workers. Represented by the Leo Kaplan Modern Gallery, Wendell Castle, a master of studio furniture design presented "Mid-summer," his sculpture in the form of a chair made of fabricated and patinated bronze.
The Miller Gallery from New York, which has traditionally exhibited only works by glass artists such as Colin Heany, decided to include the work of four ceramic artists, one being Camille VandenBerge, at SOFA Chicago 2000 and was rewarded with strong sales of the ceramic works.
New exhibitor Kagedo, a Seattle gallery dealing in Japanese art, boasted strong sales at the show. "We sold numerous works by stone and fiber artist Deloss Webber. We sold numerous metal flower containers by different Japanese artists and sold contemporary bronze sculpture," said Greg Lulay of Kagedo Gallery. However, Kagedo's main focus was to introduce contemporary Japanese lacquer artwork, and it succeeded in selling several lacquer pieces.
It was evident at SOFA Chicago 2000 that glass has a high appeal to collectors. Several hundred people attended a lecture by Dante Marioni, an internationally known artist working in glass, and many came to the Heller Gallery booth to obtain their personally signed copies of Marioni's new book Dante Marioni Blown Glass.
Holsten Galleries from Stockbridge, Mass., in its fourth year of exhibiting at SOFA, chose again to present a solo exhibition featuring Dale Chihuly. "SOFA was the catalyst for the significant growth in our business," said Gallery Director Jim Schantz. "The people attending SOFA Chicago 2000 were more focused and serious about purchasing art ... The majority of our sales were to new contacts, and we had our best year."
Bonnie Marx of Marx-Saunders Gallery in Chicago, representing glass artists such as Paul Stankard, William Carlson and Stephen Powell, also reported that new contacts made at the show generated a large percentage of the gallery's total sales.
Wood art is another category that is growing. SOFA Chicago provided the opportunity for Collectors of Wood Art, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the positioning of wood art as fine art, to introduce itself to the art community and to further its goal of encouraging education and excellence in the field. "Last year was a banner year because the Collectors of Wood Art conference was in Chicago at the same time as SOFA Chicago, and because of the interest and sales generated by the special wood art exhibit displayed [at the conference]. This year was better than most of the previous years," said Ray Leier of del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles, which represented more than 55 wood artists at the show. "There has been an increase of galleries exhibiting wood art, which I welcome, because it expands the field."
Jewelry is also an integral component of SOFA and was shown by galleries such as the Susan Cummins Gallery of Mill Valley, Calif., and the William Zimmer Gallery of Mendocino, Calif. Ivan Barnett of Patina Gallery in Sante Fe, N.M., attended SOFA Chicago to see new works by artists and to network. "Jewelry continues to be a very large part of the SOFA show. For me, it is the strongest media category of the show. Over the years, art jewelry continues to expand at SOFA."
Jeff Walters, one of the many thousands who experienced SOFA Chicago 2000, believes SOFA connects people and art. As he explained, "It's hard to define SOFA ... you look at some of these things and it does take you to a place you have never been before. It's like music in that I don't feel as though I could describe music, just as I could never describe these works of art, I could never do them justice. But you have an instant feeling ... an instant connection."
SOFA New York will take place May 31 through June 4, 2001."
ANDERSON, ESTHER. "SOFA Chicago Features Collection of Functional Art, Sculpture.(Sculpture Objects and Functional Art)(Brief Article)." Art Business News. February 1, 2001. Retrieved November 05, 2009 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5918130_ITM
2001 Sara Manuelli:
"Glass is the new rock 'n' roll, or so it would seem from the proliferation of designers trying their hands at this delicate material.
From Emmanuel Babled's Smash project, which involved names such as James Irvine and Richard Hutten, to Ettore Sottass' precious one-off pieces, both shown at the Milan Furniture Fair this April, 3D designers are discovering the potential of ancient glassblowing techniques and making them their own. Yet many of them should probably acknowledge a debt towards Dale Chihuly, the American-born artist who has made the beauty of glass his lifelong mission. For over 30 years, Chihuly has been at the forefront of experimentation, producing breathtaking installations that combine the most exquisite Venetian techniques with a daring sense of proportion. And with excellent timing, The Victoria & Albert Museum is staging Chihuly's first large-scale exhibition in Europe.
Born in 1941, Chihuly initially trained in interior design and architecture. He went on to obtain a master's degree in sculpture, and one in ceramics. In 1968, he made his first visit to Venice, having been awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant for work in glass, as well as a Fuibright fellowship. According to Jennifer Hawkins Opie, curator of the show and author of the book, Chihuly at the V&A, before going to Venice he had written 300 letters requesting some sort of internship on the Murano island, where all the glassworks had been based since the 15th century. Ludovico de Santillana, the son-in-law of Paolo Venini and the director of the Venini glassworks, was the oniy one he received a reply from, thus sparking a love affair with the island that still continues to this day.
In 1969, Chihuly established a glass programme at Rhode Island School of Design, and in 1971 the Pilchuck Glass School, where he invited the Italian glass masters to share their knowledge and virtuosity with students and other artists. But the relationship with Venice has always been two-way, with two Italian masters, Lino Tagliapietra and Pino Signoretto, prospering under Chihuly's constant quest for exploration.
Like all glass masters, Chihuly is a team man, or in the words of Opie, " a circus master". His studio is largely a collaborative affair, in which Chihuly coordinates multiple projects in Seattle to be installed all over the world. A tragic accident in 1976 has deprived him of sight in one eye, which means that his perception of depth is altered. Since then, Chihuly has become, as Opie writes, "more of a conductor of the orchestras, rather than the soloist or lead violin in the actual blowing sessions".
The V&A has been courting Chihuly's genius for a while. In 1999, he was commissioned to create the V&A Chandelier, a stunning ice blue and spring green chandelier which was designed, blown and assembled in Seattle and then hung in the V&A with a specially made chain from the newly strengthened ceiling. For this exhibition, a new 1724kg version of the Chandelier stands in the main entrance, the largest chandelier ever built.
Seven site-specific installations have been located among the V&A's medieval treasures. Sensuous Sea-forms, Japanese-inspired Ikebana shapes and Persian ceiling, made of a mass of kaleidoscopic forms encased in a glass roof, all display Chihuly's exquisite skills and flamboyant style.
Outside, in the Pirelli Garden, stands the piece de resistance, the Sm-high yellow and red Tower of Light, erected over the fountain. Further installations, ruby red seals and a forest of lily and purple stick-like sculptures, create a mesmerising landscape which will intoxicate the viewer.
Chihuty at the V&A is at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7, from 21 June until 21 October"
Manuelli, Sara. "Class in glass: The Victoria & Albert Museum is hosting the first European large-scale exhibition of work by glass artist Dale Chihuly. Sara Manuelli encourages us to visit. (The Week Ahead)." Design Week. June 21, 2001. Retrieved November 05, 2009 from accessmylibrary: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-97295056/class-glass-victoria-amp.html
2001 John Cook:"Yesterday's earthquake swayed skyscrapers in downtown Seattle, stalled airplane production at The Boeing Co., swamped Starbucks corporate headquarters and shattered $300,000 worth of glass sculptures at one Pioneer Square art gallery.
But for the famed fish tossers at Pike Place Market it was business as usual.
"As soon as the quake was over, not much more than two seconds later, there were customers at the counter and the fish were flying again," reported fishmonger Yori Oyloe.
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| The top of Starbucks corporate headquarters was damaged, but the building escaped major structural harm, company officials said. Inside, however, broken pipes and toppled file cabinets made a mess. Meryl Schenker / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo Click for more photos |
Others spent the day cleaning up.
Seventy-two-year-old Loren Perkins of Perkins Glass & Mirror Inc. was sweeping up $20,000 worth of broken glass at the company's Capitol Hill shop.
"We have about 20 Dumpsters full," said Perkins, whose 96-year-old family-owned business repaired windows during the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Seattle in 1949.
Perkins said employees at the company had just finished repairing windows at Elliott Bay Book Co. in Pioneer Square broken during Tuesday night's raucous Mardi Gras celebration when the earthquake knocked out more windows.
At the Tacoma Fred Meyer on South 19th Street, clerks broke out the mops, sopping up some 40 bottles of wine, several bottles of beer and at least one jar of very sticky caramel.
Other clerks were busy restocking merchandise that fell from the shelves.
Food manager Joe Jackson was in the wine area when the quake hit.
"It was really rocking," he said.
It may take a little longer to get the state's big companies up to full production. It also could take time to figure out the economic damage inflicted by the quake.
Boeing, the largest employer in the state, evacuated its airplane factories in Renton and Everett immediately after the quake and then closed them until at least today so they could be inspected for damage. Several Boeing facilities will remain closed today.
No serious injuries were reported at the plants, but Boeing engineers were assessing structural damage last night. In addition to the two airplane factories, Boeing has facilities in Auburn, Bellevue and Kent and near Boeing Field south of Seattle.
Only the Auburn facility remained open yesterday.
"I was really scared," said one Everett Machinist who was standing on a 747 jig about three stories up when the quake hit. "Everybody thought 'This is it! This is the Big One!'" The worker, who asked not to be named, clung to a nearby column to keep his balance as the jig rocked and shook.
Boeing established a number for employees to call for updates about their work sites and when they should report back to work. That number is 1-800-899-6431.
Starbucks Corp. suffered one of the most dramatic jolts, as the earthquake sent waves of bricks tumbling to the ground, crushing an awning and damaging cars.
While the damage looked bad, the coffee giant, which shares Seattle's largest office building with other tenants, escaped major structural damage and reported no major injuries, according to an initial assessment by Rick Arthur, vice president in charge of administration.
Still, the quake created a mess. Ruptured water lines soaked carpeting, and upended file cabinets and desks littered Starbucks office floors, company officials said. They don't expect to reopen their doors until next week at the earliest, Arthur said.
The Port of Seattle reported broken water mains and pipes and buckled sidewalks at Fisherman's Terminal in Ballard and said water mains broke at terminals 5, 18, 25 and 30 on the downtown waterfront. It also stopped moving cargo for several hours as it inspected docks and terminals, said spokesman Doug Williams.
A two-hour power failure affected operations at the Port of Tacoma, but by midafternoon a spokesman said things were pretty much back to normal.
Amazon.com, located in the old Marine Hospital at the north end of Beacon Hill, will be closed for several days as it examines the building. While the Web site will continue to operate and some employees yesterday worked from the parking lot, spokeswoman Patty Smith said, "We want to make sure everyone is safe and the buildings are sound."
Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla said Building 31, on the company's main campus, experienced a minor gas leak, which was contained immediately and required no evacuation. But some 1,200 product-distribution and other workers in buildings known as Sammamish A, B and C on the company's Issaquah campus were evacuated, Pilla said. He said those buildings suffered a broken window and other damage. By midafternoon, all but Building B had reopened.
Small businesses also suffered damage.
The worst-hit art gallery in Seattle appears to be the William Traver Gallery at 110 Union St. Traver, which represents a significant number of top glass artists, reported yesterday that he thought the gallery lost "somewhere close to $300,000" in inventory, nearly all of it glass sculpture.
Damage at other galleries may eventually be higher as more galleries assess their losses.
Traver said he doesn't carry earthquake insurance and has a clause in each artist's contract absolving him from responsibility in case of natural disasters.
Yellow and red police tape was spun like spider webs along sidewalks in front of some businesses in Seattle's historic district of Pioneer Square.
At First Avenue, near Madison Street, Doc Carlson, owner of the Central Gun Exchange, paced the sidewalk in front of his store wearing a green army helmet. Inside, a huge moose head, which he estimates had been attached to the wall since 1943, crashed to the floor, shearing off the antlers on one side.
Except for a few fallen bricks, there was no other damage.
"Through all the earthquakes, this place just keeps standing like a tank," said Carlson."
Cook, J. "Business picks up the pieces after jolt." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 1, 2001. acc. Nov 2 , 2009. http://www.seattlepi.com/business/starbucks01.shtml
"A delicate glass sculpture by US artist Dale Chihuly worth £35,000 has been accidentally smashed by a workman at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.The work was part of the Macchia series made by the world-famous artist who is famed for his contemporary works with glass.But a spokesperson for the museum told BBC News Online the piece would be replaced by a sculpture from another display.
"It is extremely unfortunate and much to be regretted," she said.
"The piece was broken by an outside contractor."
The Macchia series is a collection of ornately formed glass sculptures flecked with vibrant colours, one of which hangs in the entrance to the museum.
The piece that was broken on Thursday had been displayed on a plinth.
The artist, who was born in 1941, has won several awards including Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the corporate council for the Arts/ArtsFund in Seattle.
Janet Makela of the Chihuly studio in Seattle told The Independent on Sunday the exhibition would continue to run.
Revamp
"The sculptures are glass and glass breaks, that's why insurance is carried," she said.
"The museum is of course handling the insurance claim in tandem with the contractors."
The exhibition follows the museum announcing in February it was revamping its image.
A report showed visitor numbers had plummeted due to its old-fashioned image.
The fall in visitor figures by 200,000 last year made the V&A Britain's most expensive museum in terms of government subsidy - as the taxpayer pays £25 for each visitor."
BBC News. "Workman smashes £35,000 sculpture" July 15, 2001. accessed November 2, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1440285.stm
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2001 Robin Rice:
"Sky blue, chili pepper red, lime green and very black "Medicine Bottles" line a shelf in the studio of Resident Fellow Nancy Callan at the Creative Glass Center of America. The blown forms in strong solid colors are vaguely old-fashioned with cylindrical openings designed for a cork. Each is labeled with a square tile which was pressed into the hot surface. Words and simple pictures were ground from a layer of red and/or black over white. An underlayer of black makes as an irregular border on some pieces. A red cross looks faintly ominous on a tall black bottle. A single die identifies the iffy contents of a narrow green bottle. Its neighbor's label edged in explosive angles of red, reads "Pow / Pow." A dollar sign and a suitcase captioned "VIVA" suggest yet another remedy for whatever ails you. The bottles represent culturally constructed, self-prescribed remedies--some perhaps benign, others dangerous, all more or less addictive. These cures and more displayed in an especially fabricated white metal medicine cabinet with a mirrored back and sliding glass doors will be the complete work of art.
A second medicine cabinet is a portrait of sorts. It's dedicated to Callan's father and will contain enigmatic rows of plain white bottles; however, a golf ball, and a strip of Astroturf on a center shelf will identify his favorite medicine.
Chuckling, Callan points out a large clear bottle with red horns sprouting from its shoulders standing near the medicine bottles. It's labeled "SLRig," in black letters, each one on a separate white tile. The bottle was supposed to say "giRLS," but somehow the square tiles, which had to be heated upside down before placement in the surface of the bottle, got reversed and were irrevocably embedded--backward--in hot glass by the time the faces could be seen.
Although she doesn't like "cold working," and prefers "to put everything together on the pipe," Callan laboriously grinding away a layer of colored glass to make each picture or letter. Her interest in language and lettering and two-dimensional design led to a 10 year career as a self-taught graphic designer right after she finished high school. Unfortunately, she says, "the computer came in and took the competitive edge." So, she decided she'd better master computer graphics. Fortunately for the glass world, at the Massachusetts College of Art, she discovered she "hated computers and loved working with my hands." She happily switched to ceramics, but one day she looked into the hot shop. Glass was even more fascinating than ceramics.
"I remember taking my first gather," Callan says, "My hand was on fire but I came out saying, 'I love this. This is what I'm going to do.'"
She pursued glass with passion. In a short workshop with famed glass-blower Lino Tagliapietra, Callan recalls "I built up my nerve. I said, 'Lino, I want to be a great glass blower. I'm really serious about it.' He said, 'Okay' and walked away. An hour later he said, 'You should go to Manifesto in Seattle.'"
Callan couldn't really afford to go to Seattle, but she told herself that if a certain piece she'd made sold, she'd find a way. The piece sold and she went. She now works regularly as an assistant to Tagliapietra, having graduated from lowly chores like opening the doors to the glory hole to tasks like picking up cane and bringing the punty.
"When you work that closely with someone for so long, the hardest thing is making the work my own," she explains. Callan's technical mastery is evident in a row of really large bottles, most clear glass with pale complex cane work. Their elongated curving profiles, all with narrow necks, range from inverted funnel shapes to high shouldered curvy tear-drops. "Pick it up," Callan indicates the largest one. It is feather-light and threaded with a veil of fine color.
Callan says her series of "Genie Lamps" is "about fantasy," adding, "I like them, but there's something unresolved about them." Clearly lamp forms, they have a biomorphic undulating quality and surface patterning from Murrini-like squares to caning. Unlike the ironic "Medicine Bottles," which also reflect people's needs, the lamps' curvy attenuated silhouettes have a wistful sweetness, a kind of yearning which is explicit in an assemblage which augments a real telephone with an etched glass megaphone-like cone reiterating "iWiSHiWiSHiWiSH. . . ." in an endless spiral.
Intended for a projected installation, wall-mounted black and yellow striped Bee Butts point long black stingers into the room. Simultaneously abstract and instantly identifiable, they combine an almost Duchampian minimalism with a sense of the ridiculous.
In contrast to these and other sculptures incorporating found elements, is a functional set of Jetson Martini Glasses. Produced in several color combinations, the angular forms exemplify modernism with the kitsch futuristic elegance of tail fins.
Callan is in an enviable position for a glass artist. With an enviable level of technical skill which she continues to develop, she is able to address a broad range of functional and sculptural projects."
Rice, R. "Nancy Callan" Wheaton Arts, NJ. Creative Glass Center of America. 2001. website accessed May 2, 2009. http://www.wheatonarts.org/creativeglasscenteramerica/criticresidency/robinrice/callannancy
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