Today's News: Taliaferro Jones

Taliaferro Jones. Nimbus, 2006. Kiln cast lead glass.

Today's News: Taliaferro Jones shows in an exhibition curated by Melanie Egan for the Harbourfront Centre's Summer Exhibitions, "Material Wealth: Revealing Landscape." Opens tonight.


The exhibition statement: One of the most interesting aspects about materials (glass, ceramics, textiles, metal etc.) is their ability to act as catalysts for conceptual ideas. Ideas about landscape have prompted a viewing of material from a different perspective, isolating elements within the landscape and focusing in exploring the material’s meaning and its trajectory across culture and geography.


The artist's statement: My current body of work uses water as a metaphor to illustrate the ever-present alchemy of our existence. Water is the essence of life. When I dive into any body of water I immediately have an intense and profound sense of joy and wonder. In its duality, water is extremely powerful – crashing and yet, also calming; we cannot live without it. The work explores the different states of being within water. It touches on how we flow through our lives striving for a state of grace and beauty. Like our blue planet, our bodies are 70% water, yet we still have a need to ground ourselves; the paradox of standing still while always flowing. In many ways we are between states, part spirit and part matter, part liquid and part solid. I sought to use the lyrical dance of light, space and colour to explore and manifest these ideas in glass and photography.


Born and raised in Northern California, Taliaferro Jones holds a BA and BFA from Tufts University and the Museum School, Boston, followed by Sheridan College. Her work is shown in international exhibitions, including recent biennales in Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea. She has done large-scale commissions in London, California, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Her work is included in the Canadiana Fund collection at Rideau Hall and El Museo de Vidrio in Spain. She has been featured by Bravo and TVO as well as in the following books: International Glass Art, The Contemporary Glass Art of the World, Craft of Northern California and Golf 365 Days. She is a founding member of the Cadence collective, currently sits on the board of the Ontario Crafts Council, and is on the developing board of a new foundation and Museum for contemporary art in Spain.

Taliaferro Jones. Caress, 2008. Kiln cast lead glass, sandblasted.

Her sculpture, Caress, will be included in the Oakland Museum's upcoming homage to the 50th Anniversary of American Studio Glass.

Artists we love showing at the Oakland Museum

It has been, shamefully, quite some time since our last post here. Our only explanation is that our work surprisingly took over to such an extent that we inexplicably shifted away from our love of this blog. To our readers, we offer humble apologies with the promise to amend and forge ahead.

Our news today is that some of our favorite glass artists will be featured at the Oakland Museum of California's celebration of the 50th Anniversary of American Studio Glass. They are: Marvin Lipofsky, Mark Abildgaard, Oben Abright, Latchezar Boyadjiev, Kathleen Elliot, Bella Feldman, Robert Fritz, Jaime Guerrero, Taliaferro Jones, Michelle Knox, John Lewis, Susan Longini, Richard Marquis, William Morris, Jay Musler, Danny Perkins, Clifford Rainey, Therman Statom, Cassandra Straubing, Randy Strong, Pamina Traylor and Mary White.

Marvin Lipofsky. California Loop Series #55 (1970). Blown glass, flocking.  8 x 36 x 27 in.

We are extremely honored to have been invited to share our thoughts on these artists with collectors, curators and museum professionals, and continue to support the beautiful work they make that we believe in so passionately.

To the artists and professionals involved in presenting this upcoming exhibition, thank you for your collaboration.

Taliaferro Jones is back from the Cheongju International Craft Biennale!

Back from exhibition at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Taliaferro Jones will participate in Ontario Craft ’09 with Luna (2009), a kiln cast crystal sculpture.

The Ontario Craft Council's juried biennial exhibition will open Friday, November 13th, ongoing through December 30th. The opening reception, in Toronto, is this Friday from 5:30-8:30 at the Ontario Craft’s Council, 990 Queen Street West. For more information, please go to: http://www.craft.on.ca/Programs/Exhibitions-upcoming.

Jones, a first-time exhibitor at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Seoul (South Korea), presented Embrace (2005). A three-part themed exhibition, Jones contributed to "Unity and Diversity" where curators Kai Chan, Susan Edgerly and Gord Thompson, among others, sought responses from craftspeople to review their work in context with the Canadian craft movement. Presented were questions relative to whether Canadian craft possesses a unified identity, and whether vast physical and cultural geographies complicate and diversify the issue of identity.

Image, above right: Taliaferro Jones. Luna, 2009. Kiln cast crystal. 9.5 x 17 x 6 in., below right: Taliaferro Jones. Embrace, 2005. Kiln cast lead glass, diptych. 26 x 26 x 17 in.

What happened??? Bridge Art Fair 2008 Postscript

I know, I'd like to know what happened too! It's too easy to fling vile epithets and make another jab at the national economy, after, all, how many times can you punch a villain? Not enough, and certainly not enough when it's affecting everyone and the livelihood of all our artists. So here we go ... apparently, there were no crowds at the biggest, most amazing art fair in the art world. So, I can't give you fabulous war stories about how well we did, and which celeb floated by ... Yes, of course everyone blamed the economy (and after that boring refrain, the organizers were the next favored target), let's join the fray (grrrr ... sour grapes, anyone?)!

Disappointment? Sure. We would have loved to bring back beaucoup bucks, instant fame and gallons of South Beach's delicious cafe con leche, especially as Natalia took our most promising artists to this year's Bridge Art Fair at Art Basel Miami 2008. This was our second foray into the annual Art Basel Miami cultural whirlwind, so we can no longer claim to be novices at the art fair scene, and I wish I could tell you it was all fun in the sun, but as you'll probably see from our images, below, it was grueling work transforming a (how many stars was that again?) rated hotel room into an avant-garde art exhibition. Challenges were choice - delivery obstacles, teeny-tiny room (ours came with a repair man to finish installing tile and fix the broken shower), paucity of exhibitors in our hotel, oh ... and where was the promised press? No matter, I guess, for a few thousand dollars (to buy in to this shindig), our job - to present beautiful artwork and introduce the work of our artists - was to see how far-flung galleries face adversity, right? Enough said. The artworks we showed, and the efforts of Natalia and Ashley, were beyond the pale and truly beautiful. Some of our visitors found works by Scott Kiernan, Tobias Tovera and David Yun cool enough to take home ... congratulations and thank you, Gentlemen!

Here's a small gift for those of us who didn't go - before, during and after shots of our exhibition! Thank you, Natalia and Ashley (now veterans of the Miami international art scene), for your hard work and for the images to show us our show!

Bridge Miami 08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Bridge Art Fair|Miami Beach 2008

DECEMBER 4-7, 2008 Catalina Hotel, Room 124 1732 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

Micaëla Gallery presents the work of Gerald Cannon, Peter Foucault, Scott Kiernan, Scott Kildall, Taliaferro Jones, Jenna North, Lorraine Peltz, Tobias Tovera, Anne Yalon and David Yun at Bridge Art Fair|Miami Beach 2008 from Dec 4 through Dec 7. Read more...Current Exhibition Previous exhibition: Stig Persson | The Big Silence: works 2003-2008 Fairs: SOFA Chicago 2008, Bridge Art Fair|Miami Beach 2008 Gallery Calendar Exhibition catalogs are available for purchase.

Taliaferro Jones...Toronto Design News

Image: Taliaferro Jones. diStill, 2008. Kiln cast glass, cast cement basin, water and pump. 12 x 19 x 32 in.

Featured in the latest issue of the GAS News, Taliaferro Jones' work for the Canadian design store, MADE, was introduced at one of the most important design shows in Toronto this year - Radiant Dark. Taliaferro's entry, diSTILL, combines water, crystal and light as it moves through their realms. Light enters the crystal and plays with the water in color, reflections and refrations. The viewer is shown a cool calm amidst the dark theme of the show. Jones has extended her exploration of glass liquidity and the fores of water through installation and mixed media. (excerpted from International Window: Luxury with Individuality by Siya Chen, GAS News, volume 19, issue 5)

Taliaferro Jones news...

Last night, Taliaferro Jones wrote that she was back from her holiday in Spain ... physically at least. She forwarded an article published in this month's ARTNews about her exhibition held in sync with her lecture at the Glass Art Society's summer conference in Portland. The article, by TJ Norris, discusses Taliaferro's work as follows: "Jones displayed a taste for the flowing gesture in her translucent kiln-cast glass sculptures mimicking the grace of oceanic movement. In three sumptuous works she gave the viewer a snapshot of the tips of waves. Shown together with a large-scale digital print of the reflective ocean surface, the meticulously rendered Effervescence (2008) captures the ferocity of whitecaps and the luxuriousness of sea foam." Bravo Taliaferro!

Taliaferro Jones

It's not often a young artist can teach a seasoned gallerist about grace and poise, but Taliaferro Jones reminded me how important these qualities are in our harried 21st century world. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Taliaferro (pronounced "Tawlevuhr") now resides in Toronto. She descends from a family of artists, and at least two generations of sculptors, although she is the first to work with leaded glass (aka crystal). Her works are shown in Europe and all over the U.S. She's an incredibly enthusiastic young newlywed and possesses a surprisingly sunny smile. I probably would too if I'd grown up in with all that art talent.

Taliaferro's work is about her environment, right now - water. She sculpts glass using traditional methods of casting with the lost wax process. The resulting work possesses a classical aspect that is both modern and reminiscent of Rodin. Because she uses leaded glass that is 46% lead, her works are also impressively translucent, allowing large amounts of light to filter through the heaviest sections of the sculptures, which, combined with her choice of colors truly imparts a watery affect. She's a photographer as well and often pairs her sculptures with her photographs. Her photographs are made with a medium format camera and printed on large sheets of archival acid-free cotton rag. The colors are intense, and on close views, there is an abstract feeling to her work as the image draws you into its colors and seeming movement. Did I also say she's a formalist? Yes, she frames her works on paper, rendering them a solid formalist finish.

An invited lecturer to the Glass Art Society shindig in Portland, as was Mark Abildgaard, Taliaferro presented a discussion about her work to a packed room (Natalia and I arrived early, said hello and found a seat!). Armed with a very slick PowerPoint presentation, she spoke about the influences of her work, interjecting with quotes from Confucius and thoughts about her aesthetic for close to an hour to a very mature and sophisticated audience. Her own personal finish was obvious.

So, what happened that was so impressive about her grace and poise? Taliaferro shipped five works to us from all over the country for our group exhibition, COLD+HOT 2008. Four arrived intact, the fifth did not. I've only had one glass sculpture break in my experience before this, and the artist's reaction was not pretty. Here, Taliaferro, assured she'd followed all the right shipping procedures for her work, reassured us that things would work out and even attempted to rework the sculpture (did I tell you she's petite and her sculptures weigh close to 100 lbs?). Wow. What else impressed me about this young woman? Well, she's one of those rare artists who fully understands the importance of her support for our efforts. As soon as the details and press was out about her place in our show, she and her family rallied all their friends (I've never known anyone to have so many family friends - literally, hundreds) to attend the preview and opening reception. It's two weeks away from our closing, and you know what? They're still coming in! Bravo and kudos to the Jones family.

COLD+HOT 2008 ends soon...

It's hard to believe how quickly time passes by! We've enjoyed a successful, wonderful summer with COLD+HOT 2008, the group exhibition of glass sculpture and related works. The exhibition was an immense affirmation of the place of glass as a sculptural medium in fine art. We hope you can make it by to see the exhibition in person before it closes on August 30.

And we continue our love of the medium next month as we open Stig Persson's inaugural solo exhibition of glass sculpture in California. Persson's work is pure, fascinated with strict geometric forms and two-dimensional profiles. In some ways reminiscent of Richard Serra, Persson's work is concerned with Minimalist gestures that refer to architectural form. Persson's solo debut opens the first week of September.