Today: Susan Longini at the Oakland Museum of California

Caithness Neighbors. 2011. Kilncast pâte de verre, metal frame, 35 x 41 x 1.5 in. Collection of the artist.
Photo credit: Keay Edwards

Susan Longini (b. 1947). BFA University of Michigan, 1969. California College of the Arts, 1982. San Jose State University, 1991. Studied under Marvin Lipofsky at California College of the Arts, 1982.

Susan J. Longini initiated and becamed head of the glass program at Ohlone College in Fremont, California from 1987 to 2003, and served on the City of Fremont’s Art Review Board from 2000 to 2010.

From 2002 to 2004, Longini was Executive Director of the Bay Area Glass Institute, San Jose, California. She is currently president of the Glass Alliance of Northern California. Since 2000, Longini’s concentration is focused on pâte de verre and large scale installations in glass. Her work is represented in galleries in the United States and in collections around the world. —Susan Longini

Today: Oben Abright at the Oakland Museum of California

Projections in Tun Yee. 2010. Mold blown glass, cement, video (7:00), custom electronics, oil paint.
26.5 x 25 x 14 in. Collection of the artist

Oben Abright (b. 1980). California College of the Arts, 2004.

Oben Abright was born in 1980 in San Francisco. The son of artists, he spent his early years drawing, painting, and making clay sculpture in his parent’s studio. He received a BFA in glass from California College of the Arts in 2004. Oben maintains a studio in Oakland, California. -Oben Abright

50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement

The American Studio Glass Movement begins with the story of Harvey Littleton, ceramicist turned glass sculptor (credited as the “Father of the American Studio Glass Movement” for the 1962 glassblowing seminar he developed for studio artists at the Toledo Museum of Art). It is a story worthy of admiration and respect.

A passionate educator, Littleton originated university-level glass programs (at the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and promoted glass as a course of study at university departments in the Midwest and northeastern United States. The late glass expert Dan Klein (1938–2009), in his publication Artists in Glass: Late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass (Mitchell Beasley, London 2001), wrote that Littleton’s “aim was to take the manufacture of glass out of its industrial setting and put it within the reach of the studio artist.”

Littleton's students, Robert Fritz and Marvin Lipofsky laid the foundation for private and public glass education in the San Francisco Bay Area – underscoring Littleton’s evangelism of glass as an artistic medium from humble Wisconsin beginnings to present-day world-class museum collections throughout the United States.

This year, more than 160 museums across the United States celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement – convincing evidence of Littleton’s success.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass movement, 2012 is a year of multiple opportunities to view exhibitions of work made by students (in many cases, students descended from students) of Harvey Littleton. A list of 2012 studio glass events can be found here, as promoted by the Art Alliance of Contemporary Glass, a national, and international, group of glass collectors.

Locally,  the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (at the de Young), will open its exhibition, Reflections: Celebrating 50 Years of the Studio Glass Movement on Saturday, October 27. A special lecture by California's Studio Glass Pioneer, Marvin Lipofsky, will be held on November 9 at the Koret Auditorium. On the other side of the bay, the Oakland Museum of California will host its exhibition, Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement from October 27, 2012 through March 24, 2012 (exhibition catalog available by request from info@micaela.com).

Today: Cassandra Straubing at the Oakland Museum of California

He kissed his wife and kids good-bye and hitched a ride to Lodi; to work the fields at the peak of the summer’s heat, in hopes for an early harvest of the fall. 2012. Cast glass, found object. Installation. 69 x 18 x 7 in. Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Esteban Salazar

Cassandra Straubing (b. 1978). BFA California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo, 2002. MFA Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. Lecturer, Glass Faculty Head and Studio Coordinator, San Jose State University, 2005–present.

My work explores the sociological aspects of working-class garments and the tools of bluecollar labor — how they define a person, externally and internally. These objects become a representation and a symbol of what a person does to contribute to western society and culture. They become a skin, defining a person’s economic and social position as well as their gender role.  Clothing, used as a skin to cover the vulnerable and fragile body, is rendered transparent in glass. The viewer can see through the superficial definitions of gender and status to a personal truth without the exterior facade society so readily judges.

In my other recent glasswork, I use washing and mending as metaphors for the cleansing and repair of an emotional state of mind: the decontamination of the stain of a memory. The art symbolizes cutting out an uncomfortable section of personal history, repairing it, and stitching it together with a previous life to create a new life ahead. The choice to fabricate and cast these objects in glass lends itself conceptually to the sociological study of these belongings and the social systems that surround them. Glass displays ghostly reminiscences, representing a personal history or memory left behind. Glass can also portray a lack of memory, representing the invisibility of an uncomfortable emotion. Glass is a window for the viewer to explore what might otherwise never be seen. —Cassandra Straubing

Today: Mary Bayard White at the Oakland Museum of California

Living on Fault Lines and Pacific Currents. 2005. Found glass, steel, 67.5 x 24 x 20 in. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Evans and John Wyro in honor of Mary Bayard White. Photo credit: M. Lee Fatherree

Mary Bayard White (b. 1947). BFA California College of the Arts, 1970; MFA California College of the Arts, 1982; Studied under Marvin Lipofsky at California College of the Arts, 1968, 1969. Studied under Robert Fritz, early 1970s. Fulbright Scholar (Dublin, Ireland), 2009–2010.

The intersection of art making, environmental science, arts education, and peace making attracts me. I am particularly drawn to the interfaces between the physical natural world and the human built environment. My work investigates habitats, and, in this piece, the west coast earthquake zone. Habitat is “the place of residence of a person or a group” or “the place or environment where an organism naturally or normally lives and grows.” Investigating the meaning of the structures we live in can be revealing and informing. How can we live in accord with natural extremes, rather than
dominating nature? What are the currents that run through our homes and lives? What do we need, and what do we desire in our homes? What is the meaning of the inner light, the light that fuels the inner habitat?

For me, visual inquiry evokes magical metaphor. It can stir new meaning into the “embodied object.” The creative flux can gather diverse people to learn from each other, can bring forth the best in each individual thru looking and seeing anew, and can bring forth new visions and approaches to critical social and environmental problems facing us. Visual inquiry brings forth curiosity, hope, humor, appreciation, and affection, my favorite states of being.

Today: Pamina Traylor at the Oakland Museum of California

Exhale. 2011. Blown glass, oil paint, steel, silicone, 24 x 16 x 3.5 in. Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Hans Jurgen Bergmann

Pamina Traylor (b. 1964). BA Bryn Mawr College, 1987. MFA Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995. Interim Chair and Senior Adjunct Professor, Glass Program, California College of the Arts, present.

Pamina Traylor is an artist and educator. She was a visiting artist/faculty member at the Osaka University of Art (Japan), in the fall of 2007, served as a member of the Glass Art Society’s (GAS) Board of Directors from 2003 to 2011, and continues as its Treasurer (from 2006 to the present).

Traylor was awarded fellowships from the Creative Glass Center of America (1995 and 2003), and received California College of the Arts Faculty Travel and Development Grants in 1998, 2007 and 2011. She has lectured and demonstrated at schools in Australia, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and taught workshops throughout the world, including The Glass Furnace (Istanbul), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, and The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, among others. Her work is found in several prestigious permanent collections.

CBS News: The Art and History of Studio Glass-Making

Today: Randy Strong at the Oakland Museum of California

Blue Orchid. 2011. Blown, assembled glass, 25.5 x 12 x 10.5 in. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of the artist in memory of Katherine Grubb. Photo credit: Benjamin Blackwell

Randy Strong (b. 1947). BA California College of the Arts, 1972.

At this stage of my career – looking back – I would have to say I did not choose glass as a
medium. It chose me. My whole life has been making choices that led me down some very
tough paths.

The tougher the challenge, the more it demands my interest.

Of course, 45 years of glass has been both foolish and rewarding. I don't know of any
art form that is as costly as glass – with such a high rate of loss – and is both heavy and
delicate at the same time.

I feel that I resemble the material, both liquid and solid – delicate yet hard – and can be
both opaque and very reflective.

Glass has led me down a path of understanding – of myself and the world around me. My
mistakes have become my most sought after friends. The medium of glass continually
teaches me about the fear of loss, letting go, and acceptance.  —Randy Strong

Glass love

Glass sculpture is the unquestionable "rock star" of the world of sculpture. The artists retain a defiant, bad boy quality, supported by a following of well-heeled and adoring collectors. We remain fascinated by its simpler qualities: beauty, fragility, light, craft, and utility. Its making, dangerous under the best conditions, under intense heat, and necessary choreography of glass blowers continue to bring us in performance after performance.

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.