Glass Studio Visiting Artists

NORFOLK, Va. – To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the American Studio Glass movement, the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio will present a year-long series of exhibitions and live demonstrations featuring eight internationally known artists.

The Visiting Artist Series will include a special exhibition of selected work by each artist in the Museum along with a week of live public demonstrations in the Glass Studio. The series will provide a range of educational programs on the various techniques, histories, and artistic concepts explored in glass.  Audiences will enjoy exciting demonstrations and chances to meet the artists, and the companion exhibitions will enhance visitors’ appreciation of contemporary glass. The Visiting Artist Series exhibition and demonstrations are free.

The series is made possible by the generous support of an anonymous foundation, The Norfolk Consortium, Delta, and the Business Exhibition Council of the Chrysler Museum of Art.

Benjamin Moore, Dante Marioni, Janusz Pozniak
Exhibition dates: January 27– March 18
Artists Studio Visit: February 29–March 4

Benjamin Moore received a bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramics from the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, and a master in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has been a designer for the Venini Studio in Murano, Italy, taught as faculty of the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, and served as both a faculty member and Trustee Board Member at the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle. His work can be found in collections in Bavaria, Denmark, Austria, and Japan, the Venini Collection in Murano, Italy, the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, the American Craft Museum, New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Chrysler Museum.

Dante Marioni studied glassblowing at both Pilchuck Glass School and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. He was honored in 1995 when his work was chosen to grace the jacket cover of The White House Collection of American Crafts. His glass can be found in major collections and museums throughout the world, including the Chrysler Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, the New Zealand National Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan. Marioni often mentions glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra, who was the inaugural artist at the opening of the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio, as a major influence in his work.

Janusz Pozniak was born in Swindon, England. He received a bachelor of arts in glass from the West Surrey College of Art & Design, Farnham, England. He also received a D.A.T.E.C. diploma from Southport College of Art, Merseyside, England. From 1992 to present, Pozniak has worked with various artists, including Dante Marioni, Sonja Blomdahl, Benjamin Moore, Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra and Dick Marquis, and has become one of Seattle’s most distinguished young glass artists.

Debora Moore
Exhibition dates: April 25–June 10
Artist Studio Visit: April 25–29

Debora Moore has worked in glass since the late 1980s. Her awards and exhibitions include the prestigious Rakow Commission and the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft. Debora Moore has studied at both the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and the Pilchuck Glass School. In 1998, she was accepted as a member in the African American Design Archive at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution in New York. Her work was also included in the prestigious Artistry of Orchids exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Debora was an Artist in Residence at the Tacoma Museum of Glass and at Abate Zanetti in Murano, Italy.

John Miller
Exhibition dates: July 5–August 26
Artist Studio Visit: July 11–15

John Miller began working with glass in 1987 as an undergraduate student at Southern Connecticut State University. He received a master in fine art degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is an assistant professor of glass at Illinois State University. He has worked on the staff and faculty of Pilchuck Glass School and in 1998 was awarded the C.G.C.A. Fellowship at Wheaton Village in Millville N.J. His work is in the collections of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, and the Museum of Glass, Tacoma. Miller operates his own studio, Ring of Fire Hot Glass, where his focus is blown sculpture. His large-scale recreations of diner and fast food staples are among his most popular works of art.

Einar and Jamex de la Torre
Exhibition dates: September 12–October 28
Artist Studio Visit: September 26–October 4

Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Jamex started flame-working glass in 1977, attended California State University at Long Beach, and received a bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture in 1983. Einar started work with glass in 1980 while also attending California State University at Long Beach. In the 1980’s they ran a flame-worked glass figure business while also developing their assemblage style of work. In the early 90s they began working collaboratively as studio artists and participated in Biennales such as inSITE and Mercosul (Brazil). Their work is based on their Mexican-American bicultural experiences. They have exhibited their work internationally in France, Japan, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, and Brazil, as well as in the U.S. and Mexico. Their work is in the collections of the Museum of Glass in Tacoma; The National Hispanic Center Museum, Albuquerque, N.M.; Arkansas Arts Center Museum, Little Rock, Ark; Arizona State University Art Museum; the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art; The Kanazu Museum in Kanazu, Japan; The Fisher Gallery Museum at USC; Tucson Museum of Art; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and The Mexican Fine Art Center Museum in Chicago.

April Surgent
Exhibition dates: November 14–December 30
Artist Studio Visit: November 14–18

Born in 1982, April Surgent studied glass production in Bornholm, Denmark as a teenager. In 2003, she received a scholarship to attend Pilchuck Glass School, where she learned cold-working and traditional cameo engraving techniques, studying with master Czech engraver and mentor Jiri Harcuba. She graduated with honors from the Australian National University School of Art, Canberra in 2004. In 2009, she was awarded the Neddy Artist Fellowship for glass through the Behnke Foundation, and received the Urban Glass New Talent award in 2010. Her work appears in the collections of notable museums worldwide, including the Chrysler.

The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums with a world-class collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass collections in America, and a new Glass Studio. The Museum is located at 245 West Olney Road in Norfolk and is open Wednesdays, 10 a.m. -9 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sundays, noon-5 p.m. The Chrysler and the Glass Studio are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as major holidays. Admission to the Museum’s collection and Studio glassblowing demonstrations are free. For exhibitions, programming and special events, visit chrysler.org or call 757-664-6200. 

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