Chrysler Museum of Art to Showcase Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass

NORFOLK, Va. (Feb. 13, 2019) – This spring, the Chrysler Museum of Art will showcase works created by a new cohort of artists from around the world in EMERGE│EVOLVE: Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass. The traveling exhibition will be on view April 5–July 28. Admission is free.

EMERGE presents 10 award-winning and honorable mention works from an international juried competition organized biennially by Bullseye Glass Co. of Portland, Ore. Students, new artists and established artists who are new to the art of kiln-glass were eligible to participate. All of the artists have been working in the area of kiln-glass for less than 15 years. EVOLVE features four former EMERGE competition finalists who have continued to push the conceptual, technical and aesthetic boundaries of their own artistic practice.

“While all of the award-winning and honorable mention artists included in the EMERGE │ EVOLVE exhibition are working under the same general umbrella of ‘kilnformed glass,’ there is a wonderful variety to the artistic visions, technical details and working methods,” notes Carolyn Swan Needell, Ph.D., the Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass at the Chrysler Museum of Art. “We are excited to present the artistic talents of these makers to our community and to highlight kilnforming as a significant process within the field of glass.”

Unlike the more familiar practice of glassblowing that involves inflating and tooling glass on the end of a metal blowpipe, kilnforming uses the heat of the kiln, gravity and mold materials to melt and form glass. Artists working in kiln-glass often use skillsets originating from other media as well, including drawing, painting and printmaking, as well as stone and ceramic sculpture.

Bullseye Glass Co. is a manufacturer of colored glass for art and architecture and is widely known as the first company in the world to formulate and manufacture glasses that are factory-tested for fusing compatibility. The company has a strong commitment to research, education and the promotion of glass art, and EMERGE / EVOLVE is an attestation to that commitment.

One of the missions of the competition is to support university-level art departments teaching kilnformed glass as a sculptural medium. Students and artists who are not represented by major galleries are particularly encouraged to apply. The most recent EMERGE competition held in 2018 attracted almost 300 entries from 29 countries. Seven winners were selected from more than 40 finalists. Artworks were judged on the excellence of their craftsmanship, design and creativity. A team of three jurors included Diane Wright, Curator of Glass and Decorative Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art and former Barry Curator of Glass at the Chrysler Museum of Art; Benedict Heywood, Executive Director & Chief Curator of the Bellevue Arts Museum; and Heidi Schwegler, artist and Chair of the MFA Applied Craft + Design collaborative program between Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art. All of the artworks submitted to the competition were made with Bullseye glasses.

The EMERGE 2018 award winners and honorable mentions include the artists Evelyn Gottschall Baker (USA), Kalina Bańka (Poland), Dagmara Bielecka (Poland), Rose-Mary Faulkner (Australia), Allison Leigh Holt (USA), Saman Kalantari (Iran/Italy), Joshua Kerley (UK), Clare Peters (Australia), Andy Plummer (Australia), and Jade Tapson (UK). EVOLVE 2018 features new work by former EMERGE finalists and award winners Joanna Manousis (UK/USA), Cassandra Straubing (USA), Kathryn Wightman (UK/New Zealand), and Cobi Cockburn (Australia).

This traveling exhibition is organized by Bullseye Glass Co., Portland, Ore.

Programming

Glass Studio Demonstrations at the Perry Glass Studio: A Week of Kiln-Glass
Tuesday–Sunday, April 2–7, 2019
Noon │ Free

During the opening week of the exhibition EMERGE / EVOLVE: Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass, join our glass team for free noon demonstrations that focus on techniques associated with kilnformed glass.

Gallery Talk
Saturday, April 6, 2019
2 p.m. │ Free

Join Carolyn Swan Needell, Ph.D., the Chrysler Museum’s Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass, for an exploration of the kilnformed artworks on view in the traveling exhibition EMERGE│EVOLVE: Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass.

An Evening with the Curator: Michael Endo on the Art of Kilnformed Glass
Thursday, May 30, 2019
6 p.m. │ $12 for Members, $20 for all others

Join artist and curator Michael Endo of Bullseye Glass Co. at the Chrysler Museum as he discusses EMERGE / EVOLVE: Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass. Learn about the process of making kiln-glass and how it differs from glassblowing. Then head over to the Perry Glass Studio to see live demonstrations presented by the Chrysler’s Studio team. Light refreshments will be served.

Perry Glass Studio Workshop with Guest Artist Joanna Manousis
Saturday–Wednesday, July 6–11, 2019
9 a.m.–5 p.m. │ Registration required | Space is limited to eight students

Guest artist Joanna Manousis will present kiln casting strategies for all skill levels using lectures and demonstrations. Explore the use of refractory molds as a means to create residual details within solid kiln-cast glass, and create original structures from found objects and hand-sculpted clay. Some glass working experience is preferred but not required; advanced students are also welcome. Manousis is a featured artist of EMERGE / EVOLVE: Rising Talents in Kilnformed Glass. For more information and to register, visit chrysler.org.

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ABOUT THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART 

The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums, with a nationally recognized collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass collections in America. The core of the Chrysler’s collection comes from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., an avid art collector who donated thousands of objects from his private collection to the Museum. The Museum has growing collections in many areas and mounts an ambitious schedule of visiting exhibitions and educational programs each season. The Chrysler has also been recognized nationally for its unique commitment to hospitality with its innovative gallery host program.

The Perry Glass Studio is a state-of-art facility on the Museum’s campus. The studio offers programming for aspiring and master artists alike in a variety of processes including glassblowing, fusing, flameworking, coldworking and neon. The studio has also cultivated a reputation for its cutting-edge performance evenings, and was the host venue of the 2017 Glass Arts Society Conference.

In addition, the Chrysler Museum of Art administers two historic houses in downtown Norfolk: the Moses Myers House and the Willoughby-Baylor House, as well as the Jean Outland Chrysler Library on the campus of Old Dominion University. General admission is free at all venues. For more information on the Chrysler Museum of Art, visit chrysler.org.

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