The glass-blower’s fiery art has been around since the Roman Empire. But there’s more than one way to make glass art. Starting in the 1960s, the artists of the studio glass movement pioneered a host of new techniques. Glass, it seems, is highly versatile stuff. Artists can fire it in kilns, fuse it, cast it, or shape it before it cools. And that’s still only the beginning. Contemporary glass artists are still experimenting. The sparkling, iridescent results of their creativity can be seen across Sarasota.
This month is a particularly good time to see it. On Monday, The Ringling’s new Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion will open its doors. 22. Habatat Galleries will also host its fourth annual Sarasota Art Glass Weekend from Jan. 25-28. In case you miss the festivities, don’t worry. Glass art is here to stay in Sarasota. And so are our glass art aficionados.
Alfstad& Contemporary • ‘Shine the Light’
Laura Donefer’s “Todesmarche Revisited” is both a beautiful physical creation and a symbol of a horrific reality. Her 15-foot-long installation is created with the forms of bare feet: 900 foot-shaped pieces, cast in glass and cement, and resting in a trail of ash. The artist created these casts from the feet of real human beings, including several survivors of the Holocaust. According to Donefer, the installation honors the victims of Nazi death marches.
“‘Todesmarche’ is German for ‘Death March,’” she says, “And that was the fate of many concentration camp inmates. Right before the camps were liberated, the Nazis took out hundreds of surviving, barefoot prisoners and marched them to their deaths — sometimes locking them in barns and setting them on fire.”
Donefer’s installation is a stark reminder of Nazi horror — and a defiant assertion of the individual humanity the Nazis tried to erase from human memory.
The inspiration for Donefer’s piece? “My father was researching what happened to our family in Europe during World War II,” she says. “He found the information — and it was sickening. The Nazis were compulsive record keepers. The entry would read: ‘Deported to Auschwitz and gassed.’”
Donefer’s installation is one facet of the “Shine the Light” exhibition focusing on the struggles of displaced persons. Work by Charlotte Schmitz and Deborah Haberis is also on display.
Basch Gallery at Ringling College • ‘Cast, Cut and Cold Glass’
Richard and Barbara Basch are passionate collectors of studio glass art, and longtime supporters of Ringling College. They’ve committed the bulk of their collection to the school. The Basch Gallery at the college’s Academic Center features rotating selections of the Basch collection. Each exhibition highlights different artists and glass art methods.
Glass-blowing is the most traditional glass art technique. “Cast, Cut and Cold Glass” showcases three alternative methods. These cutting-edge artists either cast glass in molds or carve it in a cool, non-molten state.
Curator Mark Ormond has selected a wide range of glass sculpture by Seth Randal, Sally Rogers, Luciano Vistosi, and others. Peter Bremers’ work dominates. His pieces have a liquid, otherworldly quality. Some resemble ancient artifacts from “The Lord of the Rings.” Others evoke the architecture of alien planets. But Bremers is a big fan of our own planet.
The artist is a restless world traveler. Earth’s surprisingly unearthly landscapes inform his art. A recent trip to Antarctica filled Bremers’ eyes with calving icebergs and devastated habitats. The depredations of climate change in plain sight.
Antarctica’s fragile, frozen beauty informs two of Bremer’s recent pieces. “Aquatic Space” (2017) is a faceted, cast-glass icon. A swirling form, cut open in the middle like an unblinking eye. The glass is fractured with a web of concentric grooves. The color shades from icy blue to pure white.
“The Last Iceberg” (2014) is a cast-glass, aquamarine parabola. Again, Bremers punctuates the piece with an eye-like opening. The sculpture’s sweeping, circular form rises up in two symmetrical arcs — very much like a two-pointed blade. Where the top is sharp, the base seems liquid and flowing. A hint, perhaps, that the last iceberg will melt one day — unless humanity learns to play it cool.
Habatat Pop-up Gallery • ‘Currents’ and ‘10Trends’
Habatat Galleries will curate two pop-up exhibitions at University Row Apartments. “10Trends” offers a speculative glimpse on glass art’s future. “Currents” explores the here-and-now with striking pieces by 30 contemporary studio glass artists. Vivian Wang’s cast-glass “Kamishimo” (2017) is a serene, bejeweled Samurai with a child’s face. Shelley Muzylowski Allen’s “Imperial” (2017) is a spirited, prancing carousel horse. The creature bursts with life, although it’s been sculpted from cast and blown glass.
Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion at The Ringling
Phil and Nancy Kotler and Warren and Margot Coville donated significant portions of their world-class glass art collections to The Ringling. Where to put them? Where else, but a house of glass? Specifically, a 5,500-square-foot exhibition space designed by the architectural firm of Lewis + Whitlock based in Tallahassee. The new structure adjoins the John McKay Visitors Pavilion at the entrance to The Ringling’s grounds. It’s taken nearly a year to build it. But the art you’ll see inside is worth the wait.
Beth Lipman’s “Sideboard with Blue China” (2013) evokes the contradiction of desire and consumption. It’s a recreation of the genteel sideboards of the Victorian era — an intricate, delicate framework supporting an array of elegant glass pieces. Look closer. The bowls, plates and goblets are etched with the impolite forms of the human body — and the plants and animals on which we feed.
The crystalline form of Livio Seguso’s untitled figure (1991) captures thought on the verge of action. A contemplative female form, depicted in yellow Murano glass. She sits in a chair, but she’s hardly relaxed. The woman leans forward, a puzzled look on her face, studying something unseen. She’s ready to spring into action — once she figures out what she sees.