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January Issue 2007
Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, Offers Works by Ann Wolff
A consummate craftsman, designer and educator, Ann Wolff is also one of the most significant contemporary artists working with glass. Her award-winning work has been exhibited and acquired by individuals and institutions globally. The Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, is no exception and is honored to be the sole United States venue for Observations - works by Ann Wolff, on view from Jan. 27 through July 29, 2007.
Featuring over 80 works, Observations, Wolff's largest retrospective to date, illustrates the evolution of Wolff's talent over the course of her 30-year career. Regardless of the medium used, Wolff creates intimate portraits of the artist as mother, daughter, goddess and lover; roles that are universally recognizable to all women and the lives they touch.
The works in the exhibition are organized by themes or "stations," as Wolff refers to them, each one being expressed in various mediums ranging from delicate watercolors and drawings in charcoal, pastel and pencil to substantial sculptures in bronze and glass. According to Mark Richard Leach, Chief Curator of Craft + Design, "On the international stage, there are but a few artists capable of such commanding sculpture in glass. Wolff's rare blend of idea, technique and dramatic visual result offer a life's work that is diverse, intensely expressive, intimate and Herculean in vision."
Wolff has received several distinguished awards
for her vast range of work from utilitarian designs to architectural
installations. They include the Lunning Prize (1968), the Coburg
Glass Prize (1977), and Corning's Rakow Commission (1997). Her
works have been featured in solo and group exhibitions and now
reside in prominent public and private collections internationally.
Wolff is perhaps best known for her iconic designs for the Kosta
Boda factory Snowball & Grape, which are still in production
today. Locally, she has worked with Harvey Littleton in his Spruce
Pine, NC, studio to create several series of vitreographs (revived
by Littleton, this printing technique utilizes glass plates).
A passionate teacher, Wolff, along with Dirk Bimberg and Wilke
Adolfsson, co-founded Tränsjö in 1978. This glass residency
program became a crossroads for international studio glass artists.
Offering a comprehensive chronicling of Ann Wolff's life and career, Observations presents works spanning nearly three decades (1978-2004). An exhibition catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
This internationally touring exhibition's itinerary includes: the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark; National Glass Centre, England; Suomen lasimuseo, Finland; Glashütte Gernheim, Germany; and the Smålands Museum, Sweden.
The exhibition was organized by Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark. Exhibition sponsorship is provided by the Betty J. and J. Stanley Livingstone Charitable Foundation, with additional support provided by grants from The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass and The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
On Jan., 27, 2007, Wolff will lecture on the exhibition at the Museum at 3:30pm. The lecture is free with museum admission.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or visit (www.themintmuseums.org).
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