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May Issue 2005
NC Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, Features First Art Glass Exhibition
On May 8, 2005, the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, opens its first ever exhibition of art glass. Fusion: Contemporary Art Glass from North Carolina Collections presents works by both American and international artists.
The exhibition includes artists Howard Ben Tré, Dale Chihuly, Stanislav Libensk´y and Jaroslava Brychtová, William Morris, Therman Statom, and Bertil Vallien, as well as North Carolina artists Rick Beck, Jon Kuhn, Harvey Littleton, Mark Peiser, and Richard Ritter.
Fusion explores the imaginative wonder, technical virtuosity, and visual opulence of contemporary art glass, selected from the collections of three North Carolina couples: Lisa and Dudley Anderson of Wilson; Sonia and Isaac Luski of Charlotte; and Francine and Benson Pilloff of Chapel Hill. In scope and quality these collections are of national importance, and the exhibition celebrates not only the artistic excellence of the exhibited works, but also the vision and achievement of the collectors.
"Fusion presents glass as an important expressive medium for art and also highlights the excellent collections in our area," said NCMA chief curator John Coffey. "The title of the exhibition, Fusion, refers not only to glass as a fusion - a molten mixture of sand, soda and other materials - but also to the merging of works by various artists into a collection, and in this case, of various collections into an exhibition."
Fusion presents forty-nine objects, from the monumental and elemental to the intricate and fanciful. These works of glass possess unique properties inimitable in other media: brilliant light effects; luminous, jewel-like colors; pliant, organic forms; and cool, radiant surfaces.
Dale Chihuly
Many of the objects, like Howard Ben Tré's totemic "figures" and Libensk´y and Brychtová's stark beautiful abstractions, are solid, massive objects cast from molds. Others, like Dale Chihuly's Venetian-inspired fantasies of blown glass or Joyce Scott's narrative beadwork necklaces, reflect the more delicate and transformative qualities of the material.
"The variety of objects in this show is remarkable," said Coffey. "Glass is extraordinary stuff. Working with different methods and techniques, the artists create everything from large, free-standing sculptures, to exquisite, finely worked objects. Some of the artists make brilliant use of clear crystal while others revel in the full glory of translucent color."
Richard Q. Ritter
The exhibition pays particular attention to glass artists resident in North Carolina. The state has made a major contribution to the advancement of glass art though the work of such artists as Littleton, Peiser, and Ritter, and the presence of the Penland School of Crafts in Mitchell County.
Fusion is another in the Museum's 2005 series of exhibitions that focuses on North Carolina creators and collectors. Programming related to the exhibition includes a collector's panel discussion, (May 20, 2005, at 7:30pm) moderated by Museum Director Lawrence J. Wheeler and including glass collector Francine Pilloff, as well as Allen Thomas Jr., whose collection is presented in the exhibition, In Focus: Contemporary Photography from the Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, on view through July 17, 2005.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the museum at 919/839-6262 or at (www.ncartmuseum.org).
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