Glass marvels mesmerize in Morristown Museum
An expanse of treasures glisten and dazzle in the Morris Museum’s rich overview of glass art from the past 100 years and beyond. “Clearly Compelling” surveys the development of glass as a fine art medium through more than 60 objects ranging from late 19th century Art Nouveau into and beyond the American Studio Glass Movement of the 1960s, up to contemporary masters.
The display comprises works from the museum’s own holdings supplemented by loans from artists, collectors, and the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center. The inclusion of examples of ancient Roman glass establishes an historical context.
“Visitors will discover how contemporary artists have expanded far beyond traditional glass blowing to embrace new techniques,” said museum director and exhibition curator, Linda Moore. “This includes sand-carved glass, polished and laminated glass, extruded, fused, and slumped glass, flamework, and the use of optical glass, stone, metal and other materials.”
Artist statements elucidate influences, inspirations, and the evolution of simple forms into constructions of narrative sophistication. The museum recruited the expertise of Jim Schantz of Schantz Galleries in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which specializes in contemporary glass art.
“It’s great to see another significant exhibition featuring glass as an art form in northern New Jersey,” Schantz said. “This show certainly continues to bring light to the medium.”
Highlights abound, including a piece created in the Czech Republic by Marvin Lipofsky, an early proponent of the studio glass movement. An intricate, geometric glass construction by renowned Scottish artist and designer Eric Hilton demonstrates his mastery of “cold-working” processes.
“This includes cutting, polishing and sandblasting the material to realize the final form,” Schantz said. “A piece like ‘Out of Darkness’ can take a hundred hours to finish.”
Hilton once served as chief designer for Steuben Glass, and designed large-scale door panels for Rockefeller Center in New York City. He molds, etches, cuts, sands and polishes his material in painterly fashion, invoking the primal elements of life and matter.
“Art for me is a vehicle that synthesizes order into the awe of existence,” Hilton said. “I’m influenced by nature, from which infinite information can be gleaned.”
Stephen Rolfe Powell molds sumptuously colored glass vessels of imposing stature from his base at Centre College in rural Kentucky. He mastered sophisticated glassworking techniques under the apprenticeship of maestro Lino Tagliapietra, whose work also appears in the show.
“Powell’s piece in the exhibit is produced using a Venetian Glass technique called ‘incalmo,’ which is essentially joining two blown pieces together while hot,” said Schantz. “This is most difficult to achieve, as it has to be perfectly and precisely executed.”
A primordial allure hooked Powell on glassblowing.
“I was drawn to the process by its immediacy and intensity,” said Powell. “I have a love of fire – I’ve always been something of a pyromaniac.”
Powell adorns his marvels of form and color with intricate textural surface treatments composed from thousands of colored beads.
“Museums and galleries may not like it, but I encourage viewers to touch my pieces,” he said. “I must admit that I take a certain delight in catching a viewer fondling a piece of mine.”
The exquisite beauty and astronomical value of Powell’s finished pieces represent the final destination of a journey he prizes far more than the product.
“Working with my crew, undistracted by anything, totally focused on the hot mass of molten glass on the end of the pipe, mesmerized by the pattern of murrine--this is what I want,” he said. “Time stands still.”
CLEARLY COMPELLING: GLASS ART FROM
TIFFANY TO CHIHULY
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 6
WHERE: The Morris Museum,
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown
TICKETS: $10, $7 for children, students and seniors
INFO: Call 973-971-3700 or visit www.morrismuseum.org