David Graeber: Preserving Nature for Eternity in a Paperweight
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Early in his career, Paul Stankard used to trade paperweights for gasoline and car servicing with John Graeber. In 1989, through his uncle John, David Graeber wound up casually visiting Stankard’s studio and weeks later was invited to come and work with him. Young Graeber started learning about glass in the deep end of the pool. Thirty-five years later, he continues to work with Stankard about a day a week. Having mastered numerous glassmaking techniques and having developed his own working style and visual aesthetic, in 2009 Graeber started his own art glass...
info_outline
Morgan Peterson: Winner of Blown Away 4
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Said Blown Away Season 4 winner, Morgan Peterson, “I’m not just the creepy weirdo lurking in the background anymore. I’m right up front.” As champion of Netflix’s 2024 glassblowing competition series, the Seattle-based artist received a whopping cash prize of $100,000, a paid residency in Venice, Italy, with glass legend Adriano Berengo, and a residency at the world-renowned Corning Museum of Glass. Growing up in Boston, MA, Peterson’s watched horror films and Unsolved Mysteries with her Godmother, introducing her to the unnerving and creepy style so associated with her...
info_outline
Clifford Rainey: A Life's Travelogue in Cast Glass
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Principally a sculptor who employs cast glass and drawing as primary methodologies, Clifford Rainey creates work that is interdisciplinary, incorporating a wide spectrum of materials and processes. A passionate traveler, his work is full of references to the things he has seen and experienced. Celtic mythologies, classical Greek architecture, the blue of the Turkish Aegean, globalization and the iconic American Coca-Cola bottle, the red of the African earth, and the human figure combine with cultural diversity to provide sculptural imagery charged with emotion. A British artist...
info_outline
The State of Stained Glass
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Enjoy this stained glass panel discussion with top industry professionals and educators Judith Schaechter, Stephen Hartley, Megan McElfresh, and Amy Valuck. Topics addressed include: what is needed in stained glass education; how the massive number of Instagrammers making suncatchers and trinkets affect stained glass; how to promote stained glass in a gallery setting; and how to stay relevant as stained glass artists. The panelists: By single-handedly revolutionizing the craft of stained glass through her unique aesthetic and inventive approach to materials, Judith...
info_outline
Kazuki Takizawa Uses Glass Art to Address Mental Health Issues
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Kazuki Takizawa’s 2015 installation entitled Breaking the Silence represents the artist’s interpretation of a person’s breaking point and the juxtaposition of balancing inner struggles with oppressive external forces. The installation incorporated performance aspects and sound, where slanted vessels filled with water until submitting to the liquid’s weight, falling over onto a table. Takizawa’s work provided a new perspective for interacting with glass, going beyond form and technique to provoke a deeper level of engagement. Impressed by how humble and open Takizawa was...
info_outline
Jessica Loughlin’s Kiln Formed Glass: An Homage to the Observation of Light
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Jessica Loughlin’s work is characterized by a strict reductive sensibility and restricted use of color. Fusing kiln formed sheets of opaque and translucent glass together in flat panels or in thin, geometric compositions and vessels, she alludes to shadow, reflection and refraction. Loughlin’s work is influenced by the flat landscapes and salt lakes of South Australia, and the recurring motif of the mirage appears in much of her work. Each piece makes its own poetic statement. “My work investigates space, seeing distance and understanding how wide-open spaces, particularly of the...
info_outline
The Glass Galaxies of Josh Simpson
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Apollo 8, which launched on December 21, 1968, was the first mission to take humans to the moon and back. While the crew did not land on the moon’s surface, the flight was an important prelude to a lunar landing, testing the flight trajectory and operations getting there and back. Capt. James A Lovell, Apollo 8 astronaut, shared his memories of that historic mission: “Then, looking up I saw it, the Earth, a blue and white ball, just above the lunar horizon, 240,000 miles away…I put my thumb up to the window and completely hid the Earth. Just think, over five billion people,...
info_outline
Wesley Fleming: Flameworking the Realism of the Microcosmos
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Wesley Fleming brings the fantastic realism of the microcosmos to life in glass. An ambassador for smaller denizens of the earth, his passion for nature sparks awe and curiosity in others. Growing up in the countryside, his favorite pastime was exploring beneath logs and rocks in the woods or reading science fiction and comic books. Hence the natural world and his own imagination became his muse. Says Fleming: “I hope to rekindle awe and curiosity for nature with my fantastic realism. I’ve focused more than two decades honing my flameworking skills and trying to capture the essence of...
info_outline
Robin and Julia Rogers: A Collaboration Resulting in Provocative Glass Sculpture
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Physically and metaphorically Robin and Julia Rogers put their minds, hearts and hands together to create sculptural works in glass – their chosen material because of its inherent qualities of luminosity, viscosity, and seductive flow. Their inspiration is drawn from the natural world, personal experience, family life, music, psychology, and science. Robin and Julia state: “Complex and mystifying, the human mind drives us, but the subtle inner workings remain, to certain extent, unknown. Delving into the psyche, our work explores the human mind to reveal a metaphorical interior of...
info_outline
Flameworking 2024: Perspectives
Talking Out Your Glass podcast
Talking Out Your Glass podcast kicks off 2024 with our first episode of Season 9! This fascinating panel discussion on flameworking features four of the technique’s most well-known artists: Paul Stankard, Carmen Lozar, Dan Coyle aka coylecondenser and Trina Weintraub. At different points in their careers, these four artists compare and contrast their journeys and experiences working glass behind the torch. Considered a living master in the art of the paperweight, Paul Stankard’s work is represented in more than 75 museums around the world. Over his 52-year...
info_outlineAnika Van Der Merwe: Expanding the Appreciation of Stained Glass
On the Eastern Cape of South Africa, stained glass artist Anika Van Der Merwe grew up visiting her family’s farm in the Karoo. Watching her Dutch grandmother craft wool into beautiful artistic weaves on a loom, inspired a lifelong appreciation for traditional crafts, particularly the dying arts. Now, from her Cape Town studio Silver Stain, Van Der Merwe works on a combination of projects that include both restorations and original works, many of which set social networks afire with interest and enthusiasm upon their publication.
With a passion for painting, Van Der Merwe enrolled in fine arts study in 1999 at Port Elizabeth Technikon, where she participated in a stained glass course that forever altered her trajectory. Unfortunately, glass painting was not part of the program and upon completion of her certificate, the young artist traveled to London with nothing but a one-way ticket and 50 pounds in her pocket. Work at four different UK studios provided experience and practice in both glass painting and restoration.
In 2008, Van Der Merwe returned to South Africa and established Silver Stain Glass Studio, where she navigated many challenges, including sourcing materials and equipment. Exploration has been key to the artist’s evolution and growth. Restoration work on windows from Argentina led to her discovery of Prodesco enamels, a product of Spain. She says: “I find the amber enamels more predictable, and they can be mixed with other colors. I’ve pushed the paints quite a bit and the results amaze me.”
Notable Van Der Merwe restorations include Argentinian Glass restored for On Site Gallery including a dome for a private residence and the entrance to the main seating area of the Short Market Club, both in Cape Town; thirty-four windows at the Church of Transfiguration in Kensal Rise, London (for which the council allowed no power tools on the site. It was mandated that the entire restoration, including carpentry and masonry, be carried out by hand); and Saint Mary the Virgin, Harefield, UK, 2007.
In 2014, an opportunity to create a Saint Francis window for Bishops, an historic catholic chapel at a Cape Town boy’s school, presented itself. Restrained by the fact that the surrounding windows were Mayer of Munich, Van Der Merwe designed and fabricated a companion window, but knew it would be her last non-original work.
She said: “Although I really enjoy painting in the Mayer style, I couldn’t help but feel I should be making my own windows by now. I’ve painted so many windows in the styles of others for such a long time. That’s not what I envisioned stained glass to be for me. I’ve admired artists like Judith Schaechter and Sylvia Laks, and many others. I wanted to be an artist in my own right.”
During the St. Francis project, Van Der Merwe designed and fabricated the first of three autonomous panels featuring graceful and flowing koi fish, based on her early design sketch for an Asian restaurant commission. “I didn’t really give it any thought or planning. It was one of those pieces I let take me places. I played and experimented, applied techniques I learned from restorations, pushed the paint to get certain results, and it came out great.” The second and third koi panels in the triptych were created in 2016 and 2017 respectively, the second appearing on the cover of the Stained Glass Quarterly in 2019, along with a feature article.
Overwhelming positive response on social media and from the stained glass world at large has encouraged Van Der Merwe to take on more complex and challenging projects, such as her recent collaboration, The Honeybear. Based on Ree Treweek’s illustrations from her book Postcards of Molitia, the panel afforded Van Der Merwe and Treweek the perfect opportunity to marry illustration and stained glass in a detailed, magical and fantastical panel featuring a character from Treweek’s fantasy world.
Van Der Merwe says: “It was a great project, some of which Ree even painted herself. We went to this magical cottage in the mountains of the southern most point of Africa to paint some of the imagery in the window.” The two artists are currently working on an accompanying panel alive with botanicals for Treweek’s home. Also now in progress is a stained glass dome created by Van Der Merwe for a local residential client.
Throughout her career, Van Der Merwe has actively avoided the “fine art” world. Stained glass provided the means to be an artist, make a living and avoid navigating intimidating art critics. Though South Africa doesn’t currently recognize stained glass as an art form, the popularity and success of Van Der Merwe’s work is expanding the understanding and appreciation of the craft, not only in her homeland, but worldwide.