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 4Talking 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 GlassTalking 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 GlassTalking 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 IssuesTalking 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 LightTalking 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 SimpsonTalking 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 MicrocosmosTalking 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 SculptureTalking 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: PerspectivesTalking 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_outlineLucio Bubacco travels around Murano and frequently to Venice in his gondola, rowing a la valesanato power himself across the lagoon. A favorite pastime since childhood, journeying along the canals recharges his creativity and provides “vitamins” for his soul. Movement also defines his energetic flameworked sculpture, alive in terms of frozen action, but also anatomical perfection.
Born on the Italian island of Murano in 1957, Bubacco has been flameworking glass since he was a boy, beginning with small animals and beads. A fascination with equine and human anatomy inspired him to push beyond the perceived technical limitations of his craft to combine the anatomic perfection of Greek sculpture with the Byzantine gothic architecture of Venice. “Seductive motifs such as metamorphosis and transformation echo themes from our mythological past when sexuality was spiritual, not political.”
Bubacco’s large freestanding sculptures, worked hot and annealed during the process, are unique in lampworking. They are made from 104 COE Murano soda glass canes. The epitome of detailed elaboration and narrative content, his mini-installations can be seen in collections worldwide including Musee Atelier du Verre, Sars-Poteries, France; The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York; Museo del Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico; and Museo del Vetro, Murano, Italy.
Though formerly represented by Habatat Galleries, Michigan, in 2002 Bubacco stopped his gallery relationships to devote himself full time to teaching, primarily at his Scuola Bubacco onMurano. In 2019, he will teach three courses in March, May, and at summer’s end.The artist will also exhibit new work at a Roman theater in Pamukkale, Turkey. New technically challenging, mythological chandelier commissions are underway. Recently the artist collaborated with Alessandro Cuccato (Vetroricerca Bolzano) on a bas-relief sculpture for a mega yacht that pays homage to Troy. To realize this work, Bubacco developed a hybrid technique combining flameworking with fusing.
Last winter a skiing accident kept Bubacco from his studio, during which time he completed two books. Muranfeatures 170 original Bubacco watercolor paintings depicting the history of Muranese glass, and Lucio Bubacco: Eroticswith essays by Andrew Page, Klaus Weschenfelder, and Steffen John, was introduced at GAS Murano in May 2018. Also available is Lucio Bubacco, Eternal Temptation,a one-of-a-kind book that combines a minimalist layout with luxury materials and texts by Dan Klein and Cristina Gregorin.