Spring 2009 / Issue 114add to cart
Editor's Letter
It's the finished product of an artist's process that is important, not the way it was made -- or so we are told by art critics and scholars who are quick to scold artists working in craft media for becoming too fascinated by their own fabrication techniques. And yet the chance to glimpse inside the painter's studio has always intrigued the serious art collector or scholar who wants a better understanding of even the most conceptual of artists.
Is it a glassblower's fault that working with hot glass just happens to draw a crowd? Be it a group of serious connoisseurs or casual observers, the pure spectacle of molten glass taking shape at the end of a pipe enthralls any viewer as a liquid becomes a solid, dangerous to touch yet miraculous to observe.
While every hot glass artist becomes accustomed to the audience that gathers to watch as a simple fact of their chosen medium of expression, some consciously exploit the allure of their process as an endpoint in itself. In this issue, we examine three groups of glassblowers who mine the drama inherent in the hot shop, playing up the spectacle of their process to comment on pop culture, explore carnival expectations, or engage viewers in chaotic games that reference Dada and danger. While the East Coast groups Burnt Asphalt and Crique de Verre set out to present traditional performances complete with musical scores and choreography, the West Coast group known as the Butter Eaters exploits disorganization in loosely structured routines that feature some of the most highly skilled blowers in the world letting their hair down, and letting audiences in on their discoveries of how molten glass continues to amaze even the most experienced glassblower.
All three groups cite the groundbreaking work of the B Team as inspiration. In a companion piece, we present an interview with key members of this now legendary performance art group, which broke up almost exactly a decade ago at the peak of its success. In their own words, they tell the story of how their provocative performances introduced a punk rock aesthetic and brought a sophisticated performance art sensibility that took risks and drew the wider contemporary art world into the hot shop.
We stay with the theme of "playing with fire" in Victoria Josslin's article on the art of Etsuko Ichikawa, whose burnt paper works are a record of molten glass events that mix careful orchestration with spontaneity. Ichikawa draws with hot glass to create bold imagery that references the traditions of her native Japan yet brings a thoroughly contemporary sensibility through process.
Finally, Annie Buckley looks at three artists -- Carrie Paterson, Jocelyne Prince, and Mark Zirpel -- whose work relates to the longstanding use of glass in science. Buckley considers how these artists embrace the legacy of glass as scientific apparatus as part of their inspiration.