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Issue 141 | Winter

Editor's Letter

by Andrew Page

Tourists still flock by the millions to the island of Murano, but the souvenirs they are picking up are just as likely blown in a coal-fired Chinese factory than in the back rooms of any of the historic shops on the Fondamenta dei Vetrai. That’s one reason for the alarming number of the island’s famed glass factories on the island that have closed down, the total operating dropping by more than a third since the turn of the 21st century. One promising direction for the future has been connecting the legendary skills of Venetian glassmakers to contemporary artists, as Adriano Berengo has done since even before his first “Glasstress” collateral exhibition during the 2009 Venice Biennale. In this issue, contributing editor James Yood returns for the 2015 iteration of the “Glasstress” franchise, and this issue’s cover image is a work by internationally known artist Tony Cragg, who, like nearly 200 art luminaries, has taken Berengo up on the offer to experiment with glass, with the help of a team of Murano glass experts steeped in tradition but open to experimentation.

Hourglass

3-D glass printing heats up; Matt Szosz is awarded the 2015 Irvin Borowsky Prize; two new Dan Graham installations in Paris embrace urban flux; an interview with emerging artist Doreen Garner; the Museum of Glass exhibits work made by soldiers and veterans in a therapeutic program; Iittala launches a limited-edition "City Bird" series, with an eye on social media.

Reviews

Benjamin Johnson at the Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery in Indianapolis; Beth Lipman at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida; group exhibition at Pilchuck's new Seattle gallery space; Josiah McElheny at Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York.

UrbanGlass News

UrbanGlass thanks the major donors who make our many programs, including subsidized studo space for artists, scholarship programs for student, exhibitions in our Agnes Varis Art Center, and our magazine, GLASS Quarterly, possible!

Reflection

by Annette Rose-Shapiro

In Memoriam: John Perreault (1937 - 2015)

Features

Maintaining Visibility

by James Yood

Glasstress keeps the material in the international art limelight in an otherwise mostly glass-free Venice Biennale.

When the Endpoint is Process

by John Drury

Justin Ginsberg's aggressive investigation of glass in flux.

Glass as a "Super Material"

by Lise Kjaer

An interview with the artist Andrea Morucchio, whose sculpture, performance, and multimedia works stem from an interest in sociopolitical history and the making of glass.

Aloft

by Andrew Page

Since the 1970s, Mary Shaffer has evolved a sculptural language through powerful vignettes of melted glass suspended on metal

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.