"Art glass is the glam aspect of the professional craft scene. It's the extreme sport of craft"

The Alberta Craft Council and Keith Walker appear on Alberta Prime Time showcasing glass art in the province and the 'Natural Flow' exhibition.  Which is currently on exhibit in the Alberta Craft Council's Feature Gallery until December 24th.

Check it out! -->  'Fragile Art' video on Alberta Prime Time 

Month Abroad

I have spend the last 35 days traveling about Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and England!  Took in the sites; museums, street markets, historical tours, shopping districts, etc...Visited some lovely old friends, made some great new friends, and had all around amazing experiences!

ARKEN Museum of Modern Art - Ishøj, Denmark

Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery - Germany

Canada's 'United Buddy Bear' - Berlin, Germany

I AMsterdam, Across from The Van Gogh Museum - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Instant Picnic! @ Sunday Market (Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek) - Amsterdam, Netherlands

'Inverse Reverse Perverse' by Cerith Wyn Evans @ Tate Britain - London, England

Lovely Aimee and I @ 'The Glassblower' Bar!! - London, England

“Better an interesting failure than a boring success”

North Lands Studio in Lybster, Scotland

I have been immersed in glass for the past 10 days; attending a masterclass at North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland.   The glassblowing/kiln casting workshop, entitled "Out of Thin Air", was lead by Michael Rogers and his TA Ben Dombey.

Revealing my “inspirational suitcase”, which in preparation for my journey to real and imaginary places, consists of books, poems, quotes, images, small objects to cast in glass, and non-essential and impractical metaphorical tools.

14 hour days - working in the studio

Loaded Kiln

Caroline Ouellette and I assisting in the Hotshop

Some of my cast woodland animals. cute!

LOVELY classmates! :D

North Lands Creative Glass

 

2nd summer at RDC

Blowing glass at Red Deer College

Finished up another FABULOUS summer of tech-ing for Series Summer School of the Arts at Red Deer College.  

Remaining glass has been ladled out of the furnace :(

We welcomed many talented glassblowing instructors included Edward T. Schmid, Katie Brown, Ilona Lindsay, Joanne Andrighetti, Jeff Holmwood, Lisa Samphire & Lisa Cerny, and Robert Lewis.

Robert Lewis' class! :)

In addition, the flameworking program saw instructors Leah Duperreault, Amy Waldman-Smith, Sherry Bellamy and Loren Stump!  Jamie Gray was also on campus for two weeks of fusing and kiln casting fun.

Red Deer, you will be missed...

Red Deer College - Visual Arts

'Natural Flow' Exhibition Website

CHECK IT OUT! -->  'Natural Flow' website

'Natural Flow: Contemporary Alberta Glass'

Natural Flow: Contemporary Alberta Glass
Esplanade Art Gallery, Medicine Hat, AB
July 1 – August 21, 2011
Reception with the Artists Friday July 8, 7pm
Free Admission, all welcome

In conjunction with the Downtown Artwalk

This unique group exhibition features a wide range of contemporary handmade hot glass art, from large scale sculpture to small vessels, by sixteen Alberta glass artists. The theme of Natural Flow: Contemporary Alberta Glass highlights the singular ability of hot glass to embody organic and biomorphic ideas, forms and forces. While the very nature of glass as an ‘amorphous solid’ – neither liquid nor solid - can lend it these qualities physically, the works in hot glass presented here take it a step beyond, evoking natural forces of change visually and also metaphorically, through a variety of strategies from imagery to humour and spiritual contemplation.

Artists in the Exhibition: Phillip Bandura, Bee Kingdom, Tim Belliveau, Cailey Buye, Ryan Marsh Fairweather, Robert Geyer, Brian Hall, Jeff Holmwood, Marty Kaufman, Deanna MacAulay, Darren Peterson, Julia Reimer, Tyler Rock, Natali Rodrigues, Kai Georg Scholefield, and Keith Walker

Natural Flow: Contemporary Alberta Glass joins the “glass filled summer” at the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre along with Valid Objects of Beauty by Susan Rankin in the Art Gallery and Handmade by Altaglass in the Heritage Gallery.

Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
401 First Street SE
Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
www.esplanade.ca

Clip from Open house @ RDC

CHECK IT OUT! -->   RDC Series Glassblowing 2011

Glassblowing Open House @ RDC

Glassblowing Open House - Friday, June 10 from Noon to 5:00p.m @ Red Deer College.  If you've ever wanted to see glassblowing first-hand, stop by and see the artists at work.  Or even give it a try yourself, free of charge. 

Spaces are still available in RDC's summer glassblowing program, with 5-day courses available through June, July and August taught by professional artists from the world's glass community. 

Classes are also available in flameworking (glass beadmaking), casting, fusing and a variety of other mediums including ceramics, welding for artists, painting, drawing, felting, jewelry, photography, polymer clay and more!

For more information on summer art programs at Red Deer College: www.rdc.ab.ca/series | 403.356.4900 | continuingeducation@rdc.ab.ca

Forthcoming Group Exhibitions

Esplanade Art Gallery                                    
Medicine Hat, AB
July 1 - Aug 21, 2011
Opening Reception: July 8, 2011

Alberta Craft Council Gallery
Edmonton, AB
October 1 - Dec 24, 2011
Opening Reception: October 1, 2011

My work featured in the Spring 2011 issue of the Alberta Craft magazine

The Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre

The Alberta Craft Council

Objetos con Vidrio blog

A note about my glass has been published in the blog, Objetos con Vidrio.  This informative blog is a collection of information on all the artistic possibilities of glass.  It is a meeting place for all those associated with the versatile material.

CHECK IT OUT! -->  Objetos con Vidrio

 

New Glass Review

My work has been accepted into the magazine New Glass Review 32!  Published by The Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review is an annual survey of glass in contemporary art, architecture, craft, and design created in the previous year by emerging and established artists.

Corning Museum of Glass - New Glass Review

My return to Canada

Arrival at the Calgary airport!...With my 150lbs of luggage in tow.  My body was aching from hauling so much weight around!  Hope none of my glass is broken!

  Tired and waiting for my shuttle.


Lesson learnt: travel lighter!...But what if I need those extra 4 pairs of shoes? :P

3 days in Copenhagen, Denmark

I spent 3 days in Copenhagen before flying out from Københavns Lufthavn. 

On my first day, I took the train north to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art located in Humlebæk, Denmark.  Louisiana is an international museum with a considerable collection of modern art. The museum’s permanent collection includes more than 3000 works and is one of the largest in Scandinavia.  The museum frames the sculpture park facing the sea and the interaction between art, nature and the museum architecture is quite unique.  Unfortunately, due to icy walkways, the sculpture park was closed during my visit.

The Museum

backed onto the sea

Per Kirkeby, 1967

Per Kirkeby, 1967

Per Kirkeby, 1967

Ugo Rondinone, THIRTYFIRSTMAYTWOTHOUSANDANDONE, 2001

Josef Albers

Jan Schoonhoven, 1969

Jesús Rafael Soto, Virtual Purple Square, 1979

Jesús Rafael Soto

Wassily Kandinsky, In The Free Blue, 1929

Jackson Pollock, Untitled, 1944

Arnold Newman, Black and White photography - Portraits

On day 2, I first visited the Danish Design Centre (DDC) in Copenhagen.  The DDC permanent exhibition consists of a number of design icons from Denmark and the world.  The centre also puts on a number of special exhibitions each year.

The main exhibition '10+ Design Forecast' accesses Danish design in the first ten years of the new millennium and examines which design trends have a big role to play in the years to come.

Good design is

Innovative
An innovative design can be a ‘break-through’ product or service, but it can also be a re-design of an existing product or service. A ‘break-through’ product offers the market and the user a new and previously unseen function and added value, while a re-design improves on an existing product.
Functional
Functional design is intended to serve a function – preferably a primary and a supplemental function. A functional design solves a problem, and in its design it optimises a given function.
Aesthetic
An aesthetic product has an inherent power of fascination and an immediately accessible sensuous quality.
Intuitive
Intuitive design is self-explanatory and thus often negates the need for a user manual. It is obvious how the design should be used, perceived and understood. The design explains the function.
Good business
Good design is competitive and stands out in a competitive market. Good business means a healthy bottom line – hence, good design is also a product or a service that sells well.
Honest
An honest design only communicates the functions and values it actually offers. It should not manipulate buyers or users into thinking that it offers more than it does.
Durable
In a society characterised by excessive consumption, good design serves an important purpose. It is based on durability in the sense that the design and the materials have staying power rather than just representing a fad. Waste and excessive consumption are not aspects of good design.
Responsible
Good design is responsible, among other things by considering environmental concerns. For example, it may contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable world, where materials have high durability and may even be recycled in new contexts.
Shaped and styled
Shape and appearance are essential aspects of good design. They are the basis for creating and designing. Shaping and styling ensure an attractive sensuous quality and an added value.
User oriented
Good design focuses on the user and aims to improve a given situation for the user. User-oriented design provides an added value, whether material or immaterial, and thus increases the user’s satisfaction and life situation.

The upstairs exhibition 'The Danish Design Prize 2010/11' shows Danish design at its very best.  The Danish Design Prize is awarded to companies that have created innovative products and solutions of a high aesthetic and functional quality, thus contributing to highlighting the value and stimulating the use of design.

In the exhibition, visitors are able to explore the prize-winning products and solutions, listen to interviews with the prize-winners and watch film clips where various users comment on the winning products.

The exhibition in the lower level, 'Denmark by Design' shows the development in Danish design from 1945-2010.

And, some cute ceramics in the gift shop...

I then made my way to The Danish Museum of Art & Design.   The museum brings together and documents the contemporary developments within industrial design, decorative and applied arts.

The Textile Study Room

The China exhibition

European Renaissance

French Rococo

The English Room

Meissen porcelain

Steffen Dam

Lone Skov Madsen, 1997

Works by Thorvald Bindesbøll

Jorgen Hovelskov, 1963

'The Best from 100 Years' exhibition

Henrik Vibskov, Piggy suit plus bag, 2001

Finn Juhl chair and drawings

Lamps by Verner Panton

Nimbus motor bike

Ettore Sottsass, 1982

Steffen Dam, 2001

Lino Tagliapietra, Vase, 1987

Bente Hansen, stoneware, 2003

Camilla Prasch, necklace, 2002

The Design Studio

The Study Collection

I then took the Metro to Field's shopping mall, where I spent the remainder of the evening :)