Blue Rain Gallery | 6/9-6/25 | Santa Fe, NM

A Magical Medium

Join Blue Rain Gallery in celebrating some of the most esteemed glass artists working today.

Beginning June 9, Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will affirm its reputation for representing today’s most esteemed glass artists. While the gallery represents many talented artists working across a broad spectrum of mediums, Blue Rain is showcasing their collection of unique glass art by ten leading contemporary artists in the Group Glass Exhibition. Participating artists include Preston Singletary, Vivian Wang, Shelley Muzylowski Allen, Rik Allen, Dan Dailey, Benjamin Cobb, Nancy Callan, Dan Friday, Susan Taylor Glasgow and Alex Bernstein.

Denise Phetteplace, Blue Rain Gallery executive director, aptly notes that glass art can be quite the magical medium. “In an exhibition like this,” she says, “we can highlight just how broad glass art can be; each of the participating artists represents a unique skillset and visual style within the medium.” Dan Dailey, Shook, blown glass, sandblasted and acid polished, anodized aluminum, 26 x 12 x 8"

For 50 years Dailey, of New Hampshire, has been producing art with a narrative behind each piece. In his blown glass piece Shook, the artist demonstrates his ability to capture the human experience and the world we inhabit. “[This piece] is a female bust showing the raw emotions of shock and anger,” Dailey explains. “The gestures are all in her face and hair. Historically, busts are heroic and noble, however the busts I’ve created depart from tradition and are expressive by comparison.”

Dailey explains that the head of the woman was blown first. After, a mold was taken from the bottom of the head to create a tool the artist can press into the torso bubble while it’s hot. The torso was made next, then the hairs. All of the separate parts are ground, fit and diamond sanded, then sandblasted completely. Next, they are acid-polished to achieve the satin-smooth surface. All of the parts were then assembled with a silicone construction adhesive and allowed to cure before being attached to an anodized aluminum base.Nancy Callan, Hyacinth Anemone Paloma, blown glass, 27 x 13 x 8½"

North Carolina artist Bernstein will be showcasing nearly a dozen glass pieces from a variety of series he’s exploring. “Exploration drives everything I do,” Bernstein says. “I am always striving to make something new that I have never seen before, and I love being challenged and surprised in my studio. With each series, I try to explore as many shapes, colors [and] forms in each one and really bend and stretch within that general idea.”Dan Friday, Raven Totem, furnace sculpted glass, 15½ x 5 x 6"

One of Bernstein’s show pieces, New Morning, which depicts a colorful crescent shape, is a great example of this deep examination. “I use multiple colors with a satiny finish and juxtapose that softer side with the rough, craggy texture and rusty steel surface on the outer edge,” he says. “Although, with abstract sculpture, each viewer brings their own experience to the work, to me, this piece is about landscape—maybe looking through the window of an abandoned building and seeing an amazing sunrise forming outside. That passing of time is a theme I explore in my own way over and over again.”

Another significant artist, Seattle’s Callum, is also including different pieces from a variety of series. “I’m showing two works using a unique glass cane technique that I call ‘anemone cane,’” she says. “Cane is a Venetian technique that is used to create patterns and add color to the glass—there are dozens of variations, but what is special in these works is that I’m picking up a mosaic of small pieces to create a pattern that still has some open space.”Alex Bernstein, New Morning, cast and cut glass, fused steel, 17¾ x 17¾ x 3"

This effect can be seen in the shimmering Hyacinth Anemone Paloma, a non-narrative piece that highlights Callum’s skill in portraying color and form coming together in harmony. “The transparent purple is so gorgeous; it makes a lovely backdrop for the white ‘anemone’ cane and really shows off the variations in transparency,” she says. “I prefer this type of pattern that has an organic quality, irregular to something more perfectionist or rigid.”

This special exhibition, which includes many more striking, compelling pieces, closes on June 25. —

Blue Rain Gallery, 544 S. Guadalupe Street • Santa Fe, NM 87501 • (505) 954-9902 • www.blueraingallery.com