New Glass at Wheaton focuses on the Creative Glass Center of America, where artists from around the world are invited to use the historical glass studio at WheatonArts. This special edition of State of the Arts features three of the resident artists, or fellows, who worked at the Creative Glass Center of America (CGCA) at WheatonArts & Cultural Center from January through April 2008.
The Fellowship Artists
Charlotte Potter created tongue-in-cheek “antler art” during her residency, a response to the touristy western art of her then hometown, Jackson Hole. In the process, she perfected her solid glass hot working technique. Rika Hawes, a native of Canada now living in Philadelphia, chose to create large scale versions of her jagged, broken glass installation pieces. She says that her earlier work began to seem like maquettes, or small scale models. Kim Harty, who arrived in Wheaton from Chicago, continued her exploration of conceptual themes and performance work. One of her projects, “Synchro Blow” – a process where two glassblowers try to simultaneously create the same form – spurred the development of “Cirque de Verre,” a glass circus or performance/entertainment. Harty worked with Potter, Hawes, and several CGCA assistants to put on “Cirque de Verre,” which they performed at WheatonArts.
State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits the fellows at the beginning and then again toward the end of their residency, to see the work they have made and find out how the experience compared to their expectations. She also speaks with Hank Murta Adams, the creative director of CGCA as well as an internationally renowned artist. Adams gives a tour of the facility, describing how they plan to grow in the future. Adams reinforces the fact that, like any art colony, the most valuable aspect of the residency at Wheaton for the artists is the dedicated time to focus on their creative work. The executive director of WheatonArts, Susan Gogan, describes the unique qualities of WheatonArts and the fellows program, and what it has meant to the glass world, both in and out of New Jersey.
Glass Weekend
New Glass at Wheaton also visits Glass Weekend, a biennial event at WheatonArts bringing together collectors, artists, and gallery dealers. The purpose of Glass Weekend is to raise money to help support the fellowship program (through a percentage of sales and admissions). During Glass Weekend ’07 former fellows and artistic collaborators Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman gave a hot shop demonstration. Knowles and Pohlman are two time recipients of CGCA fellowships. The pair speaks of how their fellowships were critical to their artistic development; in fact, they describe their first fellowship in 1999 as a turning point in their careers.
New Glass at Wheaton views many of the gallery booths set up for Glass Weekend and talks to collectors and dealers, including Rick Snyderman, director of the Snyderman-Works Gallery in Philadelphia, Ken Saunders of Marx-Saunders Gallery in Chicago, and Maurine Littleton of Maurine Littleton Gallery in Washington, D.C.
WheatonArts
WheatonArts and Cultural Center’s world class studio facilities are located in an historic glass community. Wheaton Village was founded in 1970 as a re-creation of a “glass town” by Frank Wheaton, Jr., then owner of Wheaton Industries, one of the largest privately owned glass companies in the world. CGCA was formed in 1983 to support artists working in glass, at that time still a rarity. Up to 12 fellowships have been awarded each year to emerging and established artists to pursue their own work for periods of either 6 weeks or 3 months. Over 300 artists from the United States and abroad have received fellowships to date. Each session, two to four artists live together in a house near WheatonArts (renamed in 2007), and are given their own studios at the glass facility. CGCA fellows receive access to the facility’s hot glass shop, annealing, and cold-working resources – for an expensive medium, this amounts to a very generous and rare grant of time and money. In addition, the fellows are supported by a community of staff artists and assistants willing to help them realize their creative visions. In exchange, they help give demonstrations for the public and work to maintain the studio.
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Hank Murta Adams,
creative director of CGCA
Heads with glass antlers
by Charlotte Potter
"A Fine Line" (detail)
by Rika Hawes
Installation by Rika Hawes
"Hugged Pile" by Kim Harty
Charlotte Potter at WheatonArts
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On NJN1: Friday, August 7, 2009 @ 8:30 pm 
Preview
