The Artistry of Glass; a New Appreciation

Recently a friend heard I was headed to Virginia Beach. She used to live in the area and implored me to go to the Chrysler Museum of Art while I was there. I was really looking forward to a beach vacation, and so wasn't sure abut this, but decided to stop in. Boy, was that the right decision! Not only is it a beautifully curated museum with many early works and women artists with whom I was not familiar, but it has one of the largest glass collections of any museum and a glass studio on the premises.

Truth be told, I have never been a huge fan of glass artwork. Maybe because I had not seen much of it, or maybe because I am mostly ignorant of the processes involved with it (other than, thanks to Audry Handler,  I learned it it takes a lot of lung power and a really big furnace!) But now that I have seen a lot of examples, and was led through a chronological tour of glass through the centuries, I am very appreciative of the art form! Isn't that exactly what a museum should do; make you appreciate things a little bit more.

The shapes

There were shapes of every kind; From the earliest small vessels, through lava-like mounds, to geometric shapes to the organic. The organic shapes were some of my favorites.
(Click on any of these to see a larger picture)

The details

The process that really blew me away was the engraving. This process involves several layers of different colors, or shades, layered upon each other, and then the glass is carved/engraved back to reveal the color that the artist want to appear. The center picture shows one of the artist's sketches for the large vase.
(Click on any of these to see a larger picture)

The artistry

Lastly, the number of artistic styles were as broad and deep as any other medium of art. One of the artists that I found fascinating was Steven I. Weinberg. Please go to his website to see more of his amazing work. This example is just a detail looking into one side of one of his pieces.

Along with the functional and the artistic were nestled the whimsical. I think many of these were made by the glass artists prior to glass being accepted as art, not strictly functional. There were glass canes, powder horns, giant pipes and whimsical sculptures. Below is a mustard server and a small figurine examples.