Fusion: Contemporary Glass Art from North Carolina Collections

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FUSION: CONTEMPORARY GLASS ART FROM NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTIONS
May 8–August 7, 2005

Admission

Admission to the exhibition is by ticket for a specific date and time of entry.
$5 for individuals
$3 per person for seniors, students and groups of 10 or more

Free for Museum members and children 12 and under. Student groups are admitted free by advance reservation.

Exhibition Description

Fusion celebrates the imaginative wonder, technical virtuosity, and visual opulence of contemporary art glass from three North Carolina collections: Francine and Benson Pilloff’s from Chapel Hill, Sonia and Isaac Luski’s from Charlotte, and Lisa and Dudley Anderson’s from Wilson, N.C.

The works in the exhibition range from large-scale cast sculptures to small blown-glass.

Contents

Fusion presents 49 works by 15 artists, including: Dale Chihuly; Howard Ben Tré; Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora Mace; Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová; Joyce Scott; Paul Stankard; Therman Statom; and Bertil Vallien.

North Carolina artists represented in the exhibition include: Rick Beck, Jon Kuhn, Harvey Littleton, Mark Peiser, and Richard Ritter.

This is the first ever exhibition of glass art at the Museum of Art. Click here for the press release.

Related Events

Exhibition Tour
Fusion: Contemporary Glass Art from North Carolina Collections
Saturdays, June 11 and July 9, 11 a.m.
Free with exhibition ticket

Senior Day
Fusion: Contemporary Glass Art from North Carolina Collections
Wednesdays, June 1, July 6 and August 3 , 11 a.m.
Free with exhibition ticket

Video Theater

May :Chihuly over Venice (45 min.)
June: The Glass Dimension (65 min.)

Glass Making

What is glass?

Different formulas produce different types of glass. The most common type from antiquity to the present, soda-lime glass, combines three elements: silica (silicon dioxide) in the form of sand ground from quartz; soda, a “flux” that lowers the melting temperature; and lime, to strengthen the glass. Feldspar from the North Carolina mountains can also be used as a flux, and sodium nitrate may be added as a clarifying agent. This “batch” mixture is heated to about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, where it melts and can be shaped.

Glass is a solid, but unlike other solids, it has randomly ordered molecules like a liquid.

Lead glass incorporates lead oxide to create brilliance. Its structure is excellent for having decorative textures or designs cut into the surface.

Color

Color is created by adding to the glass a substance such as a metallic oxide. Iron can produce green or brown glass; copper, light blue or red; cobalt, a deeper blue; tin, white; gold or selenium, red; etc. Colors are added in the form of frit, or crushed glass, or as glass rods or glass powder.

Casting

Casting, an early method of shaping glass, remains a popular way to form the material. In hot casting, molten glass is poured into a clay or sand mold and cooled; in cold casting, either frit or chunks of glass are placed into a mold and heated, then cooled. Both methods allow the glass to retain the shape of the mold. Cold casting is preferred in the Czech Republic to create large-scale glass sculpture. Pâte de verre (glass paste) and cire perdue (lost wax) are among other casting methods.

Blowing

Ancient Romans developed a method of shaping glass objects by collecting a blob of molten glass on one end of a metal blowpipe and blowing into the pipe from the other end. This technique enlarges the glass like a bubble, allowing it to be formed into a hollow vessel. The glass is worked into shape with jacks, paddles, and blocks.

Cold-Working: Grinding, Cutting, and Polishing

Wheels with abrasive coatings and a liquid are used to grind a frosted surface decoration (a process known as etching, which can also be done with acid) or to cut a V-shaped pattern into the object’s surface. If a clear (not-frosted) decoration is desired, several additional grinding steps polish the surface with progressively softer abrasives.

Outside Resources

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

The Mint Museums, Charlotte, NC

Other Information

Blue Ridge, the Museum Restaurant
Offers an innovative menu of contemporary American cuisine. The restaurant is open Tuesday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; Friday nights from 5:30 p.m.–10 p.m. (Last seating is 8:30 p.m.); Saturday brunch, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; and Sunday brunch, 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Museum Store
The Museum Store is open during Museum hours.

Membership
Become a part of one of the Southeast's most dynamic visual arts museums. Join and receive free tickets to all exhibitions, discounts at the Museum Store and Blue Ridge, the Museum Restaurant, and much more! For membership information call (919) 839-6262, ext. 2121.

How to Get to the Museum
From I-40, take the Wade Avenue exit to the Blue Ridge Road exit. Follow north for a half-mile. The Museum is on the right.

Around the Triangle
For information on other art happenings visit www.raleighnow.com, your all-in-one anytime resource on everything cultural in the Triangle.

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Captions

Dale Chihuly, American. Gilded Yellow Venetian with Lilies, 1991. Blown glass with applied furnace-worked elements. 20 5/8 x 22 7/16 inches. Collection of Francine and Benson Pilloff

Howard Ben Tré, American. Wrapped Form #1, 1993. Cast glass. H 54 ½ x 19 ¼ x 19 ¼ inches. Collection of Francine and Benson Pilloff

Stanislav Libenský, Czech and Jaroslava Brychtová, Czech. Green Eye of the Pyramid, Cast glass. H 72 x 112 x 16 inches; base: H 12 x 115 inches. Collection of Lisa and Dudley Anderson