Zwiesel was a good choice for a hotel. I picked it because I was tired of changing trains with three pieces of luggage (suitcase, bag with DSLR, laptop) and purse. It’s a pretty town and I found some extra glass events.
Glass show by the church in Zwiesel
The exhibit included several glass artists with whom I wasn’t familiar. Here are a few:
Giuliano Luigi Gaigher – Delusione 2017
Vladimir Klein’s Blue Planet
Reiner Schlestein, Blumenmädchen 2018
Posted by dianesfusedglass on December 27, 2018
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/august-17-zwiesel/
After a quick (and expensive) breakfast at the hotel, I took myself to the bus station to catch Bus 123 to Ebeltoft. The clerk at the hotel the previous evening gave me a map and showed me where the station was. For 160 dkk (just under $25) round trip, I take off. The bus driver, not the youngest, understands me and speaks limited English.
Once in Ebeltoft, it’s a bit of a hike to the Glasmuseet. I’m there a few minutes early — it’s been so hot up to now. Today it’s rather cold and windy, a drop from the 90s to around 70 with a windchill factor. And I sent my down jacket home…Draw
The museum is pretty nice. The young woman at the reception desk speaks a few words of English. The exhibit has a flyer in Danish, in German and in English, so I’m OK on that. I wander through, taking lots of photos. The exhibit is modern Scandinavian glass artists, mostly glass blowers. It’s an interesting exhibit, including a short film by one and several light and sound pieces. On the top floor is more educational info and things for children to do with glass.
Outside is a separate building where the glass blowers work. Today a young man and woman are the team — it turns out they’re French. The man spent time at Cerfav in Vannes-le-Chatel (where I was in 2015 to visit) and worked at Baccarat (where Jacqueline took me two weeks ago). Small world. I talked to him in a break, but he wasn’t too impressed.
The good thing here is that people were coming to the museum. Several had quite young children (as in high chairs necessary), but at least they’re out and visiting (in Claret, Jacqueline and I were the only people in the museum; in Carmaux I was joined by a family with three children).
The museum has a little restaurant, very modern and nice. The menu was in Danish and Danish, so I told the young waitress that I was a vegetarian, no fish or meat. She pointed me to a potato and cheese dish that she said was typically Danish (as were all the dishes on the menu). I could pick out words here and there from German — in this case Kartoffel… I just wasn’t sure what went with the potatoes.
Lunch at the Glass Museum in Ebeltoft
It started as a slice of bread, covered with sliced boiled potatoes and a soft cheese, with radishes, tomatoes, carrots, onions, a couple of asparagus spears and lots of various greens. It was quite good — just a surprise.
I had been there for about three hours and that was enough, so I set out to find the bus stop. I decided to take a different route and see if I could manage not to get too lost. In the process, I found the heart of Ebeltoft, which is quite old and quite picturesque.
A lot of little cafes were open, along with a fair number of stores. I didn’t see a lot of glass, though what I did see seemed to be a lot of the same artists as the museum gift shop offered.
Eventually, I did find the bus stop, no thanks to my phone, which was going to send me to Thailand (I asked for Bus 123 stops…apparently that’s a big deal there).
On the way back, a whole group of teenagers — maybe 25 — got on the bus with their camping backpacks. It was full, full, full.
Back in Aarhus, I wandered back to the hotel, noticing a giant church (the Aarhus Cathedral) in the area. After dropping my stuff, I set out to look around. I could not have picked a better location for a hotel. It’s around the corner from the Aarhus Theater, close to the pedestrian shopping area, around the corner from 7-11, McDonalds and Starbucks (my grande latte here would cost about $7.50, instead of $4.80). I wandered through Magazin, a large, upscale department store that’s open every day from 10 to 8 (10 to 20). Depressing to see how much clothes cost… These included Hugo Boss, DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger and a few other brands I’ve heard of and several that were unfamiliar.
Just a note: I keep hearing that everyone in Europe speaks English, especially the young people. I have not found that to be the case. I did get a brownie and a roll at a bakery in the department store, and the young guy there did quite well. Otherwise, it seems that in out-of-the-way places like Ebeltoft, English is less common, though I did hear quite a bit from visitors.
Tomorrow it’s back to Germany and a few days in Leipzig.
more photos to come
Posted by dianesfusedglass on August 7, 2018
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2018/08/07/august-5-ebeltoft-and-around-aarhus/
Friday I went into Manhattan. Thanks to the young guy at the front desk — who was still on duty the next day, I headed for the High Line, a park/walkway where a railroad used to run. It’s also near Chelsea, where a friend told me I’d find lots of art galleries.
After a couple of queries, I was directed to the Heller Gallery, which had phenomenal glass pieces. I was allowed to take photos, though I can’t say my little camera / phone did particularly well with the lighting. Here are a few:
Josepha Gasch-Muche. slightly different — not thin slices of clear glass
A different Lino Tagliapietra – fused, not blown
Steffen Dam, The Secret Life of Plants
Amber Cowan
I checked out a few other places, then headed back to Penn Station and Hicksville.
In the late afternoon John arrived by car from his new home in Massachusetts. He called Hank Neimark, and we all met for dinner on the pleasant patio of Hendrick’s Tavern in Roslyn. I hadn’t seen Hank since maybe 1978 or 1979 (at a WCWP reunion I organized with Stewart Ain, another station member). I didn’t know him well, so I was happy he remembered me.
Posted by dianesfusedglass on June 22, 2018
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2018/06/22/may-4-2018-new-york/
First thing Sunday morning I’m on the train to Saverne, France, just outside of Strasbourg. My friend Jacqueline picks me up, we have lunch and then we head for the Musée Lalique in Wingen sur Moder. We had tried to go there during my visit in January, only to find it closed for the month.
Musée Lalique in Wingen sur Moder, France
Lalique perfume bottles
Then it’s off to the Centre international d’Art Verrier (CiAV) in Meisenthal, also closed when we went in January. Here we watch artisans blow glass. The specialty here is a special ornament each year for Christmas. After a short visit to the gift shop, we’re off to Seichamps, outside of Nancy, and home.
Monday is a rest day, preparation for Tuesday and a visit to Vittel and Jacqueline’s daughter’s potential in-laws. Vittel is a beautiful little spa town in the Vosges and the source of the mineral water of the same name.
Doorway to a small building in the park at Vittel
Huge stained glass window in the mineral water source of the Vittel spa
Sign at the mineral water source, “Closed for repairs”
Huge stained glass window in closed area at Vittel spa
Vittel spa hotel
After a delicious lunch, we set off for La Rochère, a glass production facility dating from 1475. We watch glass blowing/molding and check out the large store.
I was fascinated by this lamp in the store.
On the way back to Vittel, we find another museum of old glass and old jobs in the forest, Nusée d’Hennezel-Clairey (http://www.monthureux.fr/musee%20hennezel.htm). The curator lets us look and give us lots of history, even though we arrive right at closing time.
Then it’s back to Vittel and on to Seichamps. The Mercedes of Jacqueline’s future son-in-law, complete with GPS, gets us home easily, even in the dark.
The next morning, I’m on the train to Wädenswil, via Zurich, and my friend Kaisu, from the first days of the trip.
Posted by dianesfusedglass on March 4, 2016
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/france-october-25-28-2015/
Monday morning I hopped on a train for Lucerne / Luzern, Switzerland. My goal was to see Luzern again, with its bridge across the lake, and to go back to the Glasi at Hergiswil, about a 10-minute train ride from Luzern. The Glasi is the only glass production facility in Switzerland.
The iconic bridge in Luzern
The old part of Luzern is right out of a picture book — except for the hordes of Japanese tourists. This must be vacation time there.
I wandered around the old part of town and just took a lot of pictures.
Luzern
Luzern along the lake
Jesuitenkirche / Jesuit Church in Luzern
A little humor in front of an optician’s shop in Luzern
The next day I went to Hergiswil. Thanks to the train ticket I had, I didn’t have to pay to get into the facility.
The home of the Glasi in Hergiswil
The visit began with a well-done tour through time of glass blowing in Switzerland and Hergiswil, ending in the glass blowing area. After watching for a few minutes, I wandered over to the part where visitors can blow their own Christmas ball. This, too, was included in the train ticket (otherwise, it would have cost CHF 20).
Bar in the Glasi, with top and side out of glass
The Glasi also has a small bar/café, with glass stairs, a glass-topped and glass-sided bar and, of course, a glass lighting fixture. It’s next to one of the two shops where visitors can buy vases, plates, bowls and other items created by the artisans.
Glass sculptures by the lake at the Glasi in Hergiswil
Like Luzern, the Glasi is on the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne). It offers a variety of visitor-operated fountains plus some glass sculptures on a patio outside the bar/café. There’s a small science section for children and a labyrinth, created with the company Glas Trösch (a friend used to work there), and a second, much larger shop with firsts and seconds. You can spend a lot of time there, and I did.
Then it was back to Luzern. I found these stained glass “windows”, an ad for a bank, in the underground passageway near the train station.
Stained glass ad in the underground passageway at the train station in Luzern
Stained glass ad in the underground passageway at the train station in Luzern
The next day I happened on the market, on the path by the lake.
Squash at the market in Luzern
Posted by dianesfusedglass on November 25, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/luzern-hergiswil-october-19-20-2015/
The hotel is right on the market place, and this morning was the market.
The Marktplatz in Coburg
Painted pumpkins in the Marktplatz, Coburg
The Marktplatz in Coburg
One of the oldest pharmacies, on the Marktplatz in Coburg
This morning we looked around Coburg a little, then went on a walking tour of the old part of town. I found a glass studio that seemed to make fused glass windows plus Vero Vetro, a nice stained glass studio with some really nice fused bowls, as well. We chatted with the owner/artist for a few minutes. Kaisu ended up buying some intersting painted globs.
Stadt Theater in Coburg
After cake and coffee, we set off by taxi to the Vesta, the fortress on the hill with a selection of Venetian and Venetian-like glass, as well as some more modern pieces. we spent about three hours,with glass and a variety of other exhibits in the buildings that pre-date the US….
Near the Vesta
Henkelschale, 2nd half of the 17th century at the Vesta
Venetian chandelier at the Vesta
Bowl by Daum, from around 1920, at the Vesta
Galle, Vase w anemones, around 1900, in the Vesta
Tiffany, bowl, around 1900, in the Vesta
Vase by Witwe / Peche, around 1920, in the Vesta
Posted by dianesfusedglass on October 18, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/coburg-germany-october-14-2015-2/
The reason for this trip, if I needed one, is the 20th anniversary of the institute I worked for in Bern, Switzerland, to take place Oct 22-23, 2015. Being too old for long weekends, I set out earlier.
This time the United flight from Tucson left me with 45 minutes to change planes enroute to Dulles airport and then Zurich. I couldn’t take the chance, so I flew from Phoenix, with just one change of plane. Rather than drive and park in Phoenix, I rode up on the shuttle. Rather than take the shuttle at 2:30 a.m., I went up on Oct. 10 and spent the night at the La Quinta hotel near the airport. All went well, except the hotel does NOT have a phone at the airport (or a toll-free number, for that matter). I waited 40 minutes for the hotel shuttle, because the driver had been sent on another errand. At least the 5 a.m. Shuttle, for my 7:20 flight, went well. (Sorry for odd capitalization. I’m trying to streamline and use an iPad. Apple has a worse idea.)
Phoenix is always a pain. United is in an old, small terminal, and getting my bag checked was somewhat chaotic, but it worked. Gate personnel tried to take away my carry-on bag because of lack of space. I insisted, and it turned out there was a lot of space in the overhead bins. I don’t know how the misinformation happened.
The flights were uneventful, my bag was there, I got my train ticket for Zurich airport to Karlsruhe, Germany, in record time and was off to the Zurich main station.
Fountain in underground at Zurich Main Train Station
There I met my friend Kaisu, who lives in Wädenswil, and we took off for Coburg, Germany. First stop: Hotel The Square. Next stop: Rödental and the Europäisches Museum für Modernes Glas, my second visit and Kaisu’s first.
It’s an impressive little museum, and this time there might have been 10 visitors while we were there, not just two or three, like last year. The big disappointment was that the restaurant next door was closed on Mondays….
It’s still a long walk to the museum.
A letter to the organization last year suggesting better directions for people not driving brought nothing. Apparently, during the week no buses run to the museum, which is a good half-hour hike. It seemed a lot shorter with a friend, of course.
Udo Zembok, Simultankontrast 2
Libensky + Brychtova, Cube in a Sphere
John Zinner, Island Plate
Lázló Lukásci, Jewel (dichroic glass laminated + polished)
On the way back to the hotel I found this building with a nice stained glass window in it:
Stained glass window in a store in Coburg
I’m home now and can select and manipulate the hundreds of photos I took (according to the numbers of the photos.)
Posted by dianesfusedglass on October 16, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/european-jaunt-october-11-13-2015/
Friday evening I rushed to the Blue Rain Gallery opening for the Second Invitational Glass Show, which runs till June 27, 2015. Blue Rain is a really nice gallery at 130 Lincoln Avenue, near the plaza and down the street from the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. Owner Leroy Garcia told me that the gallery is celebrating 24 years in business!
The curator of the glass show is Preston Singletary, whose unique work I had seen at the gallery on an earlier visit.
Preston Singletary, Red Rainbow, blown and sand carved
Among the artists in the show at Blue Rain:
* Tobias Møhl, from Denmark. I saw his work last summer in Seattle at the Traver Gallery. He had several interesting pieces in this show. Here’s one:
Tobias Møhl, Oval Glassweaver Vessel, blown glass
* Michael Cozza is another artist whose work I saw last summer in Seattle:
Michael Cozza, blown and sculpted glass
* Armelle Bouchet O’Neill, originally from France, married to glass artist Sean O’Neill. We had a nice chat about her work, which is quite interesting and (of course) different:
Armelle Bouchet O’Neill and Sean O’Neill, Rising, kiln formed and sand carved
Armelle Bouchet O’Neill, Going to the Sun II, kiln formed and sand carved
* Erich Woll:
Erich Woll, When Things Go South, cast glass
* Janusz Pozniak:
Janusz Pozniak, Sanctuary, blown glass
Janusz Pozniak, closeup. Note the regular bubbles….
* Joe BenVenuto:
Joe BenVenuto, Black Terrine Bottle Form, blown and acid etched
* Several pieces by Sasha Tepper Stewart, an up-and-coming artist:
Sasha Tepper Stewart, Time Standing Still, kiln formed and sand carved
* Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott:
Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott, Swell Series Blown 2
* Sean Albert:
Sean Albert, Intentionally Random Line Study (Red), kiln formed
After I left the opening, I went across the street and found out that the New Mexico Museum of Art was open until 8 p.m. and free after 5 p.m. I went quickly to look at the exhibit on color and check out the gift shop (and the glass in it).
Posted by dianesfusedglass on June 8, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/lots-of-glass-in-northern-new-mexico-santa-fe/
During April and May I received several emails from Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, announcing an invitational glass show opening on June 5, 2015. Curator for the show is Preston Singletary, who shows at the gallery and whose work is very unique: blown glass and then carved, with Pacific Northwest themes. Of course, I had to go.
I left Wednesday, June 3, and spent the night in Las Cruces with friends. Bonnie is a super ceramics artist who makes her own tiles and then assembles them into mosaics. Her husband, Wall, is working on collages and assemblages these days, often with social statements. Thursday I went on to Santa Fe via Cedar Crest (where I renewed a friendship from 40 years ago with Denise) and Madrid, a mining town turned ghost town turned artist colony. The beauty of Santa Fe is my friend Judy, whom I met through an environmental group in the mid-1970s. I stay with her, so Santa Fe is affordable.
Friday I took off first to check out Taos, which I hadn’t seen for at least 40 years. I wanted to check out a gallery whose calls to artists sound interesting. In walking around on Kit Carson Road, I found the Copper Moon Gallery and a glass event whose call to artists by the Taos Institute for Glass Arts (TIGA) last year I missed. The gallery has some blown glass pieces by Tony Jojola (from the Heard Museum show in Phoenix) and fused pieces by Michelle Rial, who is also a member of the National Capital Art Glass Guild, along with some unique cast pieces by other artists. The gallery owner was very nice, but I didn’t think to ask to take photos. After a long conversation, she sent me to the David Anthony Fine Art / DAFA gallery, where she said I’d find a lot more glass.
DAFA / David Anthony Fine Art. 132 Kit Carson Road, is a relatively large gallery with some wonderful furniture and, thanks to this TIGA event, lots of glass. The gallery seems to represent a couple of glass artists, but had several more. Here are some shots:
Hiroshi Yamano, Japan, blown glass
Lachezar Dochev, Bulgaria, Urban Sites of Dreamland, kilncast
David Helm, USA, Expression One, cold worked and bonded
Sini Majuri, Finland, Tulilintu, blown glass
Peter Wright, USA, Blown Glass Battuto Jar 2. Note the furniture by David Mapes in the background.
Linda Ethier, USA, If I Let You Out, cast/pate de verre/found object
Herb Babcock, USA, Cool High Plane, cast glass/steel/stone
Jane Bruce, USA, Ribbon Blocks, kilnformed and cold-worked
Gerry Newcomb, USA, Blue Spire, cast glass and steel
This artist appears to be a regular and not part of the TIGA event:
Marty Kremer, detail from Large Bowl, black with insets
Posted by dianesfusedglass on June 8, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/lots-of-glass-in-northern-new-mexico-taos/
I realized that I’ve been running around looking at glass, and an exhibition opened here at home, at the Tucson Museum of Art.
Tucked back in the far corner of the basement is Of Earth and Sand: Ceramics and Glass Works. The exhibition opened April 24, 2015, and will run till January 17, 2016. Admission is free after 5 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month (the museum is open till 8 that day).
While the exhibition is rather small, it does display a wide variety of techniques. Among the pieces exhibited:
Colored Clothesline, Karen LaMonte – I’ve been wanting to see this piece in person, and finally it happened! LaMonte is now doing life-sized dresses in glass. I first saw her work in the Renwick in Washington, D.C.
Tony Jojola, blown glass pot — I just “found” this artist, from the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico, at a recent event at the Heard Museum (in Phoenix, Arizona), which has a huge installation by a New Mexico clay artist and him. Jojola worked at one time with Dale Chihuly, probably the best known US glass blower today
Ghost Pipe, Vernon Brejcha
Sitting Pretty, Marc Petrovic and Kari Russell-Pool
Crossing the Desert, Jamex and Einar de la Torre
Sol Descending, Mark Fowler
Tree Vase, Frances Higgins. With her husband, she was one of the early “re-discoverers” of fused glass in the US
Cowboy Cone, Michael Joplin, a nationally known local artist and member of the board of the Sonoran Glass School
Vase, Thomas Philabaum, another nationally known local glass blower. A co-founder of the Sonoran Glass School, he also has a gallery here in Tucson where you can see more of his work.
The exhibition also includes a piece by Dale Chihuly, another two by Tom Philabaum and two or three by other glass artists, my photos of which did not turn out well.
Posted by dianesfusedglass on May 17, 2015
https://dianesfusedglass.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/home-sweet-home-tucson-museum-of-art/
diane's fused glass 