Glass artist's voyage of discovery
By Nie Xin |
May 25, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO well-known pieces by American glass artist Steven Weinberg - "Silver Mandala" and "Buoys" - feature at the International New Glass Art exhibition at the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Museum.
And coinciding with the show, Weinberg is visiting Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou and talking about his work.
"'Buoys' started as my interpretation of floats used by fishermen to mark routes, nets or trap. It truly is amazing to be able to revisit a precise spot in an ocean so vast with just few visual references for guidance," said Weinberg.
This work was also displayed at Shanghai Glass Museum last July when Weinberg held a one-man exhibition.
On display were 26 pieces, including the famous series "Boat."
With a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Weinberg is a two-time recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and has been casting and cutting glass in his Rhode Island studio since 1979.
He started to create the "Boat" series in 1999, and it took him more than 10 years to complete the work. It takes advantage of the transparent qualities of liuli (colored glaze). From the execution of angles to highly polished surfaces, Weinberg achieves the effect of a boat cutting through the waves, leaving foam in its wake. Led by light, viewers float into a crystalline world of glass and water.
"I was inspired by the cross section of the hull of the fishing vessel and it became my focus," he said.
His work is represented in the permanent collections of more than 50 major public art museums around the world, including the Musee Des Artes Decoratifs at Palais du Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Smithsonian.
Weinberg's work is found in galleries in New York, Chicago and New Mexico in the United States, in France, and at the Liuli Gong Fang Museum and Glass Gallery in Xintiandi in Shanghai.
"The first piece I acquired for my personal collection was Steven's," said Loretta Hui-shan Yang, founder and creative director of Liuli Gong Fang. "He has a wonderful skill for perfect manual polishing and grinding delicate waves."
The artist was invited to China for the first time in 2005, teaching at Tsinghua University in Beijng. Since then, China appears to have profoundly influenced some of Weinberg's work.
"China is the new center of the world and the market for glass art is young here," Weinberg said.
Some of Weinberg's work sells for US$30,000, but the artist said he would never advise people to buy art works as an investment. "People should buy what they love and live with," he said.
The International New Glass Art exhibition runs until June 8.
And coinciding with the show, Weinberg is visiting Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou and talking about his work.
"'Buoys' started as my interpretation of floats used by fishermen to mark routes, nets or trap. It truly is amazing to be able to revisit a precise spot in an ocean so vast with just few visual references for guidance," said Weinberg.
This work was also displayed at Shanghai Glass Museum last July when Weinberg held a one-man exhibition.
On display were 26 pieces, including the famous series "Boat."
With a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Weinberg is a two-time recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and has been casting and cutting glass in his Rhode Island studio since 1979.
He started to create the "Boat" series in 1999, and it took him more than 10 years to complete the work. It takes advantage of the transparent qualities of liuli (colored glaze). From the execution of angles to highly polished surfaces, Weinberg achieves the effect of a boat cutting through the waves, leaving foam in its wake. Led by light, viewers float into a crystalline world of glass and water.
"I was inspired by the cross section of the hull of the fishing vessel and it became my focus," he said.
His work is represented in the permanent collections of more than 50 major public art museums around the world, including the Musee Des Artes Decoratifs at Palais du Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Smithsonian.
Weinberg's work is found in galleries in New York, Chicago and New Mexico in the United States, in France, and at the Liuli Gong Fang Museum and Glass Gallery in Xintiandi in Shanghai.
"The first piece I acquired for my personal collection was Steven's," said Loretta Hui-shan Yang, founder and creative director of Liuli Gong Fang. "He has a wonderful skill for perfect manual polishing and grinding delicate waves."
The artist was invited to China for the first time in 2005, teaching at Tsinghua University in Beijng. Since then, China appears to have profoundly influenced some of Weinberg's work.
"China is the new center of the world and the market for glass art is young here," Weinberg said.
Some of Weinberg's work sells for US$30,000, but the artist said he would never advise people to buy art works as an investment. "People should buy what they love and live with," he said.
The International New Glass Art exhibition runs until June 8.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
