The GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet

Eun-Suh Choi, Reincarnation, 2006. Borosilicate glass, mirrors. H 100, W 100, D 140 in.

“Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass,” now on view at a commercial gallery and a university art space, is an exhibition with big ambitions. If 1979’s seminal “New Glass: A Worldwide Survey” was the art form’s last attempt to define the most important new ideas of using glass as an art form, “B.I.G.G.” hopes to have ended a 30-year drought, according to Tom Hawk, who has lent his gallery space to the effort that is currently on view at Hawk Galleries in Columbus, Ohio, and at Ohio State University’s Urban Arts Space,. “The two exhibitions ["Glass 1979" and "B.I.G.G."] go hand in hand,” says Hawk. “We have the same ambition, which is to grasp how far artists worldwide have come in exploring this magical material.”

Hawk and his co-jurors, artist Lino Tagliapietra, and curator Tina Oldknow, selected works for the exhibition that speaks to contemporary times. “We wanted to show that, today, glass is alive and flourishing,” says Hawk. He pointed to new work by Vanessa Cutler to exemplify how glass has changed in the years since 1979; the Bitish artist uses a computer-controlled waterjet machine to cut out intricate patterns in thick sheets of glass, creating unique, distinctly modern sculptural shapes.

B.I.G.G., which is sponsored by Steuben, will be on view through October 10, 2009. The exhibition was recently incorporated into a city-wide project aimed at reasserting Columbus as a central hub for Studio Glass. Dubbed “Glass Art 365″, the year-long project was borne from coincidence, when several of the city’s outlets for the arts noticed their concurrent schedules. It hopes to promote glass awareness and guide interested parties to the city’s many scheduled exhibitions through the end of 2009 and the first half of 2010. Headlined by three different Dale Chihuly exhibitions, “Glass Art 365″ includes “B.I.G.G.” as well as “Melting Pot,” an exhibition of works by members of Columbus’ Glass Axis studio, and “African Art: Tradition and Influence“, a survey of new works by Steve Hazard in traditional and contemporary African styles.

“Projects like this really show Columbus as one of the leading cities promoting contemporary glass,” says Hawk. It will also pave the way for the future of glass in Columbus. According to Hawk, organizers are already gearing up for an even bigger project in 2012, to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the Toledo Workshop that is viewed by many as the birth of the Studio Glass movement, and to celebrate a permanent glass gallery at the Columbus Museum of Art, which will open that year. “We’ll take what we’ve done, and do it better,” he says. “And we’ll continue with what we are doing right now: taking a snapshot in time of glass in the world today.”

—Brett Nuckles