3 Questions For … Cirque De Verre

Cirque De Verre's Kim Harty (far right) and Charlotte Potter (center, in sunglasses) pose with an increasing cast of collaborators.

GLASS: What are you working on?
Cirque De Verre: Our current project is our Cirque De Verre performance at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion taking place on Oct 30th. Our performances have become curated exhibitions in the hot shop, and we want to continue in that direction. We have worked hard to get some of the best emerging artists we know of to come and join the circus. There are a lot of artists who do performance work in the hot shop, but no forum to see the work live. We’re striving to give those artists a platform and promote them because we think it’s some of the most interesting work going on in the glass community. Our show is actually a mix of live pieces and video, and we have a total of 12 different works for the show in Toledo. We use the “public programming” aspect of museums and institutions to show the cirque and garner an audience. Public programming is such a fertile opportunity to bring people into the museum and wow them with art. We think we can elevate these events to the same level of importance as the work in the museum galleries. We’ve also been given a great opportunity by Bowling Green University to come use their hot shop for a few days before the performance. We’re going to be doing a workshop there where we’ll be demo-ing for the students, experimenting, and developing the acts. Hopefully this will generate some new collaboration! A lot of the artists participating don’t know each other so it’ll be exiting when all their minds meet for the first time. The line-up of artists is: Carmichael, Scott Darlington , Kim Harty, Rika Hawes, Mallie Loring, Hannah Meszaros-Martin, Edison Osorio Zapata, Julia Rogers, Suzy Peck, Alex Rosenberg, Keune Song, Matt Szosz, Chris Wolston. We’ll also be showing video work from Gary Brodker, Stephanie Pender, Charlotte Potter, and Boyhun Yoon.

GLASS: What artwork have you seen recently that inspired you?
Cirque De Verre: We’ve definitely been influenced by the early American Studio Glass blowers. They had so much raw energy and basically created an entirely new educational and artistic movement. In the early days of Pilchuck, Buster Simpson was doing video and audio experiments, Dick Marquis was pulling cane on a motorcycle. All these people took aggressively experimental approaches to making art. We want to bring that type of energy back to glass, and I think it is the only thing that can push it forward from its current stagnant state. Obviously the circus is the theme of the show and a huge inspiration. The circus came from a time when art, entertainment, and science were one and the same, and it was basically a way to bring all three together for public enlightenment as well as enjoyment. Part of what inspired the collaboration was that all of us were frustrated at the general inaccessibility of modern art as well as how our own work as emerging artists was difficult for others to access. The circus was an opportunity to put our work into the world without the typical institutional entry points by creating our own platform. P.T. Barnum is a very heroic figure for us, and we frequently take trips to see the Coney Island Side Show, and the This or That Show. Of course, each of the artists participating have their own distinct vision and sources for pieces. We try to provide a framework for that. We want to engage people and show them work that might be thought of as “avante garde performance,” in a way that they can relate to.

GLASS: Where is it possible to see your work on exhibit?
Cirque De Verre: We’ll be performing next week on October 30th at the Toledo Museum of Glass as part of their “It’s Friday” programming series. The Glass Pavilion is an amazing space and we’re really fortunate to have the opportunity to work with them. It’s a free event. If you haven’t been to the Glass Pavilion yet, this is a great reason to go. We’re also going to be the kick-off performance for, “Glass30: Four Weeks of Fire,” a month-long event in Louisville timed to coincide with the 2010 GAS conference. The theme of the event is the World’s Exhibition, so it is right up our alley! We’ll also be orchestrating a glass-themed talent/variety show for the Glass Art Association of Canada Conference in Montreal in 2010. Finally, the Internet is an important platform for us and, in fact, it’s probably where most people see the work. You can visit www.cirquedeverre.com as well as seeing videos on Youtube, the cirquedeverre channel. You can also become a fan of Cirque De Verre on Facebook, where we are continually posting our work. I think P.T. Barnum would have loved the Internet.