Artists and volunteers at the first annual Fete de Verre fundraiser for UrbanGlass. (L to R):Mariel Hamm, Melinda Swahn, Laura Sasseville, Jessica MacDonald, Lorrie Nicholas, and Hanna Wong. photo: kristin solomon
Trading in its annual Glassblowers Ball at Chelsea Piers for the first-ever Fête de Verre at an elegant 100-year-old bank building in downtown Manhattan, UrbanGlass made a bid to redefine what has become the standard glass fundraiser on the evening of April 16th. Awards were given, a sit-down dinner was served, and a live auctioneer took bids on donated glass artwork. But everything from the dramatic space called Capitale to the event’s theme as a glam dress-up party was new for an evening described by one of the organizers as “glitter, glamour, and girls in glass dresses.” Only 54 of the 71 lots sold, and the total of $330,000 raised before expenses was about the same as in 2009, but the event organizers were upbeat about the transformation of their annual fundraiser. Continue reading
