Planned as the main demo site for the canceled 2011 GAS conference, the Sonoran Glass Art Academy will instead be the center of the new glass festival in Tuscon in 2011.
Dubbed “Viva el Vidrio” (or “Living Glass” in English) a brand-new glass celebration is being planned for Tucson, Arizona, the site of the canceled 2011 Glass Art Society conference. The Tuscon Glass Festival, as organizers are also referring to it, is being planned to take advantage of the many events and contacts that had been arranged before the plug was pulled in May 2010 in a bombshell announcement.
Billed as “a cross cultural event featuring artists from around the southwest as well as Latino glass artists from Mexico, Central and South America,” the three-day event is set to take place from April 8th – 10th, 2011. “We are reaching out to our brothers and sisters in the Glass Arts world because we speak the same language”, said artist Tom Philabaum. Leveraging much of the planning for the GAS conference, Philabaum was able to convince a group of 24 artists, gallery owners, museum directors, art collectors, and Sonoran Glass Art Academy board members and staff to participate in the creation of a brand-new annual event for and by Tucsonans. Organizers are also welcoming “anyone from Tucson and the region who is interested in participating as a contributing artist or patron.”
Though the event will take place at several locations, ground zero for the Tucson Glass Festival will be the Sonoran Glass Art Academy, which was founded by Philabaum and David Klein in 2001. Here there will be a full assortment of glassblowing and flameworking demonstrations. Elsewhere in the area, exhibitions of art from glass will take place at the Tucson Museum of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art, the Joseph Gross Gallery, Obsidian Gallery, Wilde Meyer Gallery, Philabaum Gallery and several other venues.
“This is actually turning out to be a much more interesting and fun event that will benefit and include our community,” Philabaum said in a written announcement. “It presents an ideal opportunity to showcase the work of some of the best glass artists in Tucson and around the state and the outstanding programs at the Sonoran Glass Art Academy.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Call Tom or Dabney Philabaum at 520 884 7404.
List of attendees at the first meeting of “Viva el Vidrio”
Tom Philabaum Artist/ Philabaum Gallery
Dabney Philabaum Philabaum Gallery
Michael Nicholas SGAA Board Member
Jon- Peter Wilhite Sonoran Glass Art Academy
Norma Gentry ProVentures, Inc.
Lucine Dirtadian Skyline Gallery
Ursula Rogers Skyline Gallery
Debra May Artist
Robert Knight Tucson Museum of Art
Meredith Hayes Tucson Museum of Art
Dave Klein SGAA StaffMember
Alex Berger SGAA Staff Member
Margaret Zinser SGAA Board Member
Bronwen Heilman Artist, SGAA Board Member
Alexis Ruffino Arizona- Mexico Commission
Terry Bendt SGAA Board Member
Terry Etherton Etherton Gallery
Hannah Glaston Etherton Gallery
Daphne Srinivason. Etherton Gallery
Susan Silverman SGAA Staff Member
Graeme Hughes Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau
Michael Joplin Artist, SGAA Board Member
David Andres Pima College
Lee Karpiscak Exhibition Committee
Nancy Lutz Exhibition Committee
