Still Lives by Silvia Levenson

Fred Wilson at the Pace Gallery: Venice Suite

Murano glass:

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Glass Poem by Arlene Mandell

Smoothing Jagged Edges

Hissing surf presses pebbles
into shifting sand, fitting
fragments tightly together

a stained glass mosaic–black,
white, tan–separated by strands
of emerald seaweed.

I hold a pale glass triangle
turned by ten thousand waves
a frosted talisman to slip

into my pocket as the sun
slides below the horizon.

Glass in Durango, Colorado

By Hokanson and Dix–http://boarglass.com

Room Made of Glass

Breaking the Bottle, installation by Mark Reigelman, made of 1,000 pounds of crushed glass.

Glimmering Gone

I could go on and on about our visit to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. I’ve become increasingly obsessed with glass, and Tacoma is an epicenter–home of Chihuly. There is a bridge of glass objects across the highway, and a train station turned courthouse hung with Chihuly installations that pretty much defy my descriptive powers–think living coral reef hung in midair in a neoclassical dome.
But I did want to show you GLIMMERING GONE: Ingalena Klenell and Beth Lipman, a clear glass collaboration between two women.

Remember in the fairy tale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses?” How they go down a trap door to three underworld woods–silver, gold, and finally crystal? I think I found that third magical forest.

Oiva Toikka Birds at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma

A combination of two of my favorite things in the world– glass birds by Scandinavian artist Oiva Toikka.

What struck me was how gestural these are–they “feel” like birds about to move, the shapes evoke birdness. I bought a little one with brown spots–tangible if I run a finger over its surface.

Parenthetically Speaking: Museum of Glass

The Museum of Glass in Tacoma was an incredibly inspiring experience. Outstanding among the exhibits, particularly for a writer:

Parenthetically Speaking: It’s Only a Figure of Speech is a new collection of work by San Francisco-based artist Mildred Howard comprising more than 40 glass punctuation marks, proofreading symbols and musical notes.  Howard’s inspiration for the work came from At the End, a poem by her friend and Peabody Award-winner Quincy Troupe.  Both the poem and the exhibition reference punctuation as a metaphor for the passage of time.  “Life is a series of questions,” comments Howard.  “As soon as you answer one, you’re on to the next.”

***

at the end
of every sentence
a period
occupying space
as molecular energy

a point to make
another point

Quincy Troupe

Steuben Glass Haibun

By seeming coincidence, a piece of mine on Steuben glass JUST appeared in Haibun Today. I am re-blogging below–and encouraging you all to check out this terrific web based magazine that is one of the greatest champions of English language haibun and tanka prose.
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Steuben Glass

When I was fourteen, or a bit older, my friend Alma and I had the run of New York City. We’d go to Sheep’s Meadow for the hippie scene in the dry fountain, the West Village, and oddly enough, mid-town. Fifth Avenue had its own beauty in the rain, everyone crossing at the same time with an umbrella when the WALK sign flashed, like something choreographed in a Broadway musical.

I loved St. Patrick’s for its stained glass, particularly the blues in the kaleidoscopic rose window. We loved Tiffany’s and often ventured in to oogle diamonds laid out on black velvet—not to mention emeralds and sapphires. Once we pretended to look for Mother’s Day gifts, and the clerk served us with complete sang-froid, although I’m sure she wasn’t taken in for a minute as we giggled in our purple maxi coats.

But it was Steuben glass next door that was my pinnacle of beauty. The glass was all uncolored, and the pieces had stories. A mother polar bear climbed with her cubs. A hunter floated on an iceberg, aiming at the implied watery depths.

Now I see it with more context—its art deco lines, its etched and sculpted technique, its slightly sentimental quality with the ability to evoke perfection.

This summer, at Corning Glass, I saw where it is made. And for about the amount workman’s comp takes out of my paycheck each month I bought (factory price on sale) two little pieces, grooved star and heart, that can fit in my palm, a bit of the transparent unattainable.

surely these bubbles
in the glass iceberg must be
the glassblower’s breath.

No More Steuben Glass

In my childhood, Steuben Glass was a pinnacle of unattainable glamor, although you could admire it in the museum like 5th Avenue store.
Now–
By Associated Press, Published: November 29
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It’s the end of the line for the Steuben Glass company, an American icon of handcrafted crystal for more than a century.
The company’s lone factory in Corning, in western New York, shut down on Tuesday, ending a high-end glassmaking tradition dating to 1903. Most of the company’s 60 workers were axed, but a few found jobs at glass pioneer Corning Inc., Steuben’s former owner.
Like fine diamonds, clear-as-water Steuben glass seems almost to emanate light from within. Depending on how it’s worked, it can reflect or refract the entire spectrum of a ray of light. Other hallmarks are its naturally flowing shapes — and eye-popping price tags.

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