TH E W ID E W O RLD OF C R A F T
landscapes oflight and materiality—work
that is both beautifully crafted and intellec-
tually rigorous.”
As for glass education, Espace Verre has
played a crucial role in the nurturing of the
Montreal glass art community for a quarter
century. Housed in a former firehouse,
Espace Verre offers workshops in different
glass techniques and maintains an exhibition
program. Its ongoing mission is to develop
and promote Quebec glassblowers, and this
it has done with resonant success.
Glass is indeed the medium of the mo-
ment as Montreal celebrates 2010 as the
Year of Glass. Viewed through four princi-
pal themes—art, architecture, history' and
science—glass, in its myriad uses and mani-
festations, will be the subject of numerous
exhibitions and conferences, as well as
a professional congress bringing together
artists from around the globe. All told,
there will be over 100 “City of Glass” events
taking place at 40 locations, including 23
museums. The Montreal Museum of Fine
Arts has weighed in with the recent “Tiffany
Glass” and “Studio Glass: Anna and Joe
Mendel Collection,” now on view, repre-
senting the gift of a hundred contemporary
glass pieces to the museum by local collec-
tors. “It’s a great donation for the museum
and for Montreal,” says the museum’s con-
temporary decorative arts curator, Diane
Charbonneau. “W e are the only institution
in Canada that has this varied a collection by
both international and Canadian artists.”
If Montreal craft artists have thrived,
it is in no small measure because of a support
system that includes both craft galleries
and contemporary art galleries, such as Art
Mûr, that have made a commitment to con-
temporary' craft as well. Coinciding with
the City of Glass events, a recent show
there, “Red-Hot,” presented seven young
artists, all demonstrating the diversity of
glass work with their idiosyncratic visions.
Currently showing are works by Tyler
Rock and Julia Reimer and, in the fall, the
neon artist Orest Tataryn.
For Art Mûr, says its spokesperson,
Ève De Garie-Lamanque, the best contem-
porary' art is a rubric under which you find
the most arresting craft art. “W hy wouldn’t
Top:
At Art Mûr
Tyler Rock,
Tinge
, 2009, blown
glass, found objects,
2iVix 9 Vi x
9V1
in.
Left:
At Art Mûr
Cal Lane,
O il F ire d T a n k,
2009,
plasma-cut oil tanks,
50% x 113 x 22'A in.
070 amcrican craft june/julyio
www.WorldMags.net & www.Journal-Plaza.net
Rock photo John Dean / Lane photo Guy L ’Heureux.
