vessels perfectly, was another instinc-
tive stroke) to the tall pitchers with
a curving hint of the baroque in the
handles.
He has one limitation, however,
that's beyond his control: He is
red-green color-blind. Whether that
accounts for the rich subtlety and
sophistication of his colors, he can't
say. Like his initial attraction to the
material, his color choices are, he
says, largely intuitive.
In recent years, he has started
working with surface design. An
exhibition of artist Sol LeWitt's was
one inspiration, but it might also
be seen as a circling back to his
drawing - which, in truth, he never
really left. "I still love to draw,"
he says; and that primal love of
mark-making, evident in any child's
intense concentration with a crayon
and construction paper, is apparent
in the patterns of his elegant Cruci-
bles, with animated patterning
he inscribes with a diamond tool
directly on the glass.
"It's an important time to do this
kind of activity," he says. Though it
might seem tedious on one level, "it's
a great time of discovery; it's finding
the beauty in the mundane." ■
Michael Schunke
michaeljschunke.com
Dan M irer
Sweet subtlety
The challenge of glassworking
keeps Dan Mirer interested in real-
izing his understated designs.
And vice versa - his understated
designs keep the challenge in his
glass work.
Sometimes the flashier, splashier
pieces are the easiest to do, he
explains. "Some people develop
one technique, and find a style. I
like to figure out what I can do with
this glass, then see, for example,
what kind of shape lends itself to
that technique."
The result is not only his bread-
and-butter line of drinking ware, but
his elongated, almost Seussian Knob
Top jars, a Tallboy vase that seems
to almost vanish into transparency,
and just-this-side-of-symmetrical Turtle
bowls.
But all of it tests his artistic mettle,
and creating even the more produc-
tion-oriented pieces is satisfying.
"It's the beauty in the design or the
process, and the beauty in effi-
ciency. With a really well-designed
piece, every little bit is considered,
and everything's really tuned-in" in
the making process.
Mirer likes the behind-the-scenes
part of each piece, too, like making
many of his specialized molds and
tools. Sometimes the tools can be
sophisticated items; other times
they might be as simple as a piece
of wood, customized to a certain
design; he just likes finding the
most elegant solution to achieve
his ends.
The 32-year-old Mirer started
working in glass in his late teens,
but the notion of art glass was
something he knew early on; his
mother used to do glassblowing,
decades ago, working with some of
the biggest names in the early studio
glass movement.
He himself has been an inde-
pendent artist since 2005, the same
year he started exhibiting at Amer-
ican Craft Council shows.
